Leap Years



"Heellooo Tina" Fonzie said in his charming drawl as he made his way over to the attractive stop sign lady.

"Oh Fonzie!" she said in a surprised voice, dropping the STOP sign she had been holding up. Together they both escorted the small children across the street as they talked.

"Listen, Tina, did I by any chance leave a pair of sunglasses in your car last week?" he asked in an eager tone. They were his favorite sunglasses and he really didn't feel like replacing them.

"Yeah, let me get them" she began to make her way to her car, but stop midway. "Do you mind?" she asked giving him the STOP sign and whistle.

"Sure" he said as he put the whistle around his neck. Giving him a kiss on the cheek she ran off to retrieve his sunglasses. Fonzie watched her run off, her jeans happened to be smug in all the right places..

"Heeyyy" he said to himself appreciatively. Returning to the middle of the street he held up the bright sign and whistle for the kids to cross the street. One by one they strolled by, blue coats, red coats, yellow, orange.. Suddenly all the colors began to swirl, everything becoming terribly slow in motion as a wave of nausea gripped him, making him lose his balance.

Crouching protectively on the cold ground all sounds began to blur into one loud noise, violating his ears. Shielding them with his hands he looked around, but everything was fuzzy and muddled. He closed his eyes, trying to adjust them, suddenly the harsh noise stopped. A clear definite voice could only be heard now, it surrounded him, demanded his full attention.

Suddenly he wasn't outside anymore, in fact, he wasn't even in Milwaukee. He was home - well what use to be home. Rising slowly he moved around his old bedroom. It was exactly the way he remembered it, small, blue and full of all kinds of toys.

Wondering out into the hallway he could hear two hush voices from downstairs. Slowly he made his way down the stairs, but stopped halfway.

The voices were now crystal clear and they were by no means hush. He also recognized these two voices; it was his mother and father! They were in the living room moving back and forth, clearly in the middle of an argument.

"Why?" she demanded in an outraged tone. "Why now? You have a family! Don't we mean anything to you?" her voice rose with each word.

"Angela, you're not being fair! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Ever since I was a little boy I've always wanted to travel, explore, and this is my last chance to do it!" His voice pleaded for her understanding. "I don't care! You have a responsibility to your son and I. If you walk out that door, don't ever bother on coming back. I won't stand here and just let you run off to play sea captain and then come back to us like nothing ever happened." Tears were now falling freely down her face. Fonzie wished with all his heart that he could take her pain away.

His father rose, grabbed his bags and opened the front door. Turning back he gave her one last glance. "Tell him I love him," he said as he closed the door. Angela finally broke down on the sofa; her cries turning into full fledge screams of agony.

"That's it" Fonzie said to himself as he made his way down the stairs, but before he could reach her the nauseating feeling he had experienced early gripped him again. The entire room began to blur too as he was thrust back into his life, back to the present.

He opened his eyes slowly to find a dozen small faces starring down at him. "Fonzie, baby?" Tina worriedly called, cradling his head in her lap. But instead of answering her he just got up, hopped on his bike and rode off, not stopping until he was home.

Once there he collapsed on the floor and began to cry until no more tears could come down. Taking off his leather jacket, he hurled it across the room, his white shirt following as he headed toward the bathroom. There he stood under the hot spray of the shower, allowing the water to cascade down his head and back, washing away the pain as he began to cry all over again.



The water was beginning to turn icily cold now, but he still made no move to leave the shower. He now sat under the spray of cold water, shivering as he rocked back and forth, his knees drawn up all the way up to his strong chest.

What was happening to him? He wondered, panic starting to swell in his chest. This wasn't normal! Time just didn't stop like that, especially thrusting one twenty years back into the past, it just didn't! Not to him anyway.

Could he be going crazy? He began to contemplate the possibility. It would explain all the crazy things that just happened to him..

Fonzie abruptly got up, turned the shower off and grabbed his towel. If he couldn't figure out what was happening, he would find someone who could and he knew just the person.



"Mommy there's a man outside who wants to talk to you," a small eight year old said as he tugged his mother's skirt.

Rebecca made her way to the front door, almost dropping the dishtowel she had been holding when she saw whom it was, it was Fonzie! She hadn't seen him in such a long time, almost nine years.

"Hello Rebecca" he said in a very unusual voice - well, unusual for him. In fact, nothing about him seemed to be like the old Fonzie she had known and loved. He wasn't even as laid back and carefree as before, instead he now stood so rigidly, eyeing everything around him nervously. He looked as if he was about to jump out of his skin at any second.

"It's been so long." she trailed off, not knowing what to say, "I'm married now" she added hurriedly, just in case he had a more amorous reason for showing up at her doorstep out of the blue. She and Fonzie had shared good times while she had been in college, but now things were different, she was married and had a beautiful family of her own.

Sensing her discomfort he immediately began to explain, "no, that's not it" he said, finding the whole situation harder than he had imagine it would be. "What I'm here for is help, I need your *professional* help" he said, adding an extra emphasis on the word professional, trying to make his intention as clear as possible.

Immediately she caught up with him. Her help, her professional help, which meant that he, needed a psychiatrist. Well, that she could do!

"Let's step into my office," she said as she led him to her study. Silently they both made their way to the small room. Fonzie could feel a sense of relief, he had already taken the hardest step of all, but things were far from over.
TO BE CONTINUED