Sam Beckett continues to stare out towards Lake Tahoe, barely noticing the others in the water and on the sandy shore.
His mind is dominated by his grief over hearing about Gooshie's death from melanoma, and now he hears that his leapee, Joey Schultz, was- will be- stabbed to death in school by a close friend at the age of thirteen.
I wish there was something I could do now to keep Gooshie from getting cancer.
"So Joey dies on Friday," says the leaper.
"Yeah," replies Al Calavicci. "It was big news here, the biggest news until Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in '91."
After a few seconds, Sam collects himself. "I know there's more to solving this leap than making sure Joey isn't at school on Friday. What happens to Jimmy La Palma?"
Al presses buttons on the handlink. "Jimmy La Palma was a ward of the California Youth Authority for four years due to manslaughter. After that, he had a life of crime. In my time, he's an inmate in San Quentin for aggravated assault." The observer pushes more buttons. "Wait a minute. In 1986, Jimmy testified against a teacher accused of sexual abuse."
"When I leaped into Joey, it was in bed with a woman. And that teacher we saw at the casino this morning, that was her. I have to expose her. She might go on to abuse other students like she's doing with Joey. I have at least five days to figure it out." Grief arises to the surface again, and the leaper looks out towards Lake Tahoe. "Gooshie."
"Beth and I agreed to help the family with the funeral planning," says Al, pressing the buttons on the handlink and opening this white rectangular light that is the Imaging Chamber door. "I'll be with you on your first day of school."
The Imaging Chamber door closes.
Ooooooooo
Joey's mom is not as the apartment, so Sam cooks Stouffer's macaroni and cheese inside the Kenmore microwave oven in the kitchen. As he eats the soft macaroni in the gooey cheese sauce, his thoughts and feelings wander towards Gooshie.
He's dead. I mean, he'll be dead seventeen years from time, but I can't stop him from catching melanoma.
After sitting on the couch wallowing in grief, the leaper goes to the partitioned corner where Joey sleeps. Taking a deep breath, he looks around, hoping to learn more about the thirteen-year-old boy.
He finds some Playboy magazines, schoolbooks.
And,. Under the bed, he finds a tin box. Removing the lid, there are several Polaroid photographs. The first one is clearly that of Joey and Jimmy when they were about ten years old, both of them dressed in heavy coats and wool hats on their heads, standing next to a towering snowman. Another picture has them looking a built younger, on a pier of some sort; it is apparent that the water in the background was not that of Lake Tahoe.
He then sees a picture of that teacher Miss Brown, with the cute smile and freckles.
And more pictures of her , only she is nude. One of them has her standing up, another has her sitting on a couch with her legs spread open, and there are close-up photographs of her breasts and vulva.
Oooooooooo
Sam, Al, and Gooshie are smiling in the photograph. All of them were sitting down at a wooden table. Memories surface in the observer's mind; that picture was taken at a bar and grill in town, just a twenty minute drive from the Facility.
He sits on the leather chair behind his desk. He had been spending so much time organizing a memorial for Gooshie, as well as sending e-mails and making phone calls for the funeral in Nebraska.
Gooshie. We are all less without you.
A tear flows down his cheek.
Ooooooooo
Dreamscape
"We're ready to go, Dr. Beckett," says Gooshie.
"time to make your leap," says Al.
"I'm not ready."
"We've been doing this for twelve years," says Gooshie. "after animal testing, it's time for the first human test subject. We'll only send you back to yesterday, and if the retrieval program doesn't work, you just relive yesterday."
"Uh, sure, I'll go get dressed," says Sam, loosening his red necktie.
"I need to tell you one more thing, Dr. Beckett," says Gooshie. "Joey, wake up."
"Joey, wake up."
Sam stirs awake and gets out of bed. He looks and sees a woman with big blond hair, appearing to be in her early thirties, wearing sweat shirt and sweat trouser.
"Uh, Mom?" he asks.
"Glad you were able to take care of yourself," says the woman who clearly is Joey's mom. "You have thirty minutes to eat breakfast."
and so Sam eats a simple breakfast of Frosted Flakes and orange juice.
"Can you get ready in ten?" asks Brenda Schultz.
"Sure."
Sam opens the closet and pulls out some jeans and a sweater. He goes into Joey's partitioned corner and gets dressed. He then picks up the Jansport backpack.
The Imaging Chamber door appears, and Al steps in.
"Al," says Sam.
"What is it?" asks Joey's mom.
"I'll be heading off to school now."
"You're in luck," says Brenda. "I'll drive you to school. I guess I owe you one since I was away all weekend. It's too bad that guy I was with wasn't stepdad material. However, I'm working at the diner tonight, so we'd better tie your bike to the front of the car. It sure beats walkin'."
"So that's his mom," says Al. "A lot of boys would crush on her."
Joey's mom removes something from her leather purse. "In case you want to go to McDonald's or something for dinner."
"Thanks," replies the leaper.
He and Brenda leaves the apartment and go to a 1981 Toyota Corolla parked on the street. It had been customized with a bike rack on the front. Sam places Joey's bike on the rack and secures it with the chain and lock.
Sam and Brenda get into the car, and soon the car pulls out on the street. Sam looks around, noticing plenty of motels and beds-and-breakfasts, as the Lake Tahoe area was just as much a tourist destination in 1984 as it will be in 2001. Al also looks around, noting every detail, wondering if he should go here on vacation to find out how things have changed.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, Brenda stops the car at the drop-off area, where many other cars are already stopped, with doors opening and children aged 11-14 getting out.
"Have a good day at school," says Joey's mom. "Don't forget your bike."
As Sam goes out to unfasten the bike from the car, Al looks towards the school.
"Junior high," says Al. "A real jungle. I remember when the girls went to school."
"Hey Joey," says Jimmy.
Sam looks and sees Jimmy, wearing a blue sweater and black slacks.
Jimmy had ridden his bike to school, so Sam follows him with Joey's bike. They both lock their bicycles at the bike rack.
"Another day," says the 13-year-old boy. "see you at Miss Brown's class."
"Ziggy did manage to find Joey's schedule," says Al.
Minutes later, the leaper is sitting at a desk, with both boys and girls 13-14 years old. It looked more or less the same as the classrooms at his high school in Elk Ridge, Indiana. The teacher- a bespectacled man- walks in.
"Good morning, class," he says.
Oooooooooo
About two hours later, Sam sits down in a desk in a classroom in another building. Jimmy La Palma sits next to him. Boys and girls walk inside, carrying their textbooks.
Al places a folding chair right next to the teacher's desk. "I'll sit right here," says the observer.
And then the teacher walks in, the same teacher Sam saw at Caesar's Tahoe yesterday. She wears a white blouse and a black skirt. She walks right through Al and sits behind the desk.
"This is Miss Brown's class," says the leaper.
"Hello, class," says Miss Brown. "I hope you all were at least reading the material instead of spending all weekend playing the Atari or Coleco. Today we will be discussing quantum mechanics"
"Quantum mechanics?" asks Sam.
"Yes, Joey," replies the teacher. "I can tell you're excited. Now all of you pay attention. Quantum mechanics was formulated as a principle to resolve several observations. Basically, light is not a continuous ray, as it seemed, but in fact is made as discrete particles called quanta.
Sam looks into the science textbook. The information is very basic, and even with his swiss-cheesed memory, he can remember everything in this book. Of course, Joey, Jimmy, and the others in this room would only be able to understand the rudimentary foundational principles.
As he observes, Al notices Sam frequently raising his hand to ask questions.
And then the bell rings.
"Thank you, class," says Miss Brown. She then touches the leaper. "I'm impressed, Joey. Perhaps an after-hours study session here?"
"Sam," says Al.
"Sure."
Sam, Jimmy, and Al go to the cafeteria. The observer looks around at the furniture and the children. Aside from the different hair and clothing styles worn by the children, it looks pretty much the same as the cafeteria he had eaten lunch when he was 13 years old in the late 1940's.
And with kids being dumbasses. Not that I was much better.
He listens in as Jimmy speaks with Sam.
"You really are into that quantum machine stuff," says Jimmy.
"Yeah, I've read about it," replies the leaper. "I once read this article written by this guy, Sam Beckett."
"I see. Miss Brown's a great teacher though. I kind of like science myself. I'm glad you're okay.'
"Okay?" asks Sam.
"Well, when you were at brunch with my dad yesterday, you were awfully quiet."
"I had a rough week."
"The week's not getting any easier," says Al, thinking of Gooshie.
"Yeah, school's getting tougher. I remember how tough it was last year when my mom died. And I'll never forget what you did."
"What is that?" the leaper asks curiously.
"You volunteered to sleep over at my place for a whole week, just to watch over me. It helped me deal with it. I can't imagine anyone else who'd do that for me."
"Your dad?"
"Well, technically he does live at my place. Though I haven't seen him that much. He often has to work really late, ever since mom died. To make up for the loss of income,"
Sam eats some more. "Yeah, I guess fatherhood could be hard. I remember when..."
Joey doesn't have a brother.
"..when my mom and I visited..this family friend, Tom, when he had his first child. It was back in the 70's. He was in the Navy at the time. I remember holding the baby."
"His first child's just a few years younger than Joey," says the observer.
Jimmy holds Sam's hand. "Listen, Joey," he says. "We're best friends. I can't imagine anything that would put an end to that."
Sam and Al stay silent, wondering how this boy would end up killing Joey- would likely end up killing Sam- on Friday.
