Jonny zoomed down the dirt road in his big red pickup, dust flying up all around his truck. He was happy because today was Friday and he had a full weekend ahead of him. The sun was low in the sky yet it felt like a million degrees to Jonny. His arm all hot from the sun beating down on it as it hung out the window that was down. He sang to the music playing on the radio without a care in the world. But before you knew it he SLAMMED on his breaks swerving until his truck came to a stop…Jonny looked out in the road and saw a woman laying still in the gravel of the dirt road. Fumbling for his cell phone, he almost forgot the number to 911, dialed it frantically but got no connection. "Dammit! No bars out here!!" His phone was useless. Jonny knew he might be the only person to come by for hours, maybe all weekend so it was up to him to help her.... if he could. He could not see her face from his truck, she didn't seem to move, she might be dead.. or very likely, severly injured. A knot of fear and dread formed in his stomach as he worked up the nerve to get out of the truck. His legs felt like rubber, his throat parched from the July heat. "This poor woman is fully clothed and wearing a raincoat, she could die simply from the heat on a day like today." He thought to himself, hoping beyond hope that she was indeed still alive. "A rain coat? It hasn't rained a drop in a month?" Without any further hesitation he jogged over to the woman. He saw no blood, no bruises, no cuts at all other than what appeared to be a burn the size of a quarter on her right temple. He reached down to feel her neck for a pulse. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" the woman jerked awake and screamed! Jonny fell backwards on his butt startled out of his mind. The woman sat up dazed, rubbing her head. "Ma'am?? A-a-a-are you alright?" The woman looked hollowly at Jonny and turned her gaze toward the sky "The lightning... it was everywhere""Lightning? M-m-ma'am, it hasn't rained in weeks?" Jonny stuttered as he tried to catch his breath. "No.." the confused woman continued as she looked into the cloudless summer sky "It was raining when I started out to feed them chickens, and before you could say jimmy crack corn, the thunder rained down on me like GOD himself was reaching down" Jonny looked at her like she was absolutely insane. He held out one hand to steady her "Ma'm, are you sure you didn't bump your head?" She threw her arms in the air and SCREAMED, "NO!! IT was EVERYWHERE!! Didn't you hear me?" Jonny jumped back so as not to be hit with her flailing arms. "I ran for cover as fast as I could and..and...WOOOSH I was here." Jonny actually began to chuckle some, he could not help it. This woman was in some serious need of a head Dr. and he knew the nearest one was Doc Commings in the next town over. "Ma'am, can I please give you a ride?" He beckoned her to his truck "I am going to Parabus, so I can take you as far as there." Jonny was not on his way to Parabus at all, but all he could think was if he let her just walk away, she might hurt herself or even worse someone else. The woman reluctantly agreed and climbed into the red pickup now covered in dust and grim from the road.
Jonny reved the engine of the old truck and started up the dirt road. He held out one hand to the women who seemed to have calmed down some "Jonny's the name, very pleased to meet you Ma'am." The middle aged woman peered around her long stringy dark hair caked in mud, her deep blue eyes staring almost straight through Jonny "Maa..arylue, very please to meet you sir" passed over her now dry lips. As Jonny shook her hand he could see one tear fall down her cheek and her eyes dart back to the road passing by out her window. They sped down the bumpy road for some time when Jonny pressed on the breaks as hard as he could. Screeeeeaaach...the breaks squealed. "Well all be......there's another one them dang cows!!" Puzzled, Jonny put the parking break on and got out of the truck to shoo the cow off the road. It isn't uncommon to nearly take out a cow on these long dusty roads, so Jonny wasn't sure why the Marylou seemed shocked. Jonny started shouting at the Bovine "C'mon Bessy move it.." but the cow stood almost motionless in the road. From the truck, Marylou shouts "Ya git away from that cow son, she aint no normal cow!" As Jonny looked closer he noticed the cow wasn't acting like a 'normal' cow, she wasn't chewing her cud, not swatting the flies away with her tail, and her eyes seemed blind with a milky white film over them. Marylou was now out of the truck, pulling on Johnny's shirt trying to get him back in. "There were 3 of them cows in my field before it started." said Marylou nervously. "Before what started?" asked Johnny. "Before that wild storm blew up outta nowheres!!! They wasn't my cows, they aint got the same branding" Johnny pulled away from Marylou to look closer at the cow's hind quarters, what was there wasn't a brand mark it was a hunk of metal, no bigger than a postage stamp. Jonny began pulling in real close to take a look when he got jerked back onto his butt. "DAMNIT woman!! That is the SECOND time I have ended up on my ASS when you are....." at that very moment Jonny looked up and out of nowhere a crack came down from the sky hitting the ground right between him and Marylue. A large gust of wind and more hits fell all around them. As fast as he could, he jumped up on his feet and looked for the closest building or shelter to run to. About a mile away he saw the old Sampson camp up on a large hill. he grabbed onto Marylue's hand and started running towards the cabin. The wind rushed and the lightning crashed all around them. Marylue was screaming at the top of her lungs "STOP STOP STOP!!!" But Jonny could not think of anything else but getting to that cabin. They came to the door and just as he flung the door open with the strength of his arms and some help of the wind, he turned to Marylue "quick, get inside!" when he realized all he was holding onto was the yellow raincoat. Marylue was gone.
"awww what the hell??" Johnny was torn between braving this freak storm to find Marylou or to stay in the shelter of the cabin. Deciding to keep up his heroic efforts, he covered his head with her raincoat and ran back into the storm. Calling her name was a wasted effort through the thunder and howling wind. Within 2 minutes he had lost sight of the cabin which he was thinking would have been the wiser choice than to try to find this woman. She obviously didn't want to stay where it was safe, she chose to slip away. Or did she? Johnny couldn't think about that now, he had to get back to the cabin where it was safe. Tree branches were flying everywhere, the lightning was right overhead and he could feel the static build in his body, like tiny fingers of electricity coursing through his skin. He knew he would be lit up like Vagas if he didn't find that cabin. Running as fast as he could, ducking in vain against the wind, as if it would prevent him from being the next target of the lightning, he back tracked the best he could, jumping over a small creek he remembered jumping over before. Up ahead should be the clearing where the cabin is. He was just about to make a final sprint when he realized he was not near the cabin at all. His heart started racing, and he began spinning around. His brain was going a mile a minute. He was so sure that the cabin was going to be right...there. But it was not. Where the hell was he? Where the hell was Marylue? And on that note, where was his truck? All he had was this yellow rain coat and the clothes on his back. The wind began to dye down and the the storm moved out, the sun shone through the clouds like nothing had ever happened. He could hear the birds singing like they had not a care in the world.
Jonny decided he better sit down. He flopped in the ground in a big lump. The rain coat crumpled under him sounding like a candy wrapper. He ran the grass through his fingers, it was dry as a bone. He sat up and ran both hands accross the brown almost dead grass. Not a drop of water had fallen on this land for over a month. Puzzled and confused by all the days events, he looked around for something familiar. A house, or a building of some kind. But nothing. He did see a road however, so he began walking towards that, thinking that he had to find his truck sitting on it. As he walked over the grass it crunched under his feet and the trees swaying with the leaves rustling with every gush of the breeze. He walked to the road he thought might have his truck sitting on it, and he didn't recognize anything, so he set off down the road in a daze. He walked for some time not seeing a house or car, when he heard the sounds of an engine coming up behind him. He turned to see a red pickup truck coasting and sputtering towards him. It was a truck just like his own but it was ragged and rusty, windows broken, tree branches stuck in the grill and the license place was dangling by one screw. But, Johnny recognized that license plate number just as he moved out of the way and let his own, now beat up truck, backfire and choke to a smokey stop in the field of tall grass. Johnny wasn't shocked by this event as much as he would be had he not been through the day he just had, but to see his truck that he still hadn't paid off, reduced to a pile of steaming metal, he just wanted to cry. Why did his truck rumble down the road driverless anyway? He couldn't think about it, it was hot, he was lost and his head was killing him.
Jonny walked up to his truck and swung open the now rusty old door. As he did this it fell right off its hinges onto the ground beneath his feet. The seats were all tattered and ripped and everything was covered with a coating of dust. Jonny sat down inside the cab and turned the key trying to start the engine. "CRAP!" Jonny yelled and banged on the steering wheel. "WHY cant anything go my way today?" He looked out onto the dry landscape and saw the sun starting to sink below the horizon. He decided he would camp out for the night and start out at first light to the nearest town. He climbed out if the hunk of metal truck and retrieved his gear from the back. Jonny always kept on hand a sleeping bag, though he never imagined for these reasons. He gathered wood for a fire and set up camp. The crackle of the fire was all that could be herd as the the stars came out one by one. Jonny thought about the days events, trying to piece it all together. He fell asleep trying to figure everything out and not having a clue what really occurred. He woke to the sound of a car pulling up and a door slamming. "Sir?...Sir are you OK?" Jonny opened up his eyes to a man standing over him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes "Yes, I think so" He chuckled under his breath. "Can I help you with anything?" he could hear the man say. "I would love a ride to Parabus if you don't mind?" the man had a strange look on his face, "PARABUS!?!? that town is over a hundred miles away!" Jonny rubbed his eyes again and scratched his head "Sorry for asking, I am a little confused, still waking up and all. Can you take me to the closest town then?" The man chuckled "Yeah, no problem. I cant put two words together either without a cup of coffee." Jonny packed up his things and climbed into the mans car and they started down the road to the next town.
"Im Henry Cole, been an iron worker in these parts for 22 years. Just finished up building that new bridge down in Centerville. I dont see much work coming up very soon though.. time's are gonna be tough. What do you do boy?" Jonny had to think for a minute, he honestly wasn't sure. He just finished a week of work the day before but what was he doing? "I paint." he said quickly, still not sure if that was the right answer. "Paint what? Baskets of fruit and wine glasses and things?" Asked Henry with a slight giggle in his voice. "No, I paint buildings, houses, fences, whatever needs to be painted." Henry looked at Johnny again "Must not be much work for you out here either. I've never seen a painter without paint splattered all over his shoes and hair hahaha"Jonny's head began pounding again, he really wasn't sure what he did for a living and had no idea why he said he was a painter. He was SURE that was not what he was doing yesterday, but for some reason he had a vague memory in the back of his mind of holding a paint brush standing by an old wood fence. Johnny gazed out the window, everything looked familiar but not really. There were acres of corn and wheat fields, lakes, hills, trees, houses, stores, bridges everything he had seen before but not really. He knew the local hardware store but, was it always near the diner? Wasn't the Miller farm right next to the lake? Everything was real but out of place. Henry reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of Marlboro "Want one?" he asked Johnny who eagerly took one. "Yes, Im DYING for a smoke, I havent had one in.....ummm... Wow, I don't know, its been a while" Henry handed him his lighter, Johnny lit the cigarette and took a long drag and inhaled deep."Ahhhh that hit the spot." he exhaled gratefully. He almost instantly noticed a strange taste in his mouth. "This isnt the brand I smoke" he thought "wait... I dont smoke!" But for some reason it felt natural and comfortable. Frank turned the radio up and started singing with Charlie Daniels "The Devil went down to Georgia he was looking for a soul to steal....." Jonny sang along and felt a bit more relaxed but something in his mind told him that this song had a hint of truth to it.
~CHAPTER TWO~
They arrived in Centerville in about 20 minutes. It was a small town with all the things you imagine a town having, post office, country store, diner. Jonny looking around hoping to recognize something but nothing came to him. They pulled up in front of the diner and parked the car. Jonny climbed out and shut the door. "Well thanks so much Henry for the ride." Jonny said across the roof of the car. "No problem son, glad I was able to help ya." They parted ways when Jonny started feeling his stomach growl. He had felt like he had not eaten in a week. He opened the door to the diner just hoping someone would be there he knew. "CLANG CLANG", went the bell on the door. He walked up to the counter and sat down. "What can I get ya hun?" an older, very thin woman said from across the counter. Jonny without a hesitation "I'll have a cup of coffee, three eggs and some ham on the side" Jonny was a little taken back at how quick he answered her and hoped he liked eggs. "Any toast that hun?" Again he blurted out an answer, "rye" and again hoped that was something he was going to enjoy. The woman placed a hot cup of black coffee on the counter, sloshing some out of the cup onto the saucer. She put down some sugar and cream in front of him. "Oh I take my coffee black Ma'am" “Did he really?” he thought to himself. WOW who the heck drinks black coffee? Again pondering why he kept on blurting out answer and not knowing if they were really what he enjoyed. He sipped on his hot cup-o-joe and looked around. He could smell the delightful smells coming from the kitchen. Pretty much a greasy spoon joint, but man did the food smell good. The kind of smells you would associate with memories, but Jonny had none. Scents of cooking bacon and eggs, pancakes, and waffles all wafted towards him. He could feel his stomach grumble more. Just then a man walked through the door, "CLANG CLANG, again went the bell. He was a tall man, with a cowboy hat, dirty blue jeans and flannel shirt. Jonny could not see his eyes from under his hat, but he could smell the smoke coming from his Parlament cigarette hanging from his mouth. He sat a few stools over and took off his hat placing it down on the counter. "Usual Mark?", as she set down a cup of coffee and an ashtray. Jonny could hear his deep voice mumble something and the waitress walked away to put in the man’s order. Trying not to stare at the man Jonny kept his eyes forward as best he could. Just then he heard this deep voice from down the counter. "You’re not from here are ya?"
Jonny again thought for a moment about where he was from "No, I'm not from around here." He was pretty sure of that at least, he was almost certain he'd never been in Centerville and definitely not this diner. "My truck broke down and I got a ride into town." Mark looked at Jonny as if studying him. He was a tall man, lean build, not quite 30 but Jonny could see he had the hands of a man who has worked 50 years. Jonny wasn't quite sure why, but he made him nervous. The tension was broken when the waitress sat a plate in front of Jonny. His nerves quickly turned to starvation as he showed those eggs and ham no mercy. Something struck him out of place as he looked at the eggs with their soft yolks. He wasn't sure how to eat them, making him think he never ordered eggs that way before. Oh well, they were delicious, so what if they slide off the fork, the toast tasted great when he dipped it in the yolks. Who he was the day before, he wasn’t quite sure but he kind of resented himself for never having tried eggs this way before.
Jonny cleaned his plate in 15 minutes flat and the waitress poured him another cup of coffee without even asking. "Hope it was good hun, I'll be back with your check in two shakes" she walked away with a smile. Johnny felt 100 times better now that he had eaten but, again, for some reason he was dying for a smoke. He knew he didn't have any on him, since until an hour ago, he never smoked before, but felt his tshirt pocket for a pack anyway incase one magically appeared. No luck there however, he thought to ask Mark for a smoke but that might be too rude even for an out of towner. Mark was finished his breakfast, slid off the stool, left some cash on the bar for the waitress and started walking toward Jonny. Jonny felt that nervousness again and tried not to show this cowboy his tension. "You ok there bud? Did you lose something?" Mark now standing right next to him. "Uh... yeah" said Jonny with hesitation "I cant find my smoke's I think I left them in the car on the way here." Mark gave a half smile, and took a cigarette from his pack and handed it to Jonny "You gotta be careful hitchhiking, someone is liable to take off with more than your smokes" Jonny chuckled nervously and thanked him for the smoke. The waitress came back with the check, laying it face down she smiled "You have a good one son and come back again real soon." Jonny picked up the check, a mere $6.50 pretty cheap for a good meal. Reached into his back pocket for his wallet and felt nothing there! "Oh SHIT!!" he exclaimed "My wallet is gone!!" Jonny felt a knot rise in the pit of his stomach as if maybe he was going to return the breakfast the hard way. Mark reaches into his back pocket pulling out a leather wallet attached to a chain "You might wanna get a chain for your next wallet so this dont happen again" and takes a $10 bill out and lays it on the table. "This one is on me Rick." Jonny looked at Mark as if he saw a ghost "My name isn't Rick, it's Jonny" Mark puts a toothpick in his mouth to chew "That's not what your tattoo says.... Rick" Jonny, half scared of what he might see, looked down at his left bicep, half a sun worn tattoo showed under the sleeve of his tshirt. Raising the sleeve to get a better look, a shield of some sort, in faded red blue and green was tattooed on his arm with the name "Rick" in a banner just underneath.
Jonny jumped up from his stool with such force he would have knocked it over if it was not bolted to the floor. Still holding up his sleeve exposing the tattoo he looked at Mark then back at the markings on his arm. He flew to the back of the diner where he saw the door to the men's room and slammed it open with a huge thud and frantically looked in the mirror....."OH MY GOD!!" he looked at the unfamiliar reflection. He saw a young man with skin that had been tanned by the sun. He ran his hands through his jet black hair almost as to pull it out. Again, he was not sure, "is this me?" he thought to himself. But the reflection he saw with his deep blue eyes was not familiar. And this tattoo, he stared again at it not understanding the name "Rick" etched into his skin. He pulled himself away from the mirror, letting go of the sink he now held so tight his knuckles were white. He patted himself down as if wondering if there might be more he was not familiar with. He prayed that he had all his parts in order, but was a little scared to find out. Just as he was about to check, the door swung open and a man came through. Jonny looked at him and he stared back and half smiled. " Just checking to make sure I had all I needed" half chuckling and walked out hoping no one noticed his panic. When he got back out to the counter where he had devoured his breakfast, he noticed Mark was gone. Half hoping he was still there, he looked out the front window wishing to catch him. Jonny...or was it Rick, he just didn't know. "Mark seemed to be the only one that seem....to be helpful?" Jonny thought to himself. Even that thought was not familiar to him. Jonny thanked the nice waitress and went out to look for Mark. As he heard the bell on the door ring again behind him, he ran to the street looking for that one thing that seemed to point him in the right direction. But he was gone. Jonny walked up the street some again trying to catch a glimpse but nothing, that's when he saw a woman sitting at the bus stop wearing a raincoat. Was it Marylou? Jonny walked over quickly "Marylou is that you?" The woman turned to him slightly startled. "No, you must have mistaken me for someone else." The small glimmer of hope Jonny had in seeing someone who might know whats going on was dashed in a second. Jonny was affraid he was going to go insane. Nothing was making sense. He didn't know where he was, or WHO he was for that matter. He sat down in the shade on a planter outside a gift shop, his head began to throb again. All he wanted to do was go home, but he couldn't quite remember where home was. He knew his name was Jonny, or at least it was recently. He knew these were his clothes, his shoes and his wrist watch. He got it for his birthday, from... someone? Who was it? Mom? Dad? His brother Tommy? Or was his name Teddy? "Oh my God I can hardly remember their faces" He burried his head in his hands. He had no money, and it was 100 degrees out, if not more. The coffee at breakfast was quickly losing it's hydrating qualities as he sat sweating bullets in the heat.How much longer would it be until the sun went behind the buildings and brought some relief? Jonny looked down at his watch, it was only 11:15 am, the day hadn't even reached its hottest point. Looking at his watch again, something was very wrong. The date, it wasnt 2008 like it was yesterday, it was 2018! Maybe the freak storm messed up his watch in all that rain and electricity in the air... surely he couldn't have lost 10 years in just moments. He got up and ran into the gift shop, startling the old woman who was dusting the crystal nic-nacks. "Can I help you sir?" the old woman asked, looking him up and down through thick rounded frame glasses. "I need a news paper, do you sell newspapers?" Jonny didnt want to seem as crazy as he felt by asking the woman what year it was but she pointed over to the magazine rack and Jonny went in that direction. He saw dozens of magazines with pictures of celebrities he's never seen before, some he had, who were obviously aged. Grabbing a Centerville Post, he looked quickly for the date and it confirmed his fear. It was July 22, 2018.
Jonny walked out of the store dazed, and quite confused as to what exactly was going on. His mind was spinning with all the details of the last few days. “What exactly happened?” kept racing through his mind. He remembers riding down the road towards his house in Copper Crossing…he thought that was right anyway. He ended stopping about a mile away from the Miller farm when he found Marylou. That’s when it all got very strange, he thinks….”or was it when they found that cow?” “YES!” Jonny said out loud then covered his mouth fast so no one would stare. He kept walking down the sidewalk of Main street thinking about that cow. “It had those eyes and that…that…THING on its ass!” Jonny felt his first clear thought in over a day. It had to have been that hunk of…. “What was it???” Jonny had no clue. But he knew THAT was the answer to everything. As he walked and paced and thought things though, he found himself walking all the way to Smith’s Feed & Grain store. He looked up and there was a sign on the window saying “Help Wanted”. Jonny opened the glass door. RING… RING, announced his entrance. “What was it with all these damn bells on the doors?” he thought to himself. He walked up to a sales person and asked about the help wanted sign in the window. The man pointed out the owner, Mr. Smith, to Jonny and before you knew it he was hired.
“When can you start?” Mr. Smith asked. Jonny looked at him kind of puzzled, “Right now would be great”. “Fantastic welcome to the family”, smiling back at Jonny and shaking his hand. “Get your apron over there and head out back to help load up the trucks with feed” pointing out the wall with all the aprons hanging from hooks. Jonny slid on the apron over his head and headed to the loading dock. A tall man of about six feet stood at the end of the dock picking up fifty pound bags of live stock feed and slamming them on the back of old pickup trucks. Jonny saw the name “Ken” plainly stitched into his apron. As sweat beaded up and rolled down Ken’s face, he barely looking at Jonny “Each truck that pulls up will hand you an order slip and you put the bags on their truck” He kept working as he barked out the orders to Jonny.
Jonny's first order was for 1 ton of feed. He quickly did the math in his head as to how many 50 lbs bags that was and went into the loading shed and flopped 40 heavy
bags onto a large flat hand cart. Already his shoulder's ached and his back was stiff but he was quite surprised how strong his body was. He was 25 years old, as of yesterday
anyway, today however, he might be 35. He wondered "where" the time went. How was his family and where were they? What was he doing all that time? How did he acquire this tattoo and why? He chuckled quietly to himself as the Jimmy Buffet lyrics came to mind "I dont know the reason, I stayed here all season.. nothing to show but this brand new tattoo..."
And pushed the cart out to Mr Morgan's truck.
Jonny must have loaded 10 tons of grain and feed into the various customers trucks that day. He was genuinely exhausted and in dire need of a bath. Payday wasn't until Friday and this was Monday but fortunately he made $100 in tips. This would buy him dinner, a hotel room and a full fresh pack of smokes. He walked to the Centerville Motor Lodge which was about a mile outside of town. Stopped by the small convenience store and got a big roast beef sandwich on an italian roll, smothered in swiss cheese and mayo. Again a combo that felt natural to ask for but sounded foreign to his ears. A half gallon of iced tea and a bag of his favorite, both now and in his past life, original flavored Doritos. He rented a room for 2 nights, at $40 per night for a single room. Hopefully tips would be a regular thing and he would have a place to stay for a while. Jonny opened his sandwich from the tightly wrapped deli paper and devoured it before he could taste it. Munched the chips and the familiar flavor brought back a memory of watching The Atlanta Falcons play on TV with his father and brother. He smiled as the memory was vivid enough to know it was indeed his own. After lighting a Parliament, he started to run water for his bath.
The door swung open from the bathroom, bellowing steam from the now done bath. Jonny walked out with just a towel wrapped around his waist and beads of water dripping down his chest. He walked over to the bed side table and picked up the hard pack of Parlaments he now seems to need one every half hour of. Sliding one out of the pack and putting it in the mouth, he lit it and took a long drag in, letting it out slowly. He laid down on his bed and turned on the TV. Jonny clicked though the stations, “click, click, click”, you could hear as he cycled though all the station a million times looking for something good to watch. On his 1 million 500th times through he stopped on one of those sci fi stations, and he saw this woman standing in her chicken coop. He sat straight up in bed, and squinted his eyes. “I came out to feed that them chickens, and before you could say Jimmy crack corn, the thunder rained down on me like GOD himself was coming to get me.” Jonny’s mouth dropped as he recognized the story, but the woman, was not the same. Marylou was a woman about 30 years old, this woman had to be in her 50s. He pulled himself to the end of the bed, holding onto the towel rapped loosely around his waist. He was now real close to the screen of the TV, and he could see the woman’s eyes. He remembered Maylou’s eyes from the ride they took a few days ago together. Or what seemed like a few days ago, but this woman obviously had aged about 20 years almost overnight. Jonny pulled away from the television and put his head in his hands. If Jonny lost 10 years, and Marylou looked 20 years older, what did that mean? He went ahead in time and she went back? Is that even possible? Jonny started to chuckle at himself and decided he might try buying a bottle of Jack along with his other provisions tomorrow after work. Because everyone KNOWS that is impossible. Yeah, a Jack and coke would fix him right up he thought to himself as he turned off the TV and climbed into bed.
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