A Loop in Time

by Clark Graham

  “I’m so sorry. I had not intended on meeting you yet. It was not part of the plan. My Uncle John and Aunt Emily were always so secretive about how they came to meet. It is all a lot to take in.”

  “You have no idea, I went from believing that time didn’t change and now everyone around me not only believes in time travel, one of them claims to have done it.”

  “I do have an idea. I was sitting in the middle of my base when I went on a mission to test a new jet engine. I woke up forty five years in the past. I now find my ‘Uncle John,’ was my grandfather and myself. It has all happened before. It’s like time is this giant loop that we live through time and time again. We just live the lives that time has in store for us.”

  “What now, John?” Emily asked.

  “What now? I will be back in two months. We will correspond and hopefully we can figure out the what- now part by then.”

  The answer was unsatisfactory to her, but she went along with it. He had packing to do so he dropped her off at her apartment after dinner. She kissed him goodnight and then went inside. John thought the kiss was a little cold, compared to the hot ones just a day earlier. He drove home contemplating it. He may have just blown it. He could have just altered the time line. Should he have done anything different? He would mull this over all the way to Idaho the next day.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Emily walked into work that afternoon and the first thing she said to her boss was, “I quit.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t want to work nights anymore. I don’t want to be in Arizona anymore. I am moving to Idaho.”

  “It’s cold in Idaho. Are you crazy?”

  “Yes, I am crazy.”

  Dave looked at her for a minute. “Idaho; that is really random. Did you meet a guy? Was it that guy that you sat down with the other day? I knew he was trouble the moment he walked in and I saw how you looked at him. You were like a comet being pulled in by the gravitational force of the planet.”

  “A comet being pulled in by gravitational forces? Where do you get these things?”

  “I’ve been watching that new show on television called Star Trek,” Dave admitted.

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Nevertheless, don’t quit over some guy you just met the other day. At least think about it for a week or two.”

  Emily sighed, “If I think about it, I won’t do it. I’m quitting. You can get Tina to cover my shifts; she is always begging for more hours.”

  Dave had seen this look in her eyes before and he knew he was in a losing battle. “Is there anything that I can do?”

  “Sorry, I have to do this. I will work tonight but then I’m done.”

  Dave let out a large sigh and went back into the kitchen. It was going to be bad without her. Half of his overnight customers came in just because of Emily.

  The rest of the night, she could think of nothing but John. She loved his smile, his crazy story that everyone around him seemed to believe. She didn’t know anything about Idaho except that it was cold. All she knew was that she was swept off her feet by the man and she was going to follow her heart.

  After saying goodbye to Dave, she went home to bed. When she woke up she started packing. She hoped her old beat up car would make it the whole way. She had a small nest egg that she could live on until she found work.

  Emily didn’t have many friends in town. She called the ones she did have and they all got together for a drink that night. Her car was already packed and since she was used to being up at night anyway, after the drinks she hopped in the car and started driving.

  It was cold when John arrived back at his house. There was snow on the ground, but at least the roads had been clear. He turned up the thermostat. He thought about Emily and wondered if he should have stayed a few more days. His heart was all mixed up and twisted. It had been unfair of him to tell her all that he had. He didn’t want her feeling obligated.

  John settled back into his life and after a couple of weeks home, he got together with Fred and a group of his pilot friends for drinks.

  When they all got sat down, Henry, the guy that had been a pilot the longest, raised his glass in a toast, “Here is to time off.”

  The rest joined him.

  “So what have you guys been doing?” Fred asked the group.

  “I headed down to Arizona for a few days; other than that, not much.”

  “Oh, what did you do in Arizona?” Fred asked.

  “Just visited some friends.”

  “I went fishing off Baja Mexico.” Henry chimed in. He loved deep sea fishing.

  “Catch anything?” John asked. It wasn’t that he cared; just being polite.

  “Not much, just a few barracudas.”

  “What about you, Tom?” Fred asked.

  “Not much, just making googly eyes at that new waitress they have at the Cornerstone Café.”

  “Ah, Tom has a new love interest. How’s that going?” Fred was always interested in his pilots getting into relationships, even though it usually meant that he would lose them as soon as the women realized how long the hours were and how dangerous the mens’ job was.

  “Not well. I think she has a boyfriend somewhere. Even though she says she isn’t dating anyone, there is a guy she has her eyes on.”

  “Keep trying; this other guy doesn’t even know she’s alive probably. She is bound to give up on the guy eventually.” Fred reassured him.

  “I think you’re right. If the guy liked her, he would be at the restaurant as often as I am.”

  “Is she working tonight? I would like to meet this girl.” Fred said.

  “Yep, she’s working tonight. She has Tuesdays and Thursdays off; she works the rest of the week.”

  “Well, let’s all go, then,” Fred said as he stood up from the table and paid the bar tab for the group.

  They all went marching down the two blocks to the restaurant. When they all sat down, Fred asked, “Where is she?”

  The café took up the corner of Main and Third streets in the small Idaho town. It was a white flat roofed diner with windows on two sides. It had a bar where patrons could watch the cooks prepare food, or you could sit at one of the tables. It was brightly lit with a mostly white décor. It lacked other colors except for a few exceptions.

  When the waitress came out from the back, Tom whispered, “there she is.”

  John had his back to her and didn’t want to seem obvious by turning around. The next thing he knew, the waitress put her arms around him and gave him a great big kiss.

  Tom went florescent red with anger. John did too, but it was embarrassment for him.

  “Hi, John, long time no see,” Emily said and then she kissed him again.

  “Hi, Emily, you live here now?”

  “I followed you. Then I lost your number in the move. I was hoping you would show up here sooner or later.”

  “Here I am. It’s good to see you.”

  She then handed out menus and asked, “can I bring you guys something to drink?”

  Tom was still red, “nothing for me.”

  The rest of them put in their drink order and Emily walked away.

  “You stole my girl,” Tom raged.

  “No, I didn’t. I met her in Arizona. You heard her, she followed me up here.”

  “What’s so special about you?”

  “I’m going to marry her.”

  Tom just shook his head. “Is she your fiancée? Have you asked her to marry you yet?”

  “I will, when she comes back.”

  Fred was shocked. “You mean, right here in the restaurant?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  When Emily came back with the drinks, John got down on one knee in front of her and asked, “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, yes, a million times yes,” she said and then pulled him up and kissed him. The men around the table started clapping. Even Tom reluctantly clapped.

  “Hey,” the owner said from the back. ”this is a fa
mily friendly joint. We will have none of that.”

  “But we just got engaged,” Emily replied.

  “Fine, give him one kiss and then get back to work.”

  She did as she was told and then started taking the group’s food orders.

  After she went back in the kitchen, Fred said, “I have never seen anything of the like. You are one gutsy kid.”

  Even Tom had settled down by this point. “Okay, you got me there. I guess I will have to find someone else.”

  John just laughed.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  It was a whirlwind romance so John saw no reason not to have a whirlwind wedding. The couple drove to Arizona so that Tim and Susan could attend. They got married at a Justice of the Peace’s office in Phoenix. Then the two of them headed off to Las Vegas for the honeymoon.

  Unlike Susan, John avoided all of the places that he and Susan went to. So it was a different hotel and a different place to eat. The main reason they went to Las Vegas is because Emily had never been there before and it was kinda on the way home.

  It was nice for John to spend time with his son/father. It was a part of him he never knew. Watching him grow was a special treat.

  After a wonderful weekend in Las Vegas, the newlyweds went back to Idaho where John started his crop dusting season. After just two weeks of hardly ever seeing her new husband, Emily finally put her foot down one night.

  “How long is this crop dusting season of yours?”

  “It’s around nine months, why?”

  “Are the hours going to get better, I mean are there going to be less hours?”

  John saw where this conversation was going. “No, the hours will increase in a week. It will be basically eat, sleep, fly.”

  “No, that doesn’t work for me.”

  John had to smile inside. It was a typical Aunt Emily thing to say. He loved her for her frankness. “It’s my job.”

  “I can go back to work at the café. My old boss calls me up all the time asking me to come in. I even got a call from my boss in Arizona asking me to come back. I think we can live on my income for awhile if we need to. How much is the house payment anyway?”

  “The house is paid off.”

  Her eyes got big and round. “Really?”

  “Yes, I got a good deal on it.”

  “Then we can get by on my income. Is there any savings?”

  “Yes, quite a bit.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Well, you know that I came from the future, right? So I know what companies to invest in and which ones not to,” John confessed.

  “So you don’t need to work?” She folded her arms and was tapping her foot.

  “No, I don’t, but I like flying.”

  “So on your way to the airport go buy a plane, tell Fred that you are done.”

  There was no argument that John could make that would work. He knew it and he knew she knew it. It wasn’t worth the breath it would take.

  The next day he hopped into his car and started to drive. He also knew that Fred would be upset, but not surprised. He, himself, in the short time he was flying had seen it over and over again. A young pilot gets married and soon he’s all done.

  When John got to the airport, he was a little early. Instead of waiting for Fred at the pilot’s assembly area, he headed straight for Fred’s office. Fred was just leaving the office when he saw John walking up.

  “I know that walk. I’ve seen it before,” Fred said. “I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it, because I was. I will have your final check ready tomorrow. I will mail it to you. Today, I will just scratch you off the roster.”

  “I haven’t quit yet,” John protested.

  “You don’t need to. Have a nice day.”

  “Wait, do you know of a nice plane for sale?”

  “Yeah, Harold has a Cessna that he is getting rid of. Keeps it well maintained. It’s a nice four seater.”

  “Thanks for everything, Fred. It’s been great working with you.”

  “You lasted longer than some. Now get out of here. I have work to do.”

  John got the hint and left. He called up Herold and made an appointment to test fly the plane. He then went to pick up Emily. He wanted her to see it before he bought it. The three of them had a nice flight over southern Idaho and northern Utah.

  When they landed, Emily said, “I can see why you like flying so much. The view from up there is simply amazing.”

  “Is this the first time you have flown?” John asked.

  “Yes, the very first.”

  The plane was in great condition and Herold’s asking price was reasonable, so John took it.

  On the way home, they stopped at the Corner Café for dinner. Emily’s old boss came out and talked to her for a few minutes and then went in and made his signature dish. He told them they had to try it and when they did they loved it.

  “How come this isn’t on your menu?” Emily asked.

  “It costs too much to make,” her boss admitted.

  “How much are we supposed to pay you?” was John’s question.

  “Your money’s no good here today.”

  “Thanks,” John replied and enjoyed the rest of his dinner.

  That night John slept real well. Life had sent him for a loop, but he was adjusting and coming out better for it. Still he missed his cell phone, his tablet and the internet. One day he said he would Google something and Emily looked at him like he was crazy. He had to explain that it would be a word someday. Still she shook her head.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  It was early in the morning that John got the call. Susan’s enlistment was over and she had good news. She and Tim were moving to Utah so she could go to medical school. They would be living just across the border from Idaho. It would be easy for them to pop up there on a weekend.

  Tim was going into private practice and wanted to have her with him as a partner. It was no surprise to John. He remembered his father talking about going to visit Uncle John and Aunt Emily on a lot of the weekends. John had fond memories of these visits. Tim had found work in a hospital just north of the Great Salt Lake, so when Susan had expressed interest in continuing on with her education, he was all for it.

  John and Emily drove to Arizona to help Tim and Susan pack. They then went back to Utah with them to move them into their new home.

  The house they moved into was a white one story rambler with a large front porch. John recognized it right away by the porch swing. He had a lot of fun memories on that porch swing, sitting there with his father watching the world go by, it was just a small glimpse of the world. The house was on a hill and one could see the valley and the Great Salt Lake from it. This was the ‘Grandma’s house,’ that he remembered as a kid.

  When Emily saw him staring at the porch swing, she put her arm around his and asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Just having a memory,” John replied.

  “Is it a good or a bad memory?”

  “It’s a very good memory.” He turned and smiled at her. The truck had arrived at this point so they helped guide the movers where to put the boxes and then started unpacking them even while even more boxes were being moved in.

  Both Tim and Susan noticed that John would look into a room and sigh. He seemed to know exactly where Susan wanted stuff. She finally cornered him. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, many times. I loved this place. Do you have that marshmallow chocolate chip cookie recipe yet?”

  Susan was taken back a little. “I found a recipe like that in a woman’s magazine. I clipped it out with the thought of trying them someday.”

  “You always had some in the cookie jar when we would come to visit. I will go shopping with you to get ingredients after we finish unpacking.”

  Susan smiled, “sure, I can see how important it is. Can’t let you come to Grandma’s house without getting your favorite cookies.”

  John gave out a short laugh then hugged her.

&n
bsp; After they finished unpacking, they all went out to dinner and then went grocery shopping. That night they enjoyed the cookies while they played card games around the table.

  It was nice having help just a couple of hours away. Some days when Susan would be having a hard time with finals or having struggles during a semester, Emily would go down and babysit for a week or two so Susan could get through the rough parts. The two women hit it off beautifully.

  John and Emily were there in the front row during her graduation. It was a great day and they celebrated by going out to dinner.

  After dinner, Susan got John aside. She had a serious look on her face. “Tim and I are thinking of adopting. We have started the paperwork. Now that I am through with school, I can join Tim’s practice. We will take turns being on call so there will always be someone home for the children. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s up to you.” John said. He had not thought it out.

  “I mean, you, the one with the knowledge of the future. Did we do that the last time around or not?”

  “Oh,” he said. He was hesitant to answer. “I don’t know if I should tell you. You should live your life. So far it has turned out exactly like it did last time as far as I know.”

  “I don’t want someone around that comes between Tim and me. What if we adopt a monster who ends up killing people? If we can stop it now, it would be better.”

  “What does your heart tell you?” John was trying to put it back onto her.

  “I don’t know. I want to do it, but I also am so worried. I can’t go forward, but I want to. Help me out.”

  It was hard to deny Susan so he gave in. “Aunt Jamie and Aunt Elsie are wonderful and will make your life pleasant and full.”

  “Twins?”

  “Yes, they assigned the twins to you because of your stable marriage and financial stability.”

  She gave John a huge hug. “Thank you so much!”

  “Okay, but no more questions about the future. It makes me so uncomfortable.”

  “I’ll try not to,” she said with a wink.