June 17, 2006
Addison looks at the mirror, seeing the reflection of a sixteen-year-old girl with curly blond hair. A makeup artist places makeup to ensure that the girl looks pretty for her upcoming performance.
Unknown to the makeup artist, she is really putting makeup on a man, a man named Ben Song.
The observer looks at Ben, who appears to have black hair and amber-complected skin. He wears a sleeveless green dress that stops just above his knees.
Addison looks at a handheld electronic device. "It's now or never," she says.
The leaper stands up from the makeup chair.
"Wait!" exclaims the makeup artist. "I'm not done!"
He runs up to where the crew is handling the guitar amplifier.
"Wait, stop!" yells Ben. "We shouldn't plug in the amplifier!"
'Don't worry, little miss," says a man clad in gray overalls. "We know what we're doing. You just go out on stage and entertain the crowd."
"Come on," says Addison. She looks at the stage hand. "You're going to die if you don't listen to Ben here!"
Ben thinks quickly. "Wait, when was the last time you had this amplifier inspected?"
"Why are you asking?" asks the stage hand, who has a date with death in seconds.
"The girl has a point," says another stage hand. "We haven't actually given a full inspection in months."
"I'm sure it's okay. We don't want the girl's managers to get mad at us."
"Check for a loose connection," says the leaper. "It might damage my very expensive electric guitar, I'm sure you don't want the boss to be on the hook for five thousand dollars"
"All right, it'll take a few minutes," says the stage hand. He looks over the boxy device, touching each of the ports with his hands. "This port's loose, but I don't think..."
"I can't use my electric guitar," says Ben. "It's really expensive. I don't want to risk my guitar being damaged."
"Okay, young miss. But if you want to be a star, you do have to leave the technical stuff to us experts next time."
"Just make sure you check your equipment more often."
Addison touches the screen of her electronic device. "You did it. He's still alive in my time," says the observer. "Funny how he was willing to risk his life to use an amp with a loose port, but when it comes to being on the hook for a broken electric guitar..."
"Here's an acoustic guitar for you," says a man, handing the leaper an large acoustic guitar.
"Why am I still here?" asks Ben.
"To get on stage and entertain your audience," says the man. "You're the opening act!"
Ben puts a wide-brimmed cowboy hat on his head and walks up on stage and stands before a microphone. Over two hundred people are in the room.
"I hope I can watch history," says the observer. "Millions in my time would wish they were where I'm standing."
Ben holds the guitar pick, preparing to perform.
"All right," says the MC, a man dressed as a cowboy. "This sweetie came all the way from Nashville to give you a musical appetizer! Let me introduce you to Taylor Swift!"
Only Addison can see the blue glow surrounding Ben as he leaps.
The blue glow fades and coalesces around the leaper, and he sees dirt ahead of him. Glancing to his right, he notices that he is in the driver's seat of an automobile.
Looking at the speedometer, he sees that the car is going over ninety miles an hour.
Ahead of him is a sharp turn, and a wall.
He turns the stealing wheel sharp to the right. The car fishtails.
Not far away, three teenager hear the squeal of the BF Goodrich tires as the yellow 1986 Chevrolet Camaro slides towards the wooden wall and crashes right through.
"He's losin' it," says a boy.
"Oh my God," says a girl.
They and another boy run towards the crash site, and they pry the car's door open. As soon as the door swings open, Ben spills out, clearly dazed.
"Fireball, are you all right?" asks a boy.
"How'd you like my concert?" asks the leaper. "Our song...can't remember the words."
"We're not going to NASCAR with you drivin' like that," says the other boy.
"NASCAR? Fireball?"