apparently injured and you woke up in the emergency room at St. Vincent’s.”
“That’s it?”
“You must have suffered a concussion; you were still woozy last night. You seemed so confused I wasn’t sure I could trust anything you said. You kept repeating that you had to get out of there and contact Franklin before they started asking questions about how you got there. You found some way to call me and managed to slip out of the hospital.”
“Did I reach William?”
“You closeted yourself in your office when we got home; you wouldn’t talk about it afterward. I haven’t seen you that way since nine-eleven.” She shuddered. “I don’t like it.”
“I know this is hard on you. I’m really sorry, but I don’t make the rules when it comes to William, and I have no idea why my time stream is all screwed up. We’ll figure out some way to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Damn it, Dylan, how do you even know this is real? Maybe you really do have an alternate who took control while you were sleeping Tuesday night. He might have awakened you and made you leave the house during the night, and gotten you involved in something that caused your injuries and then played with your memories. If he can do that, he could also have made you think Wednesday hasn’t happened yet. But…” She reached out to stroke my face again.
All I could do was shrug helplessly. “I have an appointment with Jerry Friday afternoon. You can come if you want to.”
I shared Ilene’s confusion. I didn’t know what was going to happen later on Thursday, or if what she’d described was real, I had no idea what I might have said to William on the phone Wednesday night, though I imagined I’d have tried to use my knowledge of Thursday’s events to alert him about something.
Last week, I’d wanted to alter events using my knowledge of what was going to happen, but I’d never gotten the chance, and even if I had, I had no idea how that would have changed the world I’d awakened to on Friday. And if what I’d told William Wednesday night changed his actions, would that affect what was going to happen on my Thursday? Ilene was right – this was a crazy way to live. All I could do was take things as they came and be careful.
15.
I considered calling William when I got to work Thursday morning, but rejected the idea. If I’d reached him on Wednesday night, calling this morning would be superfluous and hard to explain. And if I hadn’t reached him last night? What would I tell him? Ilene had already implied he’d be calling later to let me know Al Khalifa was landing at a berth on Staten Island. He didn’t need me to warn him of possible trouble.
As for Jim, if my Wednesday turned out the way Ilene described, would he be wondering where I’d been all day or would it be like last week, when he seemed to have forgotten I existed? I decided to preempt the issue when he came in.
“Sorry I couldn’t check in yesterday. Remember I told you I was on quick call-up with my reserve unit?”
“Yeah, you mentioned it last week,” he said, apparently unconcerned.
I was about to tell him I’d been called in Wednesday morning, but I might not be gone on Wednesday if William changed his tactics after talking to me last night, and called off today’s operation. If he had I wouldn’t be injured and I’d awaken next to Ilene Wednesday morning and go to work normally. Was that even possible? I felt like I was going in circles. Maybe hearing about Wednesday from someone else’s point of view would help. I went to see Wilson.
“Hey, Dylan, how’s it goin’?” he said, innocuously enough.
“Nothing special. You guys doing all right?”
“Right on schedule. Gayle’s been on top of things from home.”
That wasn’t very helpful. “Where the hell have you been?” would have told me a lot more.
I realized that
“That’s it?”
“You must have suffered a concussion; you were still woozy last night. You seemed so confused I wasn’t sure I could trust anything you said. You kept repeating that you had to get out of there and contact Franklin before they started asking questions about how you got there. You found some way to call me and managed to slip out of the hospital.”
“Did I reach William?”
“You closeted yourself in your office when we got home; you wouldn’t talk about it afterward. I haven’t seen you that way since nine-eleven.” She shuddered. “I don’t like it.”
“I know this is hard on you. I’m really sorry, but I don’t make the rules when it comes to William, and I have no idea why my time stream is all screwed up. We’ll figure out some way to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Damn it, Dylan, how do you even know this is real? Maybe you really do have an alternate who took control while you were sleeping Tuesday night. He might have awakened you and made you leave the house during the night, and gotten you involved in something that caused your injuries and then played with your memories. If he can do that, he could also have made you think Wednesday hasn’t happened yet. But…” She reached out to stroke my face again.
All I could do was shrug helplessly. “I have an appointment with Jerry Friday afternoon. You can come if you want to.”
I shared Ilene’s confusion. I didn’t know what was going to happen later on Thursday, or if what she’d described was real, I had no idea what I might have said to William on the phone Wednesday night, though I imagined I’d have tried to use my knowledge of Thursday’s events to alert him about something.
Last week, I’d wanted to alter events using my knowledge of what was going to happen, but I’d never gotten the chance, and even if I had, I had no idea how that would have changed the world I’d awakened to on Friday. And if what I’d told William Wednesday night changed his actions, would that affect what was going to happen on my Thursday? Ilene was right – this was a crazy way to live. All I could do was take things as they came and be careful.
15.
I considered calling William when I got to work Thursday morning, but rejected the idea. If I’d reached him on Wednesday night, calling this morning would be superfluous and hard to explain. And if I hadn’t reached him last night? What would I tell him? Ilene had already implied he’d be calling later to let me know Al Khalifa was landing at a berth on Staten Island. He didn’t need me to warn him of possible trouble.
As for Jim, if my Wednesday turned out the way Ilene described, would he be wondering where I’d been all day or would it be like last week, when he seemed to have forgotten I existed? I decided to preempt the issue when he came in.
“Sorry I couldn’t check in yesterday. Remember I told you I was on quick call-up with my reserve unit?”
“Yeah, you mentioned it last week,” he said, apparently unconcerned.
I was about to tell him I’d been called in Wednesday morning, but I might not be gone on Wednesday if William changed his tactics after talking to me last night, and called off today’s operation. If he had I wouldn’t be injured and I’d awaken next to Ilene Wednesday morning and go to work normally. Was that even possible? I felt like I was going in circles. Maybe hearing about Wednesday from someone else’s point of view would help. I went to see Wilson.
“Hey, Dylan, how’s it goin’?” he said, innocuously enough.
“Nothing special. You guys doing all right?”
“Right on schedule. Gayle’s been on top of things from home.”
That wasn’t very helpful. “Where the hell have you been?” would have told me a lot more.
I realized that
Similar Books
