First Snippet

Timelines Intertwined—Déjà vu Interfering

Clay’s time travel usually went as expected, staying in the intertwined timeline, but sometimes it went off on tangents that he never really appreciated or recognized, and therefore controlled. When he travelled in these tangents, it gave them more emphasis than they would have had normally, upsetting the intertwined timeline of which they were part. The tangents were meant to contribute to events but not dominant. When he returned from them, they had become strong occurrences of déjà vu, especially for those that were inclined to have premonitions. Clay’s mother was such a person. This déjà vu vision was such that she would see not only one instance of the “I’ve been here before” moment but many events of the now emphasized tangent timeline.

* * *

        “I’m leaving for the ranch tomorrow,” Jon said reminding Jessica of his plans.  Clay, after becoming a success in the technological world, often went to his family’s ancestral ranch in South Texas.

“How are you getting there?” Clay’s mother asked with a rising level of anxiety.

“I’m flying the Cessna Citation of course,” said Clay’s father.  It was a small jet plane that didn’t require a copilot.

As Jon said that, Jessica, in her mind’s eye, could see lightning flashes, and a storm buffeted airplane.  “You are taking a copilot, correct?” Jessica asked, knowing her husband’s characteristic of taking chances.

“He’s on vacation.  Besides, I’ve made this trip hundreds of times with no copilot.  I’d like to take Clay with me.  He’d benefit from being on the ranch and getting away from Boston,” Jon said, knowing his request to take ten year old Clay with him would be denied.

“No way in hell are you taking him, and I don’t want you to go either,” Jessica said, even more emphatically than usual.

“What are you so concerned about?  I take more chances getting to the airport than flying to Texas.” Jon said as he argued his case.

“Jon, please trust me on this.  I don’t know why, but I see a disaster coming.  A voice in my head keeps saying, ‘Don’t let him fly alone.’  I heard it in a dream last night and again this morning while I was reading.”

Jon shook his head not sharing his wife’s concern.  Then, he remembered when she had been right.  In that particular case, he was reluctant to release his anti-hacking software.  His wife said, “Just do it!  You know it’s right.  If there are any problems with it, they’ll be minor.”  He did as she advised.  Upon later investigation, Clay, as well as many in the scientific, government, academic, and industrial communities, found that there was some devastating malware set to go off on all computers.  He had stopped it from happening by doing what she asked.

“OK, dear, I’ll delay a day or two.  Let’s go do something fun to take your mind off of things,” he said remembering the cowboy’s motto of protecting your woman. “We have that sailboat that we never use, docked in Rhode Island.  Let’s go there for some sailing.

Jessica knew his romantic notions and, although they weren’t PC, accepted them.  She smiled with the love that she had felt for him since the very first time they met.  “I would enjoy that and I know Clay would,” she said.

* * *

       The weather was absolutely perfect for sailing. Being on the water allowed them to totally forget the problems that lead them there in the first place.  They were able to sail to Long Island, get a transient slip for a night’s stay, and eat at a nice restaurant then return. The winds ahead of the storm that Jon would have had to contend with, had he gone to Texas, were perfect.

When they got back to the mansion, Jon checked the news and weather.  The storm that he had seen while making his flight plan went from being stalled over western New Mexico to moving very quickly east.  It surprised all the predictors.  Even with the advanced weather tracking techniques of the day, God still had an ability of one-upping humanity.

“I saw the news regarding that storm over Texas,” Jessica stated.

“Yes, I saw it as well.  It wouldn’t have affected me, I would have seen it coming, and put down in Little Rock,” Jon said.

“Did you also see that there was someone killed in that storm?  It was someone flying a Citation, like yours,” Jessica said in an almost I-told-you-so tone.

“No–I didn’t see that,” Jon said surprised, as he swallowed hard.  “But, as I said, I would have put down before the storm.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure you would have,” Jessica said but not believing it.

Just then Clay walked in.  Jessica had another déjà vu moment as she said, “How are you, honey?  What have you been up to?”  She had always seen her son as doing great things, like his father. Somehow, now she could see a grown Clay that was considered to be a ne’er-do-well.  She caught herself thinking, that’s nonsense.