s3.e15

Last Glimmers

           “Yeah, Jared picked mini-golf. He got me here early, so we’ve been waiting for everyone,” Jace said over his cell phone, in the venue’s lobby area. “How’s Wes?”

           “Still don’t know yet,” Warren replied from the other end. “Guy’s been asleep for sixteen hours. Or just thinking deep thoughts all quiet like in his room, not sure. But I’m feeling even better now, Jace—like, when it was just me making sure I’d be born, I felt a little more real. But after Dad made that choice, man, I’m like, grounded. Sharp.”

           “Hopefully he’ll be ready to go in a couple days,” Jace added, turning around to see more of the gang hanging around the place’s entrance, looking bored as they waited for the stragglers. “Okay, gonna go. Wanna focus on today, make it a good one.”

           “Peace out, cuz,” Warren said and hung up.

           At last, Zach’s parents’ Mercedes pulled up outside, and Boy Cool himself, gone for weeks, slid over with a pair of shades on and a big wrapped present in hand.

           “Hey, guys!” He flashed a grin. “Our plane got in late last night, and Hawaii was a blast. And happy b-day, J! It’s been a minute. Did I miss anything big?”

           “Nah, not really, dude.” Jared gave him a high-five. “Missed ya, though.”

           “Mini-golf, huh? Interesting choice. So, um, where’s the stash?”

           “Over there,” Jared replied and pointed into the next room, which was a small café. Inside were his folks, holding hands across the table that held the gift pile. The two were smiling and laughing. “They’re just… Ugh. Mom and Dad are acting really weird.”

           “I take it they won’t be joining us. So, we ready to hit the greens?”

           Sadie spoke up by a gum-chewing Celeste, “We’re actually waiting for one more.”

           “Really now?” Zach looked around at everyone. “It feels like we’re all here.”

           Concentrating, Jace hit his orange ball and sent it bouncing off a barrier and straight into the tunnel beneath the windmill on hole six. The others watched as it came to a stop on the other side, just a few feet from the cup and next to Ash’s ball.

           “Nice one,” she commented, and as usual, he tried not to blush. “You and Colin can work those angles, huh? You’ll both probably be good at middle school geometry.”

           Colin went next, nudging his ball in for a birdie. With such a large group, there were colorful balls all across the small play area, so contact was a common occurrence—and it was coming from one player in particular. Right after Colin had secured his score, a green ball came over at high speed and knocked Jared’s turquoise dimpled sphere a few feet further from its target. Jared scowled and held up his club threateningly.

           He fussed, “Dang it, Millie! Stop going after me! This is just birthday hazing!”

           She snickered, held her club behind her head and over her shoulders, and replied, “Aw, c’mon. It’s fun. Besides, it’s not like it even really makes the game harder for you.”

           “Sadie, Ash—why did you get me to invite her?” Jared groaned. “First one of our parties she goes to, and it has to be mine. She’s totally killing my chill. I normally play so much better when it’s just me and Dad, I swear. We get it, Millie. You’re good at this. You could probably get some holes in one, but you gotta mess with me instead.”

           “What can I say? I’ve been here a lot. I play with my grandparents whenever they visit. Winning is fine and all, but that face you’re making right now? That’s priceless.”

           “Jared, you gotta learn how to go with the flow!” Sadie told him as she tapped her ball into the cup. “Ya sound like Wes sometimes, always out to prove something.”

           “Yeah, yeah…” Jared said with a sigh. “Hey, Arty. You’re up. Snap out of it.”

           “He’s starin’ at the gators again,” Zach observed. “C’mon, buddy. It’s not a zoo.”

           Arthur, at the ropes that kept golfers from falling off the elevated side of the fake landscape and into the water below to become gator chow, turned around and grabbed his club. Not far behind him was the big sign for the place—“Little Greens Putt-acular.” Past it was one of the sides of the mall, the collection of baby golf courses being on the same back road that was also once the home of Jolly Roger’s Treasure Trove.

           “I was just wondering. Why does this place have alligators, anyway?” he asked.

           “To give the players something to look at while waiting?” Wessy replied. “Hey, J, are you sure we won’t get kicked out? I mean, we’re at each hole for a while.”

           “What are you so worried about?” Jared asked, his eyes on Arthur’s moving ball.

           “I mean, the guy at the desk did tell us to break into two groups, and we just kind of ignored him. And, um…” Wessy checked the two cards Millie was holding, “Zach’s sort of slowing us down, too. He got a ten on the last hole. No shaming, just saying.”

           “Goal of both kinds of golf is to get a lower score, Zach,” Millie chided him.

           “Cripes, I know that!” he huffed. “I keep telling you guys, this is the first time I’ve ever played mini-golf. I hit the stupid ball, and it never goes where I want it to!”

           “Have you tried aiming?” Sadie asked him earnestly.

           “Ha-ha. Just let me focus.” He stepped up and added in a grumble, “Stupid game.”

           “Hey! I know you guys!” exclaimed a familiar voice as Zach took his turn. The gang looked over to see Kyle and another boy come up, clubs at their sides. “Didn’t take your squad as the golfing type. Do you all do everything together, or is this, like…”

           “It’s my birthday,” Jared explained. “Um. Nice getup.”

           “Kyle. Wow,” Celeste remarked. “Khaki shorts and a polo shirt. No shades, and a flat, basic haircut. You’re just missing the ascot. The heck happened to you?”

           Kyle smirked. “I took some good advice and left my fake self behind.”

           Zach hit his ball, appeared disappointed at where it ended up, but still put on a grin as he turned around to greet Kyle. “Yo, I know you back. Two summers ago, Camp Morning Dew. Kyle, king of Sherman Miller, cool as the other side of a pillow.”

           “Yeeeah…” Kyle sighed. “Zach, thanks for the lessons back then, and it was fun for a while, but I’m not bringing that act with me into middle school. I tell ya, I haven’t felt this carefree in years. Here’s a lesson for everyone. Cool is constraining, like a tight shirt you can’t take off. Much as I liked playing mini-golf with my dad way back, it became borderline lame when I got ‘cool.’ Couldn’t let myself get caught dead here.”

           “Oh. Well, shoot, man. If you had to try that hard and give up the things you liked, maybe it was never really for you. I mean, for me… this just is me.”

           “Eh, it was my fault. I took a joke too far. Never should’a let it ruin somethin’ good, like a friendship. Lucky me, though, Lewis here is a forgiving type.” Kyle gave his best friend, a scrawny boy with big eyes, a pat on the shoulder. “All it took was a single phone call, me asking if he wanted to hang out, and the next day… here we are.”

           “Hey,” Lewis greeted everyone timidly. “Are you going to Cookton, too?”

           “Yup,” Sadie replied. “Guess you’ll be seeing us around.”

           “Lewis is a bit shy, takes time to warm up to people,” Kyle said. “But darn smart and funny. Anyway, uh… Mind if we play through? Being chill wasn’t part of the act, so I don’t mind really, but you guys are sort of backing up the courses for the others.”

           They all got a look at the groups and families stuck waiting on the first five holes. There seemed to be quite a traffic jam, but impatience wasn’t evident. Yet.

           “We’ll try to play faster,” Colin said. “Don’t want anyone complaining to staff.”

           The party-goers picked up the pace, playing one right after the other and wasting no time on conversation. Kyle and Lewis hit pars just as Zach scored a triple bogey. In sync for the moment, all twelve kids proceeded to the next course, where the soft green wrapped around a volcano with red streamers blown by a fan to represent erupting lava.

           “Hey, Kyle, ya know something?” Zach said after making his first putt, while the others did theirs. “Being confident enough to just be yourself is still cool in my book.”

           “Uh-huh,” Kyle replied. “So, Cookton has a chess club and I’m thinking I might actually join. Ya know, the club everyone makes fun of? Still think I’ll be cool then?”

           “Hm… Maybe we made ‘cool’ too simple back in elementary school. Could be, it’s a lot more than just being ‘neat’ and acting like nothing really affects you.”

           “You think?” Millie burst out. “I’ve been trying to tell kids like you that for years.”

           “Well, dang, if what’s considered cool changes or gets more complicated in middle school, then I dunno if…” Zach shook his head and brought back his usual self-assured grin. “Nah. I know I can adapt to what’s in, what’s hot. Even if it’s day by day.”

           “Good luck with that,” Lewis said with a quiet chuckle. “My brother’s in eighth grade, and he says it’s a full-time job keeping on top of the ‘social hierarchy.’ Whatever that is. He stopped trying, and then got happier when he was just doing what he wanted with his buddies. You can still go for it, I guess, but be ready to change your, you know, schtick every week. It can be rough, too. Even nice kids might get mean, so I hear.”

           “Hey, thanks for the advice!” Zach said as Lewis took his shot. “Thought you were the quiet type, not the guy on the playground full of wisdom and stuff.”

           “Lewis can be cynical and sarcastic when he wants to be, and other times doesn’t have much to say,” Kyle explained. “But he’s always watching, observing. Learning.”

           “Yeah, we have someone like that, too,” Sadie said, eyeing Millie.

           “All right, we’re going on ahead,” Kyle said after he and Lewis finished their rounds, impressing the others with their good scores. “Have fun.”

           Once it was just Wessy and Zach trying to avoid last place on the volcano course, Celeste, leaning on her club, inquired, “Hey, Millie. What are the numbers?”

           Chosen because she was used to taking notes, Millie held up the score cards and answered, “All over the place. Let’s see… Well, I’d probably be in first, if I was actually trying. Still, I’m shooting a 21. Colin and Jared, tied at 23. Celeste, 25. Sadie, Jason and Wes all have 29. Zach… Oh, man. You’re rocking a 41. Still time to improve, though.”

           “Don’t count on it,” he mumbled and tapped his ball into the cup.

           “What about us?” Arthur wondered. “I haven’t been keeping track.”

           “Was saving you for last, because you’re both really good,” Millie complimented the twins. “Arty, you’re at 20. But Ash has a darn nice 19. That hole in one she got back at the gorilla with the swinging arms—that was legendary, gave her a hold on first.”

           Grinning as the group walked to the next course, which featured a pirate ship, Ash gloated. “Well, I could always screw up and give someone else the lead. As long as I beat Arty, it’ll be a good day at the greens. Really winning would just be a bonus.”

           “Dang it, Ash, why are you still all up on me like that?” Arthur said, sounding both agitated and a bit dejected. “I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it’d be lame, but you’ve been riding me pretty much since school got out. Could you stop?”

           “Who else am I s’posed to annoy?” she replied mischievously. “Hey, c’mon, don’t act like this is anything new. We pick on each other all the time.”

           “Yeah, well, I’m really not into it right now, okay? I got too much on my mind.”

           “Pfft. Fine, whatever. Still gonna beat you, though. Cry to Dad if you want.”

           “Guys, can we not have any fights on my birthday?” Jared pleaded. “No drama for once? Feels like something bad always goes down at my parties.”

           “It wasn’t your fault five of us got food poisoning last year, Jared,” Arthur replied.

           Colin argued, “I mean… I did warn you about that Chinese buffet’s reputation.”

           The pirate ship was kind of cool, with the green transitioning to wooden planks for a hairpin turn. The wooden part had fake cannons, barrels, and a mainsail with skull and crossbones. Adding to the nautical theme, the course was bordered by water that threatened to devour any balls hit hard enough to jump up the base of the guardrail.

           “Neat set-up,” Arthur said and went over to the rail as the others started taking their turns. He gazed down, his eyes scouring the ‘sea.’ “Who wants to walk the plank?”

           Zach replied, “And be gator food? Nah. Careful, Arty. No safety nets over here.”

           “I’m not sure, but I don’t think pirates played golf on their ships,” Sadie remarked and swung her club. “Ya know, adult golf looks boring, but this… This is okay.”

           Ash was up next, and said as she lined up her shot, “Hey, bro, watch this one.”

           Arthur wasn’t interested, but Ash went ahead and took her turn anyway. Her ball went far, bouncing off the barrier and getting through the hairpin segment with one hit. It came to a rolling stop just ten or so feet from the hole, and Ash looked pleased.

           “Hey, Arty, you’re up,” Jared grumbled. “Stop looking for alligators.”

           “Just hold on…” Arthur said and leaned in even more. “I think I see—”

           With comedic timing, it really did just happen; Arthur lost his balance and went over the side, right into the water. It almost didn’t seem real at first, and the initial reactions mostly consisted of laughter, of both the genuine and nervous variety. But it abruptly ended when it occurred to everyone that he wasn’t alone in the water.

           “Arthur!” many of the kids shouted, among a mix of exclamations like, “We got ya, buddy!”, “Swim away from the crocs!”, and “Grab our clubs!”

           Jace watched the scene unfold as the gang dangled their golf clubs off the side and Arthur splashed about frantically, prepared to either help or reverse time to make sure he didn’t take the tumble in the first place. As always, Jace also wondered if this was meant to happen. Wes hadn’t shared any stories about Arthur fending off reptiles.

           In the end, Arthur managed to grab the two clubs that were best able to pull him out. One belonged to Celeste, who was strong and could do the heavy lifting. The other was held by Ash, who was tall and had the best reach. Once he got a good grip on the guardrail, he pulled himself back onto the ship’s “deck.” In a degree of shock from what just happened and soaking wet, sure, but he had avoided becoming lizard food.

           “Arty!” Ash nearly squealed and gave him a scared hug. “You clumsy dummy! You know you don’t have the best balance! What were you thinking?”

           “J-just… wanted to see more alligators…” he replied blankly.

           “There are no alligators in there!” an angry teenage staffer shouted angrily as he came stomping up. “It’s just a retention pond, separate from the animal enclosure.”

           The gang looked at one another to take in this revelation, then Ash glared at the worker and fired back, “But he still could’ve drowned! What kind of place are you guys running? You pretty much got a lake here, with a flimsy guardrail and no life saver!”

           “Hey! Don’t yell at me, you brat! This is just my summer job. I’ve already pulled out six other kids who fell in looking for gators, and my boss still isn’t taking it seriously. And what did I say about your group? It’s too big! You were supposed to split it up!”

           “Y-yeah, well…” Ash seemed overpowered. “It’s just that…”

           “Ash,” Jared said. “It’s okay. We played enough. I want to open my gifts. Let’s all just go inside and eat.” He added under his breath, “I don’t really want to get banned, either.”

           Jace was close enough to Zach to hear him murmur, “Oh, thank God.” 

            “Thanks, Jason. And everyone,” Jared said after unwrapping Jace’s present, the last from the pile. “And, Millie… your gift was more normal than I thought it’d be.”

           “Hard to go wrong with a black leather wallet,” she said with a shrug. “Look, I might be the kid everything thinks is weird, but I do give practical things.”

           “You should show off that bad boy at Cookton,” Zach commented.

           Jared added Jace’s present—the Game Boy Breakout clone Kirby’s Block Ball—to his haul, which mainly consisted of more games and movies. It was something of a custom, Jace had found out, that Jared usually got much of his media from his friends, since cash had always been tight for him and it made cartridges and videotapes a luxury.

           “Sorry for ruining your birthday,” Arthur said, on one of the table benches in the dining hall and still dripping under a towel. “Feels like something always does happen…”

           “I blame Millie, good gift-giving aside,” Sadie joked. “She must be cursed.”

           “You didn’t ruin anything, Arty,” Jared assured him. “So don’t feel worse than you already do. Heck, at least you definitely made this party one I’ll never forget.”

           “That guy was a jerk, though,” Celeste grumbled and crossed her arms.

           “Teens can be like that,” Colin said. “You should’a seen how the counselors at camp could get sometimes, J. I think they’re just always moody and on edge.”

           “Still no excuse to treat Arthur that way!” Ash snapped. “No sympathy, at all!”

           Their lunches consisting of hotdogs, cheap burgers, and chicken tenders, Arthur finished off his last crinkle fry and quietly replied, “I thought you’d just laugh at me.”

           “You really think that? Arty, I was worried. You scared me! Just because we might fight and drive each other crazy, doesn’t change the fact that we’re, ya know… family. I might smack your back sometimes, but I also always have it.”

           “But… what if we start liking totally different things? You’ve changed a lot since third grade. Before that, we were really, like, in sync and stuff.”

           “You want us to be like Tam and Trude? Bro, we’re allowed to have more and different interests. Doesn’t mean we’re forgetting about the past or whatever. Look, if you’re worried about middle school, join the club. But if you’re really feeling down, you should’a told me. I would’ve eased off. Well, at least a little.”

           Arthur gave Ash a timid grin, before looking up at Jared’s mom as she came in and handed him a steaming cup from the Dunkin’ Donuts next door.

           “Some hot chocolate, to warm you up, Arthur,” she said in a motherly way. “And I’ll have a little chat with management here about their safety standards. So, Jared,” she turned to her pensive son, “did ya get some nice things, hon? Lots of games, I see.”

           “Yeah…” he replied. “Thanks, everyone.”

           “Well, there’s something nice waiting for you at home I think you’ll like, too.”

           As she headed off to have a conversation with the mini-golf teenage summer staff, or maybe just ask for their older manager, Jared reached over and grabbed his copy of Wessy’s photo album. He opened it up, the fresh binding of the red book crackling in the process, and started flipping through the pages full of now very familiar pictures.

           “Wes. Thanks again for making these. It must be boring doing it so many times.”

           “Oh, um, yeah. No problem.”

           “So… I don’t say this much, but I really want to get it off my chest. Let’s forget about the crap between us the past few months. Sorry. For being a jerk sometimes.”

           Wessy seemed a little surprised, and replied, “All right. Deal. I don’t want to keep making myself feel mad around you. Maybe… we just needed some space for a bit.”

           After some awkward silence, Arthur sipped his cocoa and said, “Wasn’t all bad.”

           “This has all been very touching,” Zach wittily piped. “So, Jared, what’s next? Should we take turns talking about our feelings? How about a group hug? Singing?”

           “Shut up, Zach.” Jared rolled his eyes. “But I actually do have something simple in mind after we’re done here.”

           Back at the cottage, Wes nudged open his bedroom door to check on Warren for a third time without him noticing. At last, the kid had drifted off on the couch with the TV on. Now the adult could sneak out without having a painful conversation just yet.

           Stealthily, he left the house, got in the car, and drove it to André’s modern manor on Castle Hill. By July of 1996, it had a fresh “For Sale” sign out front. Where he had gone to live next hadn’t been disclosed; Wes only asked about André’s plans but once, and they both agreed that it would be best for him not to know.

           But in 1994, André hadn’t downsized yet, and Wes figured that it would be the last good chance to see him for likely the last time, at least as his modern self. So that was when he went, right by the residence’s gate, on a cold November day a mere eight months before Wes and Jace stepped through the pantry door together so long ago.

           Under an overcast sky, Wes pressed the intercom button just after jumping back, making sure to look into the lens of the small security camera at the top of the wall.

           “Who are you?” asked a voice through the speaker. “What do you want?”

           “André, it’s me. Wes Colton. I’m here to… say goodbye.”

           “Wes? Do I know… Hm. Right. The time traveler.”

           “I hope you don’t say that to every delivery guy that comes by.”

           “Yes, yes. Very funny. I haven’t lost all my marbles yet. Come in. I’m down in the basement. To your right, past the entrance. And leave your shoes at the door!”

           Once he was buzzed in, Wes walked through André’s stone garden out front and opened the glass front door. The interior of the house was dark and empty, immaculate if only because it had seemingly gone untouched for months. Clearly, the home’s owner wasn’t spending much time up on the surface world these days.

           “Nothing beats an underground at-home lab, eh?” André said with a chortle as Wes headed down the nearby stairs and took in the sight of a fully furnished contemporary cellar. “It really makes me feel like an eccentric scientist.”

           “Incredible,” Wes remarked, looking around at over a dozen computers from the mid-90s hooked up and working together, their bulky CRT monitors and the server rack that they had interfaced with taking up much of the room’s space.

           “What, all this?” André said, typing on a laptop that was one of several machines plugged into some kind of metal table in the room’s center. “This is quaint.”

           “Compared to the Time Lab, I’m sure. Still impressive, considering.” Wes came in closer and looked at the highly reflective metal slab. “Is this thing a table, or…”

           “The door. Not a prototype; I couldn’t afford another coat of gallium titanium polymer. The red color comes later. Current tech makes programming a pain; takes days to compile and transfer data into the hardware. Soon we’ll have USB, and faster drives and processors, so for now… I focus my efforts on stabilizing the quantum-suspended crystal lattices that let one phase through the negatively charged time-portal matrix.”

           Wes huffed. “I’m smart enough to know all those words, but still have no idea how they all come together to make time travel possible. Anyway, I guess you must be holed up down here, all by yourself. No young-you upstairs today.”

           “Kid’s at his aunt’s for Thanksgiving all week. Figured I’d buckle down and do some overtime on this project meanwhile. It will get made and work, but I still have to make it happen. It’s a strange motivation, making something you know gets made.”

           “And all for my sake. This whole thing, all of it. My fault, my problems.”

           “Wes, you became a dear friend to me. I owe you a chance to correct everything. Even if the memories we shared fade away, that won’t stop me from finishing this. I’ve gotten in the habit of working on it every day, so I shouldn’t forget my progress from one lab session to the next. But… this really should be our last visit together.”

           “Still not going to tell me where you’re going after you move out of here?”

           “No. For both our sakes. But even if I no longer make the foolish decision to invent a time machine in the first place, I hope we still meet when you’re older. Maybe make something a little… safer together.” André eyed the futuristic tablet on his desk. “This may be the last time I see you, but I don’t think it’ll be the last time you see me.”

           “André, I didn’t actually come here today to talk about time travel. I first want to apologize that we never did find out why your grandfather disappeared, or where he is.”

           “You don’t need to. I’ve… made my peace with it. I do think that it’s an integral part of our story. Attempting to undo or solve the mystery may unravel everything.”

           “Maybe. But, also…” Wes breathed. “Why didn’t you tell me about my family?”

           André stopped typing, turned around, crossed his arms, and sighed.

           “So, you found out. I suppose that has to mean… your son told you about what the silly toy tournament or whatever it was meant to him.”

           “Did you ever meet Sadie? What happened to us? I just… I want to know.”

           After a painfully long pause, André asked, “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

           “I think I have to. How am I supposed to better myself if I can’t see my mistakes coming in time? I… I don’t want to end up as the same terrible person again.”

           “Don’t be so hard on yourself. People are fallible, and they change slowly. But that change can be dramatic over time. I’m sure the you of right now could hardly even recognize the you 25… ahem, 50 years from now, but you’d still be the same person.

           “The truth is, I only met your kids once, but talked with Sadie a couple of times. When I first saw her, around 2038, I could tell she was trying her best to seem happy, but there was something causing her worry. Something in you. You should know, Wes, that it wasn’t having kids in the first place that broke you. You once told me how you always feared that doing so was like fully saying goodbye to your own childhood, but for you, it turned out that it only prolonged it, gave it new life. Made you feel young again.”

           “It’s still a bizarre idea to the me standing here. And memories haven’t hit yet.”

           “Well, she told me all about your children. Warren and Sally loved our city, and both attended the local university so they could stick around a little longer. But by 2038, they had both moved away, to live their own lives, which all kids are entitled to do eventually. That is what I think broke you. It must’ve felt like you lost your little ones, similar to how most of your friends moved on. Made you turn your back on your own future that you were also entitled to. You became obsessed, with reliving the past.”

           “Yeah, sounds like me…” Wes grumbled. “I could never let anything go.”

           “Not true. You became pretty adept at letting go of people.”

           “What do you mean? I remember everyone. Hold onto them too tight if anything.”

           “You cling onto who they used to be, Wes. Without seeing who they’ve become. You and Sadie still loved each other when we first met—I could see it, if barely. But the more you thought about you and her, and the others, being kids again… Before long, your present stopped existing. By 2045, you couldn’t even be there for her emotionally.”

           “Peh…” Wes exhaled. “You should’ve taken up marriage counseling.”

           “I doubt I could’ve saved yours. You divorced shortly before the first test.”

           Wes was briefly surprised, then fell into resignation. “Figures. Runs in the family.”

           André grabbed his tablet, adding, “Brace yourself. That’s not even the worst of it.”

           “Ooh, this is a little weird,” Zach was the first to say after the parent drivers for the day dropped everyone off back in the neighborhood—but at an unexpected house. “So, J, what are we doing at Colin’s? Did you two work on some big surprise together?”

           “We aren’t going inside,” Jared said. “We’re just heading up to the treehouse.”

           “Ah, gotcha. So the surprise is up in the good old hangout.”

           “Dude, there is no surprise. You’re the only one who said that. It’s just been a while since we were all up there together. I thought it’d be… different, chilling out at what used to be the coolest club for us. You know, before The Dump came around.”

           “Didn’t take you for the sentimental type, Jared,” Arthur said, clothes still damp.

           “I’m not,” Jared replied as they started the trek across Colin’s yard. “But last time we were there was on Halloween, like always, and otherwise we never go up anymore.”

           “I mean, I try to invite some of you sometimes, but…” Colin sighed. “Plans always change at the last minute and we play video games or something instead.”

           They stopped at the base of the tree, where the wooden rungs were nailed into the bark. The treehouse wasn’t too high up, but Colin made sure to check the stability of each step before committing his full weight to any of them. Despite it being low enough to only lead to a light break in bone from a fall, at most, Millie looked intimidated.

           “What’s the matter?” Sadie asked her. “Scared of heights?”

           She replied, “You guys actually have parties in that canopy shack? What’s keeping it from toppling over in a stiff breeze? Falling to the ground and shattering to splinters?”

           Wessy scoffed. “We don’t have parties up there. And it’s very sturdy.”

           “What’s the matter, Mill? Never been in a treehouse before?” Celeste added as she climbed up quickly and fearlessly. “They’re the best.”

           “No. I live in a single-floor condo full of old people! No steps!” Millie exclaimed.

           “It’s okay, Millie,” Jace assured her once it was just the two of them still on the ground. “It’s safe. You do make one more than last time the group was up there, and I’m sure everyone’s also grown a little since then, but still… I mean, it looks safe. Right?”

           “Guess I shouldn’t worry.” She shrugged and stepped onto the first rung. “If I fall and break my head, you can just reverse time and save me anyway.”

           As Jace joined the others, he quickly saw just how crowded it had become inside.

           “Okay, the real surprise is that we can all fit,” Zach remarked. “Barely.”

           Millie looked around at the old posters, little plastic chairs, and forgotten outdoor toys and sport balls that filled the space. But as there was nowhere really left to sit, she ended up dangling her legs out of the treehouse doorway, facing away from the others. She did seem content with watching the swaying treetops from the edge, though.

           “So… are we officially hanging out with Millie in middle school now?” Celeste asked as she did some target practice from the window with her slingshot.

           “… Maybe that’s up to her,” Sadie replied after Millie didn’t. “Could be useful knowing a spy, though. To stay on top of gossip about us. If she ever shares, I mean.”

           “Hey, Wes, did you end up trying to get into the Toy Run?” Arthur asked him.

           “Yep…” he said half-heartedly. “But when I dropped in my form, I got a look at all the other ones inside the box, and I realized I don’t really have a chance.”

           “It’s luck of the draw,” Colin told him. “Not like anyone else has better odds.”

           “If anyone can get in, it’s Wes,” Zach replied. “Kid gets lucky like that.”

           “Yeah, I bet,” Jared muttered without thinking.

           “You cool, J?” Zach wondered. “You two at it again? Didn’t you just make up?”

           Jared sighed. “No, we’re chill, but… Ugh. I should get this off my chest. I always feel like I’m in his shadow. Like, even his birthday—ours are close together, like Celeste and the twins, but he has them at the best places. And it’s on a day after fireworks! I bet you guys don’t remember my lame parties… Oh, forget it. I knew I’d just sound whiny.”

           “Have you always felt that way? Memorable stuff always happens at your parties!”

           “Yeah, you’re so wrong, J-dog,” Arthur said. “I almost swam with gators today.”

           “Jared, you sometimes act as if Wes is, like, your rival,” Sadie threw in. “But I think you’re at your best when you’re just being yourself and cracking a few jokes.”

           “Dude, your parties always just feel natural,” Wessy remarked. “Maybe they’re simple, but they just flow, you know? I never feel stressed out or anything at ‘em.”

           “Well, um…” Jared blushed. “Thanks. So… Millie, do you even have parties?”

           She looked back and answered, “Not really with people my own age. But you don’t need to worry about it. At least, not this year. It’s back in February.”

           “Oh. That’s good,” Sadie replied, instantly knowing how it sounded. “Uh, I mean because it’s not coming up short notice or anything! There’s time to… Never mind.”

           “It’s okay. I don’t like being the center of attention, anyway.”

4-15-2045 – 10:20:16 – Lobby, Camera A

           A much older Wes steps out of the elevator and into the lobby of the Time Lab, deep under the ruins of King Arcade. Always busy, his attention is on the thin tablet in his hands as he walks, and at first he doesn’t notice the guests waiting by Mr. Corathine.

           “André, is the machinery warmed up? We have more pre-run test conditions to get through, and…” Wes looks up from his screen to see his ex-wife and grown children waiting for him. “What is this, an intervention? I wasn’t ready for a morning ambush.”

           “Wes…” André says, rubbing his forehead. “They insisted on seeing you. Your kids both got on the first flights they could. I… felt compelled to show them this place.”

           “Dad!” a thirty-five-year old Warren shouts indignantly at him. “What the hell? This is what you’ve been spending all your time on? You left Mom for this… craziness? Your partner told us everything—you think you can look into the past with the tech here? Really? All these years, and that’s still what you care about the most?”

           “Don’t lecture me, kid. We’re going to change the world. We’re doing something important down here. But, as always, I bet all you three see is me in some kind of crisis.”

           “Then what else would you call it?” Sadie fires back. “Honey, please, for the sake of our kids, go back to looking at what you have in front of you. We raised two great children together. And there’s still time to make it work for us again, too.”

           “You’re going to be a grandpa in a few months,” Warren reminds his dad. “Just get away from all this for a while, please. You can still finish your science project, but take a break and come out east. Aunt Lucy’s already there. You can stay and help when the baby comes. Dad, we still love you, even if we’re far apart. I wish you could see—”

           Wes interrupts, “I don’t have time for this. One more day, and we see if it works.”

           André, trying reason, replies, “Wes, we can pause the project for a while. Let the lab techs run more simulations, compile more data. Spend some time with your family.”

           “Dad…” Sally speaks up and pushes some of her hair off her face. “I’d really like to show you some of my new art. And maybe you could come to my show, in Chicago.”

           Wes freezes up, saying nothing. It seems he’s actually debating things in his head. Until he replies, “We’ll talk in a couple days. I can’t just leave, not now.” He looks up at the camera, adding, “André, delete this footage. No one needs to see my family drama.”

[Playback Continues]

           “It goes on like this for about a half hour,” André said and turned off the screen. “But I’ll spare you the sight of further ‘family drama.’ I believe the point’s been made.”

           “God. What an asshole,” Wes muttered. “No wonder this is the guy that went on to rig a Toy Run that butterfly’d his kids out of existence… No. That’s not really true.” He rubbed his face and let out a sigh. “It wasn’t some random sequence of events that came from it. It makes a critical camping trip never happen. A little fame and a cart full of kid stuff, and having actual kids… are mutually exclusive. I’m not someone who’d be willing to wager that I could set things up to have both things, not yet, but if I eventually became him, even in a world where I had a family, am I even… capable of change?”

           “That is the question. Memories of your adventure may fade with time, meaning we could be stuck in a loop that’s happened before, if not a little differently each cycle. I do wonder, though, if it is possible to change on such a fundamental level that you make the odds of a repeat close to zero. Even amnesiacs retain things they’ve learned. But you finally doing some soul-searching and introspection… Take it as a good sign.”

           After a couple minutes of reflection, Wes said, “One last thing. For someone with his own fading memory, maybe you can’t expand on it, especially if you couldn’t remember his name back when we first met. But I learned that the other person who funded the project, for reasons I don’t totally understand, was one of my childhood friends. Charlie Pippin. I met his younger self outside Toy ‘R’ Us. Thing is, he had the mind of an adult. He found out how to travel, mentally, to any time he lived through. But he lost the ability and got stuck. If he’s now repeating everything on a one-way road, some day he might seek you out again, with or without me. It’s a bit concerning.”

           “Hm…” André thought. “More consequences of our actions. But there’s really nothing I could do about it now, Wes. Perhaps Mr. Pippin will just have to learn from a journey of his own. Stay focused on yourself, your family. You can’t help everybody.”

           “Jace definitely tried… Heh. The little optimist. You know what, I think I’ll go home and plan out a nice day for those two. They deserve it, after putting up with me.”

           André smiled tiredly. “Goodbye, Wes. Go get a fresh start on life for me.”

           When Wes left André’s residence, the chilly day had brought rain. But he didn’t mind the cold drops on his face as he looked up at the flat peak of Castle Hill. It kind of felt like the water was washing something away, which had lingered far too long.

           With the sun halfway down in the sky, Arthur’s watch let out its hourly chirp, and he looked up from his comic to report, “Four o’clock. We’ve been here two hours.”

           Sadie finished an issue of Fantastic Four, tucked it back in the Tupperware container keeping it safe, and replied, “Time still does go by quick up here.”

           “Yep,” Colin said from the ratty red bean bag in the corner, as he read a Nintendo Power from 1992. “I used to put all my old magazines and comic books up here to keep my parents from throwing them out. So it’s kind of a time capsule, too.”

           “It’s easy to get lost in the past,” Wessy said, appropriately.

           Ash looked up from the coloring book she was skimming through, two more at her side. “Nice pink kitty, Colin. You were really getting your technique down.”

           “Ash, c’mon,” he groaned. “I was five years old. At least look at my newer stuff.”

           Celeste, acting as a lookout, reported, “Yo. Stu and Mikey just rolled up.”

           “Really?” Wessy said, and stood with Colin to peek out and see the two on their bikes below, clearly looking around for the group. He shouted, “Hey! Guys! What’s up?”

           The boys looked upward, and Mikey responded, “Vanni and Gavin are back!”

           And Stu added, “If you wanna say hi to them, you better hurry!”

           “Hurry?” Wessy looked at his friends. “Do you think they’re, like, leaving first thing in the morning? Sorry, Jared, but I gotta go see them before it’s too late!”

           “I’ll come with you,” Jared replied. “My treehouse time feels fulfilled, anyway.”

           “Okay, looks like we’re moving on,” Colin told everyone. “Remember, carefully go down one at a time—and no jumping! No twisted ankles today, please.”

           “Too bad we never got a zipline installed,” Zach said as they began to disembark.

           “You still know the way, right?” Mikey asked as the group came down. “They’re selling more games, so hope you got your wallets. I mean, if you kids do have wallets.”

           Jared, pulling a Zach and looking awkward as he did so, pointed at himself with both thumbs. “This guy does!” He slouched. “But it’s empty. Because it’s… new.”

           Stu and Mikey looked at one another, shrugged, and rode off.

           “I know a lot about local kids, at least those our age,” Millie spoke up after hitting the ground. “No idea who they were, or anything about a Vanni and Gavin. Fill me in?”

           “Cool video game-loving step-sibs,” Wessy summarized. “Tell you more on the way there, if you have to know. Let’s get moving, they could leave town any second!”

           When the gang caught up on foot to Mikey and Stu at Vanni’s house, the sight immediately worried Wessy further. Folding tables were spread across the driveway in front of the open garage door, each of them covered with games, videotapes, and music in many formats. Vanni’s Double Dragon arcade cabinet was out on the pavement, as were a couple of bicycles and various appliances and furniture, including a couch.

           “Oh, man. This is it,” Wessy said, almost out of breath as they rounded the curb. “They must be about to toss all that stuff into a moving truck and drive off!”

           “Uh, Wes?” Sadie replied. “I think they’re just having a yard sale.”

           “Really?” Wessy then noticed the giant ‘BIG YARD SALE’ banner hanging over the open garage, and Gavin chilling on one of the recliners for sale while playing his Sega Game Gear. “Oh. I just thought… I mean, wow, that’s a lot of stuff.”

           “What’s with this record collection, Gav?” Mikey asked him as he fingered through a milk cartoon full of vinyl. “Never even heard of most of these bands.”

           “Folks are getting rid of a bunch of their 60s-70s music. Records are heavy. They have most of it on CDs now, anyway. Just don’t take them out of their plastic, okay?”

           “Do these things fit in a big CD player?” Stu wondered. “Or are they, like…”

           “They go in a record player, doofus.” Gavin then caught sight of Wessy and his crew coming up the driveway. “Oh, hey, dudes! Long time, no see.”

           “Gavin. I was starting to think I wouldn’t see you guys again,” Wessy replied, his friends already digging through stacks of old Nintendo, Atari, and Sega titles.

           “You did? Sorry, man. We had things to take care of in Los Angeles before the big move. Saw our new place, too. It’s a lot smaller, so we gotta ditch, like, half our stuff. And start boxing up the keepers soon. Got some good deals on the rest, though.”

           “Soon? You mean you aren’t leaving right away?”

           “Wha…? N-no, man. Moves take time. Nah, we’ll be around another month. We just have to get out of town before the school year starts.” He added in a mutter, “Can’t believe I have to go to a middle school for just eighth grade. They should let me skip it.”

           “Wes can get worried about seeing someone for the last time without knowing it,” Colin explained. “Goodbyes can be sad, but I guess it beats disappearing?”

           Wessy glared at Colin, but Gavin replied, “Yeah, I get that. To tell you the truth, I sent Mikey and Stu out looking for you guys, hoping we could get more customers.”

           Vanni came out of the house with a glass bottle of Mountain Dew, the screen door slamming behind her. Sudden surprise showed on her face upon seeing the crowd.

           “Geez, and here I was coming out to put things away. Who are… Oh, it’s Wes and his friends. Hey, guys,” she waved to everyone and took a sip, “everything must go.”

           “Vanni!” Wessy exclaimed, and threw caution to the wind as far as putting on an emotional display. After they high-fived, he added, “I thought you had all left already.”

           “Oh, dude, no way. I don’t do the whole disappearing act on friends.”

           “Friends?” Millie said curiously as she approached and studied them. “Huh. Even with my observational talents, I had no idea you have a teen girl as a friend, Wes.”

           “She’s more like his life coach,” Zach replied with a snicker.

           “Shut up, Zach…” Wessy grumbled.

           “Eh, it’s not far from the truth,” Vanni told the group. “Not that there’s anything wrong with getting elder wisdom.” She looked around at the neighborhood and sighed. “I’ll miss this place. D-Tree was a good place to grow up, like the old billboard says.”

           “How do you just… move away, and start over like that?” Celeste asked her. “I mean, I moved when I was little, but just to another house in Desert Tree. I can always walk by my old home to see how it’s doing. But to try and make all new friends…?”

           “Mm, well, yeah. I’m not sure how I’ll swing it, either. Still, it’s not like I’m going to another planet or something. I know I’ll stay in touch with my band. Come back to see family, or just give King Arcade a visit. But I don’t cling onto things too tight like some people do. Change and challenge can be a good thing for you. Even if it hurts.”

           “Yeah, sure, Sis,” Gavin said with an eyeroll and put his Game Gear down. “Dad is making me leave all my friends behind, too. You can go on about ‘going with the flow’ or whatever, but I still think it sucks. You saw how loud and crowded LA is!”

           “I’m with Gavin,” Wessy replied. “If my mom made me move and leave behind the place I know best, and all the friends I made on the way… I would be… pissed.”

           Vanni shrugged. “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be angry—if, you know, that ever happens. Feel what you need to. That goes for all of you guys. This is timely advice, actually. Middle school will hit hard and fast, and the growing pains suck. Hell, it might even split up some friendships. But maybe it’ll help a bit, knowing what’s coming. Wish I had someone to tell me this stuff in advance. Be okay with reinventing yourself.”

           The advice piquing the interest of the younger crowd, the kids got closer with their best listening faces, quietly pushing Vanni to dish out some more truths.

           She took another sip of soda. “I’m trying to say, don’t bury what you feel. Roll with the punches as they come, and lean on proven pals during rough patches. Trust me, I’ve had my share. And middle school is only training for high school—another beast entirely. In the next seven years, you’ll meet bullies, forget your locker combination, be tempted and annoyed by cliques… You’ll get lost trying to find your next class, and because of bad luck or changing interests, you might not even share said class with any of your friends. Could be that you find yourself surrounded by total assholes.”

           Celeste let out a snort.

           “And you’ll have to get used to getting up crazy early,” Gavin added from the chair. “Not a morning person? Tough. Also, try not to get gym in the morning. That’s the worst! But if you take it at the end of the day, they don’t make you shower.”

           “You all suddenly look a little less excited about what’s coming,” Vanni said as she studied the now-worried faces around her. “Yeah, it’s all like that. Soon you’ll start missing the halcyon days you just left. I love that word, halcyon. Too bad we could never fit it into one of our songs. Means times when things were easier, more carefree.”

           “See? This is what I’ve been freaked about—what I tried to tell you!” Wessy said to his friends. “You guys have always been like, ‘I can’t wait!’ But it is going to suck.”

           Seeing concern among the next generation, Vanni shifted tone. “It’s not all bad! It’s just a lot of change, really quick. Preparing you for the real world. Someday, I’ll look back nostalgically at middle and high school, too. Just… like I said, don’t live in the past. You can’t get it back, so why try? It’s a jagged little pill to take, but eventually, you gotta let things become another fuzzy memory. Moments still make you, yet if you don’t let go a bit…” She sighed. “Even this, right now—take a picture, but don’t turn it into a rerun.”

           “Heavy…” Jared was the first to respond, in a murmur.

           “How much is the Double Dragons cabinet?” asked Zach, who had missed out on the sagely advice after meandering away. “I think Dad would like it in the game room.”

           “Five big ones,” Vanni replied. “Wish it could come with, but it’s either it or my drums.” She looked over her shoulder at a thoughtful Wessy. “Hey, Wes, keep my name on a few machines around town for me, would ya? I want the city to know I was here.”

           “And that’s everything,” Jace concluded the report for the day, over a Chinese take-out dinner at the cottage. He looked at the food, tried to push aside Colin’s story of Jared’s 1995 barfy birthday, and took a bite of egg roll. “You should’ve seen the gang. Hearing that stuff, it hit them like a truck. I think I get it now. Not listening to parents is easy, because you think they were kids forever ago. But when it comes from a ‘big kid’…”

           “I was there,” Wes reminded him as he swirled one of the fried noodles in a cup of duck sauce. “Day sounds like how it went the first time. Arthur in the water, twins reconciling a bit, a dose of reality, and… Zach getting an arcade cabinet.”

           “So he ends up buying that, huh? Guess he always did get whatever he wanted.”

           “It’s his dad. Guy always had a longing for his arcade days. Heard from my mom that he spent half his time in college at the old one downtown—they went to Royal U together. I ever tell you that?” Wes passively rambled a bit. “Anyway. Its screen burns out in a couple years, they never get it fixed, and it just sits in the living room forever. If you were wondering, I get my actual goodbyes with Vanni and Gavin in August at this house party full of teenagers where I felt out of place. Spiritually, today was my farewell.”

           Warren looked at his dad, then at Millie across from him, who seemed equally broody. He put down his chopsticks and tapped his fingers on the table.

           “Okay, what’s up with you two?” he asked. “Wes, I get, but when half the table is like this, it makes things awkward for the rest of us.”

           Jace responded first by saying, “Warren, you can call him your dad around Millie. She already knows, remember? You okay, Millie? You’ve been like this for a while.”

           Idly digging into noodles with a fork, she leaned back in her chair and replied, “I just got something on my mind, thinking about birthdays. Mine really was in February.”

           “Uh-huh. Want us to throw you a belated party before we leave? Like I had?”

           “Gah, no. I already said I don’t like being in the spotlight. It’s just…” She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve held off on asking this for as long as I could, but since we’re really reaching the end now, I can’t let myself miss the chance to…”

           “You want a ‘time present?’” Wes asked tiredly. “Name it, I’ll do what I can.”

           Squinting down at the lenses in her hands, she took a breath and answered, “It does have to do with time travel. I don’t need to change something, but I was hoping…”

           “You want to see a moment from the past? Yeah, we can do that.”

           “I don’t talk to anyone about this, other than Dad, so… sorry if it makes you guys uncomfortable, or sad, or whatever. My mom died when I was little… and…”

           “Right…” Wes turned sympathetic. “I know that kind of thing can be painful to talk about. But… I mean, what can we do, exactly?”

           After shaking her head with her eyes closed, she replied, “You can’t bring her back. I know that. Dad says she was sick for a long time. But I was hoping that I could at least see her one more time, so I can have actual memories—not just some images and feelings in my head. I barely remember the last time I saw her in the hospital, hooked up to machines, but… not what she said to me. I was just too young.”

           Warren and Jace glanced at Wes, both of them wondering how he would respond to such a delicate and soulful request. They all already knew it was impossible to oblige.

           “And… what year did, ah…” Wes trailed off.

           “Summer, 1988.” She put her glasses back on and sniffled. “If it can be done…”

           Wes leaned back in his seat and exhaled slowly. “Millie, I’m… so sorry, but we can’t go back that far, regardless if we change anything. There’s this thing called the time horizon, and it’s always moving. We were at the tail end of it in 1990. Even if you asked us to do this on the first day we got here, it… would’ve already been too late.”

           “Oh.” Millie replied simply, without emotion. The others gave her a moment to gather her thoughts, and she added, “Jace… did mention something about that to me.”

           “I’m sorry too, Millie,” Jace said. “I feel like I got your hopes up.”

           “It’s okay. Really. Now… I don’t have to worry about what I might’ve revisited. The choice to do it or not doesn’t have to scare me anymore. Besides, here we are talking about letting go of the past. So, maybe it was a bad idea to begin with…”

           “No, it’s basic human desire,” Wes reasoned. “If given the chance, most anyone would take it. If it were possible, I’d even insist that we go back and see her.”

           She looked back up at everyone. “You guys are the best. It doesn’t feel like Jace ever ‘solved a problem’ for me, but if not for everything, I’d still be an antisocial outcast with a future I don’t want to think about. You made me care about something.”

           Jace smiled weakly. “I’m glad. And I’ve already seen that you turn out just fine.”

           “Too bad time’s almost up,” Warren said. “I’m… starting to like what we got.”

           Reflecting on that, Wes looked at his family and thought more about tomorrow.

           It was good that the boys had gone to bed relatively early, as they were awakened suddenly at the awful hour of six in the morning by Wes, whose mood had completely flipped since dinner the previous night. Warren, having wanted to chat more with Jace about their cousinship in the 21^st century, had fallen asleep by Jace’s bed on the cushions he had borrowed from the living room couch.

           “Have to get moving, kids,” Wes announced before they had woken up enough to realize what was happening. “Big day planned, we’ll get breakfast on the way.”

           “W-wha…” Jace muttered. He looked at the red digits on the nearby alarm clock and groaned. “Six? Not this again, Wes… Not another one of your ‘big days.’ C’mon.”

           “You two have fun with that,” Warren said, pulling his blanket over his eyes.

           “You’re joining us this time, Warren,” Wes stated. “Look, it’s July 2^nd. This is the last day we have together, where it’s just us. And I’m not wasting the day inside, moping. Especially when I recreated the ‘Perfect Day’ list that me and my pals came up with after graduating middle school. We never did manage to check off everything on it.”

           “Man… Not a list…” Jace moaned, sat up in bed, and saw the notebook paper in his uncle’s hands. “You really did make a list, didn’t you?”

           “Of things we wanted to do one last time before high school and becoming real teenagers… with some tweaks. Now, yes, you’re a little young for it, and Warren’s a little old, but I figure your ages average out. I’ll also admit that we stole the idea from a classic Hey Arnold! episode, and nothing goes right for Arnold during his attempt, but still…”

           “Is this, like, another regret? A final chance to finish what you couldn’t before?”

           “Not at all. I just wanted to give you two an amazing day. After all we’ve been through, don’t you think you deserve that? I mean, okay, it’s also one last nostalgia trip for me, but I’m not going to dwell on it like I used to. Oh, and I struck the visit to King Arcade, since we’re doing that tomorrow anyway. Should make it more manageable to finish. Added a few smaller stops on the way to make up for it. Now get dressed—we need to get to Castle Hill by sunrise!” he concluded, and closed the door behind him.

           Warren huffed, threw off the blanket, and asked, “So, he’s done this before?”

           “Yep. What about in your world? Did you grow up with this sort of thing?”

           “When I was young. From both my parents, actually. Before Dad stopped being so… ‘fun.’ I always hated these sudden plans. But,” he yawned, “now I kind of miss it.”