Second Time Around (5 page)

With Phoebe out of commission, Cheryl was the only past winner whom the press would interview before the drawing tomorrow. Yet Mac had to smile. He remembered last year’s press conference before the winners were sent on their journeys. Cheryl had revealed a star quality. She was a natural in front of the camera and had no trouble putting the media in their place. It was a trait that might come in handy.

“Do you ever wonder how Leon’s doing?” Cheryl asked.

The question took him by surprise, though he realized it shouldn’t have. Leon Burke was the one winner who’d decided to stay behind in his Alternity, in 1962 Tennessee. There was no way anyone could know whether he was thriving or in misery. Yet any life had to be better than the life of a homeless, murdering transient Leon had lived in the present. He’d been so desperate to go back in time that he’d actually killed the legitimate winner, Roosevelt Haven, and had taken his place. Such horrible complications were possible the first year, but no more. A more stringent ID process had been set in place.

The murder of Roosevelt could have been the end of the entire Time Lottery program if it weren’t for the insatiable fascination people had with the concept of getting a second chance to do things right. Or at least better.

“…wearing a bikini and a diamond tiara for my interview tomorrow. What do you think?”

Mac blinked. “What did you say?”

“Tsk, tsk,
Alexander. You weren’t listening.”

“Sorry.”

She set her sandwich in her lap, took his hand, and kissed it. “It’ll be all right, Mac. I know it will. Relax. God’s got it covered. Plus, I’ll be there.”

God and Cheryl Nickolby. It
was
covered. How could he fail?

THREE

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Kansas City

Mac put a hand on the back of Cheryl’s neck. “You ready to face the lions?”

“Ah, think again, bucko. The better question is, are they ready for me?”

He laughed, then snuck a kiss to her cheek before heading onstage to introduce her. The applause was immediate. The Time Lottery auditorium was filled to capacity. Many of the seats were taken by media and those who’d been invited. But the line for general admission had been two blocks long.

The VIPs looked very important in their front-row seats. Yet they had no advantage over the cameraman in the back or the janitor who would sweep up afterward. Let them feel important now. The great equalizer was the swirling Plexiglas model of the world that contained the gyrating tickets of all the entrants. Buy one ticket, get one chance. Simple.

Yet not so simple. The intricacies of the Time Lottery experience reinforced Mac’s belief in an all-wise, loving God who delighted in handling amazing details. How else could it be explained that last year’s winners had each met each other in their pasts?

Phoebe had met Leon in 1962, Cheryl had met Phoebe in 1969, and had met Leon in 1973. As a man of faith, Mac knew better than to condone the excuse of “coincidence” in regard to such miracles. Added to this unexpected phenomenon was the fact that both Phoebe and Cheryl had come through the experience with a heightened faith and a deeper sense of purpose. Free will prevailed, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a plan, a perfect plan that people messed up repeatedly. The Time Lottery was a chance to get it right.

Mac moved to the edge of the stage and waited until the applause faded. He crossed his hands in front and smiled. “We meet again.” He accepted their laughter. “I welcome you to the second annual Time Lottery drawing. Before we leave here today, we will choose three new winners to participate in this scientific marvel of marvels, giving them a chance to travel back into their own lives to change something. However… utilizing the full extent of our marketing know-how, we are going to let you wait just a bit longer and—”

There was a communal moan. He raised a hand, playfully fending off their objections. It was all part of the game, and in truth, they knew that as much as he. “Milk the moment” was an established right—nay, duty—of every person or organization in the public eye.

“To aid you in your wait, I would like to introduce one of last year’s winners, Dr. Cheryl Nickolby, who will have the honor of picking the winning tickets.”

Cheryl burst from the wings, hands waving like an Olympic gold medalist come home. They exchanged a proper hug and as the applause continued, Cheryl offered a curtsy and a by-your-leave sweep of her hand. “Keep it up and I’m apt to forgive you for all the meddling you’ve done in my life this last year.”

“You love it!” yelled a man in the third row.

Cheryl smoothed her long black jacket over her very short skirt. She had wonderful legs… “Let’s say I’ve accepted it as a necessary evil.” She winked at them. “You are evil, you know.”

“We try!” yelled one reporter.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” added another.

“Watch it, bucko,” Cheryl said.

Once again, Mac was amazed at her affinity for banter. Even during such an auspicious occasion, she drew shouts from the audience. It was impossible not to feel at ease in her presence. No wonder she was such a successful doctor.

But if he didn’t step in, Cheryl would banter them into the next hour. “Are there any questions for Dr. Nickolby?”

“Do you wish you were going again?”

The shake of her head was vehement. “Been there, done that. I am very happy with my current state of affairs, thank you.”

“You mention affairs. How is your love life?”

She shook a finger at them. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?” She glanced at Mac but revealed nothing. “To bring you up to date, for those of you who’ve been covering such insignificant news as terrorism or the lack of world peace, you should know that I have recently taken a position at St. Agnes Hospital here in Kansas City and am enjoying my job immensely. There is currently no Mr. Wonderful in my life, so keep those cards, resumes, and expensive gifts coming.”

“When are we going to read a book about your Time Lottery travels?” a reporter asked.

Mac knew both Cheryl and Phoebe Thurgood—the other winner who’d returned—had been offered huge sums to share their stories. Neither had succumbed.

Cheryl answered by putting her hands on her hips like an exasperated mother. “Oh, that would be smart, wouldn’t it? Letting you in on
more
of my life? I think not. I need to keep a few secrets to myself.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Chicken.”

Cheryl waved their comments away, then took a step closer to the edge of the stage and waited for their silence. “Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, what I will tell you is that this phenomenon, this Time Lottery, is a scientific wonder bordering on miracle. It deserves the utmost support and respect of all. I ask you, I beg you, to do nothing to undermine the good it’s doing. Cherish this opportunity and this organization. Because if you don’t, you’ll have me to contend with.”

“Promise?”

She took a deep breath and looked at Mac. “With my threat properly in place, I now pass the ball back to Mr. MacMillan, who will take us one step closer to the all-important moment we’ve been waiting for.”

She moved aside, offering him center stage. He began his spiel. “The Time Lottery is the culmination of twenty-two years of scientific research spurred by the ageless questions of
what if?
Before the inception of the Time Lottery, humankind traveled through life making mistakes, having regrets, leaving hopes unrealized. But then a miracle. The discovery of the Loop and a way to tap into an alternate reality—the Alternity.”

It was a wonderful word…

“You’ve all experienced it. Those memories and dreams that seem real enough to grasp and hold on to. Moments. Fleeting instants visited but then lost when the sights and sounds of the present push them away. In just a moment, three lucky people will be chosen to embark on a new adventure, to receive the gift of a second chance. Three explorers will travel back into their pasts, confronting a few of the what-if questions that plague us all, discovering the possibilities of chances not taken and choices ignored. They will visit what could have been, their minds fresh and unburdened by what has happened since that moment, each one free to explore a new choice.”

Mac closed his eyes. “Think back. Remember that argument that cost you your job? Remember letting the love of your life slip away? You’ve often wondered what could have happened, haven’t you? How would your life have been different if, at one critical juncture, you would have said yes? Or no? Or said nothing. Now is your chance to find out.

“Let me share with you in layman’s terms how this opportunity to travel to the past has come to be. First off, we must ask the question, what is reality? All I know of my world is what I experience from my own point of view, my own perceptions. We each interpret this moment, in this room, in a unique way. And within that part of the brain we’ve termed the ‘Loop,’ all the real and perceived moments of your life are interwoven into a unique perception of what was, what is, and what could be.

“When you are asleep, your dreams are your reality. You know nothing of your waking life; you
care
nothing about your waking life. Likewise, when you concentrate on a memory,
that
seems to take on a reality, just for a moment. The science of time travel taps into this fascinating interweaving of dreams and memories.

“Despite what you’ve been taught by science fiction movies, the past is an
individual
phenomenon, and there are as many timelines as there are people. A new timeline branches off every time you make a decision. Each of us spins off thousands of alternate streams of time every day. Quantum physics has taught us that those timelines have real existence.

“What the technology behind the Time Lottery does is allow the traveler to hop over to one of those other time streams, into a timeline of his or her choice. The body stays here, acting like a kind of tether to the traveler while he’s off in the other reality. If he decides to stay in the new timeline—in his past—eventually his consciousness makes the switch permanently. The tether is severed and his body here dies. But in the other timeline, he has a real body and can live out a normal lifespan.

“When we send a person back in time, we place their physical body into a carefully monitored, medically induced coma. Once we’ve done so, the mind—which went to sleep concentrating on the time and choice it wants to explore—will be free to choose the new timeline extracted from the Loop, that place where the memories of a lifetime are stored.”

He glanced at Cheryl. She gave him a smile that spurred him on.

“After a person has experienced his or her Alternity for seven days—a measure of seven days in the present, but an undetermined number of days in the past—TTC doctors will introduce a gentle electric burst to the Loop, and a strange phenomenon we call ‘Dual Consciousness’ will kick in. At this point, our time traveler will finally be able to see both lives— the past and the present. It’s like waking up from a dream and remembering it with total clarity, seeing both realities at the same time. At that point he or she will make a decision. Stay? Or come back? The choice will be up to each person.

“Those who choose to stay in the past will continue on with life in their own Alternity.
That
will become their new reality. After they make their choice, the Dual Consciousness will quickly fade. And within a day, their body here in the present will die.”

It was a frightening thought and he hurried on, not wanting the audience to wallow in it.

“But please note, during the state of Dual Consciousness, the traveler can easily choose to leave the past behind and come back to this present time. The traveler merely has to focus his thoughts on something unique in this life in the future, and the power of the mind will draw him back here, into his own sleeping body. But unlike a person emerging from a normal coma, our Time Lottery winners will be able to remember what happened, and anything they’ve learned will come back with them.”

He took a final breath, as eager to move on as the audience seemed to be.

“One more thing before we draw names. You need to know that nothing the person does in the past will affect things in our present. If someone goes back and decides not to have children in her Alternity, her children in the here and now will not suddenly disappear. So don’t worry. Each Alternity is separate and distinct, a world within itself.”

Mac surveyed the room. They were ready. “And so the time has come.” He looked to Cheryl and offered his arm. Together they walked toward the revolving globe. He loved having her there to share this moment that was so important to him. That had been so important to
them.

Once at the Sphere, he pushed a button and the globe stopped its roll, causing the paper snowstorm inside to wind down. A small door stopped at Cheryl’s eye level, the pieces of paper plastered to its side. He opened it only enough for her to extract three tickets. She held them protectively against her chest.

“May I?” she asked.

He extended a hand, giving his permission. They moved to the edge of the stage, where she began.