Faces in Time (29 page)

 

 

Calamity is the bizarre offspring of coincidence and pushing your luck one time too many. We assume it’s a tragic and unlikely event, but really it’s just a matter of probability. Plan enough outdoor charity fundraisers and one will eventually be rained out, leaving the needy without food, shelter, or medicine until the next event. The organizer might like to imagine some evil force spoiling the event, but the weather is merely indifferent. Walk through a crime-riddled neighborhood enough times, and one will be mugged. Leave a child unsupervised long enough, and something bad will happen.

Calamity is not fate or chance, but ignoring a dangerous possibility until it comes to life.

One’s participation in creating calamity, failing to prepare for an unfortunate outcome before it happens, is often the answer to
Why me?
, but many times one would prefer for it to remain rhetorical and an illogical, unanswered mystery, since a random occurrence is no one’s fault with no responsibility in it. A cruel twist of fate is beyond the control of the victim, and it generates sympathy from others, possibly even making it something valuable. But, something bad that could have been prevented is a different matter altogether, emitting the ebarrassment of neglect.

The perfect rows of sparkling paint, fins, antiques as well preserved as their brand new counterparts, chrome adornments polished to a mirror-shine, all flawlessly cleaned, vacuumed, and wiped—if not for the crowds of people, it would be an obsessive-compulsive dream, far from a likely womb to incubate misfortune.

However, calamity indeed reflects off the neatly-trimmed goateed face smiling at Chester, beaming in the sunlight bouncing off its thin-framed prescription sunglasses. It’s David, a clever member of the
Most Hipness
writing staff, and he briskly walks toward Chester, Rhonda, Lucky, Cindy, and Janet, who all have just met up in front of the entrance to the sports bar of the week, Beefy O’Bristol’s. Despite the bar’s Irish theme, Lucky swears it’s owned by a short Italian guy named Tariano.

The bar is on the far end of a giant C-shaped strip mall. The back row of stores spans nine blocks in length. The two ends, the top and bottom curves of the C, are smaller rows of stores connecting the long back row across the three block deep parking lot to the street. Sprinkled in the giant parking lot close to the street are islands of chain restaurants.

In the vast space of the C, half the parking lot is roped off for today’s event, inside which the car show glistens and bustles. The show is not supposed to start for forty-eight minutes, but anticipation typically brings out both participants and crowd long before the advertised beginning.

“Chester! Hey, Chester!” shouts David.

The shouting writer can make anyone smile in any situation that Chester’s witnessed, and now as David approaches, unwittingly pulling on a loose thread in Chester’s fabric of existence, Chester can’t help but surrender a smile despite the swirling panic inside him.

The sunglasses-sporting face asks, “Chester, what brings you to
Nerds on Wheels 3: What Coolness Can’t Provide Money Can Buy
?”

Group laughs.

David continues, “We were also considering the alternative subtitles:
Geeks Hiding Behind 3500 Pounds of Metal
and
Who’s got all the chicks now, jock boy?
”

Smaller laughter.

“Seriously, Chester, none of us thought you’d come out here today.”

Suddenly hit with memories of the writing staff spending exorbitant amounts of cashin intage cars during his first year on the show, Chester pieces together how his coworker whom he knew in a past present has come to be in the same place as his gambling crew of the current present time that he has usurped and the girl who is his burning love which has survived traversing through the lost past, the future that’s gone, and into the present. Having all these lines intersect in the same place is overwhelming.

David says, “Give a bunch o’ nerds a lot of money and watch what they do with it. Someone should be following us around with TV cameras and a snarky host to comment on us; it’d be the hit of the year.”

Chuckling from everyone except Lucky who is staring at his watch.

“Hell, throw in a few shows with a tacked-on environmental agenda, and it’ll be an award-winning show of the season.”

That line pulls a laugh through Chester’s wall of panic.

David adds, “Of course, none of Chester’s
Most Hipness
scripts have used that tactic.”

Cindy pokes Chester in the shoulder, “I thought you said you were a technical writer—you never said anything about writing for some TV show.”

Voice cracking at the start, “Well, I don’t like to talk about it too much, but that’s how I met Rhonda.”

David adds, “So, he’s dating a movie star, working on a hit show, and modest too? Chester, my man, there’s something new about you every day.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Chester mumbles inaudibly.

Janet takes a step away from Lucky and Cindy, getting closer to David as she asks, “So, do you have a car in this show?”

“No, I’ve been spending my money on trilobites. I’m trying to stay in the deep end of the nerd pool, not like these shallow-end socialites,” nodding his head in the general direction of the other staff writers in the mass of cars behind him, “Who needs adoration from crowds and a glistening, powerful machine when you can have the remains of dead marine arthropods?”

Only Chester smiles.

Janet continues, “You’re very funny.”

That’s what my paycheck says, but don’t tell anyone that you think so or they’ll expect me to work harder on the show.”

“Well, Mr. Funny Man, what does it say on the ‘Pay To’ line of the check?”

“David Kreller, math-nerd telling jokes. What’s your name?”

“Janet Shrew, charming divorced lady needing a drink and a few laughs.”

“Well, let’s take care of the drink first, and all that can’t be bought will be free.”

Lucky opens and steps through the door pulling Cindy by her arm behind him. In mid-pull, Cindy looks back at the group with an embarrassed expression.

Janet and David follow. Bumping her shoulder into him as they walk toward the front door of the bar, Janet says, “Well, of course, all that can’t be bought will be free. Why would you try to buy something that’s free?”

“See, every time I try to use a fancy line, it falls flat. They’re always telling me to keep it simple.”

As the others disappear into the bar, Rhonda moves directly in front of Chester who has not taken a step since David walked up to them.

“What’s going on, Chester? Are you okay, baby?”

“I…I guess he’s joining us for the game…never thought there’d be a car show near the bar Lucky was talking about—never thought the guys from work could possibly be near a sports bar like this, not their kind of place…never put it together that they could be here.”

“Do we need to leave? What do we do? One of them’s gonna come out and check on us in a second.”

“I dunno. I don’t know what to do. Never thought of this…Made it through the premiere alright—maybe we could get through today alright too. But I had nothing to lose then. Now I’ve got you.”

“Is it going to be suspicious if we just get out of here right now?”

 “Yeah, it will. David’s gonna mention seeing us here at work on Monday for sure—no way of getting around it now. And if we leave them here, it’ll be an even bigger deal—David’d have a thousand jokes before my past self even walked into the studio on Monday morning.

“The past me is going to know about all this; me interfering in his life again. What in the world would he think about hearing all this at work? Hearing about him being here over the weekend, and knowing it wasn’t him at all? How did he respond after the premiere? They had to make a big deal about you and me at work—they thought he hooked up with a movie star. And before that, how they had to have made fun of him after you left with Dane at the show party.

“I don’t know if he’s denying he was there, and they think it’s all a joke. Maybe he’s been going along with it, trying to find out from them what I’ve been up to. And you with me—it’s like I’m taunting him. They’ve got to ask him about you all the time. What can he say? You’re all I ever dreamed about. How can he deal with pretending? And David being around Janet and Lucky and Cindy—I’m leaving him a trail back to me…and you.”

Rhonda says, “I’ve been hoping that after he saw us in his apartment that he’d change his mind, that seeing that we’re human would make it click in his head how wrong it would be to hurt you—that you’re not some monster here to mess up his life and that you’re a living, breathing human being just like him.”

“Yeah, me too. Was even hoping that the punch in the nose would knock some sense into him—at least make him think he might not be able to pull it off without getting caught or hurt. Don’t think it’s very likely. And after this gets back to him—one more time that I’ve thrust myself into his life—it’ll probably get him all fired up again.”

“I don’t know, Chester. But, what do we do right now? Do we just go in and play along like you’re the past-you working on the show with David?”

“I don’t see a better way…Maybe if it gets too bad, I’ll fake like I’m sick, and we can get out of here. David might still joke about that at work, but it could be an emergency out if we need it.”

“You could try to find out some info on your past self. Get some feedback on how he’s been acting since our little visit. Might help us…”

Door swings open, Lucky steps halfway out, “Chaz, you gotta get in here; we only got two minutes to take care of business before they lock the bets down.”

Cindy’s hand smacks Lucky’s shoulder, and a faint “shhh” can be heard coming out of her mouth.

“Well, what do you want me to do, Cindy; let the game start without him in here? We might as well have stayed the hell home.”

Cindy’s voice cuts louder this time, “Shut up, you big idiot! You’re gonna get us all in…”

Door closes as Lucky steps back inside.

A breeze blows through, blanketing Rhonda’s bangs across her face.

She asks, “What’s it gonna be? Sit this one out, or go inside?”

“You’re with me either way, aren’t you?”

Green swells beneath red, and she presses her lips against his.