s1.e12

Winter Roads

           Jace stared into his Thanksgiving dinner, and eventually took another bite of his turkey slices. It was simply adequate. He dipped it in some of the cranberry sauce at the side of the plate, in a tiny white condiment cup, but it just barely kicked it up a notch.        

           “Your dinner okay?” Wes asked from the other side of the booth.  

           “I miss Mom’s Thanksgiving food…” He mumbled and poked at his stuffing.

           “You know I wasn’t going to try to make something in the apartment for just the two of us. There are worse places to spend a Thanksgiving than Denny’s. I think.”

           Jace leaned on his elbow and looked around at the halfway-filled restaurant. There weren’t many other kids or families; it was mostly lonely people who might have had no one else, trying to get just a taste of the banquets of Thanksgiving pasts.

           But I still don’t really want to even think about “holiday pasts,” he thought.

           He hadn’t seen Time Ninja again since that crazy night… Nights? And frankly, he was getting a little too settled, a bit restless. He wasn’t one who would usually seek it out, but he wanted to go on some sort of adventure again. Halloween, as messed up as it was, gave him an endorphin kick that lasted weeks. This holiday paled in comparison.

           “Can we do something special for winter break?” he asked. “Just… anything else?”

           “Getting bored, bud?” After Jace shrugged, he continued, “Let me think…” He looked down at his aggressively mediocre dinner. “We have fallen into a bit of a tired routine. Yeah. Yeah! That’s what we need! We gotta get back that excitement we had when we first arrived. Oh. I’ll come up with something good, kid. You’ll see.”

           Jace looked at his scheming uncle, a feeling of regret already growing inside.

           Nope, nope. Never mind. Boring is good. We don’t need to do anything else crazy!  

           Jace wasn’t sure where Wes was taking him after dinner, but he seemed to be in deep thought the entire drive. Every now and then, he would snicker to himself.

           He was mostly back to his regular self by the time they pulled into the Royal Mega 18 theater, close to the interstate and packed full of cars. It looked like seeing a movie on Thanksgiving was a pastime in 1995, too. Jace was certainly used to the tradition himself. But this was kind of different; it was their first visit to the megaplex.

           Wes squeezed into a spot, looked at the twilight sky, smiled, and closed the car door. As they walked past the line of posters on the theater exterior and waited in line at the box office, he reminisced. He actually hadn’t done that out loud in a while.

           “So, this theater opened back in August. But we haven’t gone to it until now,” he said, the line advancing slowly. “On my first visit back, I actually went opening weekend, just to see how the old theater looked when it opened, you know? I missed that as a kid. I saw Dangerous Minds. It’s… a movie about urban schools. Biggest thing it gave culture was the song Gangster’s Paradise. I’m sure you’ve heard it by now.”

           Jace looked up at him and shrugged. “And… so, how packed was it?”

           “Oh. It was pretty miserable. The concession line was too long—including the ‘overflow’ one in the back of the building—so I didn’t bother trying to get a snack. And then I had to pretty much sit in the front row. You know, down below all the stadium seating. So, yeah, I saw no reason to come back so soon. But this day, is the right day.”

           “And why’s that?”

           “Because Thanksgiving Day, 1995 was the first day I went to this theater. It was with my dad. Don’t worry—we went in the afternoon, so Wessy’s already gone. What better day for our own first visit, right? We’re going to see the same movie I did, too!”

           “Okay. That’s cool, I guess. Uh… what movie?”

           Before Wes had a chance to answer, he was already at the kiosk and taking out his wallet. “Two for Goldeneye. Um… the 7:15 showing. Three theaters, huh? Nice.”

           “Goldeneye, again?” Jace sighed as he was handed his ticket. “We saw it already!”

           “Yeah. I know. But I was always going to see it twice with you. Once back at the Queen, and the other time, here… Like some big, cosmic… transition into a new movie experience age. Or something poetic like that.”

           “I’d rather just see Toy Story again. At least it’s short, and we’d be home sooner.”

           “We saw that yesterday, Andy. Remember? Come on, this will be great. We’ll split a classic Royal Mega Coke and popcorn. Nothing else in town quite tastes the same.”

           “Movie snacks are so big,” Jace said, as they walked into the grand lobby with the chrome accents, neon lights, and an arcade corner with a dozen machines. “I feel sick after I have them… And why do you like this movie so much, anyway?”

           “Nostalgia. Shocker, huh? But it was my first James Bond movie. I got really into the series after it and watched the whole collection. But more than that…”

           They were in the concession line now, and Wes crossed his arms like he did when he was about to go on a long ramble about the past and how things came out of other things and influenced everything that followed. One of these…

           “One of these…” Jace groaned out loud.

           “The game based off the movie had a huge impact on first-person shooters. All those Call of Duties that makes kids rage in voice chat? Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 happened first, defined sleepovers and late-night pizza parties for years, and led to its spiritual sequel, Perfect Dark, and probably helped GameCube’s FPS Metroid games exist. Just saying, shooters sell big. Strange how history works, but this movie’s a part of it.”

           Wes grabbed the popcorn and soda he’d be sharing with Jace, and they headed towards the ticket-taker next, going past posters for Heat, Jumanji, Cutthroat Island, Bio-Dome, Dunston Checks In, and many more upcoming films—not all of them fine.

           The theater was already packed, but they managed to get two seats close to the center, some eight rows up. The stadium seating, still a revolutionary idea for theaters for its time, gave them a perfect view of the big screen that put The Queen’s to shame.

           “First local theater to go digital, way later,” Wes continued the fun facts. “You know, Eric Serra, the guy in charge of the soundtrack? Totally underrated. His music for this, Léon, and Fifth Element? Classic 90s soundscape. Brosnan’s a good Bond, too. See, this is a new experience, right?” Wes asked as he ripped open a hole on the soda lid for Jace’s straw. “I can still be adventurous! I don’t want you to get bored on our vacation.”

           “I’d say it’s only a half-way new. Because we’ve already seen this.”

           “Ah, bud…” Wes huffed, and the lights dimmed for the previews. “Don’t worry, you got some surprises on the way. I just need time to work them out in my head.”

           Jace spent the runtime thinking about what could be a ‘surprise’ at this point.

           Three weeks after they watched Sean Bean meet his end at the bottom of a giant satellite dish for the second time, Wes found himself back on top of the thrift store roof. He glanced below at the city workers putting up Christmas decorations in preparation for the coming parade, but his real task up there was to investigate his reporting station. It had stayed up longer this time—until yesterday, when he lost the signal once more.

           He had on his pair of sunglasses to keep the late autumn sun off his eyes, but now had to wear a light jacket as well, as there was a chill in the desert air. Time had really flown by. The long weekend with Jace had stretched into five months already, and now Christmas was approaching. He was still thinking about how he would handle that.

           He was also upset to find his wire with another clean cut, and his hardware gone. After never detecting activity in his pantry door across the street, he was wondering if there was a point anymore. They were already at the halfway mark and would go home before they knew it, and Jace hadn’t inquired about the observations for over a month.

           Wes turned around after looking at the spot where the box used to be, and saw the portal eye, floating in space near the rooftop access door, staring at him. It was in a place he couldn’t avoid if he wanted to get back on the street; it wanted him to see it. But he wasn’t nearly as afraid of the strange, silent, never-blinking eyeball as he used to be.

           “What’s your problem, huh?” he said after stomping up to it. “Are you the one doing this? This is the fifth time we’ve met. I haven’t lost count. You stalking me, time eyeball? If you got something to say, just spell it out again. Come on. Speak.”

           The fiery white “iris” twitched a little, but it otherwise kept still, just staring.

           “I came back because I have things to fix. I’m not that selfish. I just want to give myself a better life, steer the younger me in a better direction. I’m not trying to get rich, or change history. I just want to erase some regrets. And save… No. I’m not telling you. Whatever. ‘Leave 1995’? Pfft. You’re getting your wish. We’re almost ’96 now, baby.”

           It stared for another few seconds, before retreating back into its portal, which closed a moment later. The pathway to the access door was clear, but Wes hesitated.

           “Yeah… well, screw you, too,” he said with a sigh, and then went back to the edge so that he could look down at the street below some more. “You’re not going to terrorize me, time-eye. We’ll just… see if you can follow us where we’re going.”

           He knew that was a lame pun, but he didn’t feel like laughing anyway.   

           The fifth-graders at The Dump were celebrating the last day before the two-week winter break, and there was even a reef hanging on the actual dumpster. Everyone was decked out in mild outerwear, but there wasn’t much style to go around; in Royal Valley, such clothing only came out for a few weeks of the year. They were wrinkled and smelled like closet, which did nothing for the neon greens, blues, and pinks on display.

           “I think it’ll snow this year,” Willa said hopefully, looking up at the sky.

           “Get out of here,” Carson replied. “It hasn’t snowed here since the 80s.”

           Willa pushed at her cat ears before they slid off, looked down at Carson, and crossed her arms. “Hope is free, okay? I can also hope I’ll finally get a kitten this year.”

           “Who invited Willa, anyway?” Jared asked the others, all still hanging out at their usual spot by the dumpster—minus Sadie, of course. “Is she just trying to be cool?”

           Wessy shrugged. “Guess she felt left out. So, you all know what you’re getting?”

           “I just told my parents to get a bunch of Sega and Nintendo games,” Arthur said. “I don’t like asking for exact things, you know? I like a surprise. I kind of have a feeling I’m getting a skateboard, too. Dad’s been dropping hints.”

           “First day of Hanukkah is Monday,” Colin said with a grin. “I don’t care what I get. I just like getting gifts before the rest of you guys, and on more than one day, too.”

           “Um…” Jace thought about what to say when it was his turn. This was a strange Christmas for him—a bonus one. Did he even really need anything? “I dunno. I could get anything. I haven’t really asked… Dad. Probably some movies and games, I guess.”

           “Aw, you guys are no fun,” Wessy complained. “I want specifics, I wanna know what I’m gonna be checking out when I visit your houses!”

           “We know, man,” Zach said with a laugh. “Well, I asked for a new TV and stereo, and that new Max Force Razor Beast NERF gun. Thing looks badass.”

           “See? That’s more like it. What about you, J’?”

           Jace could tell that Jared didn’t really want to talk about it. Over their shared time together, he had learned that his family was sort of the least well off among them. They weren’t poor, but they couldn’t afford many luxuries, either. He easily pictured Jared getting maybe one video game, among socks and shirts.

           “I… Well, Command & Conquer looked good, so I asked for that… And Mortal Kombat 3 should be on sale by now, so maybe… that, too…”

           “Oh, yeah, those are cool. Anyway, I asked Mom for a Super Soaker XP55, and Chrono Trigger—” this reminded Jace that he needed to finally beat it tonight, “—and also Yoshi’s Island. And I asked my dad… and he always gets me what I want… I asked him for a new bike and a Nintendo Virtual Boy,” Wessy finished, looking quite proud.

           As he had gone off his list, Jace kept his eyes on Jared, looking away and maybe even trying not to listen. It was behavior he picked up on before, often when Wes talked about his recent accomplishments, or his allowance, or his latest ‘surprise’ from his dad.

           “A Virtual Boy?” Colin exclaimed. “How do you get so lucky, man? That thing’s going to be the future of video games. You gotta let me come over after you open it!”

           “Hey, I’ll probably just bring it to school and show everyone, anyway.”

           Jared silently mocked Wessy’s words. Jace looked at Wessy, oblivious to Jared’s sulking. And he wondered. Did he ever notice? Wait—did he, even now, still not know?

           Sure, the kid could be a jerk, yet right now, Wes still generally liked him. But the adult version obviously didn’t like him at all. Maybe there was something that could be fixed here, if Jace took charge. After all, his uncle had already hinted that he wanted to correct some things here. Stopping a friendship from dying seemed like a place to start.

           Jace took a breath, and stood up as the others ogled over Wessy’s incoming gifts. He headed to the side of the dumpster, gesturing to Jared to follow him. He hesitated, but then didn’t seem to mind about getting away from his bragging buddy for a minute.

           “Hey, don’t take this the wrong way… but are you jealous of Wes?” Jace asked.

           “W-what?” Jared’s eyes darted about as he rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, what? Pfft. Jealous of that dork? Uh, like, n-no? I mean… sometimes he just…”

           “It’s okay if you wanna tell me anything. I won’t tell the others.”

           “Okay, look… You’re no gossip, and I like that about you, but I’m not jealous. Just ‘cause he gets good presents, and wins at everything, and Charlie liked him best…”

           Jace thought again. “Let’s say he got to do the Toys ‘R’ Us toy run, and it was his proudest thing ever, and then he always talked about it. How would that make you feel?”

           Jared just stared back in response. Jace thought he picked up on an eye twitch.

           Before he could answer, if he even had one, Felicity walked into The Dump, drawing everyone’s attention. Normally, no one would give her a second look, but today she had in her hands a box wrapped in shiny paper, adorned by a large red bow.

           “Check it out,” Carson said. “I think someone’s getting a present.”

           “Ugh, a gift from Felicity?” Wright replied. “Hope it’s not for me…”

           Jace remembered something his uncle had told him this morning—a cryptic warning about her. Watch out for Felicity today. That box… what was inside…?

           Spice approached her and asked curtly, “Giving someone a little gift?”

           “It’s for all of you,” Felicity replied, all eyes on her as the kids gathered. “It’s something to reflect on over the break. A life lesson in beautiful irony, a real present.”

           “Shut up and open it…” Jared grumbled.

           Felicity sighed, closed her eyes, and took on a forced solemn look as she moved the box in her hands into an opening position. “Within this gorgeous tomb, a symbol of our youths on one winter morning out of the year, comes brutal truth… and honesty.”

           She took off the shoebox lid, to reveal… a rat. A dead rat, frozen by rigor mortis, its fur in shambles, its body emaciated. The bow around its neck did little to improve the sight of a rodent cadaver in horrifying repose, and nearly every girl present, and some boys too, squealed, gasped, or looked away. Colin even fell backwards and knocked his glasses off. Jace, maybe thanks to Wes’ forewarning, mostly stomached it and kept still.

           “What the hell is wrong with you, Felicity?!” a kid from another class shouted loudly enough to be heard over the wave of groans and other sounds of revulsion.

           “What?” she asked with a shrug. “It’s not some dead rat I pulled out of the sewer. It’s okay. It’s just my pet, Rhonda. She’s my third rat. She… died last week and I figured if you all saw her, she’d at least be remembered. Don’t you like my presentation?”

           “Let Willa eat it!” Park, among the few not disturbed, suggested. “She is a cat!”

           At this remark, Willa shrieked and covered her eyes. “Ew, ew, ew, ew!”

           Felicity’s surprise show-and-hell only lasted seconds before Delilah had stormed up to her, but that was more than long enough to leave lasting mental scars.

           “That’s it. I gave you several chances here, and you blew it. You. Are. Banned.”

           “But… why? What did I do? I just wanted to show everyone my pet…”

           “No dead rats in my dump! Felicity McAllister, get out, and do not come back!”

           She closed the box, and as she turned to leave The Dump for the last time, Jace caught a glimpse of her sadness and confusion while others cheered her departure.

           What a strange, disgusting way to close out the school year’s first semester.

           The day’s big event was spoken of in whispers throughout class, and the story made its rounds from desk to desk so quickly that within minutes, the kids that weren’t present at The Dump were all also aware of the newest playground legend.

           Meanwhile, Felicity had to take the murmurings and glances from her place in the middle of the room. She was even gloomier than usual, and not in a talking mood.

           “… Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that they stole Christmas from the pagans, too,” Ms. Porter finished the day’s last, rambling lesson. “Ah. But, maybe don’t tell your parents I said that. Still, thank you, to the students who got me some presents.”

           She looked at the four wrapped gifts on her desk, one covered in newspaper. The clock indicated that they still had thirty minutes together, so she kept a promise and put in the school copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, rolled up the TV, and hit the lights.

           Like in any other instance of movie time, kids got up and swapped desks so they could gather around their friends and chat. Wessy and his gang could get by with some simple turn-abouts in their chairs, but they sure wished Millie would go somewhere else.

           “So… what’d the rat look like, anyway?” Sadie asked.

           “It was dead and rotting,” Arthur stated. “What else do you need to know?”

           “Good thing Tam ‘n’ Trude don’t go to The Dump,” Jared stated. “Seeing it would’a given them heart attacks or something.”

           “It had a bow on, too,” Wessy said. “Really… I think Felicity is sick in the head.”

           “I feel bad for her,” Ash said, looking at Felicity. “Does she have any friends?”

           “Bet Millie knows,” Colin said and looked at his neighbor. “You got dirt on her, right? Or is she one of those ‘wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole’ types to you?”

           Millie crossed her arms. “I got stuff on her. But you know my info isn’t for sale.”

           At this small revelation, the gang all turned to her. Through the power of quiet but powerful mass peer pressure, she gave in with a groan and let slip one detail.

           “Okay, okay. Just one thing. Because it’s not hard to figure out if you guys actually knew anything about investigative journalism.”

           “That what you call it when you steal food out of my lunchbox?” Colin muttered.

           “Uh, no. I do that when I’m hungry. Your mom knows how to cook, Robinson. Anyway, McAllister changed when her grandma died when she was, like, six or so.”

           “Were you friends back then or something?” Ash wondered.

           “Pfft, no. I saw her sister one day and straight up asked… ‘Hey, why’s Felicity so messed up?’ Turns out she was really close to her grandma, who was, like, a Gypsy lady? She told Felicity that when she died, she’d contact her from beyond the grave. So… she bought into that and started down a long, freaky path. She’s probably still waiting for Gram-Gram to call.” She then added after a moment, “Or maybe she’s just psycho.”

           “Hm. Nah, I still don’t feel sorry for her,” Jared said. “You can’t bring a dead pet to school and expect that people think you’re normal.” He turned to Wessy. “That’d be like if you brought Tiger over just after he… Uh, never mind. Guess I shouldn’t…”

           “Eh, my dog’s got a ways to go,” Wessy said, sure of himself. “He isn’t that old.”

           As the citizens of Whoville sang their last song, the bell rang and Ms. Porter turned on the lights. A two-week break ahead of them, the class began to split up and head their separate ways. Most of them would spend the break at home. Some would leave town, maybe to visit relatives. Jace wondered what plot Wes had cooked up. His uncle still loved the time of year, and even had his own ugly sweater back home.

           On the way out, he passed by Felicity, waiting at her desk, resting on her black backpack—her shoebox sticking out of it—as she placidly watched the last of Grinch.

           Without thinking, he told her, “H-happy holidays. If you celebrate anything…”

           She looked up at him, said nothing, and then looked back at the TV. Feeling better that he at least tried, in some way, he headed to the exit to start his vacation.

           The moment he stepped into the hallway, he noticed that Ash was waiting there. Waiting… for me? By herself, after the rest of the gang had already gone to the buses?

           “Jason,” she said, her little grin making his heart warm. “Do you wanna see Jumanji this Sunday? It’s this new movie about animals that come out of a game.”

           “J-just us?” he asked her, nervously.

           “What? No.” She poked her glasses. “With everyone. Arthur was going to ask you, but I think he forgot. It’s our parents bringing everyone this time. They like Robin Williams… You didn’t think, like… I meant as a date or something, right?”

           Jace laughed. “Of course not. I was just joking, like I thought it was… that.”

           “Suuure. Weirdo,” she said with a snort. “Be at our place at noon. Don’t be late!”

           Jace watched her run off, and couldn’t shake the new word of the day suddenly stuck in his head. Smitten. That was a word, right? He’d heard it before. Smitten…

           When he heard the keys in the apartment door, Wes hurriedly finished up what he was doing: taking pictures of crude, blocky maps that he was able to find online. It would still be a few months until MapQuest launched, so what was out there now either looked like they were done in MS Paint, or were higher quality scans that took time to load and tried his patience. With his iPad, he got close to the computer monitor, now on a desk in the corner of the room, and snapped two more images for safekeeping.

           “Hey, how’d the last day of class go?” he asked as the door opened and he clicked the last little X to finish hiding the evidence of plans.

           Jace tossed his backpack on the couch, grabbed the remote, turned on their newer 24’’ TV, and began flipping through channels before answering, “Weird. I didn’t expect Felicity to do something… like that. Man. No wonder you remembered it.”

           “Yep. Even the name. So, how’d old Rhonda look?”

           “You could’ve just warned me to stay away from The Dump today…”

           “Aw, but then you’d be away from your buds. Trauma’s a bonding experience.”

           “So…” Jace turned the volume down some. “Did Felicity really get kicked out?”

           “Yep. Never comes to The Dump again. Rest of her school year is miserable, too. Then she does even worse in middle school. You know what ostracized means?”

           “And you’re okay with that? Didn’t we come here to help fix things?”

           “Some things. Tonight, I was thinking we could see a movie, grab a slice…”

           Jace suddenly looked determined. “I’ve gotten to know your classmates, and I feel like helping them sometimes, because… Do they all become as miserable as you?”

           Wes stared back. “Uh. That’s mean. Look, not everyone can get a happy ending.”

           “No—I just mean… If you think being an adult sucks and that fixing something back in this time will solve that… Maybe some of them turned out the same way?”

           Wes sighed. “Let’s drop this now, okay? Just… don’t say anything else. Please.”

            His uncle was rarely angry, and Jace wasn’t sure how to react. He tried to get comfortable at the end of the couch, but after ten minutes of silence from Wes other than clicks of the computer keyboard, it felt too uncomfortable to not break it.

           “I… want to see Jumanji with the gang. I mean, we go to so much already, so…”

           Wes stopped typing, but didn’t look away from the monitor.

           Finally, after about half a minute, he responded simply with, “Fine.”

           Jace thought that Wes was sullen as the night wore on, but maybe it was more like he just had a lot on his mind. They ate their delivered Pizza Hut deep dish, skipped through Christmas specials, and at the early hour of eleven, Wes suddenly turned in without saying anything, turning off the TV, or throwing away the greasy pizza box. Jace only realized he had gone to bed some time later, while staring at a bizarre special from the 80s with the claymation California Raisins, singing and dancing to holiday songs.

           He turned it off, cleaned up the room, showered, and headed to bed. It was hard to sleep; he couldn’t stop thinking about what was on his uncle’s mind. He may have actually hurt his feelings. Or, Wes was just really deep into plotting something big again.

           Whatever it is… Jace thought as he fell into slumber, don’t make it too horrible…

           The knocking at his door woke him up, and he jolted from his pillow. He looked at his clock to see that it was seven in the morning, and only the earliest of dawn’s light came through his bedroom window. It was much too early for whatever this was.

           “Get up, Jace!” Wes said from the other side. “Surprise road trip! Pack the new suitcase I got ya—it’s waiting outside your door. C’mon, we’re getting an early start!”

           Jace dunked his head right back into his pillow and groaned, “Ah… crap.”

           After several more rounds of knocking, he managed to get out of bed and walk like a zombie to his door. He opened it, saw the suitcase Wes had gotten for him, and found the guy waiting on the couch, his metal case on one side and his own new suitcase on the other. He looked happy and ready to go—for a split second.

           “Oh. You’re not even dressed…” he grumbled. “You’re ruining all my plans.”

           “Plans? Is this some kind of… ‘stop literally everywhere on the way’ road trips?”

           “Nah, I was kidding. It’s just point A to point B. But I did want to get an early start, so hurry up and get packed! We gotta get out of town and see the world!”

           “The world…? Where the heck are we going?”

           “Las Vegas for starters. We’ll see where the road takes us after that.”

           “The Las Vegas that’s like, in Nevada? Um… my mom says I’m not allowed to go there. I mean, my dad goes every year for work and I can’t go. Why there?”

           Wes shrugged. “Never been. You wanted a surprise, didn’t you?”

           “I—I mean, I guess. But I thought we were kind of staying in Royal Valley…”

           Wes shot up from the couch. “Surprise!”

           With a rising sun shining through Wes’ window as it came up from behind the distant mountains, Jace made a sudden, painful realization concerning the trip.

           “T-the movie…” he nearly whimpered. “I told Ash… Man…”

           “Huh?” Wes asked, finishing off his Egg McMuffin. “What’s the problem?”

           “Jumanji. I was supposed to see it with the twins’ family tomorrow. Damn it…”

           “Oh. Yeah, I guess you mentioned that yesterday, but I didn’t really consider… Ah, I mean, we could turn back so you could go, but I did already reserve us a room for tomorrow morning, and if we left after the movie, it would really screw things up…”

           “Forget it,” Jace grumbled. “We’re already on the move anyway.”

           “You… wanna give them a call, instead of just not showing up?” Wes asked, and after he finished his coffee at a stoplight, opened the glovebox holding his cell phone.

           “She’s… I mean, they’re probably not even awake yet.”

           “Well, you can wait a few minutes, but it’s not like cities are up to their ears in cell towers yet; we’ll probably lose a signal just outside town.”

           “Wait. Where are we going? The interstate’s in the opposite direction.”

           “Oh, we’re taking the back roads, like families had to do before the 50s. We’ll go through Death Valley, too. I’ve always wanted to see all that desert.”

           “Why the heck would you want to do that? In this car? What if it breaks down?”

           “Aw, come on. It’s a good car, outside of that one time. And anyway, it’s winter, so it shouldn’t be that hot. And we’ll get some water jugs before heading out, if that will make you feel better. Plus… taking the back roads makes it hard for them to follow us.”

           “Them?” Jace looked at Wes. “Who’s them? Who’s following us?”

           Wes looked at him seriously for a moment, and then sneered. “I’m just messing with ya. No one’s after us. We can roam where we want to, roam around the world.”

           “You’re not good at making people feel confident, you know that?”

           Past the outermost suburbs and trailer homes, was the desert hill that the old and cracked legacy road in and out of town ran up onto. They were soon on their way out of Royal Valley, going past the billboard that acted as its outermost city limit. Jace had only seen it a few times, and it wasn’t quite as decayed and faded as the version he knew.

           “Grow Up With Us!” its words enticed, under an illustration of 60s kids in their decade’s fashion. The “New Family Homes for ’66!” was in reference to Desert Tree.

           Jace read off the rest of it out loud as their home began to disappear behind them, “Royal Valley. The modern desert city, established 1920. We’re finally out of the place… Strange. I was starting to think that we were in some kind of ‘time bubble,’ and we couldn’t actually leave Royal Valley as time travelers or something.”

           “I guess we should’ve gotten out sooner. It does kind of boggle the mind, even though I keep up on the news, that the rest of the world is proceeding just as it did the first time, too. All around us. And we’ve had zero effect on anything outside the valley.”

           “Okay, but why are we going to Las Vegas? I mean, why not Disneyland?”

           “Too typical. ‘We live in California and wanna go on vacation so it’s gotta be the mouse’s park!’ And, look, it’s got old characters and rides and it’s all pretty archaic at this point, and we’ve already got our own park, and I really wanted to see Vegas, and…”

           “Okay, okay. You’re so whiny. How long have you been planning all this?”

           “Since Thanksgiving. You made a point about our holidays being lame. I thought we could use a ‘road trip’ episode, you know? I always liked it when shows did those.”

           “So… will there be time for me to pick a place to visit?”

           “We’ll see,” Wes said as they pulled into the last gas station before the vast desert beyond. “As long as it’s not Bakersfield. Now call, before we leave the land of signals.”

           Jace sighed in discomfort as Wes left the car to pump gas. He didn’t have to do it often, but he hated having to give people bad news. He took out his big cell phone from his backpack, but only stared at it for a couple minutes at first. Once Wes went inside the station to pay and buy snacks and drinks, Jace finally dialed the numbers.

           “Hello?” a woman answered. He recognized the voice as belonging to the twins’ mom, though he had only ever gone to their house once so far. “… Anyone there?”

           “H-hi… Mrs. Teller? It’s Jace I know it’s early, but…”

           “Oh, Jace! One of my kids’ friends, yeah. What do you need, sweetheart?”

           Ugh, he thought. She’s so nice… She makes me miss my mom even more…

           “My dad got this idea to go on a trip suddenly, so I won’t be here on Sunday.”

           “Ah. Too bad. But I understand. Maybe next time? The twins have taken a liking to you—they think you’re pretty ‘cool.’” She laughed. “Have a good time out there.”

           Seeing his uncle coming back, Jace said his goodbyes and hung up. He hoped Ash wouldn’t be too disappointed. And Arthur and the others too, he supposed.

           A few hours later, the two were on the other side of the familiar mountains that gave Royal Valley its backdrop—and contributed to the incredibly large rain shadow that made a place like Death Valley possible. The desert had few pockets of civilization on the way to break up the monotony of its faded two-lane road and endless dry shrubs, sand, and distant lingering peaks watching over the below-sea level wasteland.

           “It’s not a wasteland,” Wes said to a complaining Jace, as he twisted the knob on the radio to search for another distant radio station—the mountains in the west blocking the hip music being sent out beyond them. “I think it’s surreal, a little alien. Just think, this…” he gestured to the great tan yonder that reflected in his sunglasses, “… timeless, unchanging place, has sat here, a hundred miles away from our city. That place changes. Here, not so much.” He turned up the air again. “Bored, eh? What, nothing to look at?”

           “That same red car has been like, a mile ahead of us this whole time, and only a few have gone past us in the other direction…” he muttered. “I need something to look at. How do you put up with boredom like this?”

           Wes shrugged. “Adults are always bored. We’re used to it.” He readjusted in his seat and pulled at the back of his shirt to let some of his sweat evaporate. “And it’s kind of meditative out here, you know? When you’re older, you appreciate some peace and quiet when you can get it. Plus, I’ve trained for this moment, kiddo.”

           “How do you ‘train’ to drive through a place full of nothing?”

           “A few years of playing Fallout: New Vegas helped.”

           “Okay, but we could be in a post apocalypse out here and not even notice.”

           “I also played through Desert Bus when I was in college, on a dare.”

           Jace looked at him. “What the heck is Desert Bus?”

           “Joke game that was on an unreleased Sega CD compilation—from this year, I think. Got put on the internet years later and has a bit of a cult following. All you do is drive a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas. For eight hours. You can’t pause, and you can’t let go of the controller, because you have to keep going left to keep the bus from going off the road and being towed all the way back from where you started.”

           “Um. What the heck? Why would anyone want to play that?”

           “Who wouldn’t? I pulled an all-nighter with an energy drink in my dorm, and then my buddy woke up and saw that I was still playing it and watched me beat it.”

           “Were you late to class and failed your test because you fell asleep?”

           “Nah, man. I’m not that stupid. I did this on the weekend. And my roommate gave me the ten bucks he promised, too.”

           “Uh, yeah, you know… we didn’t do dares in my fifth grade. We’ve even talked about how immature they are. You don’t have to do them.”

           Wes smiled. “Oh, they’ll make a comeback. Especially in college, when it can get you money, or into a fraternity. I took a few. And I have no regrets.”

           “Exciting,” Jace said with a yawn and sunk into his seat, putting his knees up against the dashboard as he did so. “And what else is so great about the desert?”

           “Um…” Wes looked at the vast dry landscape, trying to spot something to talk about. “First of all, you live in California. The desert’s in your blood, a part of you. Only a small portion of Americans get to truly live in or near a real desert. Where else can you see endless expanses of mostly untarnished, untapped landscape? And rock formations! Not that we have many out here, but if you go to Arizona… they got some good ones.”

           “Uh-huh.”

           “Okay, here’s something else. A lot of the graphical styles you see in this decade kind of have this whole desert motif going on. You know, sharp geometric patterns, a lot of triangles? Colors invoking desert sunsets, or the sand and sky? It’s kind of like this unspoken… cultural ‘sub-genre’ of the 90s. Look at backpacks, clothing, logos, show titles, the art style in commercials—bumpers in kids’ shows. You’ll see what I mean.”

           Jace shrugged. “I thought that kind of stuff was just an evolution of all that weird, colorful geometry crap in the 80s. Only, less lines and squiggly junk and more shapes.” His eyes momentarily opened wide as he realized something, and then he turned to Wes. “Wow. We’ve really run out of stuff to talk about.”

           “Nah, I can come up with more topics. So. How about Ren & Stimpy, huh?”

           “What about Ren & Stimpy? You bring something up, you gotta give a reason.”

           “I’ve been watching some of the episodes when it comes on recently. Kinda crazy that they let kids—my generation see some of the stuff on that show. Makes me feel old saying it… But I’m not sure I’d even let my kids watch it. If I had any. Then again, I wouldn’t want them to be too sheltered… I mean, I grew up okay, I guess.”

           “Uncle Wes…”

           “Yeah?”

           “I am really freaking bored. It’s too hot and sticky in here to sleep. There’s barely anything on the radio. I’m getting a headache from the sun outside. Do something.”

           “Now who’s whining? Geez, you’re like some kid crying in The Sims because their ‘fun meter’ is empty, so you shout at your invisible human overlord for help.”

           “That game series isn’t around yet. You can’t make that reference.”

           “All right…” Wes said with a chuckle, and while keeping his eyes on the road, reached into the back for his bag. “I wanted to wait and give you this on Christmas, but I guess you’ve earned it. Here. This will keep you entertained.”

           He dropped his iPad and its USB car charger on Jace’s lap. Surprised, Jace looked up at his uncle and awaited further confirmation that he could merely touch it.

           “The pass code is 031985. Everything on there, you can look at. Except for the one app full of my secret notes, that needs another password. If I don’t need to use it, you can watch all the modern shows and movies I got on there, maybe feel a little closer to home. That doesn’t mean you should just stop watching 1995 stuff… unless, you know, it’s just an episode you’ve seen already. You earned it, kiddo.”

           Feeling his heartbeat pick up, Jace skimmed through the videos and music, and then swiped up and down in the photo album, to see pictures from twenty years in the future and beyond, including ones of his mom. He had some on his phone, but he had already memorized what they included, what events they captured, the places they could briefly bring him back to. But this collection was like a national archive. Wes had really filled it up either over time, or on the night they watched the Back to the Future trilogy. Once he saw his baby pictures at the top of the album, he moved onto the game library.

           Modern games! Jace thought excitedly. Most of them were full titles with sweeping adventures, playable offline. In this time or his own, the collection of two dozen or so mostly touch-based games was a boredom panacea.

           “I know you don’t really like mobile games…” Jace told his uncle. “Did you buy a lot of these just for me, or… something?”

           Wes gave him a modest shrug. “I looked for what was on sale, and had a lot of good reviews. Just remember, obviously I can’t add anything new while we’re here, so what you got now is, well, all you got. Think like an astronaut.”

           “Huh?”

           “Just, as a perspective on this tablet—think like you’re an astronaut on a journey to Mars, and everything on this tablet is there to entertain you… but you have to look at the spaceship controls sometimes. You still gotta focus on the moment and the mission. Oh, and obviously you have to be very careful with it and give it to me when I ask.”

           “Y-yeah, sure! Oh, man. This is going to make all the driving bearable.”

           “And keep it plugged in and charging while we’re in the car. Just stick that thing in the empty cigarette lighter there. And! Be gentle with the USB charger. It’s the only car one I got, and we’re not going to be able to get a new one for a few years.”

           “Yeah, yeah! I got my own iPad mini at home, and I take good care of it!”

           Paying no mind to the bright sun glare on the screen, Jace poked through the apps happily after plugging it in and bringing the brightness way up. Wes had made a good point about the unchanging desert, and other than being in an old car, Jace felt as close to home as he had when he got to see his house back during Halloween.

           After a couple hours of playing games on a tablet from the future, he finally looked up from the screen long enough to see how low the sun had gotten. It was setting on the southeastern corner of Death Valley, drenching everything in pinks and purples. He took out his earbuds, and went into the home videos to see what was there.

           “Uh, wow, you got a lot of… what are these?” He tapped on a thumbnail with a Christmas tree in the background. “Are these all from video tapes or something?”

           Wes looked over to see his happy eight-year-old self opening gifts as his mom held the camera and commented on the new toys. “I transferred our old tapes years back—got some from my dad, too. They’re low-res and don’t take up much space.”

           “You sure you don’t want to relive some of this back home, instead of spending Christmas surrounded by strippers and slot machines?”

           “Okay. How do you even know what a stripper is? Anyway, we’ll be somewhere else on the day itself. I consider my Christmas mornings ‘precious cargo.’ I don’t want to risk messing with them at all. I don’t even want us in town, altering air currents.”

           “Hey…” Jace stopped the video and went back to looking at the album full of them. “I had a creepy thought. What if… you or me appeared on one of these videos?”

           “You mean as time travelers?” Wes said and stared ahead in deep thought.

           “I mean, yeah… You already warned me about group photos and stuff.”

           “I’ll look through them soon and check. I think we’re safe. There are a few dozen videos on there, but mostly of special occasions; holidays, birthdays, vacations. Lucy’s dance recital. We only have to worry about a single year, so we’re probably okay.”

           “Yeah, nice gap in your planning. I feel like we’ll go full paradox if we see one of us pop up in a video, even just for a second. I can’t believe you haven’t checked yet.”

           “Hey, it just slipped my mind. No biggie.”

           Jace watched the landscape outside for a while. Just past twilight, they drove by a distant drive-in theater. The animated movie Balto was playing in the darkness of the desert, to an unseen crowd in their cars. The images of a wolfdog running through an icy, freezing ravine in Alaska made for quite a strange scene of stark contrasts.

           Now thinking of movies, he mused as he tiredly looked out the window, “Hey, I got a place we can go. San Dimas. We can meet some fellow time travelers, and maybe they have some tips. They can teach us how to be excellent to each other…”

           Wes smiled. “I admire your cultural appropriation, but you do know Bill & Ted isn’t a documentary, right? Oh! Look where we are, dude!”

           Jace looked ahead and noticed the faint light of a small city, and soon saw the “Welcome to Nevada” sign pass right by. Just like that, they were in a different state, and here was a desert town already, pressed right against the border.

           “Woo-hoo!” Wes exclaimed. “Break out the poker chips, gambling’s legal!”

           “Try not to actually gamble away all your stock market money,” Jace worried as he watched buildings and cars go by. “Where are we anyway? Reno?”

           “Good try, but you still have to refine your geography skills. This is actually a town—I kid you not—called Pahrump. It’s a valley town, kind of like our own, only it’s about a third the size. We’ll spend the night here and get to Vegas tomorrow. See that big dome of light pollution over the mountains way back there?” he asked and pointed out the unmissable sight in the distance. “That’s where we’ll be soon.”

           “Why not go tonight and see it all lit up?”

           “Because I just want a bed instead of paying an extra night for an expensive hotel room. Driving wears you out. But you won’t believe where we’re staying tomorrow.”

           Jace saw that Wes seemed happy, confident. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad.

           The motel was indeed cheap, and smelled of mildew, but it didn’t look like Wes cared about any of that. While Jace surfed the channels on their small TV, his uncle spent the night flipping through photos in his iPad album, most of which were scanned 4 x 6’s from his mom’s old books. It had been a few months since he had dipped into his ‘nostalgia’ mode, which as always, made him pensive and pretty quiet.

           Noticing this, Jace came over to see what pictures he was looking at. He caught a glimpse just in time to see a flash of what appeared to be a high school prom photo.

           “What was that?” he asked, standing at Wes’ bedside.

           “Oh, nothing. Just my awkward prom. I… almost didn’t go to it, but she talked me into it. I still kind of regret agreeing to it.”

           “Let me see. Who’d you go with? Did you dance and kiss?”

           “Don’t be gross. Anyway, you’re too young to be worried about prom night”

           Jace sat on the bed’s edge. “You know… We’ve been here for over five months, and I still don’t get why you think it’s so magical to be a kid in this year. It’s kind of just… mostly the same, but everyone doesn’t have cell phones. There’s still bullies, stupid crap, insults, jokes, boredom, homework, cartoons, friends, arguments…”

           “I keep telling you, you’re not going to ‘get’ nostalgia until you’re older. This is all just a trip. You’re visiting my childhood. I’m not putting it on a pedestal and expecting you to worship it. It’s just a chance to take stories of my youth to some next level by letting you see some of it yourself. You wait. You’ll look back someday, too.”

           “Yeah, yeah. You say that. But being ten or eleven isn’t as carefree and easy as I think you remember it being… Even when you do all my homework for me.”

           Wes went back to exploring his album, and Jace stuck around on the bed and thought about things. He soon realized that he couldn’t shake a question from his head.

           “Okay, really—just tell me, who did you go to prom with? I really want to know! Isn’t it great that I’m interested? So… was it Sadie? Or Ash?” He watched to see if Wes would react. “Nah, it was probably just some rando high school girl, huh…”

           After a few seconds, Wes sighed. “You said you beat Chrono Trigger, right?”

           “Yeah, but what’s that gotta do with your hot date?”

           “You beat it all the way, without sneaking a peek at the player’s guide when we went shopping? All the endgame optional quests, too? You got Crono back?”

           “Yeah, of course. I didn’t want to beat the game without, like, the main hero character being alive. That was really weird how he actually got killed…”

           “Shocking, huh? And then you’re suddenly doing quests without him. But you can get him back, by doing the time egg plot. Get a decoy that looks just like him, go back in time, right at the frozen moment where he dies, replace him with the decoy… And then you can use this time egg McGuffin thing to fix the past and get him back. That scene and that idea kind of stuck with me over the years. There are a few moments I wish I could’ve changed, even if it meant swapping a person out for someone else.”

           “Uh, wow. So, you’re saying you always wanted to go back and, what, replace your prom date?” Jace waited for a reaction, and saw the confirmation in Wes’ eyes. “Oh, man. Now I have to see who you went with. Come on, show me!”

           He reached for the iPad, but Wes yanked it back. His nephew was persistent, and he was forced to dangle it over his head, as if he were a big brother playing keep-away. Wes quickly got agitated with the whole thing, and when he got a chance to make the maneuver, he found the photo again and tapped the trash can button to delete it.

           “Here,” he grumbled and gave Jace back the tablet. “It’s gone now. I don’t know why I kept that on there to begin with.”

           Staring at the album he held in his hands, Jace asked, “You really didn’t want me to see it? I guess it’s really embarrassing… But I wasn’t going to laugh or anything.”

           “I’m allowed to have my secrets.” Wes got up, went into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and called out. “Don’t poke around so much. People don’t like it.”

           As Wes cleaned off hours of accumulated car seat sweat, Jace went back to the Christmas video, and watched the entire thing. At only about ten minutes long, it was a pretty short compilation of the morning, which Wessy would be having in a few days.

           He pondered as he watched it. This video is dangerous. What if Wessy had somehow seen it? He’d see all the gifts ahead of time, see how the day was going to go before it even began… He then looked at the closed bathroom door. Uncle Wes must have to work and plan so hard to keep us from really screwing up the past and causing time paradoxes…

           Thinking that he should try better to consider all that Wes did to keep the time trip safe, and feeling a little older for thinking about other people, he watched as Wessy opened his presents, and then had dinner with his mom and visiting grandparents.

           Once the video closed, the thumbnail for another caught Jace’s eye. The toy run. Wes talked about it often, but Jace realized he had never actually seen it. He tapped. It opened to show Wessy, months into the future, in his yellow “Super Toy Run” shirt. He was with the host and his overly excited mom, near the entrance of one of the stores.

           He was smiling, but didn’t look overly excited. He was focused, likely thinking about the prime event of his childhood. Jace tapped at the timeline to skip ahead, to see him running through aisles with a cart, flanked by the safety crew as he grabbed toys and tossed them in. He filled up one cart, and was given another at the end of an aisle. In the bicycles section, he took a tag to redeem, and in the girls’ aisle, he looked around for a second before grabbing some Barbies and a large plush toy that maybe Lucy would like.

           He went to the end, and the five-minute run concluded where it had started. His mom and the host cheered him on as they examined his mass of winnings. Wessy mostly looked a little overwhelmed and tired. And then the video stopped, on a freeze frame of him giving the thumbs up, as he stood between his carts full of spoils.

           Wes emerged in his pajamas, drying off his hair with a towel. “I need that back. I’m memorizing the streets. Oh, and don’t forget to put your iPhone in the room safe.”

           Deciding not to tell him that he just watched the toy run, Jace left the iPad on the bed and moved to his. “Hey, um… I was wondering. What have you spent all your time doing so far? You don’t just, like… sit at home planning and making notes, do you? Maybe it’s not a good idea, but have you made any adult friends?”

           “Ah, don’t worry about me, bud.” Wes fell into his bed and started to tap at his tablet. “I… well, yeah, I mostly take care of things and keep it all running smoothly. Like an amusement park ride operator. But don’t feel bad, this is still a long vacation for me. Get cleaned up and we’ll watch a little SNICK. We’re getting an early start tomorrow.”

           Jace headed to his suitcase to get his nightclothes, and upon yanking them out, a little orange object popped out and rolled across the floor. Wes noticed it, picked it up, and examined it between his fingers. It was the finger puppet from the Queen theater.

           “You still got this thing?” he pondered. “Do you carry it around or something?”

           “Y-yeah… Usually in my backpack. I guess it’s kind of like, a good luck charm?”

           “Aw. That feels like a long time ago now.” He slid it onto his pinky and made it wiggle. “And here we are, all three of us…  about to hit the Strip.”

           The next morning, as Jace finished off the last of the prepackaged mini breakfast donuts, Wes slowed down a little on the road into the city so that they could see its famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, surrounded by mostly middle-aged tourists taking pictures. To their right were the outskirts of McCarran International Airport, and Wes had to get in an anecdote about its secretive flights to Area 51.

           As they approached the strip, Wes felt a sense of… disappointment. It wasn’t nearly as big or bright as he expected; the city just wasn’t as tall or flashy as the modern version he saw in media. He swapped that feeling with a sense of wonder, for getting to see it in the last vestiges of its classic heyday. With a few 1960s casinos and hotels still standing, it almost seemed like he’d happen upon the Rat Pack walking the boulevard.

           After a few minutes of taking in the skyline, he returned his eyes to the busy road to focus on getting to their hotel. It was easy to see—the huge building was noticeable from miles away—but he didn’t want to screw up on getting to the parking lot.

           “That thing is enormous,” Jace murmured once they stepped out of the car and were under a hot, cloudless sky. “It’s a giant glass pyramid…”

           “Yep, and we go in through the Sphinx!” Wes snapped a selfie of them with a disposable camera, and then turned back around to admire the hotel. “It opened just two years ago. Over four thousand rooms, several attractions, and home to the world’s most powerful spotlight—you’ll see a giant blue beam at night, blasting into space.”

           “It looks cool and everything…” Jace nudged his own sunglasses. “But is there really more to do in this city than just gambling and conventions?”

           “Absolutely, my little card shark. Heck, Siegfried and Roy and their tigers should be in town. There are probably some Christmas shows or something, too.”

           “Well. Here we are. I hope you know what you’re doing bringing us here.”

           “Me too. Going places is a little strange sometimes, when you think about it. I mean, just a couple days ago, you were back at school. At recess. Looking at a dead rat. And now here you are, in a big city full of casinos and mob bosses. Come on.”

           Jace followed his uncle to the Sphinx tram terminal, and between its paws to the door that would lead to an Egyptian-theme wonderland. As he went in, he thought again about Felicity, back at his 1995 house, probably alone and miserable.

           After all, her pet had just died, and no one seemed to care.