Life on Another Planet Ch. 32-34

"What would you like to do on our next date?" Jesse asked as he drove.

"There is a concert at the Scandinavian Hall. It will be traditional music from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Would you be interested in that?" she wondered.

"If I'm with you, yes," he smiled. "I don't know anything about your native music, but I would like to hear it."

That earned him and big smile and a kiss on the cheek. Apparently, that was what she wanted to hear.

Tuesday, February 13, 1962 12:15pm

"I brought you something," Kirsten smiled as she sat down at the lunch table. "Here," she said, handing Jesse a phonograph album. "It's some of the music you'll hear on Saturday at the concert. There are some notes on the back of the album to tell you something about the music.

"Thanks," Jesse said, looking at the photograph on the cover, then turning it over to scan the notes. He read in silence as he munched on his sandwich. When he finished, he looked up to see Kirsten with her head in her hands, gazing at him with a fond smile.

"I think I'm going to enjoy the concert," he said. "I'll play this tonight and that will tell me what to expect ... right?"

She nodded briefly, her head still in her hands, elbows on the table, and a seriously warm look about her as she stared at him.

"What?" Jesse said, curious about her behaviour. There were three other people at the table and Kirsten seemed reluctant to say anything.

"We can talk about it later," she said quietly.

"Okay," he shrugged. Still, he was curious.

A few minutes later, the other three people left the table and they were once again alone.

"That music," she said, still using a subdued voice, "is very sensual. It can put you in a very romantic mood."

"Oh?" Jesse grinned. "Are you warning me ... or teasing me?"

"Oh no, I would never tease you," she giggled. "So ... I am just telling you how you might feel about it."

"I won't understand any of the words, will I?" he said.

"That is not a problem. I will be there with you to guide you ... tell you what the song means ... what the singer is saying."

She had a conspiratorial look about her that Jesse found tantalizing. The album notes didn't reveal anything that might suggest what he thought she was hinting at, but it had piqued his interest. At first he wasn't sure he'd enjoy the music, but now ... now he might find it quite something special.

Saturday, February 17, 1962 8pm

Jesse and Kirsten sat in the darkened auditorium of the Scandinavian Hall, waiting for the curtain to rise and the music to begin. They were holding hands and leaning somewhat into each other as they waited for the beginning of the evening. Kirsten had an inscrutable look about her, while Jesse harboured some information that she was unaware of.

Kirsten knew the translation of the evening's selections was Music of Seduction. It wasn't an accident that she picked this particular concert. She wasn't trying to taunt or tease Jesse, she simply wanted him in a very pliable mood. She'd neglected to mention that her parents had driven to Seattle late that day and wouldn't be returning until late Sunday. That was her surprise for him at the end of the evening.

Jesse had done a bit of homework, taking the album with him to the library and with the help of one of the assistant librarians, found a dictionary that gave him a translation for the title of the album. He'd already listened to it, of course, and found the music very relaxing and moving. If he was expecting something more folk orientated, he was mistaken. It was orchestral and melodic, not at all what he expected. He was intrigued at Kirsten's motivation when he translated the subject of the evening.

Kirsten had used a new perfume sparingly, not wishing to overpower Jesse. She had placed a tiny amount on her finger and ran it down her neck below her ears. No more. She wore little makeup normally, and that evening was no exception. But Jesse caught the scent almost immediately when he met her at her home.

"Hmmm ... you smell lovely," he said, waggling his eyebrows and showing a big smile.

Kirsten was delighted that he'd picked up the scent immediately and had reacted just the way she hoped. Stage one of her plan was a success. The concert would last about ninety minutes, more than enough time to put Jesse in the mood.

In truth, she need not have bothered. Jesse was in the mood the moment he saw her at the door. She was dressed in a form-fitting pale blue blouse and a tight, grey, knee-length skirt. She looked absolutely gorgeous. The perfume simple heightened the mood and Jesse's interest in what might take place that evening.

Saturday, February 17, 1962 9:45pm

"You enjoyed the concert, yes?" Kirsten said as the walked toward his car. Instead of holding hands, they had their arms around each other, presumably to keep warm on the short walk.

"I enjoyed the concert, yes," he grinned, mimicking her version of English.

"What did you like about the music?" she asked coyly.

Jesse had a serious look on his face. "It was very romantic. I wished we had been listening to it by ourselves. I could have held you in my arms and kissed you and told you how much I cared for you," he said.

"Oh," she said, surprised at his direct answer. "Very romantic, yes?"

He chuckled. "Very romantic. If you have a record player at home, we could listen to it again."

"I did not tell you, but my parents are in Seattle tonight. They will not be back until tomorrow afternoon. Can you stay with me?" she asked, her eyes searching his face.

"I can't imagine anything I'd like better. I'll phone my parents and let them know I won't be home tonight."

They had been facing each other in the parking lot, their arms around each other as they talked. Jesse leaned forward and placed a long, warm kiss on her lips. Kirsten responded, her arms now moving up to his shoulders, holding his kiss. Kirsten could not know that Jesse had already made love to her in his other life, but there was no sign of doubt in her expression or actions, and it was all he could do to keep from rushing her into the car and speeding to her home.

The house was dark when they arrived and Kirsten flicked on the living room lights. Jesse helped her with her coat before taking his own off. They didn't get very far from the hall closet when Jesse folded her into his arms once more.

"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever known, Kirsten. I want tonight to be perfect for you. Tell me what you want from me."

"I want you, Jesse. You are a man who is very different from other boys. I am very fortunate to have you as my friend. I hope we will be very good together as lovers, too. That would be wonderful."

"I'm going to do everything I can to make your wish come true," he whispered as he continued to caress and kiss her.

Kirsten broke free from his embrace and went to a cabinet near the phonograph. She extracted a familiar album, showing it to Jesse. She placed it on the turntable and set the needle in place. The music began, the sound being more background than full.

"This is music to make love to," she said as she rejoined him.

"Yes ... it is," he smiled, kissing her once more.

Jesse allowed Kirsten to dictate how the evening would go. It wasn't long before she excused herself.

"I will be back in two minutes, Jesse," she said with a sultry smile. "Do not run away."

He closed his eyes, just resting and waiting for Kirsten to reappear. He must have dozed off. He awoke with a start and was immediately disoriented. It was a familiar scene, but not the one he expected.

Chapter 33 Walk Like a Man

Saturday, November 10, 2012 6am

He was in his bed, but not the one he expected. It was the bed in Eve's apartment.

"Oh, fuck, no!" he groaned in despair and frustration, slamming his hands on the bed.

It had happened again. He was back in the future. How? Why? Was this his future life ... bouncing back and forth between then and now? And when was now? He rolled over and glanced at the clock radio. Six-oh-seven. But what day ... or month for that matter? Which year? He was almost overcome with despair. This wasn't much different from when he first awoke in the hospital and no one knew who he was.

He lay on his back, his mind drifting now. Where did he belong? Which reality was his ... or was it neither of them? Gradually, he pulled himself out of bed and moved to his laptop. There was one piece of information he needed. He looked at the lower right corner of the screen as it booted up.

6:11 11/10/2012

There it was, in black and white. He moved the mouse over the date and saw it was Saturday. He searched his memory of his previous time in the future and thought his last time there might have been a Friday. This must be the next day. His insides were boiling with tension. He needed to talk to Eve ... and soon. He headed for the bathroom, allowing his morning routine to distract him before returning to the bedroom to dress. Every action he took was deliberate and careful. At times he wondered where things were, but that information came back to him quickly enough.

He wandered out to the living room and looked through the curtains at the darkened city. It hadn't changed. The pavement was wet with fresh rain and the lights of the downtown reflected off the shiny surfaces adding to their intensity. Vehicles moved down streets silently, their sounds muffled by the heavy glass windows. It would be another dreary late-fall day in Vancouver. He struggled to remember if he was working that day, but a question to Eve would clear that up. It had been months since he was here, and yet the evidence before him said it was only a few hours. How was he supposed to cope with this?

He heard the door of the Gustafson's apartment close and he almost went to see if he could catch Kirsten before she entered the elevator. A glance at his watch told him she was late that morning. She knew of his time travel, but knew nothing of this latest shift. As far as anyone here knew, he'd never left. Was it all imaginary? No ... the people and places and circumstances were all too real, just as they had been in this timeline. He remembered thinking that he planned to drive to Mountainside Cemetery to see if his grave was still there. It couldn't be, of course. He had changed history and didn't die. But what about now? It was there when he first arrived in the future. Would it still be there now that he knew he hadn't died in 1961?

He started the coffee maker and poured a glass of juice while he waited for the first brew. He found a fresh Danish pastry and ate it, hoping to quiet his stomach. He was restless waiting for Eve to appear. The sooner the better; he had to tell her what had happened. Maybe she could make some sense of what it meant. Was this all some huge hallucination?

Jesse fidgeted and paced around the living room, unable to concentrate on anything. He almost decided to head down to the exercise room, but knew he wanted to talk to Eve at the earliest possible moment. The clock seemed to have stopped at times as he waited for her. It was after seven when she appeared from her bedroom, wearing her robe but obviously having had a shower.

"Good morning, Jesse. How are you this morning?" she smiled.

"Eve ... I went back ... back to before," Jesse announced nervously as she poured her coffee.

She turned and looked at the young man in surprise. "Back? You mean ... to 1961? You went back there?"

He nodded. "Yes. I was there for seven months, then ... I was here again. I don't know how I can handle this, Eve. I don't know who and where I am any more.

"Calm down, Jesse," she said quietly. "We'll talk about this. This was unexpected ... completely unexpected. I want to hear all about it."

"It's crazier than that, Eve. Candice and Kirsten were there ... back then."

"Oh ... that is ... strange. Eve was equally surprised and confused. This was not something she had even considered. Her main thoughts, however, were for her patient. She could see that Jesse was approaching losing his grip. He was very agitated and almost incoherent.

"Take a deep breath, Jesse," she said calmly, putting her arm around his shoulders. "Just breathe, Jesse, just breathe."

Gradually, following her advice, he began to calm down. She recognized his "thousand yard stare" and it worried her. She knew he was on the edge as she continued to hold him, hoping it would restore him to something approximating his normal self. It didn't happen right away, but over the next ten minutes or so, Jesse appeared to gain possession of more of his faculties and began to behave as Eve was accustomed to seeing him behave.

"What am I going to do, Eve. I'm lost. I don't know where I am any more. I'm almost afraid to go to bed, not knowing where I'll wake up."

"Steady, Jesse. I understand how you can be upset, but so far, no harm has come to you ... or to any of your friends. What I can't understand is why you can spend months in one time place and return to the other without that passage of time taking place. That just doesn't make any sense. But then ... nothing about what is happening to you is making sense. I think you and I should spend some time with hypnosis again and see if anything has changed. Then, we need to sit down and see how you can survive what is happening to you. Do you agree?"

Jesse nodded solemnly. "Okay ... I don't know what else to do. I know I have to find a way to endure this, Eve. You're the only person I can think of who can help. I'm in your hands."

"Good," she smiled in relief. "I'm glad you feel that way. As soon as Mica is on his way this morning, we can sit down and discuss what kind of action will make a difference for you."

Saturday, November 10, 2012 10:35am

There is a certain durability built into the youth of the twenty-first century. In the past several generations, the advances and complexity of society would easily overwhelm someone arriving from fifty years in the past. In fact, it almost overwhelmed those who were born in the mid-twentieth century just with the sheer velocity of change. The foundation of what they could expect from the future had been warped to something they barely recognized. From the 1930's onward, not just science had advanced at a spectacular rate, but society and social order had changed dramatically. Who of those born in that era would believe in general public acceptance of behaviour that would have been outrageous in their earlier lives. To many, it seemed like a deterioration of societal norms, challenging everything they were ever taught in their youth. Many would shake their heads and wonder aloud at what the world ... and their future ... was coming to.

Into this was thrust Jesse Michael Peterson, age nineteen now, and a visitor to the future for the second time. His mentor and guide in this new world, Doctor Eve Mikeska, was a patient tutor and a supportive friend. She assured him that like most educated humans, he would adapt. Jesse was not quite so confident. There was nothing predictable about his prospects. Would he remain in the future, or be cast back to his origins? Would these time-shifts he was experiencing continue unpredictably?

The hypnosis revealed nothing that Eve had not already discovered about her young patient. In every respect, he was a normal, healthy, intelligent young man ... except ... he was also a time traveller. There was nothing in any text book or any record of any such situation ever having taken place in the history of recorded medicine. There was plenty of theory of how it might be done, but no examples of it ever having happened. She had no guidebook to help her deal with this phenomenon.

Frustrated, she woke Jesse slowly from his state and let him get accustomed to being conscious again.

"Did you find out anything?" he asked.

Eve shook her head slowly. "No ... nothing that I did not already know. I was just taking a flyer on maybe something that was different that might reveal what was happening. All I can tell you is that you remain a perfectly normal nineteen-year-old in every respect except what has happened to you. There is nothing in your subconscious that indicates what this is all about," she sighed.

"All I can do is to try to help you cope with whatever is happening. As I said, no harm has come to you or anyone around you. How Kirsten and Candice came to be in both time lines is even more baffling."

"Do you think that this is how I'm going to be ... for the rest of my life?" he asked in a halting voice.

She sighed again. "Possibly. I can't say for sure, of course. There is just too much we don't know about this. I can tell you that you will have to be careful to guard yourself against revealing this situation any more than you already have. I have no idea what might happen to you if the wrong people discovered your secret."

"Eve ... I have to tell Kirsten. She's the only one besides you that I can trust completely."

Eve didn't agree or disagree with Jesse's decision. He was an adult now, she realized, and was capable of and inclined to make his own decisions. She might not agree and could probably get him to listen to her concerns, but in the end, it was his decision on how to live this strange life he in which he found himself.

She had spent numerous hours researching the phenomenon of time travel, coming up empty of course. It was a figment of writers' imagination, with no basis in science whatsoever. Oh, there were hypotheses by theoretical physicists that it might be possible, but the concept was vague and beyond anyone's current ability to recreate. We had yet to travel faster than the speed of light, which seemed to be a fundamental in many of these theories.

But Eve was a scientist too, and she began to look inward at the human race. We knew some of what went on in our brains, but not as much as we would like to know. There were living examples of extraordinary people who had unusual capabilities, far beyond normal humans. Could the answer to Jesse's situation lie in the brain? Could he be suffering, or perhaps had he been gifted, with some bizarre power that allowed him to live two separate existences? She could find nothing that would lead her to think there were other examples of this, but nonetheless, that's where her research was leading her. It would be easy to write him off as bi-polar, but she knew the typical symptoms bore no resemblance to his situation.

She began to look at every example recorded of unique behaviour or talent in humans. It was looking like a monumental task, but it was something she felt compelled to do. MRI or CT scans didn't exist back in the 1960's, and she wondered if one or the other would reveal some clues to Jesse's state. She could easily order them for a patient, so that would be step one. The hospital lacked the equipment for a MEG scan, but she knew there was a unit in Seattle at the UW Center. She'd have a lot more trouble getting that scan authorized, and couldn't think of how she could justify it without revealing Jesse's secret.

Saturday, November 10, 2012 4pm

Jesse's depression was relatively short lived, thanks to a certain young lady who came calling that Saturday afternoon. Jesse was in his usual location, Grant's Books, quietly going about his customer interactions with efficiency and politeness. In every respect, he was acting normally in Grant's eyes, but there was an undercurrent that Jesse's boss and friend detected that caused him to wonder. Later that afternoon, Jesse was putting some new additions to the used book supply in their proper shelf locations. It was quiet in the store and he heard the bell on the front door ring as someone entered.

He could hear Grant's quiet greeting and a female voice, but couldn't tell what was being said. The conversation went on for a minute or so before he was aware of someone coming toward the back of the store. He looked up and broke into a smile. He shook his head as Kirsten approached him, looking like a fashion model in her winter wear. How did he get so blessed as to have her for a girlfriend?