July 1, 1996

Dr. Ben Song still looks dazed and confused. Before him is a girl, appearing to be in her late teens, with her chestnut-brown hair tied in braids. She wears jean overalls, and cleans the leaper's face with a handkerchief.

"Danny, you nearly scared me to death out there," she says.

"My name's Danny?" asks Ben.

"At least you know your name," says a big boy with short-cropped light brown hair wearing a gray shirt and gray trousers.

"Yeah, I'm fine," says the leaper.

"No, you're not fine," says the girl. "maybe we should take you to the doctor."

"Nadine, he's fine," says another boy, with slicked black hair, a white T-shirt, and jeans with holes in them. "A wooden fence isn't gonna stop Fireball Danny Roberts!"

Ben starts to get up.

"You should lie down," says Nadine.

"No, no, I'm fine," replies the leaper, holding onto the car to help himself up. He then takes a few steps and stretches his arm.

"Fireball's fine," says the big boy. "We all know how important this next race is."

"I have a bad feeling about this, Lenny" Nadine says to the boy with the slick black hair.

"This is guy stuff," replies Lenny. "It don't concern you."

"I'm his girl, so if it concerns him, it concerns me."

"Yeah," says Ben.

"So you ain't gonna race?" asks Lenny

"Uh, I guess I am," says Ben, not wanting to change history just yet.

"We ain't gonna race this car," says the big boy, who had been looking under the hood of the 1986 Chevrolet Camaro.

"What do you mean?" asks Ben.

"Driveshaft's busted. Can't even outrun a tricycle."

"Now what do we do, Bump?" asks Lenny.

"We push the car or tow it," replies the boy named Bump.

The two of them look at Ben.

"Is it too late to say I'm sorry?' asks the leaper.

Ooooooooo

Twenty minutes later, a blue 1992 Ford F-150 tows the Camaro along a two-lane country road, marked with a broken yellow line. Bump is driving the truck, with Lenny sitting in the passenger seat.

"We got to get this thing fixed for the time trials tomorrow," says Lenny.

"I'll do the best I can," answers Bump.

"You'd better or you're fired."

"You can't fire me; we're partners."

"We agreed I was crew boss, and you're crew. That means I can fire you from the crew."

"Which means you'll be the boss of no one." Bump smiles.

Back in the Camaro's seat, Ben looks around at the countryside, which has plenty of cornfields. He adjusts the rear view mirror to see his host.

He most certainly is not Taylor Swift. His mirror image is that of a boy in his late teens, with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

"I can't stop worryin' about you," says Nadine.

"Me either. I'm a bit worried"

"I can't believe you're talking like that."

"It's just, it's just this setback." Ben wonders if this setback is why he is here. He reaches into his host's pocket and pulls out a leather wallet. He can see an Indiana driver's license of one Daniel Roberts, date of birth October 13, 1977.

Nadine suddenly kisses him, and Ben pushes back.

"You usually don't pull back while kissin'," says the girl.

"Let's take it easy?"

She lightly kisses the leaper. "How's that."

"Fine."

"Anyway, you're workin' the early mornin' shift at Flo's tomorrow, and then that night, you have dinner with me an' my parents. So you'd better get dressed. And one more thing."

"What?"

"The driveshaft may be busted, but.."

Nadine turns the key, and music plays from the speakers of the car radio.

And isn't it ironic?

Don't you think?

It's like raaaiiiiin on your wedding day

It's a free ride when you've already paid

It's the good advice that you just didn't take

And who would've thought? It figures

"I remember this song," says Ben, smiling. "It sometimes plays on the nineties satellite radio channel."

"Sata' what?" asks Nadine.

Ben notices a billboard welcoming drivers to Elk Ridge, Indiana.

Soon, the car turns left onto a residential street in one of the outermost housing tracts. Several small houses line the road, each one with a gravel driveway.

The F-150 parks right by one of the houses. Nadine gives Ben a light kiss on the cheek.

"Gotta go," she says. The girl looks around and the sky is turning purple as the sun sets. She waves at Bump and Lenny.

She walks towards the house and unlocks the door. There is nothing out of the ordinary, the living room I still the same with the couches and the 36-inch color Toshiba television. Upon entering, she sees her mother, wearing a simple dress and blouse.

"Hello, dear," she says.

"I have to work at the bank tomorrow, Ma," she says.

"Your pa's still at the plant. But we have a surprise visitor for you."

A nineteen-year-old young man appears. He had medium length brown hair. He wears an Indiana State University T-shirt and black slacks.

"You still look great even with the grease stains," says the young man.

"Hi, Randy," says Nadine, a touch of annoyance in her voice.

Ooooooooo

"Thanks for the ride," Ben says to Bump and Lenny.

"The 76 at 2:00," says Bump. "We may need your helpin' hand."

The leaper walks towards the house, which looks very similar to Nadine's house. He takes the keys and after trying three of them, finally unlocks the front door.

"Hello?" asks Ben.

"Hi, Danny," says a middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. "Still practicin' for the time trials?"

"Yeah," answers the leaper.

"You work at Flo's early tomorrow mornin'," says a middle-aged woman.

Another woman appears, who has light brown hair, and wears a gray pantsuit.

"Your bedroom, now," she says.

"I'll go to my room," says Ben. He walks into one of the bedrooms.

It looks like a teen's room, with a stereo and a small television. The leaper notices several magazines featuring muscle cars. He also notices a Super Nintendo Entertainment System and a Sega Genesis wired into the Magnavox television.

"Looks primitive," says Addison Augustine, the Project Quantum Leap observer, who communicates with Ben.

"Yeah, the Nintendo Switch is what, twenty years away?"

"Yes," replies the observer. "It's July 1, 1996.

"I'm Danny Roberts, age eighteen. I got it from his license."

"Phone?"

"I don't think he had a cell phone."

Addison points, and the leaper notices a telephone in the corner. "In case Mr. or Mrs. Roberts walks in."

Ben picks up the handset. "What took so long?"

"Ziggy, well, got sick after downloading the latest update for Fortnite. We had to reboot."

"Fortnite? I played that game alongside Ian a few times. Ian, he wore bright clothes."

"Yes, he is a coworker."

"I know I'm Danny Roberts, aged eighteen, living in one Elk Ridge, Indiana. He's dating this girl named Nadine, and he has dreams for NASCAR. He has to work at Flo's diner early tomorrow morning."

The observer touches the screen of a handheld electronic device called a handlink, which is a portable terminal for Ziggy, the supercomputer for Project Quantum Leap. "No record of any NASCAR driver named Danny Roberts from anywhere, let alone Elk Ridge."

"Listen, Addison, the race car's driveshaft was busted real bad. That might have caused Danny to miss the time trials, never get into NASCAR. I must be here to help fix the car, to at least give this boy a chance at the time trials."

Addison touches the screen. "Yes, the 1996 time trials are Wednesday, July 3rd.

"The other two boys- Lenny and Bump."

"Bump?"

"Maybe its a nickname like Magic."

"Magic," says the observer, hearing that the leaper is remembering another fact from his own past. "Continue please."

"They're trying to fix the car, and I have to help them tomorrow. That's what I'm here to do. If we can fix the car, Danny can make it to the time trials."

"In due time," says Addison. "You still have to work Danny's day job."

"Dinner!" calls out Danny's mom.

Ben smiles. "My first objective is to have dinner."