Holly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, my God..."
Sam grinned in delight and turned to look at the hologram behind him. "Al, she can see me."
Al tapped his hand-link, desperate for answers. "No, she can't see you. She's a nut-case! Ziggy says there's a seventy-three percent probability that she's having some sort of...hallucination."
"No, no. She can see me," Sam insisted. He started to raise his hands to touch her again.
"Oh, my God," Holly said. "No, stay away from me! Oh, God, I really am going insane! Jack, I'm sorry. Please, get out of here!"
Al couldn't have said it better. "That sounds like good advice, Sam."
Holly turned away from him. "Please, Jack, don't touch me again. Just...go. Please."
Al wished he could touch Sam. Then he'd grab him by the arm and drag him out. "Come on, Sam. See? She doesn't even want you here."
Sam hesitated, then turned and went down the stairs.
Once he was outside, Al appeared beside him, much relieved. Al's official job title was 'observer.' In the imaging chamber, that was all Al could do. Observe. Sam knew it was one of Al's biggest fears that on one of Sam's leaps, he would have to observe Sam get killed. It was also one of Al's fears that he wouldn't be there when Sam needed him most. The two were good friends, even if they hadn't actually been in the same place or in the same time for some years now. "I thought you'd never get the hell out," Al said. "That fatso psycho gives me the creeps."
"She's not a psychopath, Al."
"And I'm not a hologram."
"Well, in a sense, you're not. You're only a hologram to me. Back in the future, I'm the hologram."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Look, Sam, Ziggy has figured out what you're here to do. Ziggy says, the way to stop you from being killed is to get her committed to a mental institution before she kills you."
"I don't think she's crazy."
"Then how do you explain what happened back there?"
Sam had no idea where he was supposed to live, but he figured the restaurant was a good place to start. "Somehow, she could tell that I wasn't Jack North."
"How?"
"I don't know. But what would be your natural reaction if you just found out that somebody you knew wasn't who you thought he was?"
"Well, I'd, uh...uh..."
"You'd be scared to death, just like she was. Al, she saw me."
"All right, what if she did? We've already determined that little kids can see us, dogs can see us, and mental cases can see us. Guess which category she falls into."
"But she didn't see us, she saw me. And it wasn't right away, either. Something must've triggered it."
"What triggered it was that psychopathic part of her mind that wants to kill you."
"No, it was something else."
"Look, Sam, now that you're safe for the time being, I could do with a good night's sleep."
"Yeah, me, too. The trouble is, I don't know where I live."
"Oh." He tapped the hand-link. "Uh, 408 Chestnut Road."
"Maybe I should take my car. Which one is it?"
"Well, you could take your car, but it's right here on the corner."
Sam looked up at the signpost. He was at the intersection of the 400 block of Chestnut Road and the 200 block of Main Street. "Oh."
"Good night, Sam. I'll have Ziggy keep a lock on our psycho. If she comes anywhere near you, I'll let you know."
"She's not a psycho."
"Yeah, yeah. Just the same, I'd feel better if we kept track of her."
"Good night, Al."
"Good night, Sam. Oh, and don't take any showers 'til I get back."
"Will you stop it?"
Al sighed. "Just be careful." He opened the imaging chamber door.
"I will. Oh, and Al---"
Al turned to look.
"Thanks."
Al left, and Sam was all alone inside Jack North's body. He had twenty-four hours to figure this out and leap, because if he didn't, it wasn't Jack North who would be killed, it was Sam Beckett.
Sam found the house where Jack North lived. On the outside, it was similar in size and style to the house Holly Woods lived in. Sam pulled the keys out of his pocket, tried them until he found the one that fit, then opened the door.
He had just entered the house when a huge dog came padding around an interior corner, saw him, and started barking like a maniac. Sam barely had time to get back outside before the imaging chamber door opened again, and Al the hologram stepped back into Sam's life.
"Oh, Sam, be careful. According to Ziggy, Jack North has a dog license for a dog named 'Rufus.'"
"I just met 'Rufus,'" Sam told him.
"Oh." Al shrugged. "Well, you should be okay, then." He started to leave the imaging chamber again.
"Al!" Sam said.
"What?"
"Help me out here a little, will you? Distract Rufus so I can get in the house!"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Al popped out of sight, and a second later, Sam heard barking coming from inside the house. The barking moved to a different room, and Sam quietly re-inserted the key into the lock and entered the house. He followed the sound of the barking to Jack North's bedroom, to which, thankfully, he had left the door open. While Al waved his holographic arms in front of the dog and yelled "Here, Rufus!" Sam gave Al a wave goodnight and shut the door. A second later, Sam heard the imaging chamber door open, and a very confused dog whine about the sudden disappearance of the intruder he'd been unable to touch.
"'Night, Al. 'Night, Rufus," Sam murmured. Sam did a quick search of the house. There was no other bedroom besides the one Rufus was in, only a sofa that was really more of a loveseat, not nearly long enough to accommodate a full-sized man. Sam sighed and took off his shoes and made himself as comfortable as he could for the night.
Sam slept fitfully. As he did, a memory worked its way back into his Swiss-cheesed brain. He was with a woman, someone he loved, someone...very special. He had leapt into a TV news reporter named Ross, but the woman saw Sam for who he really was. And...she loved him right back. She knew he wouldn't be able to stay, and...she loved him anyway. He would only be there two weeks, just two short weeks, and then she would be dead, unless he could save her. He did save her, and then he had leapt, never to see her again. He never knew what had become of her after that. Was she happy? Had she found someone else? Had it been worth it?
As Sam showered, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, on the other side of the shower curtain. He looked around for any sort of weapon he could use, but all he could come up with was a bottle of shampoo. He grabbed it by the neck and swept the curtain aside to see Al standing there, puffing complacently at his cigar. "Al!" Sam complained. "Don't sneak up on me like that!
Al eyed the shampoo. "Oh, that's good, Sam. What are you going to do, lather me to death? Or beat me over the head with a plastic bottle?"
"What about squirting it in your eyes to blind you?"
"I think you'd have to take the cap off first. And since I'm only a hologram to you, it wouldn't work, anyway. And what did I tell you about taking a shower, huh?"
Sam sighed as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself. "Did you find out anything new about Holly?"
"No. You still get murdered tonight. Oh, and Ziggy had a slight glitch last night."
Sam was concerned. "What sort of glitch?"
"Nothing much. He just lost the lock on Holly for about a second. Gooshie's looking into it. He thinks it was due to a slight power fluctuation or something. Nothing to get excited about."
"Let me know if there are any more glitches. Where's Holly now?"
"On her way to the library where she works."
"Good. I want to take a look at the inside of her house."
"I already did. There's nothing to see."
"No, something's nagging at me. I think my sub-conscious registered something that my conscious mind didn't."
"Suit yourself. But I thought you were the one who didn't believe she was a psycho."
"I still don't."
"Now that is exactly the kind of thinking that probably got Jack North killed in the first place."
Inside the Lakewood library, Holly came into work, took off her sweater, and went to the librarian's desk. By the hands of the clock on the wall behind the counter, it was 9:05 when Holly passed through the swinging gate. The other librarian was already at work.
"Morning, Holly." said the other woman.
"Morning, Rose. Sorry I'm late," Holly replied distractedly.
"It's the only time you've been late since you started working here. I think we can excuse you."
Holly started to busy herself with library chores.
"Hey!" Rose complained. "Hey, are you all right?"
Keeping busy, Holly replied, "I'm fine."
"Hey, Holly..."
Holly turned to look at her, and Rose saw the circles under her eyes.
"Good Lord, Holly. You look like you haven't slept in a week."
"I'm fine, really."
"Hey, it's me, Rose, remember? Now what happened?"
Holly relented. "Well...Jack proposed last night, and---"
"Hey, no kidding! He did?" she checked Holly's hand. "Wait a minute, where's the ring? You didn't turn him down, did you? Are you crazy?"
"I don't know, Rose. I may be."
"He's all I've heard you talk about since you started going out with him, Jack-this, and Jack-that. "
"I don't want to talk about it any more."
"Come on, Holly. What, is there some deep, dark secret that he doesn't know about? What is it?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" She hesitated, then turned back to her friend. "Look, I'm sorry. I just...need to take my mind off it, okay?"
"You really look beat. Why don't you take the day off, get some rest."
"No, I'd rather...just keep busy. If that pile of books is logged in, I'll put them back on the shelves for you."
"Uh...sure. Whatever you want."
Holly took the book-cart and wheeled it over to the shelves. She put one away, then saw a book with the title Abnormal Psychology and picked it up. As she touched the book, she saw the face of a young man with a beard and glasses. Dark brown eyes, reading, studying...
Holly seemed to be in a trance as Rose walked up to her.
"Holly...are you sure you're all right?"
Holly blinked and nodded. "Fine. I'm fine. Listen...I think I will take the day off, after all. I must be more tired than I thought."
"Sure, Holly. Just let me know if there's anything I can do."
"Thanks, Rose, there isn't. Except...I think I'll sign this book out, if you don't mind."
Sam and Al walk up the front walk approaching the house. "No, I don't have an explanation for it," Sam said. "But that doesn't mean there isn't one. But I think I know why she saw me."
Al checked his hand-link. "Uh, oh."
"Uh, oh, what?"
"Uh...Ziggy just lost the lock on Holly again. But he says there's an eighty-seven percent chance she won't come home from the library until at least lunchtime."
"Tell Gooshie to find out what's wrong with Ziggy, will you?"
"He's working on it."
Sam looked at the house. "All right, how do I get in?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
Al waved his cigar. "I mean, I don't know. She locked the door and took the key with her."
"Great. Look around and see if you can find an open window or something."
Al disappeared. Sam waited. He didn't want any of the neighbors to see him trying to break into the house, unless absolutely necessary.
Al popped back beside him. "Sam, I think you better get out of here."
"Why, what's wrong?"
Holly was walking up the front walk. Al pointed at her. "That's what's wrong."
Sam turned to look. There was no way of leaving without her seeing, so he waited.
"Jack? Jack, what are you doing?"
"Uh...hi. Just, uh, checking to see if you were home."
Al looked at Ziggy's read-out. "No change in the timeline yet. I guess you're safe for the moment, but I wouldn't push it if I were you."
"Why?" Holly asked.
"Because, uh, because we need to talk. I'm not going to give up on us without a on in, I guess."
Once inside, she set the book down. "I'm surprised to see you."
Al's hand-link bleeped. "Hey, we got the lock back!"
"Why?" Sam wanted to know.
"I don't know why," Al said.
"I mean, after what happened last night," Holly said.
Sam cleared his throat. "Well, see, that's why I wanted to talk. Why...were you institutionalized?"
Holly ran her hand along the spinning wheel.
Al's hand-link bleeped. "Lost it again. Damn!"
Holly gave a sad smile. "I used to see things. I still do, actually, but Doc Leach says I just have an active imagination. I wanted to believe him. I did believe him, until last night."
She moved her hand away from the antique.
Al's hand-link bleeped again, and he nodded. "Okay, I've got the lock back."
Sam ignored Al. "What kinds of things did you see?"
"Faces. Feelings. People that didn't exist. It drove me crazy. I mean...it would've, if I hadn't already been...you know. "
"And...what did you see last night?"
Holly shook her head. "Oh, last night was really weird. It was like...you weren't really you. I called Dr. Leach this morning and made an appointment to see him the day after tomorrow. He's got patients all day today, and tomorrow's his day off, so that's the earliest I can get in to see him."
Al jumped in. "Great, Sam! Here's your chance! You call this Dr. Leach and tell him it's an emergency, and get her an appointment for today, and---"
Holly went over to Sam and hesitantly raised her hand to his cheek. "Jack, I'm---"she touched him, and shuddered slightly, but didn't break the contact.
Bleep! Al pounded his hand-link. "There goes the lock again!"
"I'm sorry," Holly said. "You and me...it isn't going to work out." She broke the contact and walked away.
Al yelled into nothingness. "Gooshie! What the hell is going on? On again, off again, on again! See if you can keep it this time, will you?"
Holly swallowed and moved away from Sam. "It's like...you're not the person I fell in love with. I mean, you are, but that's not the way it feels like to me."
Sam took a step toward her. "Holly---"
She looked up to the ceiling. "And I don't know how to explain that, except that I really am losing my mind."
Sam closed the distance and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him.
Al shook the hand-link. "And there it goes again."
Sam looked at Al, looked at his hand, then took his hand away from Holly's shoulder.
"Now it's back," Al said.
Holly shook his head, "I really do love you, Jack, but suddenly, you just don't feel the same."
Sam grinned at Al and touched Holly's shoulder again.
Al was finally beginning to catch on. He looked at the hand-link. "Now it's gone again." Sam took his hand away, and Al confirmed, "Now it's back again. Sam, this is really weird. Every time you two touch, we lose the lock. But those aren't the only times..."
Holly was continuing with her explanation. "So I think it would be for the best if we...didn't see each other any more."
"Holly," Sam said, "I want to ask you for a favor. This is going to sound weird, but would you...touch that spinning wheel over there?"
Holly looked at him. "Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying?"
"Yes, I have, but if you would just...touch that spinning wheel, I think I can prove that you're not going crazy."
Holly's expression told plainly which person she was beginning to think was the 'crazy' one, but she extended her hand and touched the spinning wheel.
Al's hand-link bleeped! and he checked it. "You're right, Sam. Ziggy lost the lock again." Holly took her hand away from the spinning wheel, and Al added, "and now it's back."
Sam grinned, and looked at him. "She's not a psycho."
"What?" Holly said, confused.
Sam turned to her, still grinning. "You're not a psycho. You're a psychic! A psychometrist, to be exact."
"Psycho, psychometrist, what's the difference?" Al asked. "She's still going to kill you. Tonight."
Sam waved a hand at the spinning wheel. "Why did you buy the spinning wheel, Holly?"
Holly was still confused. "I...don't know. It just felt nice to me. Comfortable. Comforting."
Sam's grin grew wider. "That's because whoever owned the spinning wheel before was a comfortable, comforting person."
Holly wasn't buying it. Neither was Al. "Psychic, shmykick," he said. "Maybe the little voices are the ones that tell her to kill you. You haven't changed history, Sam."
"That doesn't explain the weird image I saw when I touched you last night, and again today," Holly said.
"Actually, it does," Sam said.
"Oh, no, Sam!" Al interjected. "You're not going to tell her, are you?"
Sam glanced at him and went on. "Can you describe what you saw when you touched me?"
Holly met his eyes. "I can do better than that," she said. "I can show you."
"Show me?"
She left the living room and went upstairs to her bedroom. Al shrugged. A few seconds later, she returned, holding a painting canvas covered with a cloth. Sam looked at Al. "Don't look at me," Al said. "You're the genius, and it wasn't your idea to have me look around until this morning. I don't have x-ray vision, you know."
Holly propped the painting up on the back of the couch and took off the sheet. Sam smiled, because he'd been expecting something like this. Al stared. The picture was a sketch not yet painted in. It was a portrait, of two faces, back to back, coming from the same head. One was the face of Jack North. The other... "Sam, it's you!" Al said. Sam nodded. Also featured prominently in the picture was part of a sandcastle with a bucket and part of a play shovel. "I don't understand the rest of this, though. What's she–––"
"That's what I saw when I touched you," Holly said. "Not exactly, that, but something like it..." She shook her head. "I saw it, Jack. I didn't imagine it. When I touched you, I saw that other face instead of yours. So that's what going crazy feels like."
"You're not going crazy, Holly," Sam told her. "That face you painted, that's who I am."
"No, Sam," Al warned. "Don't do it."
Sam did it. He told Holly the truth. "Right now, that's who I am. I know it's kind of hard to believe, but it's true. And someday, soon, I'll be gone, and the Jack you love will be back. But for right now, that's me. Here, take my hand. See for yourself. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you. Just...take my hand, and believe what you see."
Holly looked at him like he was out of his mind.
"Holly, please, just... forget what you see with your eyes right now. Close your eyes, and believe what your feelings tell you. Just...close your eyes for a minute."
Finally, Holly closed her eyes, and Sam took her right hand in his right hand, and moved behind Holly to put his other hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear. "What do you see?"
Holly drew in a deep, shaky breath. "You're...possessing Jack's body."
Sam nodded. "Yes. But I'm not a demon, or anything like that. It's more like...an out of body experience. I'm in his body, and he's in mine right now. I'm just a man, the man you drew in your picture. My name's Sam Beckett. Not Sand Bucket---"
Al finally got the connection. "Sand Bucket! Oh!"
"And when I finish doing what I have to do, I'll leave, and Jack will come back."
"So what are you here to do?" Holly asked.
"I'm here to help you. I'm here to tell you that you're not going crazy. What's happening to you is all absolutely real, nothing crazy about it."
"This whole conversation is sounding pretty crazy..."
"Listen with your heart, Holly, not your ears. Doesn't your heart tell you that I'm speaking the truth?"
Holly nodded. "Okay," she said. "Maybe..."
Al checked his hand-link. "This doesn't change anything, Sam. You still get killed tonight. And she's still the one who does it."
"Holly, I want you to take the rest of the day off, go back to the library, check out every book you can find on ESP, psychic perception, and especially anything having to do with psychometry. And then read them"
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "That's why you're here, to tell me that I'm psychic?"
"I think that's partly why I'm here. I think I'm also here to make sure you and Jack get married."
Al added, "And to keep psycho-psychic here from murdering you---Jack---you. Which she still does. Tonight."
Sam stared at Al. To Holly, he looked like he was staring into space. Then Sam shifted his gaze, and he was staring into space. There was something that happened, happened last night just after he'd proposed... Suddenly, he turned to Holly. "Jack and I switched places right before he was about to propose. And at first...I got the feeling that you were going to say 'yes.' Were you?"
"I was, but then...suddenly, everything felt all wrong."
That made no sense, because if Jack was doing just fine on his own until Sam leapt in, Sam would never have leapt in. "Because we'd switched places?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. I mean...it felt horrible, not just weird, like when you touched me..."
"Were you holding something or touching something when---"
Suddenly, Sam broke off, realizing exactly what had triggered the horrible feeling Holly had experienced. Al and Holly realized it, too, and all three shouted at the same time, "The ring!"
"The ring is cursed!" said Al. "When she puts it on, it makes her kill people!"
"A ring can't make a person kill someone," Sam said. "That's ridiculous!"
"What?" Holly said, confused.
"But the ring is the key," Sam said. He turned to Al. "You said Jack's brother ran a second-hand jewelry store. How much you want to bet that's where Jack got the ring?"
"Who are you talking to?" Holly wanted to know.
"Uh...my spirit guide. Sort of. Listen, I want to try something, okay. I want to run back to Jack's apartment and get the ring."
"I'll come with you," Holly said.
"Maybe you better not. There's this big dog, and he's---"
"Rufus?" Holly said. "Rufus is a sweet-heart. Once he gets to know you, he'll just quietly lick you to death."
Rufus... "Al, what happened to Rufus?" Sam asked.
Al checked the hand-link. "Rufus was killed, too. Jack North's dog was found dead in the living room, with his throat slit."
"That's why Rufus couldn't alert Jack to the fact that there was an intruder in the house. And if the intruder was Holly, Rufus wouldn't have barked, and so there wouldn't have been any need to kill him."
"Good thinking, Sam." Al checked the hand-link. "Oh, something's changed. Now, instead of getting committed to a psychiatric ward, Holly gets arrested for Jack's murder, pleads 'not guilty,' and..." he rolled his head in frustration, "and she gets convicted, anyway. Spends two years in the slammer before she hangs herself. Takes three strong men to cut her hulking body down because she apparently gained even more weight while she was there."
"Intruder? Killing? What are you talking about?" Holly wanted to know.
Sam took her hand. "That's part of the reason I'm here, Holly. Jack gets killed in his house by an intruder tonight."
Al shook his head. "Oh, Sam..."
Holly looked at him. "What?"
"And I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm here to change Jack's fate."
"Tonight?" Holly asked. "zzzhis house? Why don't you just...stay at my place for a few days? We'll go get Rufus and let the robber take whatever he wants."
Al checked his hand-link. "Now Jack and Holly both get murdered. Right here, in the living room. God..." he looked around and shivered.
Sam looked at him. "So Holly can't be the killer, right?"
Al nodded. "Okay, Sam, you were right. She's not the killer."
Holly was pulling away from Sam. "I'm...the one who kills you---Jack?"
Sam took her by the shoulders. "No. No, you're not. But someone will. And we have to stop it before it happens. Okay?"
"God, this is unreal..." Holly said. "I need to check into a hospital..."
Al checked with Ziggy. "Maybe not a bad idea, Sam. If she's in a hospital, there's no way she could be blamed for Jack's murder."
"But he still gets killed, right?" Sam asked.
Al nodded. "Or you do."
Holly started to cry. "This isn't happening..."
"Holly!" Sam took her by the shoulders. "No one's going to kill Jack. You and I are going to see to that. Just wait here a minute while I try to sort some of this out." He moved away from Holly just far enough to talk to Al under his breath. "Ask Ziggy what happens if we take the ring back."
Al punched some buttons on the hand-link and answered, "There's a sixty-two percent probability that if you get rid of the ring, you'll be safe."
"What are we waiting for?" Sam said. He went back to Holly. "Listen, all we have to do is take the ring back. The ring is the key to all this."
Holly sniffled. "Where did you---I mean, Jack---get it from?"
"Uh...do you know where Hank's jewelry store is?"
Holly nodded. "It's in Indianapolis."
"About a six hour drive from here," Al added.
"All right, let's go...let Rufus out, and feed him, and take the ring back to Hank's."
Al promised to pop back in when Sam got to Indy, and left. At Jack's house, with Holly's help, Sam made easy friends with Rufus, and fed him and took him for a brief walk before setting out with the jewelry box containing the ring. They made another stop at the library, at Sam's insistence, and checked out several books on ESP and psychic phenomena. With Ziggy's help, Sam prioritized the reading list for Holly, and Sam drove Jack's car while Holly sat in the passenger seat and read. Holly was taking the news of her psychometry surprisingly well, maybe because it was so much better than the alternative, and for the time being, she was going along with Sam's explanation of who he was, even to the point where she called him 'Sam.' Sam didn't tell her that Al was a hologram and that only he could see Al, or that he was from the future. Holly had enough to deal with, without that . Once they arrived in Indy, Holly navigated, and they got to Jack's brother's jewelry store without mishap. As they pulled up to the curb, Al materialized outside the store and gave Sam a wave.
North Jewelry turned out to be more of a hole-in-the-wall than an actual store, but Hank was an affable sort and was delighted to see Sam and Holly. The first words out of his mouth were to ask Sam if she'd said 'yes,' and Sam replied that she had given him a very definite 'maybe.' Sam found himself liking Hank instantly, and was pretty sure Hank was trying to run an honest business.
"So are you here for a fitting?"
"Actually," said Sam, "We'd like to look at your other rings."
Hank raised his eyebrows. "I told you before, that one was the best one I've seen in a long while, in terms of weight and clarity of the stone."
"Yeah, but...it just doesn't feel right, you know?"
Hank shook his head, but went to a section of the display case and pulled out a display with engagement rings on it. "You won't find a better one, but you're welcome to look."
Sam put his hands on Holly's shoulders and whispered, "See if you can find one that feels good to you. Like the spinning wheel."
Holly nodded and began touching each ring in turn, row by row. When she got to the end, she shrugged.
"I don't suppose you have any others?" Sam asked.
"Just the one," Hank said. He went to a closet, rummaged in the back, and pulled out a small box. It wasn't a ring box, just a small nondescript flat box. He handed it to Sam, who opened it. There were a few pieces of old jewelry in the box, not just the ring. A locket, a pin, a couple pairs of earrings, an engagement ring, a gold wedding band. Sam fished out the engagement ring and handed it to Holly. The ring was very plain, with a small stone set in a simple gold band. Holly touched the ring, and smiled. She nodded at Sam.
"We'll take that one," Sam told Hank.
Hank sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you just say you wanted Mom's old ring."
Sam tried to cover up his surprise. "Well, you know, what fun would it be if I just did that?" He handed the box with the first ring that he had tried to give Holly the day before to Hank. "Can we just call it an even exchange?"
"Nope. Mom's ring is free. This one wasn't. You can either take your money back, although I don't have enough in the register right now, or store credit."
"Uh..." Sam looked at Al.
"You did it, Sam," said Al, nodding as he looked at the hand-link. "Jack and Holly don't die any more. They get married and---uh oh."
"What 'uh oh'?" Sam asked.
Al looked up from the hand-link apologetically. "Jack and Holly don't die any more, but Hank...does." Al shrugged. "Hank is the one with the ring now. The curse must be transferred to him."
Sam rubbed his forehead with his palm. This was getting tiresome. To Hank, he said, "You know what, let me keep the ring until I decide what to do."
"Sure," said Hank. "Whatever you want." He handed the ring back to Sam.
"Now it's you and Holly again," said Al, checking the hand-link.
So, maybe the ring was cursed, after all.