June 4, 1979
Jason Treborn pulls up the white 1978 Toyota Corolla into the parking space, putting the gearshift into park and stepping out of the car. Clad in a black business suit, he walks a few yards towards an office tower in White Plains, New York.
He walks to the marble-floored lobby of the building, one of the tallest in White Plains, though dwarfed by the skyscrapers in lower Manhattan. Looking at the directory which is mounted on the wall, he sees the name of American Pride Financial Services. Using an elevator to get to the third floor, he enters the office of American Pride.
The front room looks familiar- blue carpeted floor, a desk for the receptionist, a wooden table with copies of the Wall Street Journal, Time, and BusinessWeek sitting on top.
"Hello there," says the receptionist, a woman with ebony black hair.
"Jason Treborn," says Jason. "I am here to see Mr. Bright."
"Oh, you're his new intern, Come on in, Mr. Treborn."
Jason walks past the reception area and into the main office,. He had been here a few weeks ago, when he was interviewing for an internship here. He opens a wooden door into a small office.
Behind the wooden desk sits a man, appearing to be in his late twenties, wearing a blue shirt with a clashing red necktie.
"Treborn," says the man. "Welcome."
"Mr. Bright," replies Jason. "I thank you for this opportunity, sir."
"Professors can lecture, but here you will learn how things are done. I know this isn't a brokerage house in Manhattan."
"It'll do, sir. I hope to learn more about investment analysis. Maybe I can plan my own financial future."
"I have a lot of things for you to do, Treborn."
Ooooooooooooooo
Jason breathes a sigh of relief as his first day at work is finally over. If being an intern is this hard, he wonders what being a financial advisor must be like.
Of course, he does not know of any financial advisors who get investment tips from the future.
He walks to a pay phone, inserts the change, and dials a number.
"Andrea," he says. "Glad I caught you. Listen, I started on my internship. I wonder if we could have dinner together."
Ooooooooooooo
June 16, 1979
A door opens, and Meaghan Treborn opens the front of her home.
"Scott," she says, seeing her older brother.
"Meaghan," replies Scott, who had flown from California to visit his parents' home in Connecticut. "Good to see you again."
"How was the trip to the airport?"
"Crowded," says her father, Chris Treborn.
"Hello there, sweetie," says Scott's wife Dana, a woman with short blond hair. She carries a blond-haired girl about a year old.
"Oooooooh," the girl says.
"Hi, Chrissy," says Meaghan, speaking to her niece, Christina Anne Treborn.
"Scott," says Jason, entering the living room of the Treborn family home. "How are things going in California?"
"Great," replies Scott. "Dana, well…could you get Mom?"
Jason goes to the kitchen, and he goes back to the living room with his mother Lucinda.
"Hi, Scott," says Lucinda. "Anything going on?"
"Scott and I are having another baby," says Dana, rubbing her belly.
"Cool!" yells Meaghan.
"Congratulations," says Chris.
Minutes later, the Treborn family has dinner.
"So I started my internship at American Pride," says Jason.
"What do you do?" asks Dana.
"Filing papers, scheduling appointments, making phone calls to clients. I'm basically a goto person. I look forward to learning about the industry, maybe become one of them."
"So you gonna be rich?" asks Meaghan.
"Oh, yes," replies Jason. "You can count on it."
"I wonder if the Yankees are playing," says Scott.
"Let's finish dinner first," says Chris.
"Oh, Scott, did you know?" asks Meaghan. "Jason got us a color TV and a VCR."
"A color TV?" asks Scott. When he had lived here, he had to watch TV in black-and-white.
"It was a Christmas present," says Lucinda. "We still have the old black-and-white in the bedroom."
"I also got a new car," says Jason. "Traded in that old Pontiac, finally. It's that white car parked on the street. I could take Scott, Dana, and Chrissy to the airport."
"We would like that," says Dana.
"Don't spend too much, Jason," says Chris. "Gotta plan for the future."
"Oyessir," says Jason. "I am planning for the future, definitely."
Ooooooooooo
June 30, 1979
"We've decided not to tell your father he's been here for the past thirty years," says Dr. Emmett von Braun. "My God, has it been that long. Back then, this institution was surrounded by farmland as far as the eye can see. There was this guy who wanted to breed pine trees; his place is now being turned into a shopping mall."
"I see," replies Chris, coming to visit his father, Matt Treborn. "What do you say to him?"
"He still claims that the last thing he remembers, it was 1962, and that the Cuban Missile Crisis led to total nuclear war."
Von Braun leads Chris to a small room, painted white. An old man – in his eighties now – sits inside.
"Hi Dad," says Chris. "It's me, Chris."
"How you've aged," replies Matt Treborn. "At least you survived. What about your sons? Did they survive?"
"Scott and Jason are doing find. And I also have a daughter, Meaghan, born in 1966."
"I hope she came out okay, what with all the fallout. That stuff's nasty you know; it can stay for up to twenty years."
"It's 1979 now, Dad."
"What about your mother?"
"She died in '74."
"So they got her away from Washington before it blew. She wasn't in the helicopter with me when we evacuated. We lost contact with the helicopter that was supposed to take her to the bunker. I was supposed to flash back, not flash forward. At least you and your children survived, and Lucinda too – unless you remarried."
"Lucinda's still alive and well."
"What was it like afterward?"
"We did our best to make a living under the circumstances," says Chris. "Things were not that bad."
Chris goes on to tell his father more about what is happening. Matt smiles.
"You'll come back, right?" asks Matt.
"I'll try to fit you in, Dad," replies Chris.
He walks away. He wonders what it is like to not be able to remember new things; it would be like being eternally stuck in the present.
He also wonders what his father had experienced just before ending up here in the hospital. The stories still frighten him, even after he first heard it thirty years ago.
Oooooooooooo
September 3, 1979
"Ah, Treborn," says Mr. Bright as Jason enters the office. "I've a lot for you."
"Mr. Bright, I've been doing some research," says Jason.
"Related to school."
"It's about silver."
"I've read some people were buying up silver."
"The Hunt brothers, yes."
"You do your homework. The company has invested in silver as a hedge against inflation. Maybe those Hunt brothers are on the right track."
"Not exactly, sir."
Oooooooooooooo
October 19, 1980
The song "Please Don't Go" by KC and the Sunshine Band radiates from speakers as Jason looks out from the waterfront restaurant onto the Long Island Sound. A small boat sails by. It is a rare moment for him, as he is usually busy studying for exams, researching for term papers, or working at American Pride. His workload had only increased, now that he is going to get his bachelor's degree in Finance in less than a year.
The twenty-one-year-old university student looks at Andrea as "Please Don't Go" finishes and "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John starts playing over the speaker system.
"Such a nice place," says Andrea.
"You wanted a greasy hamburger at McDonald's?" asks Jason. "Sorry to disappoint you."
"That's okay."
"I have to ask you something."
Oooooooooooooo
June 5, 1981
"You feeling up to this?" asks Neil Cross.
"Of course," replies Jason, his voice a little squeaky. His longtime friend stands at his side, a great honor for the occasion. Scott Treborn just smiles; Chris and Lucinda look at their second son with stoic expressions on their faces.
Wooden oak doors open, and Andrea appears, escorted by other ladies. The twenty-four-year-old approaches Jason. She smiles, showing a hint of anxiety.
This is it, Jason thinks.
Jason and Andrea face a man wearing a black outfit.
The two of the are then married. They kiss each other even as the guests and the official photographer take pictures.
The new husband and wife then go outside. More guests congratulate them. The bride and groom pose with Jason's parents, Andrea's parents, the groomsmen, the bridesmaids, and just about everyone there.
Jason and Andrea then step into a white Lincoln limousine.
The reception is held at a waterfront hotel in Rye, New York, not far from the restaurant where Jason had first proposed. The main course for dinner is a Maine lobster tail and a New York steak. The dinner is followed by Jason and Andrea's first dance as husband and wife. The party continues, with the guests all chatting to each other, and songs like "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward, "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, "My Sharona" by the Knack, "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain and Tenille, "I Never Knew Love Like This Before" by Stephanie Mills, "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen, and many others.
At around 9:15, Jason and Andrea leave to be alone.