Zeitgiest

Chapter 3-Crossover

Kevin smiled instinctively as he greeted his high school classmate and found that his mood had instantly brightened. Of course, this particular classmate, Diana Beckett, usually had that effect on people. She was well known and well liked not only for her seemingly boundless energy, but her pleasant demeanor as well, and people responded to it. At this moment, Kevin was no exception.

"Wow! So, you're working here another summer, huh?" asked Diana cheerfully as she gestured at Kevin's uniform.

"Oh, yeah. It looks that way, huh?" Kevin said as he grabbed his red vest. "I guess I never get tired of being a fashion victim."

"Hey, at least you get to work in a place you like! It must really be fun working here," Diana said without a hint of sarcasm Kevin usually received when someone talked about his job.

"It has its moments. I just like the hustle and bustle of it all... y'know? The screams everybody makes on the rides, the smell of cotton candy, all the families running around smiling... having a good time... I guess it just rubs off on me."

"It sounds great!" Diana said sincerely, again her face glowed with a smile. Diana's face, Kevin recognized, had all the pleasant features of natural beauty. Wide, warm eyes, a bright inviting smile, flowing wavy hair that reached down to her shoulders, and flawless ebony skin.

"Plus, I like working outside so I can enjoy the sun," Kevin relayed.

"I wouldn't mind that... I'm a day person myself, no matter how hard my father tries to tell me otherwise," Diana tilted her head to the side in mock embarrassment.

"Oh, he just wants to share that big telescope of his. I mean, I would too, if it took up half of my back yard," Kevin joked.

Diana chuckled merrily as she shook her head. "Oh, it's not that big! And I love to share time star gazing with my dad, but I'm usually pretty busy during the summer."

"Yeah, well with any luck, I'm sure you're going to be busy next summer too!" Kevin stated, then started humming "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Diana's eyes peered down to the ground in a humble gesture, though her smile grew slightly bigger. "Aw, that's nice of you to say Kevin, thanks. I'll try my best."

"Yeah," Kevin said, then for a few seconds, nothing. Talking to girls was never one of Kevin's strong suits, though at least Kevin was an honest enough young man to admit it. It didn't help matters if the girl was pretty, and Diana most certainly qualified."

Ahem. Sooo..." Diana prodded as she glanced behind Kevin, "I'm sorry if I interrupted something..."

A flash of realization made Kevin jump like he was slapped in the back. "Oh! Sorry... where are my manners! Diana, this is...." Kevin froze and his eyes went wide as he glimpsed the expression on the old man before him. "Josef?" Kevin asked in a stunned voice, which was hardly more than a whisper.

Josef's face was one of absolute shock and desperation, like the face of a man watching helplessly as a plane crashed to the ground. His face was even paler than before, and his lips quivered frantically. Instinctively, Kevin leaned over to look closer at Josef's complexion, and as he did, Josef seemed to gain his senses slightly; he swallowed hard and straightened his posture in his chair.

Kevin put his hand on Josef's shoulder. "Are you alri..."

"Hey, Diana! Hurry up, will you?" The voice came from about fifteen yards away from another teenager, this time a teenage boy with short straight black hair and a slightly gaunt face, wearing a red shirt with a light tan sweater vest. His features looked frustrated, as he shifted on his feet impatiently. "Stop talking with the help and let's go before we lose them."

"E-ric!" said someone behind him in a chastising tone. The person behind him was a rather skinny teen wearing a green shirt, with spectacles threatening to fall off his awkwardly jolly looking face. "It's just Kevin."

"I know, Presto" said Eric with a smirking grin. "Hey, Kevin. Nice outfit," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, so I've been told," Kevin replied, not really listening to the conversation, but more concerned with Josef, who had partially got a handle on himself, but still had a look of desperation on his face, as if he wanted to scream out loud, but something was holding him back.

"You are with others?" Josef finally said to Diana, with an intensity Kevin found a bit surprising.

"Hmm? Oh, no... I mean yes," answered Diana to the old man. "Yes we are, we're... we're chaperoning!" Diana then flashed a smirking grin like she had just said something funny. Again, Kevin was wondering why everyone around him was saying stuff they thought was so funny, and he wasn't getting it. "Well, I have to get going. See ya around Kev. Nice meeting you, sir," she said pleasantly as she began to walk away, along with her two companions.

"Likewise," said Josef in a soft tone. "You are so very beautiful." The way Josef said it in a way, Kevin judged, like he almost might break out into tears at any moment. Even Diana seemed to be taken aback a bit by the intensity of his statement as she stopped and glanced back at Joseph; her eyes flickered a slight look of concern, though her bright and welcoming smile never wavered.

"Oh. Well, thank you, sir. That is very nice of you to say," she said, looking genuinely touched.

"They've stopped to buy cotton candy!" said Eric intensely through gritted teeth as he quickly glanced back and forth from Diana and someone else down the ways into the park. "Let's catch up with them now!"

Diana led the way quickly, yet for some reason, cautiously away toward another section of the park nearby, followed by Eric, and finally, somewhat apprehensively, "Presto". As they trotted away, Kevin saw Josef make a large exhale, as if for the last few minutes, he had been holding his breath. Josef then closed his eyes and grimaced as if he had suffered some great loss. Kevin, dumbfounded, moved to stand close in front of Josef, in a sign of confrontation.

"Just what was that all about!" Kevin asked with a tinge of confusion in his voice.

For a few uncomfortable seconds, Josef simply did nothing but take deep, sharp breaths from his nasal tube. Then, opening his eyes which were filled with tears, Josef looked up at Kevin with such an expression of sadness and loss, any anger that Kevin felt at this moment just slipped away.

"Help me, Kevin," Josef sobbed. "I don't know what to do. I don't know why I'm here. Please help me."

Kevin crouched down to be at eye level with the wheelchair bound Josef and put his hand on the old man's shoulder. "Please don't cry Josef. Just tell me what you need. What's wrong?"

"That was what changed my mind in the end, the look of disappointment she gave me... those beautiful eyes..." Josef uttered. "How can I risk not seeing them again? But then what will happen to me? To my boys?"

"Who? Who are you talking about?" Kevin said impatiently.

At that moment, Josef composed himself and looked into Kevin's eyes with steely determination. "Kevin, listen to me very carefully," Josef said hoarsely, like speaking took great effort. "That ride... that Dungeons and Dragons ride... it is a gateway to another world. A world that I've been to!"

Kevin was too concerned about Josef's condition to think about the logic behind Josef's words. "I think we better head back Josef. You don't look..."

"No! Were you not listening? I must be here for a reason! Something is going to happen here that I need to be here for!" Josef fired back.

"Like what? You're telling me that ride... that ride..." At that moment, Kevin instinctively looked back at the Dungeons & Dragons ride, and again felt disoriented as the eyes of the ride's dragon head flickered to life. For a few seconds, all of Josef and his concerns about his health were forgotten. The only thing that was on his mind were the burning look of the dragon head... it's eyes erupting to life, it's mouth inviting travelers in.

"You!" Kevin heard Josef bark in a loud voice, knocking him out of his trance.

"Me?" Kevin asked as he wiped the sweat which had suddenly appeared on his brow.

"You... can feel it, can't you?" Josef asked. "You're the reason why I'm here! You are somehow tied to all this! I wasn't meant for them, I was meant for you!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kevin asks with a hint of frustration.

"I was meant to be here, Kevin. And you were meant to be here, too," Josef said, his voice, although still strained, seemed more sure now. "For good or ill, all the actors are in their places. Now we have to wait for the curtain to go up."


People knew one thing about Mr. Leonard, and that was his continuously pleasant attitude was not an act. He was genuinely a nice man to be around, and was generally considered as a man with the perfect attitude and temperament to run an amusement park. However, it also meant that when Mr. Leonard was in a foul or concerned mood, his change in attitude stuck out in his expression like a red wine stain on a clean white sheet. That's why Norma knew something was wrong when she saw Mr. Leonard marching toward her.

"What's wrong, Doug?" Norma asked.

"Norma, do you know if Kevin and that Mueller guy are still in the park?" Mr. Leonard asked in a slightly desperate tone.

"Well, Kevin would tell me if he was done giving Mr. Mueller his 'tour', so I guess they're still out there. Why?"

"Why?" Mr. Leonard repeated. "Because I just got off the phone with Mr. Mueller's son saying that he's under a doctor's supervision and isn't even supposed to be out of bed, much less rolling around an amusement park!"

"Really?" Norma said, genuinely surprised.

Mr. Leonard nodded. "Seems Mr. Mueller's been a bad boy... he slipped away from his doctors overseas and came here. His son Otto just found out because that assistant of his gave a call back to his office when Mueller left him at the gate."

"How can an old man just sneak away and fly halfway across the world?" Norma asked bewildered.

"Because he's rich, Norma! They can do that stuff! This was all a spur of the moment thing. His son is just as perplexed as everyone else about it," Mr. Leonard barked, throwing his hands in the air. "Look, Mr. Mueller's assistant is bringing a doctor from town just in case. Grab Nurse Janet and call security to have Kevin persuade Mr. Mueller to cut his tour short. I just hope Kevin's treated him okay."

"Now, don't give Kevin a hard time!" Norma said sharply, like she sometimes had to do, being a loyal but no nonsense manager. "You gave him the okay to have him take that sick man into the park alone. Heck, you practically threw Kevin at him..."

"I know, I know..." Mr. Leonard said despairingly, rubbing his face w ith his hands. " I should have my head examined. I just thought Mr. Mueller was old sick, not sick sick. Look, just get on the horn and locate him, huh? He shouldn't be too hard to find with that scuba gear he's got strapped to his chair."

"All right," Norma said. As she turned to walk away, she noticed Mr. Leonard was still very nervous looking. "Hey, would you relax?" Norma said assuredly, "Kevin's a responsible kid; everything should be fine. I mean, how much excitement could they really get into anyway?"


One of the things Chris Blackburn had a knack for which made him good at his job was that he could spot the troublemakers. Troublemakers, the security guard observed, had a certain look about them. They had a walk, a look, a posture that alerted the world2 they wanted to make trouble; the need to unleash their bitterness to the world, whether it be starting a shoving match in the arcade, or throwing crude and unwarranted sexual innuendos at strangers of the opposite sex. Of course, a family oriented amusement park isn't exactly a major hang out for most trouble makers, but Chris knew, with experience, that it just made the ones that did start trouble here more irritating. He could spot them a mile away.

And he saw one now. A tall well-built teenager with reddish brown hair wearing a Baltimore Colts T-shirt had caught Chris's eye. He had the look, no doubt about it. The boy looked irritated. What was irritating him on this perfect spring day Chris didn't much know or care, but just by the way the boy prowled, Chris immediately kept his eye on him as he casually stood watch near the souvenir stands of Fantasy Land.

His walkie-talkie beeped and he grabbed it from his belt to respond.

"Security. 12. Blackburn," he said curtly.

"Yes, we need to locate an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair right away. He's Caucasian approximately 65 years old named Josef Mueller. His wheelchair is said to be loaded with some breathing apparatus..." said the operator at the other end of the line. "He's being accompanied by an employee Kevin Reaves. Told it's important to escort this man back to the home office right away. This man's health may be in question, so use caution."

"Understood," Chris answered back, and then scanned his area.

"12. Chris? This is Norma," said a different scratchy voice from his talkie.

Chris kept scanning the park for any sign of the man. "Yeah, Norma. What's up?" he answered back.

"Chris, you know Kevin Reaves?" Norma asked.

"Yes."

"Um. Just to let you know that no one's in trouble here. We need to bring this Josef Mueller back here because we have been told that he needs medical supervision. Take it easy on them."

"Heh. Kid gloves... understood," Chris answered back. Chris started to walk out among the fairgoers to get a better look; looking for an elderly gentleman in a very bulky wheelchair. Just then, he heard the raised voices of a commotion. Chris nearly smiled to himself when he saw who was causing it.

The same kid he had his eye on, Mr. Baltimore Colt, was now bullying another skinnier kid wearing a green shirt and glasses; holding him by the neck, and threatening to hit him. Right next to them, trying to grab the bully away was an attractive black teenage girl, but Mr. Colt shrugged her off. "It's always about a girl," Chris sighed to himself.

"12. Report disturbance at Souvenir D. Request assistance," Chris calmly reported into his talkie. Then, he started to briskly stride toward the disturbance at the far end of the row of souvenir stands.

As he walked toward them, the drama played out better than Chris had hoped. Just as the bully lifted the skinny teen with glasses off the ground, the teen's friend, another teen with short black hair stepped in between them, with a look on his face like he was surprised he did so. Just then, another teen came running up, along with a pretty, fair skinned red head of roughly the same age, and a small child with sandy blond hair. This teen was just as tall as the bully, and built just as solid.

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna have one with you in about five seconds if you don't let him go!" Chris heard the blond say as he got closer and worked his way into the crowd that was starting to gather. Looking around at the crowd as well as this skinny teen's group of loyal friends, the bully sheepishly let the boy back down.

"You're not worth it... None of you!" barked the bully; his eyes planted a burning stare at the blond teen. "I wouldn't have pegged you for such a goody-two-shoes, buddy," he snorted before he started to walk away. Chris tried hard to mask a smile as he followed the bully a short distance out of the crowd; he couldn't help but feel satisfied seeing a bully get his comeuppance. Now there was just one more thing to do... ice the cake. Quickly, Chris put his best game face on.

"Hey!" Chris said to the bully. "You are out of here!"

The bully turned around to face Chris. Seeing he was a security guard, the bully's face went from slow burn anger to exaggerated disbelief. "What?" he scoffed. "Man, I didn't do anything! They started it!"

If he had a dollar for every time he heard that one, Kevin thought, he could buy this park and make a policy to keep all the morons out! "Well, I got news for you. I'm finishing it."

Just then, he saw it. A wheelchair with a rather impressive looking breathing apparatus attached to it's back was sitting near the roughly 100 yards away, along with the old man sitting in it and the park employee standing nearby. As more security arrived, Chris handed off the blustering bully to a couple other security guards to escort him out of the park, and quickly started to trot over to where the wheelchair was parked. As he did, his expression softened as he remembered to take it easy on the old man.

After all, no one's in trouble here.


As the group of teenagers settled themselves after the nasty conversation with the bully, the sandy blond nine year old boy yelled excitedly, "Hey look! The Dungeons and Dragons ride!"


"You're... you're talking nonsense!" Kevin yelled at Josef.

"Am I, young man? Then why does your face look like part of you believes me?" Josef answered back.

"But you're an old man! You've never been on the ride before!" Kevin said with an almost pleading voice.

"But someone will," Josef said as he nodded toward the ride. Instinctively, Kevin turned to look at the ride. He saw Reggie waving in Diana Beckett over to the ramp way so they could enter one of the roller coaster cars. Along with Diana were the two with her at the drinking fountain, Eric Montgomery and "Presto" Myers. Along with them were two more of Kevin's high school classmates, blond haired high school football player Hank Greyson and a fair skinned and freckled redhead named Sheila O'Brien. Jumping ahead of all of them with youthful exuberance was a sandy blond young boy Kevin didn't recognize, though Sheila did mention at one time she had a brother...

All of a sudden, a very stern and determined looking security guard came trotting in Kevin's direction, giving both Kevin and Josef pause. As he came closer, Kevin and the security guard greeted each other, though the guard's stern expression did not change.

"Kevin," greeted the guard. He then graciously but firmly started talking to Josef. "Is your name Mr. Mueller?" the security guard asked. Josef simply nodded impatiently. "Sir, I believe it would be in your best interest if we all took a trip to the nurse's office."

"Why? What's wrong, Chris?" Kevin asked.

The guard simply took a quick glance at Kevin, then went back to talking to Josef. "Everything's fine, sir. There are just some things we want to get straightened out. We can come right back after we're done."

"No! Not now! Do you see them Kevin? Can you feel it?" Josef asked in a very desperate voice. He took a quick glance at the 'D-n-D' to see his classmates slip into a coaster car and start moving into the mouth of the dragon, but then quickly turned his attention towards Josef. He wasn't looking good at all; he was sweating profusely, and his lips, off color enough as they were, were now a sickly blue. His face grimaced as if trying to hide the pain he was feeling.

"Sir, I think we should take a trip right now," the guard said in a more steely voice; a look of scared concern crossed his face, apparently at seeing Josef's condition up close for the first time.

Just then, Josef started to take sharp stabbing breaths; he fumbled with his oxygen mask and slipped it awkwardly to his face.

"Don't leave me Kevin! Unnnh!! This has to be the moment! I'm not leaving!" Josef grunted through his oxygen mask. There were tears in his eyes again.

"Josef! You... you really don't look right! Maybe we should..."


"I don't like this!" Diana Beckett yelled as she saw the logical world she had always known quickly fall away from under her feet.


Suddenly, Kevin's senses went all haywire. To his eyes, the colors of the world started to become brighter and blurrier, his body felt like it was starting to float off the ground, and his tongue burned like it was on fire. Again without thinking about it, Kevin looked back at the dragonhead, this time to see the eyes again glowing, but now somehow the dragonhead looked different. Kevin could not put into words how he could have described it, but at that moment the dragon head seemed to be... laughing.

Kevin turned back to Josef. Through his blurry view of the world, he saw Josef's eyes closed as he leaned back in his chair, the security guard placing the oxygen mask tightly on his mouth. The guard was talking frantically into his walkie-talkie, though for some reason Kevin couldn't hear him. In his daze, Kevin reached out for Josef and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it, and felt himself asking if Josef was all right, but Josef's hand laid still, and Josef did not answer. There was no movement.

No movement at all.