A Rescue Back in Time
Part One
Dateline
September 2010
Chris had more on his mind than the unseasonably warm weather in South Philly. The tall sandy blonde real estate agent smiled as he passed a chain of butcher shops and rows of stands filled with an assortment of apples, bananas, oranges, peaches, and other produce on 9th Street.
This September morning, Chris was in a fantastic mood, but his day would change sooner than anyone could have expected. Soon he would encounter a childhood friend that would force him into making a life-altering decision.
Last night Chris and his buddy Tony drove down to Columbus Boulevard to watch the drag races. His friend persuaded him to place a little wager. Tony sized up the two cars in the third race; he was confident he had a winner.
“I bet you two tickets to the Sixers’ Boston game that the green Chevy wins.”
Chris shook his head as he walked down the street, remembering the expression on Tony’s face when the souped-up Mustang shot across the finish line first. As Chris made his way past the sparse crowd of early shoppers, greengrocers, fishmongers, and shopkeepers, he crossed a street the size of a wide ally when he heard someone calling out to him.
“Yo Christopher, over here.”
A stocky, bearded man with salt and pepper hair motioned for him to come down the deserted little street. It was Kenny, his old nemesis from his childhood. Kenny used to be the neighborhood bully, but that seemed like a lifetime ago to Chris, who was now an adult and no longer afraid of him.
“What’s up, Kenny? I haven’t seen you around for a while.”
As Chris moved closer, he recognized that Kenny looked different, older. He wore a pair of old faded jeans and a blue plaid shirt. The Kenny Chris knew that he grew up with would have never been caught dead wearing something so plain, so ordinary. Kenny stood next to a stack of old wooden crates. He motioned for Chris to follow him deeper into the little street. Chris became leary once he noticed that street dead-ended into a ten-foot brick wall.
“Come over here, Chris; I just wanna talk to you for a minute, man.”
Chris stopped when he saw Kenny’s gray hair.
“Hey man, aren’t you supposed to be in Holmesburg? I heard they got you on a double homicide.”
Kenny shook his head, “That’s a long story, dude. I didn’t do it. Look, Tony told me that you were coming this way today. I need a favor from you.”
Chris kept staring at the older man who stood before him; not knowing what to make of Kenny’s appearance, he let him talk. When Kenny reached for a brown paper shopping bag behind the crates, Chris took a step back and waved him off.
“Look, Kenny, you know I’m not into that shady stuff, and besides, my wife’s having a baby. I can’t afford to go to jail, especially now.”
Kenny smiled,
“Yeah, I know. Look, Chris, I know that you are not going to believe this, but I came here from the future, thirty years in the future to be exact.”
Chris laughed in Kenny’s face. “Those drugs finally got to you, huh?”
Kenny ignored the wisecrack and continued. “I got a kid, a son. He’s nothing like me; he’s a good kid. His name is Antonino. In a way, he sort of reminds me of you. He’s getting married; well, at least he was going to before the explosion.”
Kenny saw that Chris was not buying his story, but that didn’t stop him. “He went to the caterer's store on South Street a few days before the wedding. According to the Fire Marshall, there was a gas line rupture; the whole place just blew up. They said something about a faulty line.”
Chris was losing patience, “Look, man; I don’t know what the hell you are going on about. Don’t forget,”
Chris pointed his finger at Kenny, “I know you. You have always been a prankster. I still remember when we were in the seventh grade, and you switched Mr. Harrison’s chocolate candy with a laxative.”
Kenny laughed, “Yeah, man, that was great.” His expression turned serious again. “That was then, come on Chris,”
His voice grew louder as he pointed to his head. “Look at my grey hair, look at this beard. Look at the wrinkles on my face.”
He reached inside the brown paper bag and pulled out a beautiful purple and white crystal the size of a golf ball.
“When I got out of prison, the only one waiting for me was my grandfather August. We haven’t spoken since I was nineteen. He told me that I was a worthless piece of crap. He went on to tell me how I was screwing up my life and that I would end up on a slab before I was fifty. Then things got interesting. He looked me in the eyes and said that he used to be just like me. August fiddled with his lime green pinky ring as he told me the story.”
“When your grandmother carried me, there was no movement. Some people said I would be stillborn, but she proved them wrong. I came out kicking and screaming on August first. Everyone called me the August miracle; some said I should not be here, that she made a deal with Satan. That changed her, made her angry, which made me angry. Right before she died, she seemed to find peace. She called me to her bedside and gave me this.”
Kenny placed the crystal in the palm of his hand and guided it towards Chris.
“Turns out that while my great-grandmother was explaining how it worked, she died. She never told my grandfather where she got it. All I know is that it’s only good for one round trip into the past or the future. That’s how I know about the explosion, and that’s how I could come back. I need you to go back in time to stop the explosion. I can’t do it now; I tried. It’s a catering shop on South Street. Everybody I talked to thinks I’m crazy.”
Chris shook his head, “They’re not the only ones. Can’t you get somebody else to do this?”
Kenny shook his head, “No, not in this timeline; you’re the only one I know who’s still speaking to me. Sophia won’t even talk to me.”
Chris was about to walk away. He was frustrated and just wanted the conversation to end.
“You dress differently and act differently, but you’re still the same guy. Why do you keep disrespecting your mom by calling her by her first name?”
Chris frantically waved his hands, “Forget it. Why don’t you tell your son before the explosion?”
Kenny pointed to the crystal, “I used my one trip; that's the way it works. You are asking me to wait thirty years, hoping I will still be around to tell him then.”
Chris waved him off and walked away. “This is crazy, man; you need to get yourself some help.”
Kenny was desperate; he needed to think fast. He called out to Chris, “Your wife has a girl; her name will be Cynthia. Your daughter is marrying my son.”
Chris stopped dead in his tracks. Kenny was sure that he had gotten Chris’ attention, he yelled down the narrow street.
“They are in love or will be. If you don’t stop this, it will break her heart.”
Chris walked back to where Kenny was standing. “You’re a drug dealer, a hustler, a thief, a con man, and a liar. A liar who will say anything to get what you want!”
Kenny stared Chris right in the eyes. “So you finally grew a pair. There was a time that I would have whipped your ass for talking to me like that. You’re right, I was all of those things, but I have changed.”
Kenny reached inside the brown shopping bag and pulled out a copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper was smaller, and the paper they printed it on had a different texture to it. Kenny turned it to the obituary section. He handed the paper to Chris, who read the date, September 27, 2040. Thirty years from now. After Chris read the article, he handed the paper back to Kenny. His mood had turned somber.
In a quiet voice, he said, “What do you want me to do?”
Kenny pulled out a change of clothes and a smaller bag wrapped around it with a red rubber band. Inside the bag were $30,000 in old bills and the property’s address Chris was to buy. Chris took one look at the money and backed off.
“Yo, where did you get this money? Did you steal it?”
Kenny chuckled, “Dude, I came from the future. I looked up the winning numbers before I came back. Look, the old Kenny would have been rich today, but I only won what was in that bag and, well, a little extra so that me and Sophia could live comfortably once she starts speaking to me again. I had to guess what size clothes you wore. It looks like I came pretty close. Once you own the property, you can make sure that the catering service never gets built. Put a parking lot or something on it. I don’t care what you do as long as no gas lines are running into the building.”
A reluctant Chris searched his mind for a better way. If this worked, he could be stranded in South Philly in 1980; it was a frightening thought.
“Hold it! Why don’t I just wait thirty years and tell them before he goes into the caterers?”
Kenny shook his head, “Do you want that hanging over your head for the next thirty years and besides, you won’t be there. In fact, you won’t make the wedding either. I can’t tell you why; it might screw up the whole timeline thing. Didn’t you ever watch Star Trek?”
Chris accepted the money and old clothes. He ducked behind an old smelly dumpster and changed into the outfit that would help him blend in with the others in the past.
“Here, whatever you do, don’t lose this; it might get cold.” Kenny reached inside the shopping bag and handed Chris a jacket. “In exactly two weeks, it will transport you back to this spot, but it will be as if you never left.”
Chris seemed confused.
“Okay, Chris, since you can’t go forward in the present, you will come back here at the same time you left. Nobody will ever know that you were gone, except me. When I squeeze this crystal, the portal will open and send you to wherever I am thinking, but it has a limited range, so you will still be in South Philly. Oh, I almost forgot. ” He handed Chris a smaller version of the time travel ball. Anticipating Chris’s next question, Kenny pointed to the ball he had just given to Chris. “As far as I can tell, it’s some kind of tracker. This device will find you and bring you back.”
This heightened Chris’s anxiety. “How could you forget something like that?” Kenny motioned for him to calm down. Everything’s going to be okay.
Kenny looked around to make sure that no one was looking. He squeezed the crystal as hard as he could. Without warning, a circular eight-foot-high portal appeared. Swirling blue and white sparkling lights appeared in front of the wall. A trembling Chris took a deep breath before slowly walking into the light. He took one look back; Kenny had a slight smirk on his face right before he vanished into the portal. In an instant, Chris was standing in a park. The weather was cooler and the skies were overcast. Chris whispered, “Why would he send me to the park?”
He shook his head, Kenny may have changed some of his ways but he was still the practical joker. Is it possible? He thought. Can I really have gone thirty years into the past? Before he could get his bearings, four thugs walked up to him.
“What park is this?” he asked.
The guys laughed; they all looked to be in their early twenties. Their clothes looked different, but that was expected. One guy had a scar across his chin and a pack of Camels tucked inside the sleeve of his short-sleeved tee shirt. He stepped right up to Chris’s face.
“You’re in League Island Park douche bag. This is our turf.”
Before Chris realized what was going on one guy snatched the bag out of his hand and the other three jumped him. They beat and stomped him before taking the bag with the thirty G’s and walking off. Oh, this is just great, Chris thought to himself as he massaged his forehead. I’m stuck here for two weeks with almost no money. The thieves were happy with the newfound wealth. They didn’t bother checking Chris’s pockets. He reached inside his pocket and thanked his Dad for teaching him never to carry all his money in his wallet. Chris counted out ninety-seven dollars.
“How in the hell am I going to live off of $97?”
