I sat eating another huge breakfast. In the few days I’d been here, I noticed that my clothes were starting to feel a bit snug. Eddie had joked earlier that it was bound to happen. All that good food had to go somewhere. I spent the last few days helping Eddie on the farm and eating more food than I could ever imagine eating.

The phone rang and Aunt Debbie answered. “Yes, yes he is. ure. Travis, there’s a guy named Arnie on the phone for you.”

I got up and took the phone. All eyes were upon me.

“Travis could you drop by today? I’d love to chat more. I hope you don’t mind, but I told Cindy and she’s as curious and excited as I am.  She’s more like me, being interested in paranormal stuff.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I’ll come over around noon. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great, see you then.”  

I hung up the phone and Eddie asked who that was. I said it was a friend from high school that wanted to meet me for lunch.

Uncle Bubba spoke up and said, “So Travis, what are your plans for the future? You ever thought of settling down and getting yourself a decent job? Don’t sound like this vinegar factory is that good of a job.”

“I don’t know. It kinda pays the bills right now.”

“Yeah, but it ain’t exactly a secure future now is it? What does your dad say about it?”

“He ain’t said nothing. I suppose I’m just glad he’s talkin to me.”

“Yeah but…”

Debbie jumped in and said, “Bubba maybe Travis is happy with what he is doing…”

Bubba cut her off and said, “Debbie did I ask for your opinion? I was the one asking Travis.”

Aunt Debbie made a face, let out a heavy sigh, groaned, then slung the dish towel across her shoulder and stormed out of the kitchen. Bubba just smirked a bit and shuffled his newspaper. I suppose he was waiting for an answer when Eddie jumped into the conversation.

“Travis, could you help me hook up the harrow? I wanted to get an early start before it gets too hot.”

I quickly finished what food was still on my plate and said, “Yeah sure, be right there.” I said grabbing my ball cap.

“We can talk more about this later okay?” said Bubba adjusting his pants.

“Sure uncle Bubba.” I said eager to get out the door.

As I was following Eddie towards the barn, he said, “I fuckin’ hate it when he treats Mom like that. She just takes it and don’t say nothin’. He just acts like a big bully to her.”

“Thanks for asking me to help you,” I said.

“Sure nuff. I couldn’t just leave you there to be grilled by him. He likes to show how important he is and likes tellin’ people what to do. I just ignore him. We got into it a few times and now he just leaves me alone,” said Eddie reaching in his big pocket for the chaw. He handed the can to me and I waved him off, Then Eddie says, “Ahh I know what you be wantin’. You want a toke huh?”

I grinned and nodded. “Yeah sure.” That is when he pulled out his pipe.

After I helped Eddie with his chores, I then lit out towards Millersburg. Once I drove into town it was already hot as hell. The tar was bubbling up in little blisters and it was sticky on my shoes. The sidewalk was scattered with only a couple of people. I opened the outside door and climbed the stairs. I stood in front of their door and knocked. Arnie opened the door and Cindy was standing behind him.

“Hey, Travis. Glad you could come by.”

“Are you the time traveler that Arnie was telling me about?” Cindy said all excited.

“Hi Cindy, uhhh, I guess you could say that,” I said caught off guard.

“So Travis, how do you know us? Where and when did we meet you?”

She was wearing short cut off blue jeans and a pink blouse. Her long blonde hair was damp with sweat. They had a big box fan sitting in their front window and the wind was blowing their thin curtains.

“I met you and Suzanne this coming Sunday. You were both doing your laundry in Carlisle. You had Stevie with you and Suzanne had Bella. You told me that Darrin was looking for workers to set tobacco.”

“Wow, that is so strange. I just called and asked Suzanne if she wanted to go do our laundry together on Sunday,” said Cindy.

“Yeah, it hasn’t even happened yet, but it did. I also just got back from San Francisco visiting my dead uncle if you can believe that”

“They both looked at me shocked. “How can you visit someone who’s dead?” she said laughing.

“He wasn’t dead this time around. The reason I came back to Kentucky the first time was because my uncle had died and left me his farm in his will. When I woke up from my coma, my dad said that my uncle was very much alive and living in San Francisco and never owned a farm.”

Arnie said he was confused. I tried to explain that I had lived this year before and woke up in a coma and started to live the year over but with things being different.

“So how do you know that you had lived the year before? Couldn’t it have been a dream?” Cindy said.

“Are you guys merely a dream? Are you real?” I said. “I know lots about both of you from the things you told me in another life. Your abusive mom, Suzanne’s husband who died in a terrible accident, all the bad boyfriends that Suzanne went through and Rodger being the worst of them.”

“Wow, that’s so amazing! Never have I met someone like you, Travis,” Arnie said.

“Sit down and tell us more. Would you like a beer?”

“Yeah thanks,” I said as I sat down on the couch.

“Do you remember travelin’ through time? How did it happen?” said Cindy sitting down next to me.

Arnie came back with three beers. I pulled the tab and took a drink.

“I’d gone to Lexington to see a hypnotist, a doctor Chen. He was trying to get me to remember some things that I had blocked from my memory and when I woke up, instead of being in his office, I was lying in a hospital bed in Chicago where I used to live just before I had moved here. They said I’d been in a car accident.”

About that time I heard a fussing from the bedroom. Cindy jumped up and ran to the bedroom.

“Sounds like Stevie woke up. I’ll be right back.”  

“So what do you plan to do here, Travis?”Arnie said taking a sip.

“I think I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy or just dreaming. I miss seeing you guys even though you never met me.”

Cindy walked in carrying Timmy who was sucking on a pacifier. His blonde sweaty hair clung to his face. “I think he got too hot in there,” she said.

“Well, I’m only staying here for a few more days. I kinda wanted to get a look at Suzanne and the kids. Somehow I don’t feel comfortable telling them what I have told you, especially with Rodger there,” I said.

“Rodger’s jealous of anyone who even looks at Suzanne. Maybe we can ask Suzanne to come over this week and you can just happen to show up,” Cindy said. “You won’t have to tell her anything.”

“Wow that would be great,” I said smiling.

“So Travis, if you lived this year once before, what happened? Anything big happen in the news? Any famous people die? Major storms or disasters?” Arnie said.

I felt a bit hesitant. “Well, uh yeah. There was one  huge thing that happened. It might not happen this time.”

Their eyes lit up and Cindy said, “Wow, what’s gonna happen Travis?”

“On September 11th two planes will fly into the World Trade Center and both buildings will fall killing nearly 3 thousand people. Some arab terrorist group called Al Qaeda will be accused and we will prepare to go to war in Afghanistan.”

They looked stunned. “Oh my God that’s terrible! They must be warned,” Cindy said.

“I thought about that, but who would believe such a thing? Then they would ask how I would I know. They would just dismiss me as crazy,” I said.

“But there must be something we can do. Don’t you think?” Arnie said.

“Maybe we can send an anonymous letter to the government?” Cindy said.

“Doesn’t the government have ways to track that stuff down?” I said. “I would have said something earlier if I knew I could truly remain anonymous.”

We talked for hours and I felt closer to them than I did in my previous life. I said I needed to be going because aunt Debbie was expecting me for dinner. I said goodbye and they agreed to invite Suzanne over the next day.

                      Saturday May 5

The next afternoon I showed up around 3 pm and met Arnie at the door.

“Hey Travis, what’s up?”

“Oh just thought I’d drop by. I’m sorry. If you have company I can drop by later.”

“No, no no, Come on in. This is Cindy’s sister Suzanne and her daughter Bella. Suzanne this is my friend Travis. We went to Bourbon County high school together,” Arnie said.

Cindy and Suzanne were going through boxes of clothes that were lying on the coffee table. Bella was playing with Stevie on the couch.

Suzanne looked up and said, “Hi, Travis.”

“Hey, Suzanne. Hey Bella.”

“We’re just going through some old clothes. I was going to get rid of some old dresses and knick knacks and asked Suzanne if she might want some before I take them to Goodwill.”

“Travis grew up here in Millersburg and joined the army afterwards. I hadn’t seen him in years,” Arnie said. Most of it was true, except the part about us being friends. I let on as if we had a long history together.

Suzanne asked me questions about the army and I asked her questions about herself and pretending as if I had just heard them for the first time. I noticed a bruise on her eye. I guessed it was caused by one of Rodger’s violent outbursts. We sat and talked a few hours when Suzanne said she had to get back and fix dinner. Suzanne and Bella grabbed the bags of clothes and Cindy followed her to the car. A few minutes later Cindy came running back up the stairs and opened the door.

“So, what was it like to see Suzanne?”

“It was nice and also feels strange that she doesn’t recognize me, but at least I know that you guys exist. I can go back home feeling satisfied that I’m not losing my mind.”

“Glad you came by Travis. I can’t ever remember anything this strange ever happening to me before. I’m pretty much an atheist, but now you made me question reality,” Arnie said.

“So you don’t want to tell anyone else about this?” said Cindy.

“No, I don’t think most people would believe me. I think I’m going to get going. Thanks so much for having Suzanne over.”

“Come back and see us before you leave,” said Arnie.

They saw me to the door and as I was walking back to the car I thought, “It feels like I’m home again.”