A Loop in Time (6 page)

Susan had left John some money to get the nails and supplies to fix the door. It didn’t look like a lot, but he took it to the hardware store that was just around the corner. When he got there he noticed a Help Wanted sign in the window. When he went in he asked to talk to the manager. A guy named ‘Chuck’ came out of the back. He was an older man with silver hair. He had smile wrinkles on his face. He was thin but not skinny.

He looked around the store. All of the shelves were made of wood and seemed heaped from floor to ceiling with hardware. John wondered how customers would reach those items near the top.

“How can I help you?” Chuck asked.

“I see a Help Wanted sign. I was wondering how I could apply.”

Chuck looked John up and down. “I would love to have someone your age, young and strong, working for me. All the young men around here are in the service or in college so they can avoid going in the service. What is your name?”

“John Buck.”

“Well, John, do I hire you, or are you just going to leave after a few weeks and go to the Army or college?”

“I just got out of the Air Force.” John didn’t know that for a fact, but it was very probable.

“Oh, good. I can start you out at $1.25 an hour.”

John thought about it for a minute, “that doesn’t sound like a lot.”

Chuck lowered his voice, “all right but you drive a hard bargain. I will start you out at $1.30, but don’t tell the others. They are all still making $1.25. You can start Monday. You will need to bring in your Social Security card before I can give you your first paycheck.”

John agreed, not knowing what else to do. He needed money. He did not know what he could do about his Social Security card. He bought the items to fix the door and headed back home.

He forced the door open, replaced the lock, then sanded down the outside and inside and painted both. Then he tightened the hinges. When he was done, it looked like a new door.

Susan arrived from work out of breath. John was anxious for her to see his handiwork, but she ran to her bedroom, changed clothes and then ran back out.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” John asked.

“I have a date.”

John was taken aback by that. He didn’t know what their relationship was but he was a little hurt that she had a date and had not talked to him about it. But then again, she didn’t owe him anything. He owed her, if anything.

“I fixed the door,” he said sadly.

She paused on her way back out to the laundry room. “Oh, looks nice.”

“You can use it,” he said as she was heading out of the laundry room door, by force of habit.

She retraced her steps, “Oh, wow, it works and everything? You even painted it.” She walked out the front door for the first time in years, then started running for her Jeep.

John shut the door behind him. He turned towards the television. “I guess it’s just you and me tonight, kid.” He sighed as he sat down.

Dr. Ralston was a bit early when he pulled up to Susan’s house in his black sedan. He saw her running around the corner towards her Jeep. She stopped suddenly in her tracks when she saw the Doctor.

“Oh, you’re here already.”

“Were you going somewhere?” He asked. It was odd that she was out in the driveway.

“I was going to buy some perfume, but since you’re here, I guess I can go without.”

“Nonsense,” the Doctor said. “The store is right on the way, hop in.” He even got out and opened the door for her.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Susan said with a slight blush. She had gone out with lots of guys but they didn’t open the door for her. In fact most of them were army types picking her up in their Jeeps that had no doors.

“Please, call me Tim.”

Susan giggled, “Tim, it is, then. It’s sounds so unprofessional though.”

“We are on a date, not at the hospital. We don’t have to be professional.”

“Okay.” It was an automatic reply. She didn’t know what else to say.

They drove for a few minutes in nervous silence, until the doctor could take it no more. “Is the patient getting back any of his memories?” It was common ground but then he realized he was bringing up his competition and regretted saying it.

“No, not really. He questions things that seem odd to him but he doesn’t remember why they seem odd. He was standing by the couch trying to turn on the television. Then he asked if we only have three channels. The funniest was asking about having to get up to change channels. I said of course you have to, but it seemed odd to him. It makes me wonder what the future is going to hold.”

“How can you change channels from the couch?” Tim asked.

“Telepathy, I guess.” They both laughed at that.

“Oh, he also said there was something wrong with the color on my television. I don’t think he’s ever seen a black and white one before.”

Tim got a good chuckle out of that one.

When they pulled up to the restaurant Susan was surprised. “Do you know how much they charge for the food here? I hear it can cost as much as $6.00 per person.”

“I can’t help but think this could be my last chance to impress you. It will definitely be worth it,” Tim said with a smile.

“I’m impressed already.”

The hostess led them to a table for two right away in a romantic corner. Of course the good doctor had pre-arranged all of this. They had wine and a violinist played music while they ate. Susan had never seen anything like it. She didn’t know how a place like this survived in a mostly military town. She liked it though. After dinner they got back in his car where he drove up to the hills that surrounded the town so they could look down at the lights. The doctor put his arm around Susan, which made her uncomfortable. Sensing that, he pulled it back.

He then took her to a lounge for a nightcap. It was smoky when they entered. They sat at a table for two in the back and had a couple of drinks. Songs from the Beatles and Herman’s Hermits played softly in the background.

Susan looked at her watch after about an hour. “It’s late; please take me home.”

“Of course,” he replied, but when they got into the car he could not resist going the long way to her home. He reasoned it could be his last time alone with her and wanted to make it last. He walked her to the front door, which she remembered to use. He gave a half hearted attempt to kiss her good night, but she put her finger on his lips and said, “not yet.”

John fell asleep somewhere around eleven. It wasn’t until Susan opened the door that he woke up. “It’s late,” he said. It was just an observation.

“You are not my father. You didn’t have to wait up for me. I am a grown girl out on my own; I don’t need you treating me like an adolescent.”

“But,” was all he got out as she stormed through the room and then slammed her bedroom door.

“That didn’t go well,” he said out loud. He then looked at the television. It had a test pattern on the screen. He was about to tell Susan there was something wrong with her TV, but she was upset enough, so he let it go. He just turned it off and then went to bed.

In the morning he was getting ready to go to work. Susan heard him rustling around and then she heard what she thought was the front door shutting so she got up and went to the bathroom. He was just getting in the shower when she went in. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she stammered and then shut the door.

He ignored her and turned on the water. He heard her saying something so he turned it back off to listen. “What?” he asked.

“I said you could have locked the door.”

“You weren’t up yet. Besides the lock doesn’t work, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” She was even more embarrassed now. She then heard the water turn back on. ‘Well, he doesn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by it,’ she thought to herself. She then waited patiently for him to get out so she could go to the bathroom.

After he finished she rushed in. While she was in there she could smell bacon cooking.

Susan went into the kitchen and asked, “What are you doing up so early?”

“I have to go to work,” he replied.

“You have a job?” She was very surprised.

“Yes, at the hardware store. I have to come up with a Social Security Card somehow.”

“I can help you with that. We also need to get you some more clothes. One outfit isn’t going to work when you start to get all sweaty.”

“I’ll pay you back with my first paycheck,” he promised.

“And while we’re out we will get a lock for the bathroom door, one that works.”

“Darn, I was hoping to accidentally walk in on you when you went to take a shower.” He smiled as he said it. “Fair is fair.”

“Don’t make me take my gun into the bathroom with me.”

“Okay, that would be bad. Get me a lock and I will fix it.”

“It’s a deal.”

The first day of work went well for John. He didn’t know a lot of the products but went around looking at shelves to familiarize himself with the items. There were door knobs that looked like they were made of crystal, push button light switches, and a vacuum tube tester near the front. Some of the key blacks had skeleton keys. Chuck showed him the whole store and how to use the register.

“What I need you for mostly is when we get trucks in,” Chuck said. “I have the girls here and they help where they can, but my back isn’t what it used to be.”

“Sure, no problem,” John replied.

“They come in Tuesday mornings, early. You will need to be here at six. Also you will work a long day that day and Saturday too. My busiest day is always Saturday.”

“What about Sunday?”

Chuck looked shocked. “Nobody works Sunday in this town. We all go to church. Don’t you go to church? What religion are you anyway?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I was in an accident, and I have lost a lot of my memory.”

Chuck’s face relaxed into a smile. “Okay, maybe not everyone goes to church. I was just giving you a bad time. We still don’t work Sundays. My church meets at the golf course. You are welcome to attend. You can rent the clubs there.”

“Sounds fun,” John replied. He didn’t know about this Chuck. John was going to look pretty naïve if Chuck kept playing these jokes on him. A combination of not being in his own time and amnesia were taking its toll on his being able to gauge people.

The store opened so they got busy after that. Early in the afternoon, John was figuring out that he would need to take a lunch with him from now on. He was starving. When Chuck came through he looked at John and asked, “Have you had your break yet?”

“I forgot to bring a lunch. I can just keep working.”

“Don’t be silly, go and get something. Here is a dollar. There is one of those burger joints down the street.”

“A dollar?” It somehow did not sound like enough.

“Yeah, I figure you worked for four hours. I can afford to advance your pay a dollar.”

When Chuck handed him a dollar, John mumbled, “Cheapskate,” under his breath. Nevertheless, he took it and started walking down the street. He looked up at the sign board. The hamburgers cost fifteen cents.

“I will take two hamburgers,” he said to the lady behind the counter.

He paid for them. It didn’t take long before he was eating, sitting at one of the tables. Pretty soon someone’s shadow was over his table. He looked up to see Lieutenant Granger. “Is this seat taken? I promise not to arrest you.”

“I don’t own the table. You can pretty well sit where you like,” John responded. Granger sat down.

“How are you making out? I have not seen you since you left the hospital.”

“I’m doing fine. Susan has let me stay in her spare bedroom and I just found a job at the hardware store.”

Granger scratched his head. “What is a pilot doing working in a hardware store? You should be flying.”

John laughed. “I don’t even have a driver’s license, let alone a pilot’s license. I am wondering how I am going to get a social security card that I have to have to get my first paycheck. Besides, the only airplane you guys have seen me fly is in pieces now.”

“I see. I have an uncle in Idaho who does crop dusting. He is always looking for new pilots, even those who have crashed a couple of planes. He says those are the kind he needs. He tells me the only reason they crashed is because they pushed the envelope. He needs guys who are crazy enough to do that. As for the social security card, tell them you are from Tortilla Flat. A flood in ‘42 nearly washed the town away. It destroyed all of their records so people from there have a hard time proving their age because they don’t have birth records. The town wasn’t real fast in getting the information to the state so the state doesn’t have any copies of the birth records between 1936 to 1942 when the flood happened. So you need to tell them you were born in 1941 sometime.”

“Thanks for the information. You have been very helpful.”

Granger smiled. “I was just trying to protect my country and you were a threat. Now that I know that you are an American and a member of the armed services, I can respect that. Even if you came from the future.”

John looked around and made sure that no one was within ear shot. “Shhh, don’t tell anybody.”

“I know, I know. Do you have any of your memories back? It would be especially nice to know who wins the 1966 World Series. A guy could make a fortune with just a little information.”

John laughed. “I don’t even know who the teams are. I have forgotten everything. I know things are strange and I can’t even explain why. For instance, is a fifteen cent hamburger the norm? I am getting paid only $1.30 an hour. That seems very low to me.”

“$1.30 is just over minimum wage. My uncle pays $5 an hour. He is coming to visit in a month, I will tell him about you. He might be able to help you get your license.”

“Okay, thanks.” John then looked at the Lieutenant and asked, “Why are you so disliked?”

Granger laughed. “It’s hard being liked. You have to talk nicely to people and ask them how their day is going even when you don’t care in the least how their day is going and it is boring to listen to them. Being disliked is easy. You don’t have to talk to anyone and you can walk around with a scowl when you are having bad days and everyone gets out of your way.”

John laughed and laughed. Even Granger cracked a smile. He said, “I have got to get back. I have MPs I have to terrorize.”

Granger got up and left. John had to rush to get back to work on time. The rest of the day was busy helping customers. Susan picked him up after he got off work and they went and bought him a couple of outfits.

When they got back to the house John’s feet were tired so he slumped down on the couch. Susan came and sat next to him.

“Here, try this,” she said, handing him a plate with snacks on it.

He looked at it dubiously. “What is it?”

“It’s a cracker with marmalade on it. It’s one of my favorite treats.”

He tasted it. Immediately he had chills down his back. “I‘ve had this before.”

“Really? Are you remembering something?”

“Yes, my Grandmother used to eat this. I can’t recall her name. I remember the taste, though. It tastes like Grandma’s house.”

“Wow, not only have you had your first memory, but you also have a grandmother with very good taste.”

John laughed and laughed and Susan joined him.  They ended up leaning against each other. John enjoyed the warm feel of her shoulder against his. She didn’t pull away at first, savoring the moment, then she got a little red faced and got up. “I need to cook dinner,” she said on her way to the kitchen.

“Can I help?” John asked.

“Yes, you can help; just keep your distance until I can cool down.” It was hard having a friendly, good looking man in the house. She was having a little bit of trouble with it suddenly.

“Sure, no problem.” He smiled to himself. ‘She does like me after all,’ he thought.

Dinner that night was a meatloaf. John loved it, but he did notice that Susan was keeping an arm’s distance from him. She even sat in the chair with the broken spring that night while watching television. He wondered if he had blown it by making her uncomfortable in her own house.

He went to bed early that night so he could get out of her way.