by Shawn Inmon
“Seems longer,” Veronica laughed. “I’m surrounded by eighteen year old girls, and it doesn’t feel like I have anything in common with them.”
Neither of them had an umbrella—always a strategic error in western Oregon in March—so they were thoroughly soaked by the time they got inside the Corona.
Forest Grove is a small town, with a population of 6,000 in 1959. Over time, it would develop into a bedroom community of Portland, but in the late 1950s, it still retained its own distinct sense of community. The largest employer by far was Pacific University.
DJ drove out of the main parking lot and bypassed the downtown area, instead turning into the residential side streets. Less than half a mile later, he pulled up in front of a small, white cottage. The grass was overgrown, the paint was old and spotty, and the screen door hung at an odd angle.
“Much like this old Dodge, it ain’t beautiful, but it is mine,” DJ said, pointing to it.
“What? What do you mean?”
“I mean, I rented this house. Just got the keys. Wanna go see it?”
“Oh, DJ, you’ll miss your family.”
“I could either live in Middle Falls and miss you, or live in Forest Grove and miss them. I tried one for a few months, now I thought I’d try it the other way.”
Veronica scooted across the bench seat of the Coronet and wrapped DJ in a hug. “You are the most foolish, gallant, wonderful boy.”
“I try. Well, not the ‘foolish’ part. That seems to come natural.”
The rain had let up, but they were still cold and shivering when DJ unlocked the front door and they stepped inside.
There were swirls of dust and dirt on the floor, a few yellowed newspapers thrown in one corner, and an overall feel that the tiny house had not been well-loved in some years.
“How in the world are you going to furnish this place?”
“Have you not met my family? They’ll be here tomorrow with couches, chairs, tables, lamps, a bed, pots and pans, you name it.”
“The endless benefits of a big family,” Veronica agreed. “But, what about your job? Did you quit Artie’s?”
DJ nodded. “I love Zimm and Artie’s, but there’s this amazing redheaded girl I love even more. And, you know the old saying, ‘A good fry cook will never be out of a job.’”
“Is that really a saying?”
“It is in my world. I would show off my expertise in the kitchen to you at this very moment, but I am short a pan. And,” he said, reaching into his pocket, “all the groceries I have is a stick of Juicy Fruit gum.”
Veronica put her arm around DJ’s waist and said, “Then we better go scout out your next place of employment, hadn’t we?”
Chapter Forty-Eight
DJ was not out of a job for long. There weren’t any drive-ins like Artie’s in Forest Grove, but he caught on at one of the two diners in town, handling the breakfast shift.
Life was good for the next few months. DJ had his job, Veronica had hers, and of course, there was her school work. That meant they weren’t able to spend as much time together as they would have liked. Veronica spent many evenings at DJ’s house, studying, while he quietly read a book on the couch beside her.
Eventually, the school year ended, and Veronica faced having to leave DJ behind while she returned home. After the last day of the quarter, she drove to DJ’s house to tell him goodbye before driving back to Middle Falls. The little cottage was unrecognizable as the slovenly mess she had first walked into a few months before. The lawn was trimmed, there were flowers planted in the flower beds, and everything was neat, clean, and organized. Almost looks like Mom has been here.
Inside, DJ was making them an early dinner, so she could get back home before full dark.
She snuck up behind him and wrapped him in a bear hug. “Usually, when I see you, it is the best part of my day, but not today.”
“And why not? Have I lost my youthful good looks, my boyish charm?”
“No, and that’s the problem. I’m going to miss you so.”
DJ whirled around, grabbed her waist and lifted her in the air. “You know I’m going to miss you, too. I don’t know anyone else in town. But, it’s only for a few months, and I knew this was coming when I moved up here. When I get a few days off, I’ll come back down there, and maybe you can come up and visit me a few times. We’ll be fine, and it will be September before we know it.”
“I could always stay,” Veronica said.
“Where? Here? I think that if you moved in here, there would be nothing but a crater in the ground from the explosion your family and mine would make.”
That’s true, in 1959. Our living together would be an affront to the social order. We would be outcasts. Our families would be shamed. Nothing else for it, then.
She got to her parent’s house in Middle Falls as it was getting dark. The streetlights had turned on and the glow of the porchlight looked warm and inviting. Inside, Doris was in the kitchen, as she so often was, Wallace was puttering in the garage, and Barbara greeted her at the front door.
“Come upstairs and look at my room! You won’t even recognize it!”
“Mom, I’m home, “ Veronica yelled. “Gonna go look at Barb’s new room, then I’ll be down.”
Upstairs, Barbara bounced ahead of her, giddy and excited. She flung the door to their bedroom open, and it did look like a different room. The off-white walls were gone, replaced with a rosy pink paint. There was only one bed, now, and it had a matching pink bedspread. “Isn’t it dreamy? It’s just like I’ve always wanted it.”
Veronica put an arm around Barbara’s shoulders and said, “Yes, it looks just like you, kiddo. Did you paint it yourself?”
“Ha! No, of course not. Mom and Dad did it. Your bed is in Johnny’s old room. Mom says you can sleep in there for the summer.”
“Okay. Looks perfect, Barb.” Veronica left Barbara, spinning with happiness, in her room.
Downstairs, Doris looked up from the pie crust she was rolling out and said, “I hope you’re not too upset. She got so excited, and I didn’t think you’d mind having Johnny’s room to yourself over the summer.”
“No, no, that’s fine, Mom. It’s her room now. Staying in Johnny’s room will be great. I think Barb’s been dreaming about having her own room since she was about four. Pretty sure I saw her counting down the days until I left for college. Did she wait until I pulled out of the driveway before she started the remodel?”
“Honestly, no,” Doris laughed. “So, DJ moved up there to be close to you, now you’re home. Is he coming back, too?”
“No, that would be silly.”
“I think it was silly for him to move up there in the first place. There was some gossip about it.”
The lyrics to an old Jeannie C. Riley song about the Harper Valley PTA popped into her head. Small town America in the fifties, thank you very much.
“Don’t worry,” Doris said, noting Veronica’s expression. “I told those old gossips what’s what.”
The next day, Veronica went back to Artie’s to see Perry Zimmerman. She found him sitting in the little closet that passed for an office, hitting the keys on a large adding machine with much more force than was necessary.
“Hey, Zimm,” Veronica said, poking her head in. She didn’t step inside, because there wasn’t room. “I’m home from college for the summer. Need an experienced carhop?”
“I can always use you, Ronnie. What I could use at the moment is someone to balance these books.” He struck at the keys viciously.
“You know hitting the keys harder doesn’t give you better numbers, right?”
Perry gave her a severe look, but couldn’t hold it.
“Look, you’ve got customers. You go take care of them and let me slide in there and see if I can organize things for you a little more.”
“What do you know about accounting?”
“I took a class in high school,” Veronica lied.
“The things they teach you kids in school t
hese days. Well, I guess you can’t make much more of a mess of it than I already have. Be my guest.”
Veronica sat down behind the crowded desk, picked up a pile of receipts, another pile of accounts payable, and a third of accounts receivable. Zimm, Zimm, Zimm. You are a great guy, and an absolutely horrible bookkeeper.
Two hours later, Perry came back to his office and said, “Give up?” but the words froze on his lips. Where once had been chaos, order now reigned, and Veronica looked content.
“Voila,” Veronica said, sweeping her hand across the now-organized piles. “It’s not done, but now it’s organized so you can find what you need to find. Your adding machine will thank you. It was never intended to be used as a weapon of war.”
“They taught you how to do this in high school?”
Veronica shrugged. “I have a knack for it, I guess.”
“I can put you on the schedule for three or four shifts a week, but how about working another ten hours a week handling the books for me?”
“How about an extra fifteen cents an hour?”
“Done,” Perry said.
“That means I can have everything ship-shape for you when I go back to school, and you should be in desperate need of me by next summer.”
“I guess this means I have to forgive you for stealing the best grill man I’ve ever had away from me, too.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
As it does whether you are on your first life, or your fifth, time passed. Veronica studied hard and graduated in the spring of 1963 with her bachelor’s degree in education from Pacific University. Her name got the biggest cheer when it was announced at graduation, thanks to the fact that in addition to her own small family, DJ’s entire clan was there, too.
The question for both of them was, what was next? Veronica and DJ had been together every minute possible since their first date. Unlike her relationships with Christopher and Danny, the more she knew about DJ, the more she wanted to know.
But, it was the early sixties, and couples who had been together for four or five years typically got married. On the one hand, Veronica wasn’t worried about it, but on the other, with each month and year that passed without a proposal, the more she thought about it.
Do I even want to get married? If I do, I can’t imagine marrying anyone other than DJ. But so far, marriage hasn’t been great. Christopher and Danny weren’t DJ, though.
After graduation, both Veronica and DJ moved back in with their families in Middle Falls. After years of living away, being once again under a parent’s roof felt chafing to both of them.
Veronica sent her resume to the Middle Falls schools, then crossed her fingers and waited. She wanted to work at Middle Falls Elementary, but if she didn’t catch on this year, she thought she might spend the year making connections by substitute teaching.
It wasn’t hard for DJ to talk his way back to working the grill at Artie’s, and Veronica caught as many shifts carhopping as she could. The summer passed.
One night in mid-July, DJ and Veronica had dinner with his parents, then went for a drive.
They parked in the popular make out spot above the falls. It was deserted, except for them. They watched the falls for a few minutes in silence. Then, Veronica turned to DJ. “Why didn’t you ever ask me out?”
“Four years, three weeks, two days, and,” he glanced at his watch, “five hours. I wondered how long it would take you to ask me that question.”
“You are never serious.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“Fine. Don’t tell me, then!”
DJ put his arm around her shoulder and drew her toward him. He kissed her gently. “I never asked you, because I didn’t dare. I never would have. What mortal dares ask a goddess on a date? Not me. I didn’t have the courage. I would have just gone on about my life, longing for something that I was missing, and never having the guts to reach out for it. I would have continued to worship you from afar, instead of from anear.”
Veronica squinted at him. “That’s not a real word.”
“You college graduates, and your book learning.”
“Can I ask you one serious question and get a straight answer?”
DJ’s smile faded and he squinted out at the falls with a faraway look in his eyes. “Do I get extra credit if I guess the question? I’ll bet it’s ‘Why haven’t I asked you to marry me, when we’re so perfect together?’”
“Yes,” Veronica said, with a little tremble in her voice. “I don’t want us to rush anything, or push you, but I wonder. We are so perfect together.”
He nodded absently. “Sure. You deserve to know that. Hell, you deserve to know the truth about everything. Try as I might, I haven’t been able to find the way to tell you. It will feel good to get everything off my chest, but I’m scared. The only reason I haven’t told you is that I don’t want to lose you. I figure that as soon as I do, you’ll think I’m crazy and run. These past four years have been the best years of my lives.”
“Lives?”
DJ nodded, sadly. “Lives. I’ve already lived this life before.”
Veronica’s heart leapt and her eyes grew wide.
“I knew that would be your reaction.” DJ rushed ahead. “I’ve tried for four years to think of a way so you’ll believe me, and I can’t come up with anything. I mean, I can tell you that Ronald Reagan, the guy who made Bedtime for Bonzo, of all things, is going to become President in another sixteen years. I could have told you John F. Kennedy was going to be assassinated last November. That probably would have been the right thing to do, but I didn’t have the nerve. I never have the nerve.”
Veronica reached her hand out and laid it against DJ’s lips. Tears welled in her eyes. “You don’t have to say anything.”
“I’ve blown it now, haven’t I? I knew it. This is why I haven’t wanted to tell you. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.”
“You haven’t lost anything.” Veronica’s tears spilled as she lost her composure altogether and broke down sobbing.
DJ held her close. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I mean, honestly, I can’t say for sure it’s okay, but I think it’s okay. I do know that when I’m with you, everything feels better.”
Veronica pushed back from him, her face blotchy and a smile competing with her tears. She shook her head, frustrated at everything that had bubbled to the surface so suddenly. “I’ve just been so lonely. I never knew how lonely until this minute, now that I know I’m not alone anymore. I’ve been alone for so long.”
DJ shook his head. “I’m so confused. I’ve been sure all along that when I tried to tell you this, that I would lose you. But, you’re not freaked out?”
“No. I’m happy.” Veronica drew a deep breath, then laid her head against DJ’s chest. “You’ve only started over once, so you don’t know it yet. If you had started over more than that, you would know you start each life in the exact same place. At least, I do. I wake up in the house of a couple I babysat for one time. The first time I woke up there, I felt completely lost, because I had just died, and then woke up in a strange place.”
Now it was DJ’s turn to feel an electric shock. “Come on, Ronnie. You’re not being serious.” He held her face in his hands and moved his own face until it touched her nose. “Are you?”
Veronica didn’t blink. “I absolutely am.”
DJ, deadly serious for once, shook his head slowly back and forth. “I can’t believe this.”
“Wait. You were sure I wasn’t going to believe you. Now you can’t believe me?”
“No, no. Of course I believe you. How else would you come up with something like this so fast? But, I have so many questions.”
Veronica nestled back into his chest. “Me, too. I’ve only ever met one person who was going through what we are, and it wasn’t a good time to talk about it.”
“Okay, now I have one more question.”
Chapter Fifty
Veronica and DJ stayed at the falls for hours, trying to figure out
how this fit into the puzzle of their lives. DJ confessed that he wanted to ask Veronica to marry him right after their first date, but that he couldn’t imagine keeping a secret like that from her.
DJ, you are a better person than me. I’ve always known that, but here is further proof. I rushed headlong into two marriages and was wishing for a third, and I never considered that I was holding a secret that would serve as a constant wall. And you, my Dimitri, you would never dream of asking me to marry you if there was something you couldn’t tell me.
They decided they wouldn’t ask about how each had died. That was information that neither wanted to give or get, particularly. They also agreed that when they were alone, they could be free to talk and think as they really were—people out of time. Around others, they would strive to continue to be period-correct.
“Did you ever make yourself rich?” DJ asked.
“Oh, yes. Last life, I was rich. I traveled. I saw everything I ever wanted to see, and I felt completely empty and unhappy. My turn for a question. Did you have children in your last life?”
DJ nodded. A haunted look played across his face. “I had a son, Maximillian. He was an adventurer. He had all the guts that I lacked. He traveled the world. He died in a rock climbing accident. That was the biggest factor in why I restarted. You?”
“Yes, two girls, Sarah and Nellie. When I woke up back here, I did everything I could to bring them back into the world. I married the same man, even though we divorced in my first life. I did everything I could to bring them back. I even got pregnant on the same night. I was so sure it was Sarah, but I miscarried. I haven’t gotten pregnant since. My turn again. Did you have a good marriage?”
DJ shook his head. “Nah. You know her. Remember Lilly from Artie’s?”
A memory flashed through Veronica’s mind, the day she told DJ he had better ask Lilly out, or he was going to lose her. She nodded. “I remember.”
“We got married pretty young. I guess it was okay early on, and we had Max. My family never liked her though, so I should have known. That may or may not be why I took you to meet my family on our first date.”
