A Loop in Time

by Clark Graham

  “We can talk about it later. Right now I need to get to work.”

  “Of course.”

  As she left he chuckled to himself. He knew he was out of the race yesterday when he heard the rumors spreading around the hospital. Today he was the only one in the race and the finish line was moving towards him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was late in the afternoon and the store was about to close when Lieutenant Granger came in. “There you are,” he said when he saw John. “I came by yesterday but they told me you were not here.”

  “Hello, can I help you?”

  “I told my uncle about you and he wants to meet you. He will be here over the weekend. Do you have time to meet with him?”

  “Yes, I have Sunday off, if he comes early enough on Friday I will met with him then and plan it all out.”

  Granger shook his head. “He is coming late on Friday, but he can talk to you on Sunday. I will tell him.”

  “Thank you for doing this for me,” John replied.

  “Just don’t tell anyone I was nice to you. Other people might start expecting it.” Granger was smiling when he said it.

  “I don’t think they would expect that,” John said, teasing.

  Granger just laughed and then he left.

  Susan busied herself around the house. Despite the setback she was feeling good. She was expecting Tim to call so it was no surprise when the phone rang. After she said hello he started by saying, “This is Tim. I thought I would follow up on our conversation at work. Where did you want to go for our date, dinner or a show?”

  “Why don’t you come over and we will talk about it?”

  “Sure,” he replied enthusiastically.

  Fifteen minutes later he was knocking on the door. Tim was all smiles as she let him in. “Nice little place you have here,” he said politely.

  “It’s not much, but it will do. Can I get you some coffee?”

  “Yes, that would be nice.”

  She brought out a tray with some coffee, cream and sugar and placed it on the coffee table. He started to sit in the chair but she stopped him, “It has a broken spring. It’s better if you sit on the couch with me.”

  “Sure, no problem,” he replied. When he sat down he asked, “so where were you thinking we should have our next date?”

  “I know this nice restaurant in Las Vegas. It’s just off the strip.”

  He was a little stunned. “Las Vegas?”

  “Yes, I want everything the same. The same restaurant, the same motel, the same wedding chapel. The only thing I would like to be different is that we take your car instead of that open top Jeep of mind. My hair was so windblown by the time we got there it was almost impossible to deal with.”

  It took a second for Tim to realize what she was talking about. “Are you saying we should elope?”

  “Yes, Thursday works for me. It’s our normal day off.”

  “But, shouldn’t I ask you first? I don’t know if I’m ready for this.” He was, but he didn’t want to look like it.

  “John’s real name is Jason. Jason Ralston. I am his grandmother and you are his grandfather.”

  “Oh.” Tim went silent for a long time. When he finally spoke again he said, “Thursday, huh?”

  “Yes, it makes the most sense.”

  He scratched his head. “It’s all a little sudden for me.”

  “Me, too,” she leaned over and gave him a kiss.

  He put his arm around her, “Thursday works for me.”

  The next morning in court, both John and Susan waited their turn to see the judge. When their case came up, they both approached the bench.

  The Judge looked over the paperwork that had been filed in the case. “You say you want an annulment, then. Do you both agree on that?”

  They both nodded, Susan also said, “yes, Your Honor.”

  “It says here that you found out that you were related. How so?” The judge looked up over his reading glasses at the two of them. His bald head reflected the light.

  “John here has a doctor’s note certifying that he has had amnesia. He regained his memories the day after we wed. It was then he realized he was related to me.”

  The judge looked over the documents. “Twin brother? Oh, no. You lost contact with each other years ago. That’s unfortunate. Yes, the request is granted.”

  Susan smiled but John just sat there bewildered. When the court gave the paperwork back, John asked, “What just happened?”

  “I had the birth certificate for my twin brother. That combined with your amnesia note was enough to convince the judge that we were twins.”

  “Isn’t that illegal, fooling a judge like that?”

  “It’s also illegal to marry your grandson. Besides I never actually said that we were twins, only that we were related. The judge just assumed that we were twins when he had the paperwork. I needed to get this done because I’m getting married on Thursday.”

  John stopped in his tracks. “So soon? What’s the hurry?”

  “Why wait?” It was a simple answer and she realized that John deserved more than that. “When you lived at my house, I realized how nice it was to have someone around. I had been fiercely independent before then. When you left, I hated not having someone to talk to and someone to share dinner with. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I know I will marry Tim, and now he knows he will marry me. It’s something I want and I don’t see waiting.”

  “Okay, thanks. I am glad you have him. Meanwhile, I get to live alone.”

  “I’m so sorry for you. You will find someone someday.”

  “No, I don’t know if I will mess up the future if I do that. I am going to stay single. I am so happy for you though mainly because I know you are going to have a wonderful and fulfilling life.” John smiled as he said it.

  Susan hugged him, “thank you so much.”

  Thursday finally arrived and Tim sat outside Susan’s house. He had put her suitcases in the trunk and was waiting for her to pick up that one last thing before they headed to Las Vegas. They were getting an early start so they would not have to drive at night.

  Tim had called his mother and told her what he was about to do. She was very excited, until he told her that he was going to elope and she was not invited to the wedding. She had a long discussion on how that was not the right way to go, but after he explained to his mother that his wife had no family to speak of and that she would be very uncomfortable with a large wedding with no one on her side of the aisle, she finally understood.

  When Susan finally came out, he asked, “are you ready to embark on this crazy adventure?”

  She smiled. “Yes, I am ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I am assured that we will get along famously.”

  “It’s always good to have someone tell you your future. I just hope he’s not leaving something out.”

  She laughed. “You know he is, but that is what makes it so interesting.”

  He laughed too.

  Even though it was the same trip, the same motel and everything, it was all completely different. The lady at the wedding chapel recognized her and she had to prove she had the previous wedding annulled before she would let them proceed. At last everything got squared away and Mr. and Mrs. Ralston walked down the aisle to a long and happy future, or so they hoped.

  Chapter Eighteen

  John had walked to a park on the side of town that Tim and Susan would be leaving from. Deep in his heart he still wanted to be with her even though he knew it was impossible and could mess up his very existence. He watched as Tim’s car headed out of town from the shadows of a large tree. The things that were happening were how they should be. His grandmother had admitted that she and her grandfather had eloped. She never went into the circumstances.

  John waited for the tail lights to disappear into the distance before he started his long walk home. It was like watching a bit of family history right before his eyes. When he left the park he was feeling a little melancholy, but he s
till wished them all of the best in his heart.

  When John got home, he dressed for work. His little one room apartment was closing in on him already and it had been less than a week. He vowed as long as he was stuck in the past, he would make the best of it, so he would do a little investing. There were certain baseball cards that would prove valuable in the future and the stock of some companies that would be winners too. He would not do a lot, but enough to live comfortably. There would be no more one room apartments in the future, he vowed.

  John caught a ride to the airport on Sunday and was there meet Granger’s uncle. He looked over the plane that the uncle had. It was a single engine Taylorcraft plane with two seats. Uncle Fred, as Granger called him, let John have the controls. “Let’s see what you can do, Kid,” he said. Fred was tall and wide, not someone you would expect to be flying a small crop duster. Granger did mention that his uncle had given up flying years ago and hired it out. Crop duster pilots did not last too long. They either moved on to safer occupations or were seriously injured or killed. The turnover of pilots was large.

  “I don’t have my pilot’s license. I had one at one point, but because of circumstances, I don’t have it anymore,” John tried to explain.

  Fred was unmoved. “Show me what you got, Kid,” he repeated.

  With a sigh and crossed fingers John pushed the throttle forward. He hoped that flying a plane was like riding a bike, where you don’t forget. The plane lifted slowly into the sky. John leveled it off at a safe altitude.

  “See those two trees down there, Son?”

  “Yes, Sir,” John replied.

  “I want you to fly between them.” Fred had a big smile on his face when he said it. He knew it would be a challenge to all but the most experienced pilots.

  “No problem,” John responded. Pointing the nose of the plane down, John did a split S maneuver on his way towards the trees. He then did a barrel roll close to the ground as he went between them. Then did an inverted loop and flew through the trees again.

  All he could hear from Fred on the headset was, “Yeeeehaaaaw,” over and over again while he did the maneuvers.

  When Fred got his breath back he told John to go ahead and land. When John did, Fred said, “Son, that was the most fun I have had in a long, long time. You got the job. As for the license, I have some friends who can fix that for you. You obviously know what you are doing. Come on up in the Spring. I have a small house you can live in until you get on your feet. Your salary will start out at ten an hour and then go up from there.”

  “Thank you so much.” John had not intended to go crazy like he did. When he saw that Fred wanted crazy, though, he was happy to oblige.

  As he walked back towards town Granger stopped and picked him up. “You on foot still?”

  “I don’t have a car yet, or a driver’s license for that fact.”

  “Hard to afford a car on a part time job.”

  “Tell me about it,” John replied.

  Granger motioned for him to get into the car and they drove back to town.

  John was thinking of the future and what he might need going forward. “Where are all of the electronics from the plane crash?”

  “Under lock and key,” Granger replied.

  “There were two orange colored boxes. Were those ever found?”

  “Yes.” Granger sounded hesitant in his answer but John didn’t care.

  “I need those. How can I get them?”

  “Those are now property of the United States Army.”

  That wasn’t the answer that John was hoping for. “If I live long enough to get back to my own time, I will need those to show the flight data to those who sent me on the mission to begin with. Without that, they will not know what happened to the plane. How can I get them? It is very important.”

  “I will see what I can do,” was all the Lieutenant would commit to.

  “Thanks.”

  After dropping John off at his apartment, Granger went directly back to the base where he set up a meeting with the Colonel and Corporal Mortensen. Several hours later the three of them met in the Colonel’s office.

  Granger started the discussion. “John Buck wants the orange painted electrical boxes.”

  “They are called black boxes, even though they are orange.” Mortensen replied. “They have just started putting them on planes the last couple of years. These are a completely different size and shape to the ones that are in use now. The ones I have from the crash are nearly indestructible. The boxes produced these days seem frail in comparison. The problem is I have no way of reading them without taking them to a lab and I’m guessing that technology will improve so much more over the next forty years or that our lab could not even read these. The questions the lab will start asking will be impossible to answer without revealing we have covered up a time travel incident.”

  The Colonel shook his head. “We don’t want anyone else involved. Has John gotten his memory back?”

  “Yes, Sir, he’s quite the pilot too. He made my uncle’s heart skip a beat and that’s hard to do.”

  “Get him in here. I have a lot of questions for him. We will decide what to do with the black boxes after that. I would hate to have them out of my control,” the Colonel said.

  “I will see what I can do. I just dropped him off at his house a couple of hours ago. He is still on foot so I suspect that he hasn’t gotten far.”

  “Go get him; we will wait here,” the Colonel ordered.

  Chapter Nineteen

  John was surprised to see Lieutenant Granger pull up outside his house. He didn’t seem to have any boxes with him so John was a little disappointed. He opened the door before Granger could knock.

  “The Colonel wants to see you,” Granger said without emotion.

  “Oh, okay,” John replied. “Is there a decision on the black boxes then?”

  “It’s probably not going to happen, but he still wants to talk to you. Maybe he can arrange something.”

  “Okay, let’s go then.”

  They both climbed in Granger’s car and headed to the base. The Colonel and Corporal were still in the office when John and Granger entered.

  “You have your memory back, I take it, if you are wanting parts of the plane?” was the first thing out of the Colonel’s mouth.

  “Yes, I do,” John said simply.

  “Tell me what you were flying when you crashed.”

  “It was a modified F117a, which means nothing to you, I realize. It was supposed to be a routine test flight of a new type of engine. The engine had been tested many times on a stand and it was deemed safe. They brought one of the planes out of moth balls and put the new engine in it. The engine went into an over speed condition shortly after takeoff. I tried to control it the best I could but I could not slow it down. I lost communication and the airframe started coming apart. I ejected while going way too fast. That is the cause of the concussion and amnesia.”

  “Do you think that they will realize what happened and try to come back in the past to rescue you?” The Colonel asked.

  “No, Sir. They don’t even know what happened to me. I am sure time travel is the last thing they suspect. They will think the plane disintegrated in midair and will do a search for what is left of it over a vast area. Of course, they will never find a single nut or bolt,” John explained.

  The Colonel nodded. “It looks like you are stuck then.” He then took a deep breath; John would not like this next part. “Everyone in here and a few other people have stuck our necks way out to keep you and your plane secret. We have stymied the official inquiry into the crash and have hid the evidence from it. I can’t let you have the black boxes or anything else from the crash. I don’t want this coming to light anytime soon.”

  John was visibly disappointed but he nodded he understood.

  “However,” the Colonel added. “I don’t plan on being in the service still forty five years from now. What I will do is build a time capsule. We will bury it under thick con
crete to be opened the day that you will need it in the future. What day is that going to be?”

  “April 17, 2014.”

  “Okay, we will have them open the box the day after that then. We will put a note to your commanding officer on top. It will confuse everyone involved.”

  “That will be great, thank you.” John was smiling. He would be fine with that.

  On the way home, Granger stopped at a restaurant and bought dinner for both himself and John. While they were waiting for the food, he asked, “any hope of remembering who won the 1966 World Series?”

  John laughed. “I only wish I could; that could benefit both of us financially. I don’t even know who is playing. I wish now that I had followed sports more.”

  “I wish you had, too,” Granger replied.

  The two men talked over the rest of dinner. Granger had few friends but in John he had found someone he could respect. John had been in the military and seemed a genuine guy. He was willing to work hard; Granger had seen that at the hardware store. His uncle was impressed with him, too, and that went a long way in Granger’s book. After hitting a few nightspots, the Lieutenant dropped John off at his house.

  John looked around his small apartment. It was depressing. He decided he would go to Idaho sooner rather than later. Fred had given John a signing bonus and it would be enough to live on for a couple of months until crop duster season started. With Susan married to Tim, he had no reason to stay. The hardware store was a dead end job so there was no real reason to keep doing it.

  John fell asleep that night anticipating his new life.

  It was the knocking on his door that awakened John. When he opened it, there was Susan standing there. John peered over her shoulder and saw Tim waiting for her in his large sedan.

  “Hi, Tim is going to buy me a new car, so I thought that you would like my old Jeep. Are you interested?”

  “I thought that the Jeep was part of the motor pool from the base?” John responded.