If you thought the previous chapter had suspense, wait till you read this one.
acosta perez jose ramiro: That's just it: no one knows where bizarro-Helga is.
Kryten: Or maybe both. And we'll finally see if you're right.
Inudaughter Returns: It was the only way to open the door. And yes, bizarro-Helga thought so.
JayDogg187: She had to get inside somehow, and I wouldn't trust her either. Yes, now comes the showdown. And perhaps the police doesn't see much action in Hillwood. Hang on to your hat, here comes the climax!
Pistal9189: Let's see if you're right. But will she go back to the RIGHT universe? And there's no telling where bizarro-Helga is.
DeepVoice'06: 1. This will be even longer. 2. She doesn't have much choice, given that Arnold is with Ruth. 3. Thanks, I learned from the best. 4. We'll find that out here. 5. Yes, she's still here. 6. Will they stop? We'll see. 6. Updating now, geez...
It's showdown time!
And we will FINALLY see who the mysterious informer is! Let's see how many of you guessed correctly... (Some of you are very intelligent, I like that in people. :D :D :D )
1110 – SISTERS
With a dull thud, Olga dropped the crowbar on the ground, as she didn't want to seem aggressive to the children.
Both sisters eyed each other.
The first thing that Helga noticed was that instead of having it inside her purse, Olga had her cell phone clipped to her belt, on the right of her business skirt, and that one red LED was blinking.
The first thing that Olga noticed was that Helga was indeed disguised as a Hispanic girl, as her informer had told her.
The two stared at each other for a long moment, while Stinky stood to the side—the younger on his left and the elder on his right—unsure of what to do.
Finally, Helga spoke, "So, 'dear' sister, who ratted me out?"
Olga quickly "corrected" her with a failed attempt to sound loving, "Baby Sister, a concerned friend of yours called me and told me where to find you. She seemed to be a very close friend because she knew a lot about you. And like me, she wants the best for you."
The disguised girl crossed her arms and huffed. "Let me guess: Phoebe?"
The older sister clasped her hands in front of her and chimed with saccharine delight, "Oh, you remember her, Baby Sister! How wonderful!"
Helga waved off her delight, "Yeah, yeah. I guess she does have eyes and ears everywhere. That's quite creepy, you know. But tell me, Olga, how much did you pay her to find me? She does know I don't have a dime on me, right?"
Olga waved off her deduction. "Oh, Baby Sister, that doesn't matter now. What matters is that we're finally together once more! You have a family again!"
"A FAMILY?!" spat the younger sister, fists at her sides. "And where were YOU, the 'rest' of my family, during the past three months, while I was wasting away in a hospital bed? Were you teaching the 'unfortunate' Eskimo children, and then patting yourself on the back for going out of your way to be such a 'loving and caring' human being while Bob and Miriam threw me under the bus?"
Olga stiffened, and replied, "The correct term is 'Inuit', Baby Sister. Please remember that. As for why I wasn't here, well…" She held up pleading hands. "Mommy and Daddy never told me anything! They never said they abandoned you! In fact, it was Child Protective Services who contacted me shortly after you woke up, and they told me what happened!"
"Crimeny, how typical of Bob and Miriam…" The child almost facepalmed.
Her sister raised an eyebrow. "Baby Sister, why are you calling them by their first names?" Even Stinky was wondering about that. "Why don't you call them 'Mommy' and 'Daddy', like you should?"
Helga chuckled with disgust and angry fists. "Are you freaking kidding me? Bob and Miriam never behaved like a Mom or Dad to me, all thanks to you! And they never seemed to mind when I called them that to their faces!"
"What?" The adult stood back at that. "What do you mean, 'all thanks to me'? I never told you to call them by their first names!"
The girl huffed and shook her head in disbelief. "You just don't remember, do you? It all started when I had to take myself to my first day of preschool in the middle of a storm, all alone, while Bob and Miriam were too busy for me because they were listening to YOU play the piano for their amusement! Only ONE person helped me that morning…" Helga sagged again and opened her fists, "And he's no longer with me…"
Stinky wondered who she was talking about and hoped he would be able to ask her later.
Olga, meanwhile, raised her hands and blinked, trying to gain control of the discussion. "Wait…wait…what? Baby Sister, what are you talking about? I was the one who took you to Urban Tots on your first day of preschool!"
Helga blinked at her.
Half eyebrow.
And she blinked at her again.
"Wait, seriously? You mean 'your' Helga didn't have that terrible morning?"
"Baby Sister, don't you remember? I heard the door open and saw you about to walk outside in the middle of the rain, and I immediately stopped playing, scolded you for trying to go off on your own, and I took you to preschool myself!"
"Baby Sister" turned away slightly and held her head. "Wow, that would explain the resulting couples there are today…"
"And what do you mean 'my' Helga? YOU are 'my' Helga!" she stomped, trying to add weight to her words.
The child in question began to pace in front of her sister. "Olga, as crazy as this is going to sound, I am not the sister you grew up with. And the explanation I'm going to give to you will very likely make you want to lock me in a padded cell, but if you really cared for me—" she huffed. "If you have ever cared for me—or for 'your' Helga, at least—then hear me out, okay?"
Both stood still, completely silent.
"Perfect, now we can begin." The youngster nodded and resumed her pacing. "First, I know you're not superstitious, but do you believe in the paranormal?"
"No, I don't. You know that, Baby Sister."
She slapped her hands at her sides, still pacing. "Typical. I guess you took after Miriam while I took after Bob, with him believing in aliens…"
Daddy believes in aliens?
"Well, I didn't believe in the paranormal either, not until two days ago. And if you don't believe in the paranormal, then you had better start believing NOW," she almost growled at her.
"Three months ago, I wasn't even in the hospital. I was in Sunset Arms—yes, it was still standing—in your average sleepover. I wasn't even asleep, but suddenly I blinked, and I found myself in the hospital, in a completely different world. Where I come from, Bob and Miriam, while still being idiot parents, hadn't given up on me. Phoebe was the nicest girl of them all. Arnold's parents were archaeologists and explorers, having rescued a jungle tribe from a terrible disease, and they lived with him in Sunset Arms. They never moved away. You were off teaching Eskimo children—excuse me, 'Inuit' children—and chasing loser after cheating loser. And I certainly was never hit by a speeding ice cream truck, and neither did Arnold nor I ever fall into a coma because of that. Somehow, I got sucked into this…" She raised her arms and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "…'parallel universe' and woke up in the wrong place and the wrong time. Trust me, if it hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't believe it either, but it did, and my friends—or rather, Helga's friends—can back me up on this. So, sorry, Olga, I'm not your sister. I'm not even sure where your real sister is, but maybe, just maybe, I have an idea of how to get her back…and I will be able to go home as well." She stopped pacing, tightened her fists beside her, and waited for an answer.
Olga stared at her "non-sister", arms crossed, patiently listening, and after her exposition, she thought for a minute or two, nodded, and replied with dripping condescension, "Baby Sister, I don't know who put that silly idea in your head. Whether or not 'parallel universes' or even 'alternate universes' exist, that's beside the point, but did you ever consider that there is a much simpler and much better explanation to your problem?"
Helga also crossed her arms and replied with overflowing sarcasm, "Oh? Well, then, please, 'dear' sister, enlighten me, I'm all ears."
The adult didn't catch her sarcasm and just explained, "You have all the symptoms of someone with Dissociative Personality Disorder—"
"Really? I've gone crazy? Is that it?" She waved her hands again. "Wow, what could be simpler than me having multiple personalities? But, sorry, please, do go on," she chuckled, crossing arms once more.
"Baby Sister, this isn't funny!" She stomped again, fists at her sides. "And the term is 'dissociative', not 'multiple'! The shock of you learning that Mommy and Daddy abandoned you caused your psyche to create an alternate personality, an alternate 'you', if you will, most likely based on a dream you had when you were in a coma and brought forth that personality while your original personality took 'refuge' inside yourself, to protect itself from the tragic reality of what happened to you. That 'parallel universe' you 'came from', Baby Sister? It's all in your head. You never went alone to Urban Tots. There are no archaeologists in Arnold's family. The Beeper Emporium is gone. Our old house is gone. And I am the only family you have left!"
Helga nodded too, almost chuckling at her sister's explanation. "Okay, let's go with that. Let's suppose that you're the perfect older sister who can read my mind so clearly and flawlessly that you figured out everything that was wrong with my brain without even bothering to read a book or take any notes down or even asking me any freaking basic questions." Having been with a psychologist before, the angry child had a very good idea of what tools were needed for proper psychoanalysis. "And let's suppose that you're right and that all the memories of all my life, San Lorenzo, Arnold, his parents, the school, all the couples in fourth grade, everything, and you, even, are nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Hey, it could be worse, they could all be a figment of your sister's imagination!" She pointed angrily at her and then waved her off. "But your idiotic theory does not explain why all those memories take up nine years' worth of memory space in my head, nor does it explain why I know some stuff about my friends and their families that they never bothered to mention to me." She laughed. "And considering the fact that I learned that Bob and Miriam abandoned me ten minutes after I woke up, well…face it, sis, your explanation is just as crazy and baseless as mine is." She re-crossed her arms with an air of triumph.
"Be that as it may—" Olga countered, slightly upset. "—the bottom line, Baby Sister, is that currently, you're a homeless orphan. I…" She spoke kindly. "I want to take you home with me. Once we go back to the hospital and the doctors make sure that you're okay, I'm going to take you to a child psychologist to help you get rid of that horrible personality. In fact, I already know the perfect doctor!" She bubbled up again. "Her name is—"
"—Doctor Kathy Bliss…" they both said simultaneously, making Olga stutter stand back at her with shock.
"Y-yes…! How…how do you know her? You've never met her before!"
"Seriously?" Helga asked, raising the other half of her eyebrow, and then turned to Stinky. "She never worked as a psychologist at P.S. 118?"
"Nope, cain't say that she has."
She turned back to Olga. "I may have never met her in 'this' universe, but yes, I've met her in 'mine'. Do you want me to describe her? Or shall I give you her number and her office address? How about if I describe the way she talks? Would you be convinced yet? Or shall I describe or predict events of this world that I would have no way of knowing? Would you still send me to a funny farm?" Helga snarled. "Or would you put me on display like a circus freak and charge admission to government officials?"
"HELGA!"
It was the fiery fourth-grader's turn to uncross her arms and step back at her older sister. She had certainly never seen her this upset, so she was definitely not the Olga she grew up with. But then she chuckled and quipped, palms on hips, "Wow, you actually have a backbone in 'this' universe!"
"Hel—Baby Sister, please, I promise you that no government official is going to lay a hand on you, no matter what Dr. Bliss says and no matter how you turn out. But please understand that Dr. Bliss is the only one who can help you get back to normal…" She then almost growled herself, "…and she's the only one who can get MY sister back."
The child began walking backward, suddenly frightened at the elder's tone and her suddenly malicious countenance. She raised her hands defensively. "Oh, no. If I go see a shrink, and if you are correct, that means that I will disappear. And IF I disappear from 'this' world, it will be on MY own terms, you hear me?" She thumbed at herself. "And frankly, I would rather live in your sister's head where 'MY' world is than live out here with YOU!" She pointed angrily at her.
Carefully, Olga began walking toward her. "Baby Sister, please, be careful with what you say. I want to take you home, not have you committed—"
"—to a funny farm? Yeah, I figured that would be one of your options. But don't worry, 'dear' sister. Once I do this experiment and all of this is over, you will have your sister back, and you two will live happily ever after. I'm sure she's dying to come back here to you." She mockingly shook her head. "Because I'm more than sure she's getting fed up with just how condescending 'MY' sister is," she thumbed at herself. "And she's very likely getting a restraining order against Brainy!" She pointed furiously at a random window.
Stinky blinked again. "Brain—? Oh, right. Yew mean 'Brian'."
Olga had enough. She stomped her right foot again and declared, "Baby Sister, just stop! There's no such thing as other worlds, or other universes! All of that is nothing but science fiction! It's all in your head!"
Helga refused to be fazed. "Whether you're right or not, I'm trying to bring 'your' Helga back. Though I can't seem to do it by sheer willpower, so I need to take drastic measures—"
The adult begged with pleading palms, "Baby Sister, please! Dr. Bliss will be able to help you, you'll be back to normal, and once you're okay, you'll be able to go to that finishing school in Alaska!" She finished with an enthusiastic flourish.
Stinky turned and glared angrily at Olga.
Helga's jaw dropped as she stared at her sister.
"WHAT…FINISHING…SCHOOL?!" both growled.
"Why, the one I signed you up for! You're going to love it!" She hopped and lightly clapped her hands with excitement.
It was Helga's turn to take an angry step toward Olga. "And just WHEN in this forsaken universe did I ever ask for that?"
Olga ignored her sister's anger, again, but continued explaining her oh so wonderful plan, "Oh, Baby Sister, you didn't ask for that. I know you needed it, so I signed you up, and if Dr. Bliss hurries, you'll be able to start in the fall!"
Another angry step forward, and another angry finger. "And just WHEN did YOU decide that you could dictate MY future?"
She tilted her head lovingly at her. "Oh, right! I haven't told you the big surprise! Since Mommy and Daddy renounced their parental rights on you, and since I'm your closest living relative, I am now your legal guardian!" She clapped with joy again. "It was a really big mess, but I got emergency custody of you yesterday morning!"
Helga finally facepalmed. "Are you freaking serious? And let me guess, it's a boarding school, right?"
Olga's nod was dripping with saccharine happiness. "Those are the best, Baby Sister!" She clasped her hands against her cheek.
"Why am I not surprised—" She then suddenly stopped, realising something. She pointed at Olga. "Wait, you went to the hospital, right? Did you get every last item of mine that was still there? Did I have another change of clothes? Any notebooks? My locket?"
The adult blinked. "Huh? Baby Sister, everything you owned was next to your bed. And what locket are you talking about?"
Stinky turned to her, "Yeah, wut locket?"
"That's right, Baby Sister. None of the hospital staff saw a locket on you all the time you were there. You have never owned a locket in your life."
"N' yew've never showed meh any locket, neither."
Helga cringed and rubbed her head with both hands. "Crimeny! Your Helga was a total stick-in-the-mud if she never had a locket to put in it the picture of the boy she loves!"
Olga dismissed that comment, again, and once more tried to regain control of the conversation with pleading palms, "Baby Sister, just…please come home with me. We'll get that wig and all that dreadful makeup and those contact lenses off, and we can be the family you need!"
Helga's arms and hands waved with even more fury. "What, for one week? And then you'll toss me to that boarding school in the middle of the frozen tundra? I find it very convenient that you say you will be the family I need, but we both know that you will be so for a very short time, and then you'll very conveniently drop me at the doorstep of that boarding school in the middle of nowhere, just like Bob and Miriam dropped me at the doorstep of the government, while you then go off galivanting to be a 'heroine' to 'underprivileged' natives, am I right?" She shook her head. "Crimeny, you really are the daughter of Bob and Miriam Pataki!"
This was one of the few times when Olga's fists paled, and her ears fumed.
"No! You've got it all wrong! I would visit you during the holidays!"
Her sister ignored that and continued, "I'd rather go back to 'my' Bob and Miriam and Olga. 'My' Olga may have been an annoying idiotic pest, but she was never authoritarian, nor did she ever try to make me a clone of herself, and she's certainly not as selfish as YOU!" More angry pointing.
"So you are going to run away again?" challenged the adult. "Where will you go? You don't have anything! And just so you know, it would be against the law if I let anything happen to you because I now have custody of you!"
The child chuckled. "So…this is all just to protect your butt, then? Do you honestly think I'm totally helpless here?" She then crossed her arms, this time with smugness, and repeated with an exact imitation of Miles' voice, "Yes. I just saw her board Bus Number 203. The bus already left and it's headed southeast, not sure where it will stop, though."
Olga gasped, slowly opening her purse.
Helga then spoke with Olga's exact voice, "Don't you think CPS is wondering why I keep running away from you? What do you think will happen if they get a call from 'you', 'confessing' to them what really happened at home?"
She stood back, grabbing tightly something inside her purse.
The trans-universal visitor finished with a smirk, hands on her hips, and with Phoebe's exact voice, "Or maybe someone will call you with information that you won't be able to tell if it's true or not?"
Helga was quite sure she heard someone gasp on Olga's phone.
Olga, meanwhile, could only blink and shake her head for a moment and then stuttered with absolute shock, "Since…since…how long have you been able to do that?"
She stepped forward defiantly. "'Your' Helga can't do that, but I can. And like I said, I'm going to bring your sister back. Unfortunately, it's going to hurt like h—"
Olga pulled out something from her purse.
Stinky had seen her reach into her purse seconds before.
Olga aimed a black taser at her sister.
Helga blanched, wide eyed and open mouthed.
Olga was suddenly shoved to the ground by Stinky, right when she fired, sending the electrodes to Helga's left the moment she flinched to her right, dropping her wig, while the electrodes implanted themselves on an old door behind her.
The taser clicked rapidly for a few seconds and then fell silent.
With anger-fuelled strength, Olga shoved Stinky off her body, making him fall on his right side and roll away.
Helga jumped over the wires and dove toward Olga's right.
The adult quickly stood, turning to the girl, reaching inside her purse to reload another cartridge—
Helga swung with all her strength the crowbar that Olga had dropped earlier.
WHINK!
CRACK!
Olga dropped to the ground, almost unconscious, and with a loose tooth or three, while her taser fell beside her in several pieces.
"Oo, that felt good," snarled Helga, heart racing again, and hands stinging from the blow she gave to her sister's face and taser.
Then, she realised just what happened.
"Do they let adults use tasers on MINORS in 'this' universe? Crimeny, I really hope her sister doesn't end up staying with her! Any foster home would be a much better choice!"
"Miss Pataki, is everything all right?" asked an officer outside. At the sound of his voice, both children stiffened again and Olga began to stir.
"Crimeny…" Helga had to think fast before the police came in. She then called out with Olga's voice, "We're okay, officer! Just moving things here so we can get comfortable! Give us ten more minutes!"
She then saw Stinky getting up, so she stepped up to her sister, snatched the phone off her belt, and looked at the clock. She also saw the phone number of the caller who had been listening to the conversation and sighed as her heart was broken yet again when she recognized who had been on the line.
"Phoebe, you're a total fink!" she hissed, and then disconnected.
She threw the phone and the crowbar down a metal pipe, ran to Stinky, grabbed his hand, snatched her purse, and dashed into the interior of the Safehouse. Following Stinky's previous instructions, the two children ran to the other room, moved the couch slightly to reveal a manhole, slid the cover together, jumped inside, and covered the opening again.
Seconds later, Olga sat up and yelled, "MOVE IN! DON'T LET HER EFCAPE!" Damn! That brat DID break some of my teeth!
The police thus stormed the Safehouse.
As they ran down the sewer, hand in hand and trying to ignore the stench, Helga snarled, "Stinky, I'm about to get your girlfriend back. Tell her to NOT let Olga change her into her clone, and to NOT let Olga send her to Alaska. Tell Phoebe she's a total fink, yes, but that, at least, in another world, or maybe another lifetime, we were the best of friends— "
"HELGA!"
Both turned and saw Olga in the distance, running down the sewer toward them while grabbing her high heels, with two policemen running behind her. Stinky panicked, and Helga let him panic for both of them while she did a few calculations of where they were. She then pulled him on and both ran another block's distance, then stopped at the ladder that led to another manhole. She quickly climbed up, with Stinky—ever the gentleman—climbing very close to her so he wouldn't accidentally look up her dress. With adrenaline-powered strength, Helga slid the cover open, climbed out, yanked Stinky out with her, and both slid the cover back to buy themselves some time.
Looking around, Helga saw that they were now two blocks away from the junkyard, out of the line of sight from all those police cars and the crowd that had assembled to see what was going on.
She then pulled out the notebook from her purse and tore off the last page, shoving both into Stinky's chest, making him scramble to grab both and stuff the sheet into his pocket.
"Give your girlfriend my letter and give Torvald the journal. And again, I'm sorry, but this is the only way I can go home, and this is the only way you can get your girlfriend back—!"
The manhole cover quivered.
Helga looked at a street sign, and both ran off down a two-way street, on the right sidewalk.
"Hide!" she almost yelled at him. "With luck, Olga just might forget who you are and just focus on her sister right now!"
He hissed at her, "Ah'm not leaving yew!"
"Oh, crimeny!"
POW!
Left with no choice, Helga stopped, whirled, landed a right-cross punch directly on Stinky's chin, and the boy staggered and nearly fell as he was almost knocked out.
Wow, that's a lot of glass on your jaw you got there, Steve, she thought as she shook her aching hand.
She then grabbed his shirt and the notebook that he nearly dropped, dragged the groggy boy into an alley, hefted him up with adrenaline-powered strength, threw him inside a dumpster, and covered his face with the open notebook.
"HELGA!"
Unfortunately, that allowed Olga to catch up somewhat. Helga ran out of the alley and saw her sister running toward her, and the policemen were catching up behind her, but what caught her eye was another object behind her sister, and it was coming down the street at high speed.
Perfect. Gotta time this right…
She continued running in the same direction, though not as fast, and she kept glancing behind her, making sure her timing was right, as well as making sure Olga wasn't within grabbing distance.
She then saw a large box truck parked in front of her, and she slowed down slightly, almost as if she wanted Olga to catch her.
Her sister came closer and closer.
She could see the welt on her face from the blow with the crowbar, and her bared teeth showed that her perfect smile was no longer so, not with two new gaps.
Helga chuckled at the sight of her now imperfect sister.
She ran a few more steps so that she was now in front of the parked truck.
Sorry, Helga. I hope you don't feel any pain when you wake up!
The box truck was now obscuring all incoming traffic from her, so Helga had to guide herself with the shadows that were being cast on the street.
She could see the red in Olga's eyes.
The shadow moved closer.
Olga reached out to her.
NOW!
Helga then dashed out to the street, forcing Olga to make a sudden turn…
Both ran straight into the path of Jolly Olly Man's speeding ice cream truck.
A flash of light…
A blaring truck horn…
Bracing for impact…
Olga screaming her name…
The screech of tires…
A horrendous blow on her left side, her head whiplashing and being bashed by the grille of the truck…
A rushing darkness…
Stinky groggily ran up with the notebook, behind the two policemen, just in time to see both Pataki women be thrown several meters in front of the ice cream truck and their limp bodies roll a few times on the pavement. He gasped and his blood pooled to his feet.
It was the second time in three months that he had seen that happen to his girlfriend.
Or, he realised, to the girl who looked like his girlfriend.
Olga, however, stirred a few seconds after she stopped rolling, and she looked at her sister's inert body.
"…oh, Helga…" he heard her moan.
Jolly Olly Man quickly stepped out of his truck, ran to the victims, and stared at Helga. "Hey, don't I know this kid?" Right then, the wail of police sirens pierced the air, and the two policemen ran to him while calling for assistance and ignoring the groggy boy behind them.
The driver's shoulders drooped as he groaned, "Oh, man, there goes my license…" He then rubbed his eyes lightly, trying to get rid of the afterimage of a flash he thought he saw right before the accident, and shook his head as he contemplated with resignation the smashed grille and hood of his truck.
Stinky continued to stare at the two bodies lying on the pavement; his mind completely blank as to how to help them, and he didn't dare move them—from what little he could recall from a first aid lecture—but he did have little comfort in the fact that there was no blood pooling under either of them, and Helga's chest was moving in time with her breathing.
He, too, thought he saw a flash right before the impact but dismissed it as a glint of sunlight from the mirrors of the nearby vehicles…
Several minutes later, several police cruisers and their officers had arrived, trying to hold back the crowd that had gathered. The crowd included many of the local shop owners and a lot of the students of P.S. 118. The fourth- and fifth-graders—Stinky included—stood on the sidewalk, frightened to no end as they saw Olga and Helga being loaded on an ambulance. They could hardly even whisper to each other questions—much less answers—about what had just happened, especially knowing that it was a near-exact repeat of what happened in front of their school three months ago. They were all trying to listen to the adults as they, too, sought questions from the police, but none of them gave any further explanations beyond the bottom line: two females had just been hit by a speeding truck.
Helga was still unconscious, and Olga was semiconscious, looking at her unresponsive sister.
"…oh, Helga…" she moaned again.
Stinky then saw Torvald nearby, who was also totally speechless, like the rest of the gang. Emotionlessly, the fourth-grader walked up to the fifth-grader and wordlessly gave him the notebook.
The older boy just stared at him with surprise, and his confusion went up another notch when Stinky silently walked away from the scene, before any policeman remembered that he was with the two Patakis in the Safehouse.
Torvald opened the notebook and blinked when he read what had been written.
There were only two entries, but they would be enough for him to tell legends to his grandchildren…
Stinky, meanwhile, continued walking away, alone, shocked, and almost catatonic because of what he had seen and experienced just now, as well as in the past three days. He was mechanically headed for the hospital, again, since he knew Helga would be there when he arrived. It was the only thing he could think of doing, and given what she had told him right before, he wondered if the girl he would wait for this time would be his girlfriend, or the girl who had been here for the past three months. He, too, sighed and sagged in helpless despondency.
Then he remembered that Helga gave him a letter to give to "his" Helga.
He pulled out the crumpled paper from his pocket and read the letter.
A minute later, tears were flowing from his eyes.
But he was smiling nonetheless.
He finally knew who helped her on that stormy Monday morning, in another time, in another world.
She would be okay.
Both Helgas would be okay.
And he and his other self would be okay too.
Boy, would he have things to tell his own grandchildren…