Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1.

Author's note: This story deals with 2 separate periods of time. In this chapter and the next whenever there is a shift it will be noted at the head of the segment. Typically, any portion of the story dealing with Argentina or the Centre concerns the present; all others--the past.

Time to Consider
Chapter 3
By Callisto

Dorado Iron Works - Present
Warehouse District
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Norwood sat at his makeshift desk, head resting in the palm of his hand, deep in thought as he stared at his wounded creation. The first horrified pangs had passed and the angry, frustrated tears had dried on his face where they had once flowed freely, unchecked. After he realized that for whatever reason, he hadn't written down the latest modifications he had made to the alignment of crystals, conductors and filament coursing through and giving life to his invention, madness temporarily enveloped him. That had been preceded by the confirmation that an unexpected load had been placed on his containment field. At least one but possibly two adults had stumbled into the area and his obedient machine had burned out its circuits and caused a chain-reaction of damage to transport them through the portal.

Norwood had no way of knowing if they survived the trip or where they actually ended up. His best guess was somewhere in the past, since that was how the computer had been programmed. Whatever damage they were wrecking on the timeline was unfathomable to him. His own theories were diametrically opposed to those held by his professors who espoused their opinions as a mental exercise to an overwrought student. For him, Time has an infinite number of possibilities—past, present and future. Each reality residing inside a possibility bore a resemblance to the other which ranged from either slightly different to completely opposite the next. The plethora of possibilities left him dizzy with a deeper belief and respect for the omnipotent Power who kept all this crap straight. What he was sure of is that they were somewhere other than the past they were familiar with and knew. What affects their disappearance would have in the present was unknown to him. Defeat and arrogant sorrow clouded his mind for another half hour.

Two human subjects had gone through the portal. In effect, they disappeared without a trace. Discouragement came in the form of having no way of contacting them without repairing the machine and recreating the aperture. Without the correct schematics, Norwood had set himself back at least 6 months.

Abruptly, he returned to his worktable and scanned the newspapers again. There were no stories of any missing persons, so the odds were fairly good that whoever they were, no one was missing them. Norwood vowed to keep his eyes open and to begin making surreptitious inquires about any strangers in the area. Knowledge equals power and he reasoned this would be the only way of knowing who it was that went through the portal and if he was able to fix the damage, perhaps luring one or preferably both back as proof.

Abernathy residence – Late 70's
Hickory, IN

Several days had to pass before Jarod finally was forced to acknowledge a fundamental truth: Every paradise has an apple with a gigantic worm hiding in the middle of it. Prior to this revelation and after the shock of his appearance had worn off; he sat down and tried to puzzle out what had occurred to him. A few things were readily apparent: one, that this was no dream. Second, that he had passed through what obviously had to be a time vortex. How it was formed and why was still a mystery to him. He would have given himself more time to think, when he heard his mother calling for him to come down before his breakfast got cold.

Standing up from his perch on the side of the tub, Jarod had to hike up his pants for the tenth time. A heavy-set woman once remarked to him that the middle-age spread had hit her hard. At his confused look, she promptly explained that after a certain age, for most, the metabolism slows down and people begin to put on weight. She smiled and winked at Jarod, nodding at his slender figure. 'Don't you worry, Jarod. You have a few years yet before you start being bothered by something like that.' When she had told him this, according to the birth date his father later supplied, he was already 39. Jarod found that he had to agree with the woman and staring at the looseness in his pant's waistband, he was forced to acknowledge that he had gained a number of unwanted pounds. The only solution was to pay closer attention to his eating habits by severely backing off his sub-diet of sweets and to continue to exercise as often as possible.

Where the worm in the apple came into play was unusual but then everything about what was happening to him was strange. The first hint of the worm's shape came in the form of culture. Sydney had taken great pains to isolate him from any cultural references or celebrations. As a child, he never celebrated a birthday, never knew anything about the tooth fairy, Santa Claus or the joys of a snow day. This left a gaping hole in his understanding of childhood. After his escape, he found children interesting and quickly set out to learn what a cultural childhood was all about. The toys, customs and food still fascinated and intrigued him. To top this off, he had never experienced parenting or being a child of those who exercised this skill on him. Though the test subject mentality persisted, he was now a kid again (sort of) and being treated like one.(!) He found it a tricky business but paid close attention to Kyle and Emily's reactions. But that wasn't the whole worm. At breakfast he found out a lot about himself without having to probe much. First off, he cooked eggs better than his mother but there was something she did to the sausages that made them delectable.

"I take it you like the sausages, Jarod?" his mother asked with a smile in her voice.

Opening his eyes which he closed in his enjoyment, Jarod noticed his entire family was watching him. Sheepishly he released the tiny nub that was remaining to his plate, only to have it snatched up by Kyle who beat out his father by half a second. Not accustomed to interfamilial behavior, Jarod shrugged and said, "They're very good."

Major Trevor Abernathy, formerly known as Charles, gave his youngest son a falsely stern look while Kyle chewed contentedly. "Enjoy it now Son. After you start Basic, Mom's cooking will be nothing more than a fond memory."

"Basic?" Jarod asked with alarmed confusion.

"Yep. Basic training will toughen you up in no time. It'll also teach you discipline and the value of the things you never realized you took for granted. Being away from home on a more permanent basis will help you to become more self-sufficient."

His father's words confused the daylights out of Jarod. Apparently he was expected to enter a branch of the Armed Forces. The major continued speaking casually, "I fully support your decision to enter the Air Force, Son but if you want out, let me know now. I'm still holding out hope that you'll change your mind and accept the executive position at Aviatrics International. As a multinational conglomerate they have a lot to offer a brilliant, young 20 year old."

Several mysteries were solved by this speech, which from the bored looks around the table had been given several times. "Since last night, I've been thinking some things over, Dad. Perhaps you're right, maybe I shouldn't jump into the military so quickly."

Bored turned to startled expressions from everyone around the table as his declaration proved this was a radical deviation from his usual response. "I think I would like to spend some more time with my family before taking such a big step," Jarod continued with a smile. That said he politely excused himself, which widened his mother's incredulous eyes, and went upstairs to find his room.

There were 3 separate bedrooms upstairs, none of which appeared to be his. A notice on one door advising everyone to keep out marked Kyle's. Jarod settled on Kyle's room, borrowed his brother's hairbrush and returned to the bath to give his fashionably long, shaggy mane a severe haircut. Once finished, he ran the brush through his drastically shortened locks while still staring transfixed at this reflection. He had rarely been provided with the chance to see what he looked like when he was this age. It was fascinating. He didn't really resemble his father the way Kyle did. That was something he would find a way of asking his mother about.

Without warning, Kyle burst into the room and ignoring his older brother, he rummaged through the mess in his closet, found a pair of Angel Flight pants and pulled them on after discarding his sweatpants. Kyle paused and stared at Jarod curiously. "What did you do to your hair and why are you using my brush to do it? Don't you have one of your own in your bedroom?"

Smiling with self-confident approval, Jarod petted his rather chic 90's haircut and answered, "I like it better short and it's easier to maintain. Besides your room is closer to the bathroom."

"Well, if you go downstairs to your bedroom, you'll find your brush is closer to that bathroom," Kyle answered mildly shaking his head at Jarod's new 'do. Despite his initial dismay, Kyle acknowledged to himself that Jarod's cut did look cool and seemed easier to manage. Before Jarod could answer, Kyle asked, "Well, if your not going to OTS then why'd you cut your hair? And since when have you climbed off your high horse? What happened to all that anti-corporate spiel? Seer Jarod spouting that the 1980's are destined to be a decade of excessive corporate greed and you wanted no part of it."

"I said that? Well, I'm right. I just need some more time to get my bearings."

"Well, Bro' one good way to start is to dump that 'Ice Princess' you call a girlfriend. Asia's kept your tongue hanging out for the past 6 months," Kyle replied solemnly.

Surprised at his brother's candor, Jarod put down the brush and looked at him. Kyle shook his head in disgust and headed for the door. "Why you ever let that scheming, manipulative bitch get her claws into you, is beyond me." Kyle left his room without saying another word. Jarod stood there with a silly look on his face.

It took him several minutes to locate his room; it was at the back of the house and had a beautiful view of the backyard and what he presumed was his mother's garden. Sinking onto his unmade bed, Jarod looked around at the mess that was his room. He was worse than Kyle. Dirty clothes littered the floor, a pizza box hung out in a corner like a very old friend and the room smelled of sweaty socks and musty clothes. With a sigh, Jarod started to clean up.

A few hours later the room had been transformed. Fresh air floated sweetly from the scented flowers in the yard, the bed looked like a quarter could be bounced on it and the garbage had been removed. Because of the small confined space he had been forced to live in as a child, then being on the run, he discovered a distinct dislike for useless clutter, unless it involved research or immersion in popular culture—like donuts. In the cleaning, Jarod discovered a number of other things about himself. A small stack of journals, written in his hand, were hidden in the closet along with the paperwork detailing his admission into the Air Force's Officer Training School in Alabama. Hunting around, he found his most recent journal and began reading. Still the worm in paradise eluded him.

Its first appearance occurred when a friend of his showed up at the back door. This scruffy-looking youth with long blonde hair, equally long sideburns and a mischievous smirk took one look at Jarod's short hair and gawked. "What the Hell? Man, what did ja go an' do that for?"

Jarod looked up and frowned slightly, "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, they're already brainwashing ya, Jay," the boy replied with a sorrowful shake of the head. Perking up, inexplicably, he said, "What say we go down to the Diner and meet up with the rest of the guys? Maybe they can talk some sense into you and Asia's shift starts in about 15 minutes," he added with conscious slyness.

Jarod looked up sharply. His interest in Asia had sharpened since Kyle voiced his entirely negative opinion. Apparently she was his girlfriend who could possibly help him gain his bearings. It seemed his interest in 'Ice Princesses' went beyond this time frame. Unfortunately, after a week of hanging out with his 'friends', he found them extremely immature, self-absorbed, spouting opinions that boarded on the ridiculous and consumed by the thought, fantasy and numerous misconceptions of sex and the opposite sex in particular. Asia was exactly what Kyle had characterized—a frigid, uninteresting tease. The worm had finally revealed itself in its entirety. Jarod's assessment was that although he had been thrust back in time, he retained all the knowledge, experience and memories of his prior life. In effect, he was a 42 year old, middle-aged adult stuck in the body of a 20 year-old without an adult to talk to except his parents, who had their own expectations of him and were beginning to think that he had lost his mind.

On the surface this should've been a bonanza of National Lampoonian proportions, instead he was lonelier than he had ever been. At least during the chase he had his pursuers—Miss Parker and Sydney to talk to when things bordered on the unbearable. Here he was alone in paradise. Somehow he got back a portion of the time the Centre had stolen from him and right now all he wanted was someone he could relate to, like another 40-something who would be able to talk to him without boring him to tears and there wasn't a soul in sight who could help.

Except. The one who was chasing him had been only a few feet behind him. The possibility that she was caught up and flung through the vortex along with him were good. She was closer to the middle of it than he. After returning home from an afternoon of avoiding his 'friends', Jarod had an excellent plan in mind. Checking his calendar, he hoped Miss Parker would be in Vermont for the summer. It was Catherine who usually came to the Inn alone, but perhaps she would bring her daughter this time. It was a chance he would have to take; at the very least he would have the opportunity of convincing Catherine to introduce him to her daughter. What he needed now was to talk his parents into taking the entire family on a real vacation.