Life on Another Planet Ch. 23-27

"Doctor Mikeska? I don't know of anyone by that name here. Doctor Phelps is your family doctor," she said, consulting the clip board on the end of the bed. "Doctor Curtis is the attending physician. He'll be here momentarily."

"I don't know any doctor by that name," Jesse protested. "What day is this?"

"It's Tuesday, July 12th," she answered, still absorbed in checking his vital signs.

"That's not possible. It was November when I got sick," he said desperately. How did I get here?"

"Your parents brought you in, as I understand it. I wasn't on duty at the time," she announced, moving to leave the room.

"Wait! Don't go. What year is this?" Jesse asked with a feeling of foreboding.

"What year? It's 1961 of course. You really have lost your bearings, haven't you," she said with a shake of her head before disappearing into the hallway.

"Oh, God," Jesse moaned to himself. "It's happening again. Now I'm back where I started. Was this all some kind of bad dream? Did I just imagine Eve and Kirsten and all that? Am I going crazy?" he wondered once again.

He lay there in a state of turmoil as a thousand thoughts rushed through his mind. It couldn't have been a dream. It was too real ... too continuous. "I touched and felt things. Making love to Kirsten and Candice wasn't imaginary. It was real," he thought to himself. "What now? What comes next?"

The answer was not long in arriving. A doctor entered the room, a stethoscope hanging from his neck. He was no one Jesse knew.

"Hello, Mr. Peterson," he said with a friendly smile. "I'm glad to see you awake at last. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Jesse answered honestly. "I'm confused. I don't know this hospital and I don't know you. Why am I here?"

"You were brought in by your parents when they were unable to wake you one morning. We've been trying to figure out just what was wrong with you, but so far, we haven't discovered the cause. You are a very unusual case."

"Yeah, that's me all right, a very unusual case," Jesse said sourly. "When am I getting out of here?"

"As soon as we determine you're fit to go back home. It will be a couple of days yet, I suspect," he said, consulting the chart the nurse had kept.

"Do you think you can stay awake for a while?" he asked.

"Yeah ... why not. I'm okay now. I don't know what was wrong, but I feel okay now."

"Well, we'll be the judge of that," the doctor smiled, "but I'm pleased you're feeling alert. We may get you up for some walking this afternoon. I want to see how your motor skills are after being unconscious for so long."

"Why don't we try it now?" Jesse suggested.

The doctor seemed to ponder the question for a moment, then shook his head. "You have a catheter in your penis. We'll have to remove that first. We'll just leave it for now and come back this afternoon and see how you are. You may be dizzy standing at first. I don't want you to have a fall and hurt yourself."

"Are my parents here? Do they know I'm awake now?"

"I don't know. I'll have the nurse get someone to call them to let them know," he promised. "In the meantime, relax and we'll see you this afternoon."

Jesse collapsed back on the pillow, frustrated that he couldn't leave the hospital yet, equally frustrated that the somewhat painful catheter was not being removed. And he was hungry. He had no illusions about what the hospital would serve for lunch, but he hoped they realized he'd want to be on the list for whatever it turned out to be.

His mind drifted back to where he'd been. Seventeen months in another world. A modern, more populated, more violent world than he had come from. No, it was not a dream. Desktop and laptop computers were not a dream. The cars he drove were not a dream. Grant's bookstore was not a dream. It all happened to him, but why? For a brief while he'd been rich. And now all of it was gone and he was left with only memories.

Wasn't that ironic? It was all he had from his former life as well. He'd lost his parents and all his friends and relatives. He'd had to adapt to a world he didn't understand, or even comprehend. And yet, with Eve's help, he did adapt ... and cope. She was right. Humans are an adaptable species. Now ... now he was back in the 'old world' as he thought of it. Gone were all the wonderful new toys that the twenty-first century had presented him with. Gone were Eve and Mica and Kirsten and Mrs. Coultard and Grant and so many others he had become friendly with. And he knew he would miss them a great deal.

So, it was the middle of summer, 1961. He assumed he still had a job at the grocery store, and he would still be eligible to begin at UBC in September. But what would he do with all the knowledge he now possessed that no one else might have. He now knew what lay ahead for society. It was such a different world, he wondered how everyone would cope with all the change that would be coming. Well, they had fifty years to get used to it. He had been given only a few months.

There was a warning inside his head that be began to listen to as well. He was going to have to guard himself from revealing too much of what he knew. Just like when he was cast forward to 2011, he was out of his time and had to be careful not to reveal that. It wasn't easy then, and he knew that it wouldn't be easy now. However, another thought came to him. He could take advantage of his foreknowledge if he was careful. He would have to be patient, but he knew things that other people could not know.

It was those thoughts and many others that distracted him until he saw two figures at the door to his room. His mother and father had arrived, his mother in tears and his father with a look of relief and a smile. Jesse was in tears himself. He thought he'd lost them forever, and now they were back, just the way he remembered them.

"Hi, Mom ... Dad, good to see you," he managed as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Oh, Jesse, I was so scared," his mother said, leaning over and kissing him, holding his hand tightly.

"Yeah ... me too, Mom. I'm okay now. They won't let me out right away. The doctor doesn't know what happened to me, so he's not taking any chances. I feel fine, but I guess I don't have any say on when I can go home. I hope I've still got my summer job when I out of here."

His father nodded. "Yes, I talked to Frank Sexsmith last week and let him know what had happened to you. He promised you would still have your job when you were better. We just didn't know when that would be."

"So, how long have I been here?" Jesse wondered.

"Ten days," his mother answered immediately. "It seemed like ten weeks to me. I was so worried. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with you, but you wouldn't wake up. They said you were in a coma, but they could detect brain activity so they decided to wait and see what happened."

"Well, at least they didn't ship me off to the funeral parlour," Jesse kidded.

"Don't joke about it!" his mother said sternly. "It wasn't funny at all. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since you got sick."

"Sorry, Mom. I guess it wasn't a joke to you or Dad."

The three seemed to be out of things to talk about for a few moments.

"So ... what's new in the neighbourhood," Jesse asked.

"Oh ... I forgot," his mother said. "The White's have put their house up for sale. They're moving to the Okanogan. I'm going to miss Maxine. She and Marge Smith are my best friends."

"Huh. Is that a surprise ... them moving I mean?" Jesse wondered.

"Yes. Apparently Harry got a promotion or something and he's all set to go now," his father said with a grin. "Said he's had enough of wet winters and cool summers."

Jesse turned and looked out the window. "Looks pretty nice out there today," he noted.

"It is," his mother said. "It's lovely today and has been for almost the whole time you've been in here."

"So, I've missed some great sun tanning weather I guess," Jesse said.

"There's lots of time left this summer, Jesse," his dad said. "You'll get your tan yet."

His parents stayed until the nurse came in and shooed them out, preparing Jesse for the removal of the catheter and ultimately for his lunch. The removal was painful and embarrassing to him since the nurse was handling his privates. Luckily, she didn't arouse any sexual interest in him, so it didn't make matters worse.

The lunch was predictable; bland in both colour and taste. Jesse was hungry enough to eat it though. When he got out of here, he was going to have a big steak and baked potato meal. He was pretty sure he could talk his mother into that, and his dad certainly wouldn't object.

His walk that afternoon was brief, but after some initial dizziness, he was fine and didn't need any support. He walked the hallway several times before returning to his bed. He spotted a lounge with a magazine rack and picked off a couple of items; a Time magazine that was only two weeks old, and surprisingly, a Road and Track magazine, the last thing he expected to find. It kept him occupied for the rest of the day.

He was up to use the bathroom and for another walk before dinner was served, then once again after his parents left in the evening. His penis was still sore from the catheter, but otherwise he could detect no other aches or pains. He felt surprisingly normal. He had already run out of things to talk about with his parents. The sooner he could get out of there the better. He would go stir crazy if he had to stay much longer. There was no TV and nothing to occupy his time with other than reading material, and most of that was old and uninteresting.

He began to realize what he would miss from his experience in the future world. The technological progress man had made in that single half-century was staggering. He also began to understand just how much he had adapted to that new world. With all its technological features, he'd learned to use, if not exploit, the wonders of their capabilities. Cell phones, personal computers, technically sophisticated automobiles, even the common bicycle was no longer common. It was truly a world of instant gratification. He could look up information on the computer in seconds, rather than laboriously wading through articles in the library. How many channels were there on the television? He couldn't count them all.

Coming back to earth, or at least as it was in 1961, was a come-down. He felt powerless at first, but realized he was in no different a situation that anyone else. He had the security and love of his family once more. On that note, he resolved to patch up any differences he had with Roberta. He was wiser now, and her gesture to him regarding the estate was a symbol he would not forget. He was also back with his myriad of friends, once thought to be lost to him forever. So ... there were trade-offs between today and the future.

Of course, there was the matter of Kirsten ... and Candice and Sue as well when he thought about it. They were three very special young women who had entered his life, however briefly. They no longer existed. He wondered often which one he would have chosen if events had turned out differently. If the auto accident that injured the voluptuous Candice had never happened, what might have been their future? And Kirsten, the magnificent larger-than-life goddess; what of her? How could he have been expected to choose between the two? Now ... he would never have to. The thought depressed him.

Friday, July 14, 1961 10:15am

Jesse's mother appeared at the door to his room all smiles. Her son, now declared healthy, was coming home. The nightmare of his illness had passed. For the first time in ten days, she began to breathe and relax. His father had counselled her not to overprotect him.

"Let him be himself, Marg. He'll know quickly enough what he can do and what he can't. It's summertime and his first question to us was whether he still had a job at the market. That's the kind of thing that's on his mind."

Margaret reluctantly agreed with Michael, although she would watch her son carefully for any signs he was overdoing it. She was upset enough when Roberta left home for a career in nursing in Toronto. Why did she have to go so far away? Weren't there nursing jobs here in Vancouver? If they had a phone call from her once a month, she would be surprised. Now Jesse was approaching the age when he would be an adult and leaving home. That was going to be even more difficult for her to accept. At least he still had four years of university ahead of him.

Jesse had been dressed since shortly after nine that morning, knowing he was being released. The minutes until his mother arrived seemed like hours. He couldn't wait to get back to his home ... the home he hadn't seen in almost a year-and-a-half. Of course, it would only be a matter of a few days, according to the calendar, but in his mind he had been away all of the time he spent in the twenty-first century.

"Can we go now, Mom?" he asked as he stood.

"Yes, let me make sure we've got everything of yours," she said, checking the small closet and bathroom for anything left behind.

"I did that about three times already, Mom. I haven't forgotten anything," Jesse assured her.

It was a forty-minute drive from the hospital, through Stanley Park, across the Lions Gate Bridge, and up the mountainside in West Vancouver to their home. The sun was out with a few clouds on the eastern horizon, but otherwise a nice sunny, warm summer day.

Jesse felt a great sense of relief as he entered their home from the garage and headed up the stairs to the kitchen. Everything was exactly as he remembered it. Nothing had changed there, or in his bedroom. The same Austin-Healey 3000 poster on the wall, and his collection of books, along with his typewriter were close to his desk. Nothing was different ... nothing at all.

It took Jesse an hour to reacclimatize himself around the house. He changed into his usual surfer shorts and a t-shirt. Their house wasn't air conditioned like Eve's apartment. It would get warm that afternoon, and even warmer in the evening. Some nights, it was difficult to sleep with the heat and the lack of a breeze. People living down by the water's edge always had a cooling breeze from English Bay on days like this.

His mother had made a typical lunch for him; soup, sandwich, and milk. It was the same lunch he favoured when he lived with Eve. He was a creature of habit. He was wondering what he was going to do for the rest of the day when he remembered to call Mr. Sexsmith and let him know he was ready to come back to work.

"Take the weekend off, Jesse," Frank told him kindly. "I'll see you Monday for your regular shift if you feel you're up to it."

"No problem, Mr. Sexsmith. I feel fine and ready to go," Jesse assured him.

"Glad to hear it, Son. We were worried about you. I'll see you Monday, then, at the usual time."

"Yes sir, I'll be there," Jesse confirmed, hanging up the phone.

He walked to the living room to look out over English Bay, and almost immediately noted that the lawn needed cutting. He headed downstairs to the garage and grabbed a pair of work gloves, the hedge clippers, and their Clemson push mower. It would give him something to do that afternoon.

Jesse was well along when he heard this mother calling him. He turned and walked over to where she was standing on the front porch.

"Jesse, what are you doing? You're not ready to do that yet. Besides, it's hot this afternoon and you'll get sunstroke if you're not careful. I don't plan to be visiting you in the hospital again. Now put that mower away and come inside," she insisted.

Jesse knew it was futile to argue with her. It wasn't that hot, and he wasn't that tired, but he could finish the job after supper and his mother's excuse wouldn't be valid anymore.

"Okay, Mom. I'll finish it after supper," he said as he pushed the mower back toward the garage.

He knew his father would support him if he wanted to finish the job later. Jesse knew his limitations and wasn't any more anxious to end up back in hospital than his mother was to see him there.

He washed up and decided to go for a walk around the neighbourhood. It would be a chance to re-familiarize him despite the fact that it had only been days since he last had been there. But memory is a funny thing. Jesse noticed things that he hadn't seen before. Had he just taken them for granted, passing by without recognizing, looking without seeing? That must have been the case, he thought. It was a strange feeling and he was thinking it would not be the last time he experienced it.

Chapter 27 Chaos and Confusion

Tuesday, September 5, 1961 8:30am

It was orientation day, first day of college. Despite the fact that the campus was considerably smaller than he remembered it when he visited with Sue Chen, it was still intimidating to a newcomer. He had taken his father's advice and enrolled early, purchased his books, looked up his class assignments, and scouted out the territory to determine just how long it would take to get from one class to another. Now, with thousands of students milling around, he was glad he'd followed his father's guidance. He could see the signs of confusion and concern on the many faces he passed as he went from class to class, making sure his enrolment was confirmed.

He was following in the footsteps of his father at UBC, except his father was in Engineering, and Jesse was in the Arts program. Arts was by far the largest of the faculties, but for now he was satisfied it would give him a start while he determined just what he wanted to concentrate on. He knew his whole way of thinking about his education had changed. Gone was journalism, but what would replace it? He had been given a vision of the future, but how to meld that with what he would learn at university? Thankfully, he had at least a year to make up his mind.

He knew from his study of history, looking back from a twenty-first century perspective, that a number of significant developments in the computer world happened in a very short period of time in the early-to-mid sixties. Fortran language used to develop programs was among them, along with more sophisticated and capable integrated circuitry. If he could get in on the ground floor of computer development, he could accurately predict what would "sell" in the future. To Jesse, that seemed like an opportunity if he could manage the technical understanding and contribute something to a company who might be involved in the business.

To accomplish that, it occurred to him that he would have to have a complete understanding of micro-circuitry and the mechanics of computers. All he knew was what he had seen of his father's company's computer: a Remington Rand Univac that required a fleet of girls punching holes in cards to create financial and sales reports. He knew now that particular process would be obsolete, probably sooner than later. The fact that a modern laptop or desktop computer held far more computing power than the Univac that took up a whole room and required a half dozen people to operate it, confirmed the direction the industry would take.

In addition, Jesse also remembered just how compressed the advance of computer technology was. One of the articles he read called it a "hockey stick" advance. The development curve started slowly along the blade, but then rose steeply after it reached the heel of the stick. And it happened over a very short period of time. One development led to another, which led to another, and so on. How long the handle of the stick was, no one knew.

Manufacturing in 2012 used computers to command robots to assemble automobiles along with other technically advanced processes. Automobiles themselves came with computers to do all sorts of functions like anti-lock braking, collision warning, fuel management, traction control, and many more. The manufacture of the computer's motherboard or "brain" was equally sophisticated.