Quantum leaping through time, I've been in so many situations, from flying fighter jets to firefighting to skiing or to most recently surviving an avalanche. The task before me is to convince a boy's parents, a girl, and her parents to let him be a father. I just hoped what Al told me would help.
Sam steps into the Oldsmobile station wagon, while Artur Bayog's parents sit in the front seat.
"I'll be here," says Al, standing next to Sam as the former holds the handlink to Ziggy. Mr. Bayog starts the gasoline engine, and soon pulls out into the street.
The phone rings, in the middle of the night
My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?"
Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one
But girls they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have
"No music while you're in the car," says Mrs. Bayog, turning off the station wagon's stereo.
"You could cut us a break," says Al, knowing Art's mother can not hear her.
Driving along the city streets of Carson, they reach a church. It looks like a typical church with a steeple. The interior looks like churches that Al had been to, with the wooden benches and the altar and a crucifix hanging on the wall.
The observer once lost his faith after his own father had died. It took so many years to get it back.
"I hope you succeed," he says to Sam, sitting on the varnished wooden pew with Art's parents. The observer thinks of his girls, how he had always been there for them when they needed him since they were born. He wonders if words coming from someone who looks like a boy that had not reached his sixteenth birthday could sway four people that had originally made the decision to separate Art and Connor.
Sam, too, recalls the memories of his father. He recalls his final meeting with him during one of his leaps, although her had appeared as a different person. He is certain Art deserves a chance to see his son grow up.
Finally, Mass is ended, and the altar boys make their procession. Sam and the Bayogs walk to the church parking lot and get into the Oldsmobile. No one says a word as Art's father starts the car and then drives out into the street.
Sam just looks out the window to take in the scenery. He notes they are on a street called Lomita Boulevard. After passing Western Avenue, they turn left onto a street called Narbonne Avenue.
After passing Pacific Coast Highway, Narbonne Avenue rises up a hillside and soon curves to the left It has become Palos Verdes Drive East, and instead of apartment buildings and stores, there is open space with white fences separated the open land from the street.
"Rolling Hills Country Club should just be a few more minutes, Sam," says Al, pressing buttons on the handlink.
Mr. Bayog makes a right turn to the driveway. Ahead, Sam can see a large house which must be the clubhouse of Rolling Hills Country Club.
"This Club was opened in 1965," says Al.
Art's father parks the station wagon in the parking lot and all three of them get out.
"Let's go," says Mr. Bayog.
They all walk towards the front entrance of the clubhouse. Sam looks around,. He notes an elderly couple walk by, wearing polo shirts.
"Much more impressive than the clubhouse in Coronado," says Al. "Beth and I celebrated our seventh- or was it eighth-anniversary there."
"There they are," says Mrs. Bayog.
Sam notices three people. One of a man with red hair, appearing to be in his late forties to early, with a red goatee, wearing a polo shirt and slacks. With him is a woman of roughly the same age, with light brown hair.
And with them in a teenage girl in a one-piece dress.
Sam faces Gabrielle Flannigan for the first time.
Her face and her milky-white complexion and her curly red hair are just like they appear in her high school yearbook photos. But instead of the slim figure in the photos, she sports a large belly, a clear sign of pregnancy.
Her face says she's still a child.
There is silence.
"Uh, hi," says Sam.
"It;'s been a long time, Art," says Gabby, her voice soft, seeing the boy for the first time since the beginning of summer. She can still remember that fateful day in March when she and her boyfriend did things that set them on this course. "Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Bayog."
"We should make this quick," says Gabby's father. "Let's have a seat."
They all sit down; Gabby sits between her parents.
I wondered how Art felt the first time around, seeing Gabby like this. It was one thing for him to learn he;'d gotten Gabby pregnant, but to actually see it.
Al is wondering the same thing too. There is no way he can show this to Art; all the teenage leapee would be able to see is an empty cavern.
"Gabby is going to raise our grandchild," says Mr. Flannigan. "We will financially support her. We can provide for the baby's needs while our girl becomes a mother to her child. None of you will have to worry, the baby will be fine. It will be best for all of us, for the baby, for Gabby, for Art, to all go our separate ways."
"Yes," says Mr. Bayog. "It will be for the best. Our prayers are with your family, of course."
"Thank you. We all wish you well."
"What about me?" asks Sam.
"We've already decided," says Mrs. Bayog.
"Will I still get to see the baby?"
"There's no need," says Mrs. Flannigan, placing her arm around her pregnant teenage daughter. "don't worry about the baby. You can finish high school, go to college or the military, play water polo. You have your life."
"Ma'am, it's not just about me."
"Let's be blunt here," says Gabby's father. "You're not even sixteen yet. There's no way you can provide for the baby by working at Burger King or at the mall. We will provide for the baby. You can trust us."
"Okay, maybe now I'm not able to pay for food or diapers, sir," says Sam. "But maybe I can read to the baby. I can sing songs, help the baby play with toys. Watch children's movies. Maybe look up at the stars, telling my s- my child all the constellations. Fathers can't do everything, that's true. But the time fathers spend with their children, is precious. I won't be able to make enough money to support the baby, not for a few years at least. I can give the baby my time."
"As Gabby's mom said, you have school and sports and your future."
"We decided this before we brought you here," Mr. Bayog says to Sam "You're here to listen."
"Sam," says Al, worrying they might leave and keep Art away from his son for the next nine years.
"You never met your father, did you?" Sam asks Mr. Flannigan. "He died on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
"How did you know?" asks Gabby's father.
"I...I might have said something about it," says Gabby. "Maybe at school or at the movies or something."
"Actually, your mom wrote about it in an article commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day," says Al. "It was a special in Life magazine.
"In his last letter to your mother, he wrote about looking forward to meeting his baby, to meeting you. After you were born, your mother included a picture of you in her next letter to your father. It was never confirmed whether or not he got to read it, whether or not he got to see what you looked like. On June 6, 1944, he took his last steps on Omaha Beach in France."
Mr, and Mrs, Flannigan, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bayog, just stay silent.
"He never got to read to you, or sing to you, or sit under the night sky, looking at the stars and constellations and the Milky Way. He never got to teach you how to ride a bike or a tractor. He never got to go fishing with you. He never got to teach you about life. He never saw you graduate high school. He never saw you get married. He never got to hold Gabby after she was born.
"He may or may not have seen the picture your mother sent to him. When he stepped onto Omaha Beach, he knew he was risking his chance to meet you. But he risked it, and ultimately sacrificed it, because he wanted to give you a chance to grow up free from tyranny.
"Think about it, sir. He was looking forward to holding you , to being in your life. He gave that up, he sacrificed that, for your freedom. He sacrificed more than any of us could be expected to.
"So, yes, if I spend time with the baby, I might end up making sacrifices myself. That's what fathers do."
Sam briefly recalls his own father. He had not met a finer man, and knew his father would give all for him and his brother and sister.
There is silence at the table for a good ten minutes or so, as everyone digests what the leaper said.
"Gabby has a doctor's appointment Tuesday afternoon," says Mr. Flannigan. "We'll invite you to show up. If you decline, there won't be any hard feelings. We make no promises except to give you a chance."
Al punches the buttons on the handlink. "It's changed," says the observer. "Ziggy pulled up an article in ym. Artur Bayog wrote an article back in 1997 about being a teenage father, helping raise a baby while going through high school. He did make a sacrifice; he never played water polo in the Olympics; his life is more or less fine now that his son Connor grew up with him. He's not married to Gabby in my time, but then again in my time, he's just twenty-seven years old. No telling what happens after my time."
Gabby gets up and waddles towards Sam.
"Maybe we'll see each other again soon," she says. "I hope so."
Sam places his left hand on the pregnant teen's right shoulder. Unseen by the people in 1989, a blue glow surrounds him, and he leaps.
