s1.e14

Chinatown Run

           The desert night air was coming in through a paper-thin crack at the top of Jace’s car window as he sipped at his large Slurpee drink, acquired from the last 7-11 some twenty miles back. Normally he wouldn’t drink so much sugary beverage at once, but it felt right. He and Wes had been on the road since sunset and had just entered the last long stretch of nothing until the Los Angeles metro area would come into view.              

           Wes gave the radio dial another tiny nudge to make it just a little louder—Jace knew by now that doing so meant that his uncle believed something really interesting was going to be said on the radio, and he wanted to make extra sure he heard it.

           “And that’s when the aliens brought me home,” the guest said, sounding a little more inebriated than when the call began. “A hundred and fifty years—we flew across the galaxy for that long, but I only aged a year. Well, actually, I aged a year backward, got younger. That’s how their kind of space travel works, Art. That’s how it works.”

           “Huh. That’s a lot to think about, Bill from… from Wisconsin. I’d like to hear more, but we really have to move onto our next guest. If the aliens find you again, call back and give us the details of your latest travels. Good night, friend.”

           “None of these stories are even remotely believable,” Jace said, taking a break from his drink to prevent a brain freeze. “Do people really fall for them?”

           “The more subtle stories are the good ones, if they make you think that the event is within the realm of possibility. Back when conspiracy theories could still be kind of ‘fun’ and there weren’t ‘creepypastas’ yet, this was the kind of fringe-of-society, urban legend type stuff that we had. I used to listen to Coast to Coast AM when I couldn’t sleep. Always imagined myself driving on a desert road, too. It’s perfect night music.”

           “Okay, but why does this Art Bell guy go along with all this kooky stuff?”

           “That’s his job as the host, at least until they start jerking his chain. So what if it’s all—or maybe even mostly fake? People just want a creative outlet. It’s a medium for those that have stories, but feel like they have no voice in the mainstream. You know?”

           “So… what’s, like, a really famous episode of this show?”

           “Oh, easily the one where a guy claiming to have worked in Area 51 calls in, and starts talking about aliens already among us in disguise or something like that, ready to take over the world… And then the station suddenly goes offline, completely, like it got shut down on purpose. Look it up on YouTube when you get back, it’s good stuff.”

           “Good evening, caller, what do you have to share with us tonight?” Art asked.

           “H-hello? Can you hear me? Am I on the air?”

           “Yes, caller, go ahead. You’re live.”

           “Ah, yes, sorry. I just came back from the year 2050, and I’ve been time traveling for a while, so I can get confused about the present. You know… the now?”

           “And can you tell us what you were doing in that time and how you got there?”

           “O-oh, I can’t control it. It’s like a gift, or… or a curse, I was born with. I never knew my father, so maybe it’s possible that he was an eighth-dimensional being, so I got a half of that and I’m fourth-dimensional. I slip back and forth in time, all the time. But I have to warn you about the war that’s coming, in 1998. It changes everything. Billions will die over the following decades. It’s chaos, Mr. Bell, and I wanted to warn all of—”

           As the first lights of Los Angeles appeared on the horizon, Wes turned the volume dial nearly all the way down and grumbled a little.

           “Hey, I was listening to that,” Jace complained.

           “Guy’s trying too hard. It’s always about some huge war, or a machine uprising. Booooring. I’d rather watch Dr. Corathine’s show. Besides, he’s the third time traveler to call tonight. Hey,” he looked at Jace, “you wanna call? We got a cell phone, after all.”

           He shrugged. “Nah. Our story is somehow both not believable enough, and yet totally boring also. I mean, we’re just here to look around and fix a few things, right?”

           “Yep. And the real future is crazy, kid. No one would buy our ‘predictions.’”

           They both laughed, and then side-eyed each other when the other guy wasn’t looking. If only Wes believed in the time ninja; Jace, the time eye. That would be swell.

           Wes lazily woke up the next morning in their modern hotel room, a very comfy California King-sized bed under him. Jace was sprawled out on the other side of the bed, snoring lightly as he often did in the morning. They had really only gone straight to their room last night, but now they had another full Wes-planned day ahead.

           “Jace! Get up, kid. Come see the city,” Wes called to him as he stood by the window and looked out at the concrete jungle. “I already kinda regret splurging on this place. Not like we’re gonna spend a lot of time here. There’s too much to see.”

           He stirred, groaned, then got up and shuffled to the window where he rubbed his eyes and looked towards the Hollywood sign and the distant Santa Monica mountains.

           “Second largest city in the country. Mostly from its insane suburban sprawl—city’s not a skyscraper king like Chicago or New York. See the big tower out there, the U.S. Bank Building, a.k.a. the Library Tower? You’ll see that get blown up real soon by aliens. And there’s also the Capitol Records building, the Grauman’s Chinese theater…”

           “Can we skip the building tour this time?” Jace yawned. “I know about L.A..”

           “You do? How’s that? You’ve only been here once.”

           He shrugged. “You know. From places, and things…”

           “Wait, hold up. I might be jumping to conclusions here… But Lucy didn’t let you play Grand Theft Auto V, or San Andreas, did she? Jace… You playing GTA, bud?”

           He looked up at his uncle guiltily. “Austin had Five at his house and let me play it sometimes when I came over. B-but I just drove around the city and crashed planes.”

           “After you shot prostitutes and did drugs. And I know San Andreas is on iOS.”

           “Don’t have it, and I’m not into that part of the game, I swear. Don’t tell Mom.”

           Wes patted his head and laughed. “C’mon, you should know by now that I’m just messing with ya. Still, if you know so much about the layout of the city, why don’t you lead the tour this time? I’m still worn out from Vegas.”

           “Nah. I’m good. Just… take me wherever.”

           “That’s the spirit! Now get dressed and we’ll grab some donuts from Randy’s.”

           Jace grabbed some clothes from his suitcase and headed to the bathroom. Alone again, Wes broke his “character” and took some nervous, stress-filled breaths. He knew he was starting to lose his cool—maybe his sanity, too. He wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing anything freaky or time-travel related today.

           Their first stop was… not so exciting. A claim to fame for the city, sure, but only in an urban construction and management sense. Jace hoped the rest of the day would be less fatally boring as he looked down a long stretch of concrete canal with a shallow bit of water at the bottom. A nearby red convertible was parked nearby on the slanted side of the structure, with smoking teens leaning against its doors and hanging out.

           “This is the Los Angeles river,” Wes explained. “A marvel of engineering, really, even if it usually has very little water in it. Out-of-towners sometimes confuse it for the Los Angeles aqueduct, but that’s farther away, outside the city. See, water and access to it shaped Los Angeles. It even attracted crime and greed, and became central to the plot of a classic movie called Chinatown. Pretty fascinating stuff, actually.”

           “Is this what adults find interesting?” Jace complained. “Like, seriously, do you guys just… suddenly stop finding movies and video games cool enough at some point?”

           “We expand our interests,” Wes stated, feeling like a wise teacher. “Don’t mock knowledge, Jace. Besides… I’ve been interested in this aspect of the city ever since the awesome chase and explosion scene that took place down there in Terminator 2. So there. It’s shown up in a lot of other films after that. Usually… for more chase scenes.”

           Jace looked at the teens again. “And they just let anyone drive down there?”

           Wes shrugged. “I dunno. Apparently. Doesn’t seem very guarded, does it?”

           “It’s not much of a river. It’s like an inch deep? I get that it’s a dry city, but…”

           “Nothing wrong with shallow water…” Wes said, entering a traumatic flashback involving being dragged into a fountain that got deeper every time he recollected it.

           “You okay? Hey, you’re not having one of your ‘nostalgia attack’ things, right? Oh crap, are you coming up with some crazy idea? I’m not going to skateboard down there or something, dude. Mom says I should never approach city water.”

           Wes snapped out of it. “Huh? Oh, um… Let’s go. We got a busy day. I just wanted to start it here, and, uh… see the lifeblood of Los Angeles, or… something.”

           “You’ve been having a lot of weird mood swings,” Jace said as they headed back to the car. “You sure you’re okay? We can go home whenever you want, you know.”

           “No! No… Can’t go back. Can’t risk ruining Christmas. Don’t worry about me, really. I’m just excited about being here. Is all. Now let’s go look for celebrities.”

           But Jace really was starting to worry.

           They headed back to the hotel, where Wes got a taxi to Hollywood Boulevard—he neither wanted to pay for parking or be seen in his car. The place was little more than a tourist street, yet tried to exude a sense of the upscale luxury life what with its Walk of Fame, where the named stars were embedded in the sidewalk, ready to be stepped on.

           Wes first picked up tickets at the famous Grauman’s Chinse Theater, home to many movie premieres, for a one-hour-away showing of Jumanji. Jace felt guilty that he’d be seeing it at such a fancy place in a big city, after having been invited by Ash originally.

           Their first real stop in the area was Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, where they got a sneak peek at some of the bizarre attractions inside at the front. But they were just here to spend some money at the gift shop, to sate Jace’s insistence to get Felicity a present.

           “No monkey paws,” Wes said as they started looking around at expensive toys and oddities. “Way too obvious, and they won’t even be real.”

           “Should I get her something she’d actually like, or something that tries to, like, nudge her towards being more normal where she’d have a chance to make friends?”

           “Better to get her something she’d like, so we just start with a nice gesture. We just don’t want to go ‘darker’ and lead her deeper down into the pit.”

           “So… does that mean no shrunken heads?”

           Wes turned and saw that he was indeed browsing through a shelf of the things.

           “This one kind of looks like Hutch, from school.” Jace put the offending latex concoction back in its place, and noticed that Wes was transfixed on a stuffed monkey toy. “Hey, you said she becomes something like an outcast in middle school?”

           “Huh? Oh. Yeah. I think she kind of got into the punk or goth scene, maybe hung a death metal poster up in her locker. I’m not sure, my memory’s hazy when it comes to her. I’m pretty sure she went overboard with everything, regardless.”

           “And you researched everyone in class before we went in your pantry? What ended up happening to her?” Jace asked and stuck his hand in a box of cursed coins.

           “Dunno. She had no social media presence at all. And I’m in I.T. remember, so I know my way around Google when it comes to finding people. Some just… disappear.”

           “Well, I’m going to give her a second chance.” Jace picked his gift but hid it from Wes. “This one is perfect,” he told himself. “And I’m going to give it to her in person.”

           “Get whatever you want, it’s your money.”

           The popcorn and soda were even more overpriced than usual, but the experience was worth it. The theater was huge and packed full. With red velvet curtains that opened to reveal a giant silver screen and ornate décor inspired by South and East Asian artistic design, the two felt like the Oscar winners could be announced in front of them before the film started. It was the Maserati of movie theaters, and the package didn’t really suit a moving picture that, despite being a classic, had questionable CGI and Robin Williams’ head being terrifyingly fused with and stuck inside a floorboard. Jace kept thinking about Ash and the others, and what they thought of a movie he had seen three times already.

           They then hopped into another taxi and took the interstate north, to Burbank, getting some good views of the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory on the way. The newest surprise destination as chosen by Wes was the Warner Brothers Studio, where they took the shuttle bus tour around the grounds, past sound stages and outdoor sets and locations. When they saw the water tower, Wes had an obvious question.

           “Think the Animaniacs are up there?”

           Jace didn’t answer, but Wes had asked just loud enough to get a laugh from a boy sharing the shuttle with them. And then the grad student tour guide who probably had a resumé sitting in movie studio cabinets all over town made the same joke.

           “This alley…” Wes murmured to Jace at a stop in a gritty, urban alleyway as the tour guide talked about other things, like how much of The Music Man was shot in the nearby town square. “They’ll film scenes from Spider-Man and Minority Report here. Places from all over this miniature city have appeared in hundreds of movies over the years.”

           “Have you been here before or something? Is this tour special to you?”

           “Ah, yeah, kinda. I mean, Warner Brothers makes some good movies—and cartoons in this decade and many others before it, but it’s not like I’m some huge fan of the studio. It’s just, the last trip I ever took with my dad was in L.A., and we went here. He was a big movie buff. Watched all the classics over and over, head full of trivia…”

           “Are you just trying to recreate that with me?”  

           “Nah. That’s eight years out, anyway. I don’t have to try to grab onto the original magic with you all the time. But, you know, it’s cool to see all this in a different year.”

           “That’s what you always say…” Jace said to himself and clutched the bag holding Felicity’s gift as the shuttle bus started moving again. “Really, why are we in this city?”

           Dinner was had in the southwest, at the Santa Monica Pier. It was a simple meal from a food stall this time: a hot dog for each of them, and a pretzel to share. As the sun headed towards the coastal mountains—Wes looking at the water anxiously—they walked with their food past the famous Ferris wheel, already lit up for the night.

           At the pier’s edge, Wes said, “Me and Dad ate at Bubba Gump’s when we came here. But that’s not around yet. Hey, Jace… Do you like girls? Kids your age kind of start to. Like, they’re either not gross anymore, or can be more than just friends.”

           “I don’t like Felicity… like that if that’s what you mean.”

           “No, no. Besides, you already told me about Ash,” he said with a smile, and looked to see Jace blushing some. “You don’t have to answer, anyway. It’s just… Well, this is stupid, but I saw this weird-looking plush monkey back in the gift shop, and it was pretty much the exact same one that a girl got for me way back in kindergarten.”

           “Wow. You must’ve been smoking hot or something back then to get a present.”

           Wes laughed, sighed, and then took out his phone and flipped to the prom photo that he had deleted from the iPad before Jace had a chance to really see it. He showed it to him, but Jace, after some initial excitement, couldn’t identify his date with a freckly face and noticeable braces. She was lanky, and at least three inches taller than Wes.

           “Who is…?”

           “Celeste. Y-yeah… she was always weird around me. We knew each other back in kindergarten, and even though she didn’t go to my elementary or middle school, we kept up over the years through Sadie. In high school, when she was in some of my classes, she asked me to the prom. I… freaked out and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

           “Oh, man. That kind of one-sided crush that lasted years must’ve been gross.”

           “I had a first choice, but I… never got to ask her. And, yeah, it’s a regret. But it’s so far off, and there’s such a small chance I could actually set myself up with the ‘right’ girl, that I’m not sure I should even bother trying way back here in ’95.”

           “Aw, I didn’t know you were lovesick like that. So… who did you want to ask?”

           “I’ve already said enough, so shut up. And let me see that thing you bought.”

           Jace took it out of his bag. “Don’t throw it into the ocean or something.”

           Wes looked at the object in his hands: a glass snow globe with a raven inside and black “snow.” It was a little dark, yet not macabre. He thought Jace made a good choice.

           The last stop for the day was one that Wes kept a secret, by giving the taxi driver just the address of the place—and asking him not to tell the kid in the car because it was a “surprise.” Jace just assumed that it was some movie-related destination.

           Instead, as dusk hit, the taxi pulled up to a store that Royal Valley once had as well, but that Jace only had a few early childhood memories of personally. It was a special place, with a fresh coat of bold blue paint, new, extra bright colorful and playful signage, and a large Geoffrey the giraffe statue out front. Dozens of happy kids were coming and going with their parents, many of them carrying oversized toy boxes.

           “It’s… a Toy ‘R’ Us,” Jace stated matter-of-factly. “We have one of these.”

           “Yeah, but this one is special. Want to take a guess as to why?”

           Jace humored his uncle and pondered deeply for a moment. There was only one answer he could think of that explained why Wes went out of his way to bring him here.

           “Is this where… you did the toy run?”

           “That’s right! Right in this store, less than a year from now. It was the first time I saw the city, too. And this was… is definitely one of their ‘flagship’ stores. It’s a special place, with more love than Royal Valley’s branch. Even had events on the weekends.”

           “Why haven’t we gone to the one in our town, anyway?” Jace asked as they headed into the unique, maybe even iconic outdoor hallway that led into the store.

           Wes shrugged. “I guess, the Toy Run is so important to me, that I don’t want to risk changing even the smallest thing in the store that would make me, uh, not win.”

           “What do you have to do to win, exactly?”

           “Drop a piece of paper in a box. But, hey, chaos theory and the butterfly effect and all that stuff. Wessy needs to drop in his entry form at the exact nanosecond that he did the first time around. So, everything in the store has to be just perfect, too.”

           “But what about time squeezing you back onto the right path?”

           “Eh, that doesn’t really work towards micro-moments and dumb luck, I think.”

           As soon as they entered, Wes took in a deep breath, looked at all the colorful plastic and boxes, and felt his spirits lift a little. He could almost remember just what it felt like going into one of the stores for the first time as a kid himself, maybe in 1989.

           “Jace…” he imitated Harrison Ford’s voice from Force Awakens. “We’re home.”

           “Ah, man, not really. It’s just a store.”

           “Look at this, over here,” Wes said, ushering Jace to follow him over to the first aisle, near the Lego section. “This will be the starting point, where the run begins. I’ll dart off that way,” he shot his arm out straight ahead, “and I grab some stuff, then whip around the corner and do the same with the next aisle. I rely on my eyes and instincts to grab just the right things, because thinking and reaching wastes precious time.”

           “I don’t need a recap. I saw the video already. Hey, let’s do something really freaky. Let’s, like, leave a mark somewhere and see if it appears in the video.”

           “Nah, I’m good. I don’t need to tempt temporal screwiness like that.”

           “Oh, yeah, because we totally haven’t done any of that yet.”

           The place was like their Target’s toy section on steroids. There were brands of toys that couldn’t be found anywhere else, and a much larger variety of more popular and established products. There was a video game section, but it was smaller than it would be in the future, as the company’s focus was still on real, physical toys.

           “To be honest…” Wes said as they looked through some Jurassic Park dinosaurs, a staple brand even two years after the movie, “I didn’t actually get that much from these stores or buy a ton of stuff here myself. It was all usually overpriced. That didn’t do any favors for the company’s longevity once Amazon came around. But just to be inside…”

           Next was an aisle filled with Toy Story characters, taking up half a row of shelves. The many gaps between boxes made it evident that they were a hot holiday item. While no one was looking, they made a quick trek by the Barbies, where she could do many things ranging from working at McDonald’s to being a doctor, with all of her sisters and friends popping up on the way. Other popular toys included: a credit card playset, the Talking Family Dollhouse, a talking Zoe doll from Sesame Street, Saved by the Bell: The New Class: The Board Game, Tiger Electronics’ ‘virtual experience’ games that tried to create a 3-D image on small LCD screens, the spinning Super Jennie Gymnast Doll, a lot of Power Rangers stuff, sales specials on Pogs, and Mighty Max and Polly Pocket sets.

           It wasn’t easy to find a moment alone considering that there were only a few days left in the shopping season and the place was busy, but when they found an empty aisle near the back where the bicycles and accessories lived, Wes did something unexpected and a little outlandish. It actually took Jace a little by surprise, because in the last few months, his uncle had been more sullen, predictable, and indoor-inclined than usual.

           He grabbed a nearby empty cart, positioned himself at the end of the aisle, and then as Jace watched and was too dumbfounded to say anything, he raced straight down the white linoleum. As he did so, he grabbed random items: helmets, pumps, tassels, seats, horns—anything available on the shelves, yet that had no use to him. Once his cart was half full and he reached the end, he let go of it and threw his arms into the air.

           He didn’t say anything or try to reproduce the noise of a cheering crowd, but he did keep his arms way up. When Jace caught up, he saw that he was deep in recollection. He dropped his arms and looked at his late toy-age nephew with a smile and a sigh.

           “Almost… I almost felt it again.”

           “Yeah… We’re not actually buying all this stuff, right?” Jace looked at the cart.

           “Nah, someone will put it all back.”

           Jace followed him closer to the front, where all the candy was lined up, enticing outbound kids to grab some sweets before their parents got to the checkout lines.

           “I know your generation still likes toys, kinda, but… Phones and social media have really encroached on the time you spend with them, and the quantity you feel like you need to have,” Wes said and slid his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, you can be cynical, or honest really, and say that we were all programmed by advertisers to want lots of toys, but even so, they were still a real part of growing up for us, in this decade.”

           “So… they’re kind of like a status symbol?”

           “Well, if the good toys are all lined up in your room the first time you show it to a new friend, you’re both probably set for a while as buds. Now it’s just, what, video game collectibles? Those Funko Pop things? Can’t imagine most kids even take them out of the box. Everyone just hoards the physical ‘fun things’ they buy as investments for later. When’s the last time you actually sat down and played with a toy? Do you remember?”

           He shrugged. “Maybe when I was six or seven, I think.”

           “Exactly. I mean, I had dreams after seeing that Blank Check movie about having a million bucks, and filling the house with toys, and water slides and bumper cars and… I even asked my mom once for our own rideable mini-train for Christmas, that I’d put in the backyard. I didn’t get it of course—we didn’t even have room for it, but a kid could dream. We didn’t know the word ‘materialistic.’ We just wanted shiny, fun things.”

           “Sure. But maybe what kids see as ‘shiny fun things’ changes over the years.”

           Wes snagged some Drumsticks from an ice cream display and brought them to a checkout line. “Maybe none of this stuff meant anything, other than a bit of happiness when it was brand-new. Dad never liked modern toys. He considered the ‘pure’ things he had as the last true toys. Army men, wind-up robots, cowboy stuff. He also didn’t like stuff made overseas. So, all he’d see here was… another kind of Chinatown. Yeah. Still, he wasn’t so stuck-up that he didn’t cheer me on from home. As long as I got Lucy that stuff, too. These days, I dunno if they’d let a kid run around in a store, much less film it.”

           They went back outside and ate their ice cream under the glowing sign of the store, idly watching cash-strapped parents or kids happy with a pre-Christmas gift go by.

           “Of course… these stores are gone now, anyway. There won’t be any more Toy Runs. I’m part of a pretty exclusive club, and it’s not like we know each other.”

           “You must’ve been pretty upset when they closed.”

           “I was mostly just bitter. At… whatever age I am now, you see enough of your childhood disappear that you kinda get numb to it. I can blame bad corporate decisions, kids losing interest, their parents ordering toys online or just handing out tablets and calling it a day. But can I really stand around and complain about your generation, and the ones after like my dad started doing? Like my grandpa always did as long as I knew him? I hate the idea of… ‘age roles.’ And getting older in general. So… being here is like being in a good movie I grew up with. The greatest hits, something warm and familiar.”

           “Some people get scared of the future,” Jace said and finished the chocolate at the bottom of the cone. “I don’t get that. I always feel like tomorrow will be better.”

           “Again, that’s because you haven’t lost much of anything that’s important or formative to you yet. Trust me, it builds up. Until all you have are memories.”

           “This is what you do. You talk about something, and then you get all sad. I like it better when you just want to go out and have fun. So… be like that more often.”

           As Wes thought of a response, his cell phone suddenly rang.

           “Probably Eddie again. Guy can’t even leave me alone around Christmas. Here.” He handed Jace the car keys. “Wait in the car. I feel weird talking to him around you.” After he took the keys and headed into the lot, Wes answered, “Eddie, if this is you—”

           “Oh, I’m not your money-maker…” replied a strange, scratchy, digitized voice.

           Wes already wanted to hang up, but not before finding out who was calling him.

           After making sure that no one was nearby in the parking lot, he started to meander towards a light pole and spoke behind a cuffed hand.

           “I can barely hear you. It’s like your voice is… coming from another phone.”

            “You should really get a job if you’re going to stay here. Contribute to society.”

           “Who the hell is this? Are you trying to sell me something, with your voice disguised? ‘Contribute to society.’ Yeah, sure. Buddy, I don’t know what kind of bizarre techno-cult you’re trying to get me to join, but I’m on vacation—”

           “Yes. ‘Vacation.’ A very long one, don’t you think? Wes. You truly are an idiot time traveler. You should listen to your nephew more. He makes better decisions.”

           “What did you just… W-who… Who is this? How’d you get this number?”

           “Look, just get back to the plot and come home already. I’ve been trying to help your dumb ass, but there’s nothing I can do when you’re out… gallivanting or whatever.”

           Freaking out, Wes began to move, looking around the parking lot for any spying eyes as he did so. He had no idea who this rude caller who knew way too much might be, but he wasn’t about to let himself get bossed around by another stalker.

           “Okay, guy who sounds like a teenage punk robot, I’m not going to be harassed by you and your freaky-as-hell time eye friends.” He shouted the rest, “So leave me alone and let me have my nice weekend with my nephew. I’m minding my own business and just trying to fix a few things about my messed-up adult life. So… butt out, okay?!”

           “Did you say… ‘time eye’? Well, shit. Get home ASAP. Bye.”

           “What? Hello? Hello?” But all he heard was a dial tone.

           He turned around, cell phone still in hand, and saw that Jace was standing behind the open passenger door, staring at him with big eyes.

           “What was that about? Did you have a fight with that Eddie guy or something?”

           “Uh, um… Y-yeah. But…” Feeling his mind breaking, Wes forced a wide grin. “It’s okay. We’re all right. You were right, Jace. All I do is talk about things and get sad or mad. We’re on vacation! Yeah, we’re here to have fun! Fun. No more worrying and complaining. Starting tomorrow, we’ll turn this trip way up. We’ll freaking have fun.”

           “Okaaay…” Jace said and slowly, carefully took his seat. “I believe you.”

           “Yeah. Good,” Wes replied and got in the car, still with a grin. “Fun, fun, fun.”

           “Hehe, yeah…” Jace averted his eyes from insanity and mumbled, “… Fun.”

           The next day featured a whirlwind of tourist activities that began with a morning bus tour around Beverly Hills, where Wes and Jace were taken past the big gated homes of many famous actors ranging from the stars of 80s and 90s action movies to retired starlets from the classics of earlier decades. It was all fine and good, Jace supposed, but he was more interested in his uncle’s strange and now persistent behavior.

           “See, this is fun, right? We’re having fun, yeah? Down here in L.A.…” he would say over and over, among other variations of self-assurance.

           Jace had already known from their interactions together in the present that Wes could make all the plans in the world and talk pop culture trivia as well as anyone his age, but when it came to stressful situations, he tended to have slow-burn breakdowns that escalated as a situation he failed to contain or correct got worse and worse. But this was the first time he had seen it get so bad during their time travel trip, and it had nothing to do with his plans to make his modern life better, or his carefully scripted interactions with the young versions of his friends and the other kids at school.

           They visited the Hollywood Bowl, the famed amphitheater that was home to many concerts, symphonies, and other events. Nothing was going on that day, but Wes still wanted to see it. He picked one of the empty seats in the back and just stared into the big white shell around the stage, until Jace was forced to snap him back into reality with some forced complaints about being bored and wanting to go elsewhere.

           The La Brea Tar Pits were next, and Jace actually found some mild amusement out of watching a fake wooly mammoth perpetually ‘sinking’ to its doom in the gooey, thick black soup as its mate and child watched on. Wes spent most of the visit leaning against the fence railing and staring plaintively at the city skyline.

           “Um, Unk…” Jace spoke up as tar bubbled nearby. “You don’t really seem to be having any actual fun. You’re just forcing it, trying to make it happen.”

           “Nah, I’m good, seriously. I love this city, love seeing stuff. I was standing here thinking. Like, this ancient tar pit… it could preserve whatever we toss into it, and it’d still be here in 2020, part of the modern city built up around it, right? So, then I thought about the future the locals still think might happen. Like, Blade Runner stuff. Tall sci-fi buildings, holographic ads, flying cars… Time is, like, crazy vast. What are the odds that we’d get to be chosen to travel it, in our small slice of the grand scheme, you know?”

           “Sure, and then what are the odds that we’d also get picked to be stalked?”

           “N-no, man. No. Nothing’s stalking us. We’re totally safe.”

           “Then why does it feel like we’re running all over the place? I think you should just tell me who called you last night. I might know who it was… What’d they say?”

           Wes hesitated. He thought that maybe he could finally admit that maybe there really was some ‘time ninja’ guy out there, but doing so would mean that yes, their journey in time did have threats—multiple ones, in fact. It would give Jace another excuse to want to go home, effectively ruining all of their hard work so far.

           “It was just some jerk trying to sell me a timeshare,” he answered. “Yeah… solicitors just really kill my vibe, you know? Even in 1995, they pull your number from a hat and somehow find you. I wanted to be free of that in the past… So, yeah.”

           “Uh-huh…” Jace sighed. “Whatever you say. So where are we going next?”

           “Hm, how about somewhere nice and quiet? At least for Los Angeles.”

           The stop following the tar pits was surprisingly menial: the downtown Barnes & Noble, where they arrived in the late afternoon. The familiar and “warm” smell of paper books filled the store, and instead of the Nook e-reader section, there were several wooden tables where a Goosebumps series get-together was taking place, with kids dressed up in spooky costumes and making slime out of common kitchen products.

           “Go read a book,” Wes instructed, “or listen to music on the nice headphones they got at those stations near the CDs. I’m, uh… just going to do a little research.”

           He took off, and Jace watched as he headed to one of the store search computers as he looked at all the bookshelves he passed by. Once he was out of the picture, Jace began to meander about, trying to think of something he could read.

           Wes didn’t have high expectations—and he had yet to try his local store—but there was a brief hopeful moment as he waited for the search results to load. But, nope. Nothing by Corathine, even that could be ordered, and nothing else noteworthy on time traveling in general. At least it looked like no portal would open to yank stuff away. He had to wonder where that book the tentacles had taken was now, if it still existed at all.

           He went to the travel books to grab a copy for Los Angeles to look through, but then eyed a guide for San Diego, a city he knew little about. Jace was nearby looking at magazines. Before he got spotted, he grabbed the book and left to find a hidey-hole.

           The last stop of the night was a surprise to both. Wes, looking for something to do before going back to the dark and too-quiet hotel room, noticed The Forum sporting complex in the distance. Inspiration hit, and he asked the taxi driver if there was a game that night—without really even knowing just what was played inside the arena.

           It turned out that the local basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers, did indeed have a game. After a quick request for a new destination, they left the interstate and found themselves just in time for the night’s main event. Wes got some okay seats in the middle of the half-full stadium, among half-enthusiastic fans.  

           “Not sure what we’re doing at a basketball game,” Jace said over the pre-game noise. “Sports trivia is the one thing you, like, never talk about, so…”

           “Ah, so what? Nothing wrong with a new experience. Or being surrounded by people in a bright place that’s loud enough to drown out a cell phone ringing.”

           “But do you know anything about the team?” Jace asked as he and the others in attendance watched the dancing cheerleaders in bright yellow on the shiny wood below.

           “Through osmosis over the years, kinda. I mean, it’s got the Laker Girls, right down there. They’re famous in the sporting world. Team had Magic Johnson, but I think he already retired… But I think he came back? Maybe he is back. Yeah, and this is also the team that had Kobe Bryant and our hero from Space Jam and even his own bad video game Shaq Fu, Mr. O’Neal himself. So… we’ll get to say that we saw those guys.”

           The girls finished their opening gig, and the current roster ran onto the court as Ya’ll Ready for This? blared on the speakers. Disappointingly, none of the few players that Wes knew by name came running out, and a few minutes into the lackluster game, he understood that the low audience numbers weren’t just due to the impending holiday.

           “Eh… that makes sense,” Wes sighed after the first quarter and looked at the low score for both sides. “Guess we arrived during the team’s doldrum years. None of the rock stars are playing. This is nothing like the good archive footage of this franchise.”

           “Should we go?”

           “You kidding? I already paid good money for these tickets. Besides…” he leaned back and put his feet on the empty chair in front of him, “I’m used to disappointment. I practically breathe the stuff. Kind of feels like I’m back in the present that way.”

           “Sheesh…” Jace mumbled again. “Things can’t be all that bad in 2020.”

           They had an early lunch the next day at a diner that Wes insisted was quite famous, for all of the movie scenes in which it had appeared over the years. Or maybe it was only in the previous year’s Pulp Fiction, he couldn’t remember. The point he was trying to make was that the city had many diners that showed up in movies, and the Hawthorn Grill was one of them—and that was probably the only reason he chose it.

           “Last day in L.A.,” Wes said after taking a bite of his classic club sandwich. “We gotta take off right after we eat. Did ya like it? We saw some cool places, right?”

           “Yeah, sure, but I’m getting worried about you, to tell you the truth. Are we going back home then? We could get there by the end of the day I think…”

           “Not quite yet. We still got some time until Christmas goes by.”

           “But, really… If you don’t want to risk messing with your perfect Christmas morning or whatever, we can just stay in the apartment for a week. I’m cool with that.”

           “Can’t do it, Jace. We have to stay out of town a little longer.”

           There was an elderly tourist couple in the booth behind them, and the wife could be heard saying, “I just hope there aren’t any earthquakes while we’re visiting. Francine was already living here when that big one hit, during the baseball game.”

           “And that one last year,” the husband added. “I just couldn’t live here with that threat always under my feet. I’ll take the nice solid ground in Iowa any day.”

           “Well, she is a grown adult now, dear… If she wants to live here, she can.”

           “Sorry, but I overheard you two,” Wes said after turning around in his seat. “The city shakes sometimes, and I don’t know how long you’re down here, but I have it on good authority that there are no big ones coming up.”

           “Oh? But I thought they couldn’t be predicted.”

           “Sure they can. They just don’t want you to know about it. It’s how they control you. If word got around, no one would move in if they knew it was an earthquake year.”

           “Ah, I see what you mean,” the husband replied. “Thank you for telling us that.”

           “No problem. Just wanted to give you a stress-free holiday vacation.”

           “What are you doing?” Jace asked. “Isn’t saying stuff like that dangerous?”

           “Aw, what harm did I do? That felt good. You were right. We should do more to help people, using the wisdom we have as time travelers. Right?”

           Jace raised an eyebrow. “This trip is really messing with you.”

           “I know I freaked out a few times, but I’ve had a chance to think and get over my delusions. I’m back to the old me, Jace.” He took a sip of soda. “You’ll see.”

           “Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

           “I’m serious. And it’s not all about me anymore, either. We should make all of the kids in your, I mean our class happier—heck, as many people in town. That would make you happy, right? Give you a reason to want to stay in the past longer?”

           “I… only wanted to help a few of the more miserable kids.”

           “Okay, so what else do you want to do? Anything, just name it. Want some pre-Christmas presents? Want more presents on the day itself? Want to go to Disneyland?”

           “… What are you… Look, I don’t need more stuff. I get by on my Game Boy and all the video games we rent, and especially the iPad when you let me use it.”

           “You don’t want anything?”

           “I mean, I still want to go back to the present, but at this point, we’ve been here so long, so… We might as well finish your plans, right?”

           “Ah… Ha, yeah… It’s nice that you’re up for that at least…”

           Jace finished his burger and after swallowing the last of the beef, stared at his uncle, crossed his arms, and muttered, “Are you trying to butter me up for something? Do you have another big stupid scheme in the works that I’m gonna hate?”

           Before Wes could answer, the waitress came over and asked, “You sure ate up all of that pretty fast. Can I get you two anything else?”

           “Just the check, thanks,” Wes answered.

           She took the plates and continued, “You two visiting? Where you both from?”

           “Royal Valley.”

           “Oh, that’s a bit north of here. Little city, right? Didn’t… some big park called Arcade Prince open there recently? Have you been to Los Angeles before?”

           “No,” Wes lied, in an attempt to minimize the conversation.

           “What do you think of it?”

           In one of his rare instances of being aggravated with a stranger, he replied with a little snark, “Thought there’d be more bank robberies and broad daylight shootouts.”

           “Oh,” she said and rolled her eyes. “That darn Heat movie’s gonna ruin our reputation. It’s a very safe city. You both should come back every year.”

           Once she finally left, Wes let out a sigh and sunk in his booth. “We’re going to San Diego next. That’s where we’ll spend Christmas. Then we can go home.”

           “San Diego? What the heck’s in San Diego?”

           Wes shrugged. “Rampaging t-rex in a couple years?”

           “Seriously.”

           “It has a famous zoo. And SeaWorld.”

           “We keep this up, and we’ll be in Mexico soon.”

           “I see you’re getting better with your geography.”

           “Okay, really, what are we doing? Are you looking for something?”

           “I feel safer on the road, moving. Besides, I’m still the adult here. You’re the kid. I get to decide where we go,” he added with uncharacteristic firmness.

           “Hey, don’t get all pissy with me,” Jace replied angrily.

           The waitress came back with the check, and Wes handed her a twenty-dollar bill without even looking at it. Once she left, he calmed down and spoke in a hushed voice.

           “Look, sorry. I’m stressed. My head’s been buzzing since we left town. It’s not audible; it’s a feeling, like… a rumbling controller trying to tell you to ‘turn back, you’re leaving the game world!’ I don’t know how to better describe it. It’s subtle, but constant. I’m starting to feel like we’re not supposed to leave Royal Valley. I don’t think the cosmos will collapse on us or something insane like that, but maybe we’re meant to stay there.”

           Jace blinked a few times. “Is that true? I haven’t felt anything like that.”

           “Great. Maybe I really am going crazy.”

           “If you feel that way, then why not just go back?”

           “Be-because… I’m scared, Jace. That’s not easy to admit.”

           “Scared of what? You usually just sit inside all day, making plans or whatever.”

           “Yeah, I know, pretty much… But I also go out and observe sometimes—like I did a lot during my first trip, and here’s the thing… Not everything is the same.”

           “What do you mean?”

           “It’s not just this time eye thing that’s following me around. About a month after we arrived, I started noticing little divergences. This should all be a rerun to me, but…”

           “Well, yeah, the difference is you took me with you, and made me be friends with your old gang. That’s gotta change a few things, right?”

           “Sure, some things, but I’m talking about anomalies that don’t involve our actions. There are altered little events, sometimes objects missing or misplaced, all around town. And King Arcade, and spots we frequent. I took extensive notes on my last visit after my first month. Other things, I can just remember with my, you know, good memory. Someone’s messing around in this time other than us. It makes me feel like I’m not in perfect control here, and if things are shifting, then my perfectly laid plans might start to fall apart. Someone is adjusting things around us. And I thought taking a little vacation could at least get my mind off of it, make me stop looking around all the time.”

           “Oh. So that’s what this is all about. It’s really got you freaking out, huh?”

           “It definitely makes me wonder who all, or what is interfering with us. The time eyes, your ninja guy… someone else? If there are forces out there trying to ruin my plans, then I don’t know what I could do. If I know the future, I have some control over the present, but if someone who knows more than me is out there… Ugh. It makes me feel as impotent and hopeless as I did back in 2020. I hate my life in that future, kid.”

           “You… you hate it? Is it really that bad…?”

           “Not everything. But my personal life, if I even have one… Ah, never mind.”

           The waitress returned and dropped the receipt on the table. Wes pocketed it and quietly stood up, and Jace followed him out. Before the couple sitting near them were out of earshot, Wes heard them make a couple of comments.

           “The way adults talk to their kids these days…” the wife said.

           Her husband also had a grievance, “And the children aren’t much better!”

           “I just need you to put up with it for a little longer,” Wes said as they passed a gumball machine and a cigarette dispenser. “I still don’t want to mess with Christmas at all, but mostly, I just needed a break from the paranoia. Even if it’s not fully working.”

           “You should’ve told me. I don’t need you going crazy. So… San Diego it is.”

           “Thanks, bud. You know I don’t like fighting.”

           “Are you starting to believe that my ninja is real now?”

           Wes shrugged as they left the diner, passing by a framed photo of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson at the location during the shoot. “It might explain some things.”   

            “Really, why would I make up a foul-mouthed time traveling ninja?”

           “Foul-mouthed…” Wes muttered. “That… that sounds about right.”

           As they left the city and headed back out into the dry landscape of southern California, Wes was finally starting to feel just the slightest of holiday vibes. Wham!’s new Last Christmas song was playing on the radio, among all of the older classics, and things actually felt almost okay again. It felt great getting some fears off his shoulders, even if it might’ve diminished his “has all the answers” adultness in Jace’s eyes.

           Wes spoke up after another hot-rodder blew past them on their way down I-5, “You ever spot license plates that don’t quite look like vanity plates, but might pass as one? And you think, maybe it’s some obscure reference that’s going over your head?”

           “Uhm… what’s a vanity plate again?”

           “You know, when you got cash to burn and customize your plate so it’s the only one in the state that says ‘LAWSUIT’ or ‘BGBUTTZ’ or ‘IH8KIDS’. But look at that one.” He pointed at the back of a nearby blue Pontiac sedan. “It says ‘1UPBRPD’. Did he pick that, or did the RNG gods just give him something that kind of says a video game extra life made him burp? And there’s that one over there… ‘ZY7AA25’… That could totally mean something really deep to them, and we wouldn’t know.”

           “At least you’re a little bit back to your normal self, even if you just want to talk about boring stuff. I’m not looking forward to driving, so I don’t care about plates.”

           “Why aren’t you looking forward to it? It gives you a lot of freedom.”

           “Watching you do it mostly makes me okay with waiting.”

           “Hey, come on, I’m not that bad. Mario Kart prepared me years before the test.” They passed under another highway sign saying that San Diego was coming up, so Wes had to get something out and sang, “Where in the World… is Carmen Sandiego? You’ve seen a few episodes of that game show, right? I think it might’ve just ended.”

           “I’ve watched it, sure. Helps with my geography. Seriously… it does.”

           As they made their way over some more of the dry coastal hills that preceded the city, Wes’ cell phone rang again. Feeling a little better now, and maybe just a little more confident, he answered it quickly, unafraid of who was on the other end.

           “You didn’t come back…” the disguised scratchy voice sighed. “Not surprising.”

           “Nope.”

           “Jace is in the car, I assume. You didn’t leave him at a gas station? Why don’t you put him on? We’re already old friends. I want to talk to someone with reason.”

           “Nah, I don’t think so. Look, guy, I don’t think you know where I am, so I’m not afraid of you,” Wes said, and noticed that Jace was trying to listen in. He switched the phone to his other ear and messily changed his steering hand. “What do you want?”

           “You’re right. I don’t know where you are. Does that make you feel safer? Here’s the problem, though. I don’t know how far you can go, before… something happens.”

           “Oh no, not ‘something.’ That’s always scary.”

           “You ever give any thought that maybe, just maybe, I’m trying to protect you?”

           “You’re trying to not sound like a jackass today. Must be tough.”

           There was an audible groan. “Just tell me this much. How far have you gone away from home? And are you feeling… Ugh. Are you feeling okay?”

           “Vegas, and it was just grand fun. We both gambled and drank the night away and now we feel like we’re on top of the world. Was there anything else?”

           “Do you have any idea how grating it is to talk to you? Just don’t make me come save you from whatever… messed-up time-related nightmare you find out there.”

           With that, he hung up. Wes folded his cell phone, pocketed it, and looked at Jace, who was looking back with a curious gaze. “Your… ‘ninja’ friend is… odd.”

           “Then you were talking to him. What’d he say?”

           “He just likes to give me cryptic warnings and trying to scare me. And he’s also a bit… immature. If he really is some time ninja, it’s hard seeing him as a hero-type.”

           “I think I should tell you something. Back on Halloween, the two of us kinda…”

           “Wait, wait, shh,” he interrupted and turned down Holly Jolly Christmas on the radio. “Do you… do you see that? There’s something strange out there.”

           Jace looked out at the skyline and noticed the peculiar shadow. On one side, the city was in bright sunlight; on the other, it was like an overcast sky that made everything a little darker and took away some color. Yet the sky didn’t have a single cloud.

           “Maybe… the buildings are just casting shadows on each other? That’s kind of a neat optical effect,” Wes guessed. “Start looking for hotel signs, okay?”

           As they got closer, the farther side of the city got darker, with the wall of shadow going straight up into the sky and out of sight. Wes looked, but couldn’t see the end.

           “It’s like… it’s like some boundary in a… video game world,” Jace commented, and the two looked at each other. “Um, hey… what did the ninja say to you?”

           Wes didn’t answer but continued cautiously. When he got off the interstate, he slowed down some to study the strange phenomena. As they got closer, it got darker, and became like an infinitely large black shower curtain that only let minimal light pass through. And yet, people and cars came and went straight in and out of it.

           He found an open downtown parallel parking lot, messily worked into it, grabbed some quarters for the meter, and then walked with Jace towards the wall of shadow that awaited them a few urban blocks away. The younger of the two looked pretty hesitant.

           “Could we maybe… not get near that thing?” he asked.

           “I don’t like it either, but we have to know what that is.”

           “I don’t have to know,” Jace mumbled once more. “I’m just fine with a mystery.”

           After some final wary steps, Wes stopped a few feet away from the barrier and watched all of the non-time travelers live out their lives as if it wasn’t slicing Market Street in half. Cars emerged from the “outside” and returned to full color; people went out and looked like they were walking off into a dark, colorless cave. He was about to touch it, but decided against a probably stupid decision and instead tossed a rock out—and watched as it simply disappeared. He pondered this, and then out of curiosity he looked down. The rock was back, near the storm drain where he had found it.

           “Are we done experimenting? I don’t like being so close to it,” Jace asked again.

           “Boundaries…” Wes murmured and turned to the tall hotel nearby. “Come on,” he said and grabbed Jace’s hand. “Let’s get a better look at what we’re dealing with.”

           After merging with a batch of sunglass tourists in the elevator, the two took it to the floor just below the penthouse. Jace followed Wes to the end of the hallway where a window gave them a high-up view of the city. They could see for miles past the historic buildings and suburbs, out to the horizon. The boundary faded and gave way to blue sky, but Wes knew it was still there. And the view gave him a clue about its properties.

           “It’s bending. It’s not a box with straight edges.” Wes looked down at a confused Jace and explained his theory to the best of his abilities, “It’s a giant circle. And I don’t know what would happen if we tried to go out of it, but I’m pretty sure… that we can’t change anything on the other side. This is far as we can go.”

           “And what if it suddenly shrinks? Please tell me we’re not staying in the city.”

           “Actually, um… We’re kind of already in our hotel.”