Part 2:

Jet sat up in bed and rubbed his sore forehead. He strained to remember what went on last night. Just flashes came to mind. There was him walking part way to the Magic Pan... in the pouring rain! There was Joe picking him up in the Maserati half way through the walk, and then they got to the Magic Pan, but had an argument...?

Cake was flying with chow mein...? Gilmore was bellowing in Jet's ear... about... being... what the... more sensitive...? Francoise sobbed hysterically and ran off with Joe stranding him? Joe was pissed off at him, he knew that much. GB did come at him with a ladle! He knew it! Junior's knuckle's came at his head... and well... did they really... fight...? And Joe's Maserati! What was it about that damn Maserati? And then he remembered arguing with Albert again... sort of... not really... getting drenched by the rain as they argued ferociously...?

Damn! A goose-egg bruise on his forehead again! Wait... again...? His birthday party was last night, but then what about the night before last...? He should have remembered something different, but all he could remember was the same, damn part!

He bolted from bed and ran out of his room and down the stairs, tripping over the last couple. His nose got carpet burn and he landed with an "umhp." He was lofted by Junior that gave him a concerned look. "You asshole! Why did you punch me?!" Jet demanded.

"What? I've never punched you," Junior replied placidly and confused.

"You did last night at my birthday party!"

"Um... your birthday party is tonight," Junior said in confusion.

Jet shook his head. "No! It was last night! Stop being a jerk and tell me why you socked me! I was smashed, but that was no reason." Jet waved a fist under the pacifist Navajo's nose.

"Good morning, guys," Pyunma called out. Jet shook his head, hoping this deja vu would go away. "Jet, what happened to your head and nose? You look terrible."

"You know what happened to me! Junior beat me up at my birthday party last night!"

Pyunma gave him a look as he had sprouted a third head. "Um... Your birthday party is tonight."

Jet shook his head vigorously. "No! I remember everything that happened! Knock it off! I'm not a chump! Did Heinrich put you up to this?"

Junior and Pyunma gave each other quirked eyebrows. It was the African man that said, "Um... Jet, you do realize today is Saturday."

"No, yesterday was Saturday!" Jet snapped. "There was a party for me at the Magic Pan, and he," Jet pointed at a confused Junior, "punched me! At my own party, for crying out loud!"

"Um... Jet, I've never laid a finger on you," the Navajo said.

"Then how do you explain this?" Jet asked, pointing to the goose-egg shaped bruise on his forehead.

Junior shrugged and said, "You were busy downstairs with Albert watching TV. Why don't you ask him?"

"Me spend time with Sour Kraut? Not a chance! Besides," Jet said, flinging his hands in the air, "I know I was at the Magic Pan last night at my birthday party!"

Pyunma held up his sports watch and pointed at the date. Jet let out a shocked gasp. He grabbed Pyunma's wrist as he read February 2nd.

Pyunma's took his wrist back and suggested, "You really should put some ice on that bump."

"Fine," Jet grumbled and stalked off.

It wasn't long before he heard Junior's wise-crack of, "Ice won't help his head problems."

He didn't turn around and confront them. He needed to figure out what went on last night.


Jet had stumbled across a note on his bedside table from Albert: Be back soon. Running the doctors to the university and picking up GB. Yours.

Ridiculous! As if he'd give a damn where Albert Heinrich was in the course of a day! He wasn't Albert's mama, so the old man could have saved himself the ink and paper. Jet balled up the note realizing his face was getting flushed. There was something else, wine and a black & white movie...? Jet flinched back and stuffed the note in his jeans' pocket, not wanting to go further with that memory.

He went downstairs and turned on the television, hoping to distract himself from Junior and Pyunma's antics. His throat got dry when the news caster announced the date as February 2nd. He pushed the button on the remote for another news station. He shook his throbbing head when the attractive, lady news caster started her report by announcing it was February 2nd as well.

He turned off the television, trying to puzzle out why he remembered having a birthday party last night. He went to the the kitchen and did, indeed, get some ice for his forehead. His whole head was pounding! His headache got worse when he noticed Chang hadn't marked off February 2nd and the radio... it was the same as the television news casters as far as the date. He turned the radio off and sat with his face under the ice pack.

"So what happened to your forehead?"

Jet started and took down his make-shift ice pack. "As if you don't know! Somehow you made my birthday suck last night."

Albert gave him a baffled expression and finally said, "Um... Jet, tonight is your birthday."

"That's impossible! I remember it! Everyone treated me like I was acting like a jerk!"

"I'm sure it wasn't an act," Albert quipped with a smug smirk. Jet glared and was about to cuss out Albert, but the German man waved his hand in the air. His face got serious. "Really, Jet, your birthday party is tonight. You know, I'm kind of disappointed you don't remember last night."

Jet hopped up from the kitchen table and started pacing, feeling a scowl come to his face. What the hell was Albert implying? "There was was a party at the Magic Pan, and we spent time fighting in the parking lot, you damn fool! It was out in the rain and I borrowed Joe's car to get...!" Jet paused. That was a new detail! But where was he trying to get to...? Or rather... away from...?

"Jet, last night we spent our time watching a movie of your choice. It was that kooky thing: I Bury the Living. But, we didn't spend much time actually watching it." Jet frowned, that was a different detail than yesterday. Yesterday...?

"Wait! Just because I got plastered at my own birthday party doesn't give you a right to play this stupid joke on me."

Albert gave him a mildly annoyed expression. "The only thing we had to drink last night was a couple of glasses of wine. You were far from being plastered. We actually had a very good conversation, for once. No yelling or sour remarks."

Jet grew troubled when Albert's expression softened into a smile. The New Yorker started pacing and was startled when he felt his backside sting. He whirled around trying to rub away the offending sting. "Why did you smack my butt, you asshole!"

Albert snickered and said with an implication, "You didn't mind it last night."

"Now I know you're crazy! I'd never make out with a guy!" Jet lied, feeling his face blazing hot, now. He'd never, ever admit guys tripped his trigger. Beside, Albert was a widower; didn't that mean he liked chicks...?

Albert gave him a stern look and said, "Jet, I think it's time to stop these games we play. Let me drive you to your birthday party tonight. I want to start spending more time with you, like we did last night. What we talked about last night made me realize that..."

"No! No! No! Stop! I know what I know! I had my birthday last night and don't remember a damn thing that you claim went on with a movie and wine! I'd sooner walk to the Magic Pan in a thunderstorm than be alone in a car with you!"

Jet watched Albert stiffen. There was just the barest flash of pain in the older man's eyes, and a flare of guilt that erupted in Jet's chest. Jet knew he'd been needlessly nasty as the memory of clinking glasses and soft chuckles in a dim room came flooding back. Could he have had a nice evening with Albert...?

Before he could soften his attitude and inquire further, Albert shrugged. "Looks like you'll have that chance, considering the weather report. Take an umbrella. The Magic Pan is several kilometers away."

"Kilometers?"

"Miles for you Americans," Albert snapped in an icy tone and left.

Jet was left baffled at what was going on. Maybe the bump on his head was worse than he though. He felt the bump and shivered. What was the truth about last night, and why was Albert acting so strange towards him?


Jet amble down the sidewalk in the downpour as he made his way towards the Magic Pan. Junior, Pyunma, and Albert- along with the doctors later- all insisted his birthday party was tonight. He was going to show up and find out what was going on. His suspicion was that this was some elaborate joke. If it was, there would be hell to pay!

He suddenly stumbled by an empty lot and grabbed the wood fence to steady himself. He rose swearing a blue streak. He was surprised to see a teenage boy with eyes like Ivan's at the front gate: one blue, one brown. The boy extended an umbrella over Jet's head and said, "Yuuko-san said this was the one crack in the loop. You have to come in now or you may not have another chance for a cure."

"Chance?" Jet asked, starting to get vexed at the scrawny kid.

"You do want a cure for your deja vu? If so, come in and talk to Yuuko-san. Hurry because the crack is about to close!"

Jet bolted into the yard that had been an empty lot seconds ago, but now there was a large, old-fashioned house on the lot between skyscrapers. Jet murmured, "What the hell did I just get myself into?"

"There was a very large mistake a potential lover of yours made that only you can solve," a very sensual woman said from the covered front porch. She then looked at the boy with umbrella and said, "Watanuki, we have a customer. See to his comfort in the front parlor."

Suddenly, Jet felt like a fly in a spider's web.

To be continued.