The Secret Manuscript (24 page)

Ben rushed
into the store and played his numbers. He came out a minute later
and showed Vanessa the ticket.

“Be careful,
that’s twenty-million dollars right there.”

“Wait, Ben you
can’t cash this ticket.”

“Why not?”

“Because
there’s already a Ben Owen in this time period and he doesn’t win
the lottery. Whoever wins this jackpot is going to be all over the
news and that’s going to weird a lot of people out if suddenly
there are two of you.”

Ben
contemplated a moment and determined Vanessa was right. We need
someone to cash this ticket for us — someone we can trust.”

“How about
that Patrice guy?”

Ben thought
about it and figured out what to do.

“Oh my gosh,”
Ben said in disbelief.

“What is
it?”

“I know how to
cash this ticket. We have to go back to Calgary.”

“Why, what’s
in Calgary?”

“Not ‘what’,
but ‘who’ — Charles Gringer is going to cash this ticket.”

“But you don’t
even know him,” Vanessa said.

“It doesn’t
matter. Charles Gringer won the lottery… or should I say wins this
lottery… and then leaves me his house. Don’t you see? This has all
happened before. It never made sense why a guy would sign over his
entire estate to some kid he’s never met. Now I know why he would
do that!” Ben said, holding up the ticket.

“What?”

“My neighbour
Gladys said it was unusual for Charles Gringer to win the lottery
because he had never played before. This explains how a man goes
eighty years of his life and wins the lottery on his first
try.”

“This is
really weird.”

“Tell me about
it. Come on, follow me. I want to check something out.”

Ben grabbed
Vanessa by the hand and dashed across the street. A few blocks away
was Ray’s Superstore — the small grocery store where Ben used to
work. From the exterior, the place looked as it always had. There
were a few cars in the parking lot, but at this time of day, the
place was likely to be empty. They cut across the lot as Ben had
done a thousand times in the past and stopped just out front.

“Ben, wait,”
Vanessa said, holding him back. “This is where you used to work,
right?”

“Yeah.”

“You really
think this is a good idea? Seeing yourself may cause some ripple in
the space-time continuum and the universe might implode.”

“It’s funny
you say that, I thought being with you would do the same thing and
yet here we are. Don’t worry, I won’t allow myself to see me… that
sounded really strange.”

“What about
your co-workers, someone is bound to recognize you and then what
are we going to tell them, that we’re from the future?”

“It’ll be
fine, I promise,” Ben assured. “Do you know why nobody at the Daily
Planet suspected Clark Kent was Superman?”

“Why?”

“It’s because
people only saw him in one context. They only saw him as this
bumbling nerdy guy with glasses, and they couldn’t perceive him any
other way. Look at me, I’ve put on about twenty pounds of muscle
since last year, I haven’t shaved in a few days, and I’m wearing my
street clothes. To top it all off, I’m with a beautiful woman,
which is extremely out of character for me. Unless I go in there
with bad posture and wearing an apron, these people I used to work
with won’t recognize me.”

“If you say
so.”

The automatic
doors parted and together they entered the grocery store. For good
measure, Vanessa walked in first to draw people’s attention away
from Ben, who kept his head down. There was no reason to be there
other than out of pure interest. Ben had a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to objectively observe himself in person, and was
curious to see how he behaved.

Together they
walked around the store, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
Just then, Chad, the manager walked down the aisle. To avoid being
recognized, Ben quickly turned around and walked in the other
direction. As he did though, he accidently bumped into a lady who
was holding a jar of pickles. The jar dropped from her hand and
shattered on the ground.

“Oh my
goodness, I’m so sorry, miss,” Ben said.

“It’s okay,”
the lady replied.

Ben looked up
and recognized the woman immediately.

“Velena,” he
said under his breath.

He was
completely caught off guard. He looked at the lady and smiled, but
did not say a word to her. The shattered pickle jar caught Chad’s
attention and he rushed over to make sure everybody was okay. By
the time Chad arrived, Ben and Vanessa were walking briskly toward
the exit.

“Ben!” Chad
yelled.

Ben froze in
his tracks and had a knot well up in his stomach since he thought
for sure he had been spotted. Ben slowly turned around and saw Chad
walking in the other direction.

“Hey, B.O., I
need you in aisle six. Somebody dropped a jar of pickles.”

“Okay, I’ll
get right on it.”

“I’ll be
deducting the cost of the pickles from your paycheque.”

“What? You
can’t do that.”

“First of all,
don’t talk back to me. Second, someone has to pay for those
pickles. Pickles aren’t free you know.”

Ben and
Vanessa observed from a distance.

“So that’s
your manager?” Vanessa asked.

“
Was
my
manager. He’s a real piece of work, huh?”

The younger
Ben walked out from the back room, wheeling a mop bucket, and
carrying a broom with a dustpan in the other hand. Vanessa saw the
resentful look on young Ben’s face and it melted her heart.

“Aww, I feel
so bad for you,” She said. “Look at you cleaning up those pickles,
you seem so sad.”

Feeling sorry
for the young Ben, Vanessa felt compelled to approach him. She
walked over and offered some words of encouragement.

“Don’t worry
about him, he’s a jerk,” she said.

“Thanks,” the
young Ben said.

“You may not
realize this now, but you have a lot of potential. Keep your head
up, it will all work out for you one day.”

The younger
Ben stood there for a moment with an ambivalent look on his face.
Not only did the strange comment perplex him, but he was also
wondering why a beautiful woman was being so nice to him.

Whoever is
dating her is a very lucky man
, he thought.

“What did you
say to him… I mean, me?” Ben asked.

“I told him…
or should I say you, that everything will be okay.”

Ben thought
about it for a moment then had a bizarre revelation. He looked up
at Vanessa wide-eyed. “Oh my gosh, I just realized you’re the
attractive woman!”

“Thank you,”
Vanessa said.

“No, you don’t
understand. I remember an attractive woman giving me some words of
encouragement. I had no idea what it meant, but I thought you were
really pretty.”

Vanessa
laughed. “Thanks.”

“After you
walked away, I remember thinking whoever was with you was a very
lucky man.”

“That’s
hilarious. Just you wait young Ben, you’re about to get lucky in
about six months!”

“I remember
seeing you for the first time in the university. I had this strange
feeling like I had met you before, but I couldn’t remember where I
had seen you. This is all so strange, huh?”

“Very
strange.”

Ben and
Vanessa had enough fun watching younger Ben and decided to leave.
Once outside, Ben insisted they wait around for a moment. A few
minutes later, a woman exited the store carrying several bags of
groceries. As the woman walked past them, Ben greeted her
warmly.

“Hi, Velena,
I’m really sorry for bumping into you.”

“How do you
know my name?” the woman asked with a puzzled look.

“It’s a bit
complicated, but I’d love to tell you all about it, do you have a
few minutes?”

“I
suppose.”

“Great, can we
help you with your groceries?”

The trio
walked across the street to the bus stop and took a seat on the
bench.

“Velena, I’m
not exactly sure how to tell you this,” Ben started out, “and you
probably won’t believe me, but we’re from the future.”

“Y’all are
some sort of time travellers?” she asked.

“Not exactly,
it’s our first time,” Ben said.

“And we’re
only from a year from now,” Vanessa added.

Velena was not
quite sure how to respond, so she did not say anything else until
she heard more from Ben. She sat there with an open mind and
listened intently.

“You may not
realize this,” Ben continued, “but you play a very important role
in my life.”

“I do?” Velena
asked. “Please explain.”

“Tomorrow
night, there will be a fire at my apartment. I will lose everything
and be completely devastated. Then on Saturday morning, you are
going to see me get on the bus. I won’t look as I do now, instead
I’ll be slightly younger and a little skinnier.”

“And his hair
will be longer,” Vanessa added.

“I’ll board
the bus and sit across from you, probably looking miserable as all
hell, but I need you to strike up a conversation with me. I’ll be a
little stand-offish, maybe even rude, but please don’t take this
personally.”

Velena nodded,
hanging on Ben’s every word.

“Aside from
the conversation, I need you to do three things for me,” Ben
continued. “The first thing I need you to do is offer me a place to
stay. Don’t worry, I won’t actually take you up on the offer.”

“The second
thing I want you to do is give me a note that says the following…
you might want to write this down.”

Velena took
out a pen and a piece of paper from her purse and transcribed
exactly what Ben said.

DON’T GIVE UP,
YOUR LIFE HAS A PURPOSE — 403-555-8111

“How did you
know my phone number?” Velena asked.

“Because I’m
from the future and you gave me that note already.”

“What’s the
third thing?”

“The third
thing I need from you won’t take place right away, but in a year
from now, my brother is going to call you looking for a place to
stay. When he arrives in Cold Lake, I want you to give him a
package.”

“This all
sounds a little—”

“Strange?” Ben
added.

“I was going
to say unbelievable, but strange works too.”

“I know, I’m
sorry. You’re probably asking yourself,
why would I do all this
for a person I don’t even know?
Here’s how I intend to repay
you. For the offer, the note, and giving my brother a package, I
will give you...”

The glowing
red digits read 3:00 a.m. when the music turned on. Ben rolled over
and hit the button on the bedside radio, shutting off the alarm. He
turned back over to make sure Vanessa was up.

“Is it time?”
Vanessa asked.

“It’s
time.”

Ben peeled the
covers off and got out of bed. He stumbled to the bathroom and
flicked on the light. The bright fluorescent lights illuminated the
tiny space, spilling out into the main room. Turning on the faucet,
Ben cupped his hands under the cold liquid and splashed it on his
face. He then reached for a nearby facecloth and dried himself off.
Staring in the mirror, Ben considered what was at stake.

Vanessa
entered the bathroom while Ben was brushing his teeth and hugged
him from behind.

“This is a big
day for you,” she said. “How do you feel?”

“I’m a little
nervous to be honest with you,” Ben slurred as he tried to talk
with a mouthful of toothpaste. He spit out the foam from his mouth
and said, “In an hour from now, a lot of questions will be
answered.”

After getting
ready, the couple headed downstairs and hurried through the lobby.
The receptionist looked at them a bit oddly, but did not say
anything. Once they exited the hotel, the cool night air gave them
chills as they dashed across the small parking lot. Under the soft
glow of the overhanging streetlight was Ben’s Mustang. Taking the
key out of his pocket, he deactivated the alarm and helped Vanessa
get in.

Once they were
both inside, Vanessa made a comment. “You know what just occurred
to me?” she asked.

“What?”

“This car
doesn’t exist yet.”

“It’s fine, it
looks enough like last year’s model… or this year’s model,
depending on how you look at it. Besides, I don’t think people in
Cold Lake are savvy enough about cars to spot the difference and
deduce that a couple of time travellers are in their company.”

Ben and
Vanessa drove to the apartment and parked across the street. Ben
checked his watch; it was just past 3:30 a.m. He turned on the
radio, adjusted the heat, and got comfortable.

“When does the
fire start?” Vanessa asked.

“I’m not sure,
but I think it’s around 4:00 a.m. I was asleep when it happened,
and when I woke up I was disorientated. From what I heard, it was
around this time. Should be any moment now, we just have to
wait.”

They waited
patiently for twenty minutes, scanning the grounds outside the
apartment building. There were a few cars that passed by, but no
pedestrians. After another ten minutes still nothing happened.

“Ben,” Vanessa
said, breaking the silence, “I think we should start to consider
the obvious conclusion that we’re the ones who burn down the
apartment.”

“What?”

“Think of all
the events in your life that were orchestrated by you, the dropped
pickles, Velena, the lottery… maybe we are supposed to get out of
this car and burn this mother down.”

“Vanessa,
don’t be ridiculous, I’m not burning down my apartment. That’s
where I draw the line. We’re just going to have to wait and see
what happens.”

Just then, a
fire alarm sounded and they both sprang up in their seats.

“Okay, we’re
on,” Ben said, getting out of the car. Vanessa exited the vehicle
as well and stood by him, observing from a safe distance across the
street.