8
William stumbled back from the image of himself laughing. He seemed to feel oddly out of breath and out of shape as he stood awkwardly, almost stumbling in the process. The old man had changed before him! Or had he! He watched himself stand up and walk out of the Blue Whale as he stepped back in stunned shock. He looked around barely able to handle the illusion that must have been before his eyes as he turned to the counter wondering if the
crab he'd eaten had something to do with the hallucination before him.
"Mr. Rooney..." He started to speak. His voice! It had changed! He looked across the counter to the mirror on the wall and stopped breathing as his heart jumped a beat. He was now the old man in the glasses! What was going on here! He put his hands to his face to check the reality of what was happening to him and nearly screamed. He was an old man! He and the old man had changed identities! He was now him and he was now himself!
"Sir," Rooney looked across at him. "Are you okay?"
"That isn't me..." The old man's voice came out of William's throat as he answered. He stumbled back in shock, bumped into some strangers, and tried to find an answer for what had happened to him. Somehow, someway, he and the old man had switched bodies! He had to find him and get him to fix it again. He stumbled outside looking up and down the piers and scores of people coming out of the shops. The old man's face staring back at him from the windows around him, William felt the terror rising up in him. Probably more scared than any other time of his life, he walked the gangplank across the parking lot and crossed the street in front of Braithwaite Jewelers literally trying to find himself. Looking around, a police car passed him, made a u-turn and pulled up alongside him as Lt. Dirk Wilkins rolled down the
window.
"Mr. Petofi?" He asked calmly.
"No." William shook his head as they stopped.
"The doctors and nurses at Rushmore are very worried about you." Wilkins continued. "Let us drive you back. You've obviously tired."
"No, I can't." William refused. "I must get my body back."
"Mr. Petofi," Officer Bruno Hess came out the other side of the patrol car. "We're not going to hurt you. We want to take you home to the hospital."
"No!" William screamed. "I'm not who you think I am." He quickened his steps and ducked into the hardware store past Sabrina Jennings. Hurrying to get away, William realized he might not have had his body, but he had his mind. The bell on the door rang as he knocked over displays behind him and grabbed two gallons of bleach. Mr. Fischer was screaming his head off as Hess and Wilkins scrambled over the falling shelves as Petofi ran for the back room. William looked back and smashed the two gallons to the floor as they exploded and covered the floor in one huge puddle of bleach. Just as Hess and Wilkins came closer, William glanced at the ingredients in the huge bottle of window cleaner and smashed it hard to the floor as well!
The ammonia reaction suddenly created a cloud that sent everyone racing out the front entrance gagging, coughing and gasping for air as Petofi raced out the back. Realizing he had little minutes before they raced around the block, William looked around for a place to hide. Emerging from the alley next to Colburn's Pharmacy, he watched a truck move out of the way and reveal a familiar red van in the gas station across the street that he recognized. Not far from it, his uncle Quentin emerged from the station from paying for his gas and headed jovially to his van.
"Uncle Quentin..." William felt the ancient heart within this old man's body about to burst as he raced across the street. "Uncle Quentin! Don't leave me!"
Quentin turned round and froze. That face, the glasses, it couldn't be! Not here, not now!
"No, it can't be..." He scrambled inside. "You're dead!"
"Uncle Quentin!" William reached through the window and grabbed him. "You've got to recognize me! Someone has stolen my body! Please! Please! You've got to help me!" Tears broke down his face as his world was turned its edge.
"J.R.? William?" Quentin stopped and noticed the tears rolling down Petofi's face and then the police officers across the street stopping and talking to people. They weren't getting very many replies, but eventually they were going to.
"Across the back seat!" He popped the side door as his hated enemy came around the car and slipped inside behind him. Closing it again, he turned the ignition and casually pulled off as sirens came from the distance.
"William," Quentin remembered seeing J.R. at the movies as he drove back to the estate. "Is that you?"
"Yes," Petofi's voice answered as he calmly reclined across the back. "How did you know? How did you know it was me? I don't think I'd have believed anyone else." He began crying and whining afraid for his life.
"I knew." Quentin answered as a patrol car raced past and a bead of sweat ran down his face.