Saturday, June 27, 2015

Gary Caruthers careened down the treacherous mountain road. Gripping the steering wheel with sweaty palms, he rounded a hairpin turn. He was going nearly twice the posted speed of 35 miles per hour. He lost control as his car fishtailed, crossed into the oncoming lane, and plunged over the cliff at the edge of the road. As he began to fall, his rear-view mirror showed Jake laughing in the car behind him.

Gary saw the rough gray face of the cliff flash past as his car plunged hundreds of feet straight down. He watched, horrified, as the ground came up so fast that he couldn’t think. Melinda, he breathed out, filled with sorrow as his whole world blacked out for the last time.

* * *

Melinda Fielder was like a little kid with a new stuffed animal as she carried a freshly dried basket of clothes from the dryer to the bedroom. She hummed as she put away the clothes. She felt a bit self-conscious about it, but she enjoyed the warm feel of the cloth as she matched her socks and hung up her blouses and slacks. She smiled as she remembered the way Gary had reacted to her pleasure when she handled warm clothes. Gary had pointed out how cloth that was above body temperature would naturally feel warm to the touch, but he had smiled at her playful joy. She loved him for his strong intellect and his tender empathy.

Gary had left their apartment just west of Lyons, Colorado to go to the Alpine Visitor Center on the other side of Estes Park for the day. Melinda knew that it was one of his favorite places to go, because he was so fond of being outdoors in the majestic mountains. She wanted to go with him, but she had an errand that could not wait.

Gary had been gone all day. He would be back in a little over an hour. Melinda looked over the clothes she had just put away in the closet. Gary likes the white cotton dress with the blue and green flowers on it, she mused to herself. I think I will wear that when we go out for dinner tonight.

Melinda sat down on the sofa with a good book. Two hours later, she realized that Gary still had not come back. She called him, but the call went to voicemail after four rings. She left a message, trying not to sound concerned. Ignoring her uneasy feeling, she went back to reading her book.

After another hour, Melinda was snapped out of her reverie by the persistent ringing of the doorbell. That’s odd, she thought. Usually the doorbell just made a little brring sound as someone pressed the button, but now it sounded like it was being pushed over and over again. Brrrrring brrrrring brrrrring brrrrring…

“I’m coming!” She called out, her voice louder than she intended. The incessant ringing stopped. As she looked through the peephole in the front door, she could see that it was Amy, Gary’s mother. Melinda opened the door with a smile on her face. She saw immediately that something was wrong. There were tears on Amy’s face that had dried, but were not wiped away. Amy pressed her hands to her eyes as she almost tripped over the end of the sofa.

“What’s wrong?” The lines on Melinda’s forehead wrinkled as her lips formed a tight crooked line.

Amy’s moist eyes overflowed onto her cheeks again. “It’s Gary.” Her voice shook.

“What happened? Is he okay?” Melinda’s voice was strained and soft. A swirling sound filled her ears. She sank to the sofa facing Amy. The walls of her apartment warped in and out like ripples on a lake. She could not make herself believe what she knew must be true.

Amy put her arms around Melinda. “Gary’s dead,” she said flatly.

Melinda gripped Amy like she could be ripped away any second. Her brain was a dense fog. She started to breathe rapidly. Silent sobs shook her body. She felt like she had been punched.

Amy sobbed. “He drove off the road… on a damn hairpin. He just drove off the edge of a cliff.” Her crying was uncontrollable now.

“Oh no!” Melinda said, her voice tight and strained. Melinda wrapped her arms even more tightly around Amy as they both cried. For a few minutes, they just held on to each other and sobbed.

At last, Amy exclaimed, “We ain’t never gonna spend time with Gary again! We ain’t never gonna hear his laugh, or see his smile, or feel his lovin’ hugs. I wish we could turn back the clock and fix this!”

A strange expression crossed Melinda’s face. There might be something she could do about this. But it was risky, and the consequences could be terrible if things went wrong.

“It’s going to be okay.” Melinda said.

“No it AIN’T gonna be okay. Gary’s gone. He’s gone from this world!” Amy’s voice rose in pitch as she spoke. “I gotta go. I gotta go home now!”

Melinda ushered Amy out with a big squeeze and closed the door behind her.

After Amy left, Melinda thought back to an experience she had with Gary a few weeks earlier. She remembered the experience vividly, because it had been so odd.

* * *

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Gary had a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His mind was sharp, and he was always full of interesting surprises.

This afternoon, as he and Melinda lounged in the living room of their shared apartment, he looked distracted. “Can you keep a secret, Melinda?” He said. His eyes were bright. “I want to show you something, but you have to promise never to tell anyone about it.”

“What do you want, a pinky swear??” said Melinda, laughing.

“I’m quite serious,” said Gary. “I’ve already decided to show you this, but it is important that you do not talk about it with anyone. The consequences could be world-changing, to say the least.”

“World-changing, huh?” Melinda replied.

“Come on, let’s go.” said Gary. “We have to go over to Mom and Dad’s house.” They walked out and got in Gary’s Honda Accord and set off down the road.

Soon they arrived at Gary’s parents’ house. He had a room in the basement that was his personal lab space. There was a desk in the corner that had a computer and a laser printer on it.

Melinda noticed that the computer was already running when they came into the room. A hole covered with duct tape covered the spot where the power switch was supposed to be.

The computer was plugged into a large bulky piece of equipment that looked to be about the size of a dishwasher. Gary pointed to it and explained that it was a high capacity battery. “This battery can keep this computer running for more than a week if we lose electric power here,” he explained. “It is important that the computer stay running all the time.”

Gary switched on the printer. It immediately printed a sheet of paper. He picked up the paper without looking at it, folded it in half so that the printed part was not visible, and placed it on the desk. He smiled mysteriously.

“What’s on the paper, Gary?” Melinda asked with a peevish tone.

“ I don’t know what the paper says on it,” Gary replied. “But I have discovered a way to send messages to myself in the past.”

“Oh, really,” Melinda said, with obvious doubt. “So how do you do that?”

Gary said, “There is nothing magic about it. I discovered a chemical reaction that sends a small amount of energy backward in time. The details are not important here, but the reaction can be repeated in such a way that I can send information back as far as I want to go. I have it connected to my email address, so I see it as a specially formatted email in my inbox.”

“That’s crazy!” Melinda said. “Time only flows in one direction, and that is forward! So you are saying you can actually get email from yourself in the future?”

“That’s exactly what I am saying,” Gary said. “Why don’t you think of a message to send, and I’ll send it back to ourselves a couple of minutes in the past. Just give me a short phrase.”

Melinda thought for a few seconds. “Carpe diem,” she said.

“How interesting,” Gary replied. “I do my best to enjoy the present. But now we are interacting with the recent past.”

“Don’t you mean that we are going to interact with the recent past?” Melinda said.

“We already did,” Gary replied. “Or at least, the people we used to be did.”

“What do you mean, the people we used to be?” Melinda was puzzled.

“Pick up the paper on the desk and read it,” Gary said.

Melinda picked up the paper and unfolded it. She read the words in astonishment. The paper had a single phrase on it: “Carpe diem.”

“How did you know I was going to give you that message to send?” she asked, her voice incredulous.

“I didn’t.” Gary said. “But we already sent the message back. The printer printed the message as soon as I switched it on.”

“I don’t remember us sending the message back.” Melinda said, more confused than ever.

“Of course not,” Gary replied. “We are not now the version of ourselves who sent the message back. But we sent it back, nonetheless.”

“How can the printer print out a message we never sent?” said Melinda. “Oh, never mind, I get it. We did send it, but then we didn’t need to send it, because we had already sent it. This really messes with my head.”

“When you send information backward in time, cause and effect can come in reverse order,” Gary said. “We don’t have any verb tenses that apply to this situation, so it is confusing to talk about what is happening.” He smiled.

“Is there a version of us that sent the message back?” asked Melinda. “Is that version of ourselves standing around in the future wondering how long it is going to take for us to figure this out?”

“No.” Gary replied. “I have experimented with this technology enough to understand that our timeline gets changed, not branched. We become the people with the experiences that match what happened to us, but there is not a parallel timeline where there is a different version of ourselves with different memories. The past history timeline gets reset by the events that happen because of the messages we send back.”

“How far back can you go?” asked Melinda. “Can you send yourself a message ten years in the past?”

“I can only go back to the date I set up the machine,” Gary said. “That was on July 19, 2014, about ten months ago.”

“So have you been busy sending stock market quotes or horse race outcomes to your past self?” Melinda said with a mischievous tone.

“I don’t know what impact such changes in the past would have on our world,” Gary said. “I do not want to take any chances on creating unintended consequences. You can’t either. That is why I told you that you can’t tell anyone about this. If this secret gets out, people will do things that cause things to happen that nobody can predict.”

“Okay,” Melinda said. Her face showed her disappointment. “I was getting visions of taking you on a trip around the world with my stock market gains!”

“I love you, Banana Cream, but we can’t do things like that.” Gary said. He was always coming up with cute little pet names for her that he only used once. She got a tingly feeling when he did that.

“I’ve seen enough,” Melinda said. “You are the smartest man on planet earth. That’s why I love you so much!”

“That’s doubtful,” he replied.

“What? You don’t believe I love you so much?” She loved digging at him that way. It always got a reaction from him.

Gary was flustered. “You know perfectly well that’s not what I meant.” But he smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. For her, it was like the pleasure of taking clothes out of the dryer, multiplied by a hundred. She felt a warm tingle in her stomach that was becoming delightfully familiar.

* * *

Late Saturday evening, June 27, 2015

Melinda’s mind drifted back to the present. Amy had left a few minutes before. Melinda could not help the tears and sobs that continued to come. But she felt a sense of hope and determination as she considered her next moves. She got ready for bed, turned off the light, and crawled between the sheets. She could not sleep. She turned over, tried one position, tried another position, then gave up. She got up, turned on the light, found a pad of paper and a pen, and began to write some notes. Her heart beat faster as she considered whether there was a way to undo the disaster that had befallen them. There were lots of unanswered questions, but her grief was giving way to a sense of hopefulness. She got back in bed and fell asleep.

When Melinda woke up the next morning, she felt like a woman on a mission. She dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. She grabbed the pad and pen she had used the night before and set out to retrace Gary’s route from the previous day. She got into her Hyundai Sonata, backed up without hesitation, and pulled out onto Highway 36. If all went according to plan, today would be her last day as her current self, with her current memories and experiences. She found the thought disturbing, as well as oddly reassuring. She was excited. A lot depended on how she carried out her plans during the next few hours. She felt a sense of urgency as she drove forward down the highway and into her future, which she expected to be brief.

She did not know Gary’s exact route, but there weren’t many alternatives to get to the visitor center. She drove through Estes Park, and continued along Highway 36 to the point where it joined Highway 34. She continued on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.

When she arrived at the visitor center, she spotted several small round objects attached just under the edge of the roof of the building. Her breath caught as she realized that these were small security video cameras. She went inside and asked where she could find the person in charge of security.

She was introduced to Mickie Reynolds, a woman about her own age. Melinda gave Mickie a wan smiled as she introduced herself and explained what she wanted.

“My boyfriend, whom I love very much, came up here yesterday to enjoy the outdoors here in the mountains,” Melinda explained. “On his way back home…” Her voice caught in her throat. “On his way back home, he somehow drove off the edge of a cliff. He was killed on impact.”

“That’s terrible!” said Mickie. Her eyes softened as she considered Melinda’s story. “Is there some way I can help you?”

“Yes,” Melinda replied. “I am not sure that Gary’s death was a simple accident. I would like to learn everything that I can about the circumstances. I noticed that you have video cameras lining the eaves of your building. May I take a look at the video?”

“Come inside, and I will take you back to the security area,” Mickie replied.

They went into the building. Mickie led Melinda to a plain door, unlocked it, and led her into a small room. One wall of the room was lined with video monitors that appeared to be quite new.

Mickie walked over to what looked like a lectern and opened a cover. The top was covered with knobs in rows and columns, with other dials and buttons as well. She pushed one of the buttons. The displays cleared and began to show video from a different time. “We can see the whole parking lot on this set of monitors,” she said. “I can watch anything that happened at any time during the last two weeks. Do you know about what time Gary would have gotten here?”

Melinda tilted her head with a thoughtful look as she considered the question. “Our apartment is an hour and twenty-five minutes from here. Gary left sometime after 10:00 in the morning. Can we start at 11:30?”

Mickie entered the time on a small pad. The displays changed, showing the short shadows of late morning, with a clock in the corner showing the date and time of the video they were watching. They watched as people came and went in the parking lot.

“What did Gary look like?” asked Mickie.

“He is about 5’9” tall. His hair is dark brown and a little bit wavy. His eyes are… were… blue. He had a medium build that was a little bit on the thin side. Just look for the most handsome man in the parking lot!” Melinda said. Her eyes grew shiny with moisture that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Mickie smiled. “I am going to set this to run at a rate of 5 minutes of our time to one hour of video time. We will have to watch carefully at that speed. Say ‘STOP’ if you see him.” she said.

They watched as people sped around on the video monitors like nervous chipmunks. After a couple of minutes, Melinda pointed and said, “THERE! STOP!” Mickie pushed a button to freeze the video.

“You were right about him being handsome,” she grinned.

As Mickie turned toward Melinda, she saw tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I love him so much,” Melinda said. “He makes my days beautiful and happy. I know I am talking as if he were still here with me, but I can’t seem to help it.”

Mickie waited while Melinda regained her composure. “Are you ready to go on?” she asked gently.

Melinda nodded. Mickie started up the video in real time. Melinda could see Gary standing by a rail near the left side of the parking lot, enjoying the view. The tears threatened to start again as she watched him.

They saw Gary straighten sharply as he looked toward the building. He turned around and started running toward his car, pulling out his keys as he ran. Another man was running toward him. Gary unlocked his car, jumped in, slammed the door, and locked the car, all in one fluid motion. The other man had his hand on Gary’s door. He appeared to be trying to yank the door open and pull him from the car. Gary started the engine and pulled out in a rapid semicircle, his tires leaving marks on the road as he sped away.

The other man was tall and swarthy. He had a husky build, dark curly hair, and expressionless eyes. He ran to his own car and sped away in the same direction that Gary had gone. Mickie rewound the video and paused it, freezing the frame on the best image she could get of the other man. She pressed a button to print the image. She repeated the same procedure with the man’s car, a Mazda Miata with a license plate number that was clearly visible in the photo.

The photos came out more clearly than Melinda expected. She thanked Mickie for her help and hastened out to her car.

As she drove back toward Estes Park, she passed a scenic turnout called Rainbow Curve Overlook. She saw skid-marks leading into the oncoming lane and over the edge of the road into a sheer drop. She was fairly sure she had found the place where Gary had died. Who was the man chasing him, she wondered. She was going to do her best to find out.

She backed up a few dozen yards to the pullout, parked her car, and walked down to the place where she believed Gary’s car had skidded off the road. She pulled out her phone and used her map software to mark the exact spot and get the coordinates. When she got back to her car, she wrote down the latitude and longitude from her phone on her notepad: 40.399341, -105.667083. Then she continued driving toward Estes Park.

She went directly to the local police station. She didn’t know who she would talk to there, but she hoped to find someone who was on the scene during the investigation of the accident that had killed Gary.

The receptionist that she talked to at the police station was also the police dispatcher. Melinda told her story and asked if she could put her in touch with the officer who had worked the case. The dispatcher remembered the call from the day before. She told Melinda that the officer who had worked the accident was David Withers.

“He is out on patrol. He should be back for a shift change in about 20 minutes,” said the dispatcher.

Melinda sat down to wait for him to come back. As she was waiting, she took out her pen and pad and reviewed the things she had learned so far.

She looked up as a tall man in a police uniform came in the door. He glanced at Melinda as he walked by. Melinda put her pen and pad away and looked at the officer expectantly.

“David,” called the dispatcher. “I’d like you to meet Melinda Fielder. She is hoping to talk to you about the fatal accident you worked out on Trail Ridge Road yesterday. The man that was killed was Melinda’s boyfriend.”

A creased formed between his eyes as he pressed his lips together. “I am sorry about your boyfriend’s accident,” he said. “How can I help you?”

“I was hoping you could give me the information you have about the circumstances of the accident,” Melinda said. “Also, I have some information that I would like to share with you. There was another man involved. I would like to know more about the other man.”

“You can call me Officer Withers,” he said as he shook hands with her. “Come back to my desk with me.”

Melinda took out her notepad, tore off the sheet she had used to summarize her notes, and handed it to the officer, along with the photos of the unknown man and his car. The officer entered the license plate from the photo of the Mazda Miata into his computer and read the report he got back. “The Mazda is registered to a Jacob Romero. His last known address is in Denver. Let me check NCIC.” After a moment, he said, “The man is wanted for questioning in connection with a murder in Denver, but he has not been charged. He is also wanted on warrants regarding suspected drug trafficking. Do you know anything more about him?”

Melinda shook her head. “All I have are the two photos that the security officer printed for me from the security video at the Alpine Visitor Center.”

“Well, that’s more than we had before. I will scan these photos and add them to the information in NCIC. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Yes,” said Melinda. “I would like to get copies of the pictures that I gave you of the man and his car, and a copy of my notes that I gave you. It would help me if you could give me a copy of your accident report.” She wrote “Jacob Romero, Denver” on a new page on her notepad.

Officer Withers left to make copies of everything she had asked for and brought them back. “Here you go. I’m really sorry about your boyfriend.”

Melinda had a hard time holding back the tears. “Thank you,” she said. She gathered everything up, shook hands with Officer Withers, and left the station.

As Melinda drove back to Lyons, she thought about the information she had gathered. She thought of Gary and the way he loved every minute of his life. I want to give Gary as much information as I can to help him avoid this tragedy, she thought to herself. I can’t think of anything else I might be able to get that he could use. There is no use putting this off.

She drove to Gary’s parents’ house. She slipped in and made her way down to the basement. She composed her message to Gary. She hovered the mouse pointer over the button marked “Send.” I can’t undo this if I make any mistakes, she thought. But I can’t think of anything else I need to do. She tried not to overthink it. She took a deep breath, her heart hammering. She closed her eyes and pressed the button. She had a vague feeling like she was in a Star Trek transporter beam just as she was being converted to energy in the pattern buffer… and then… oblivion.

* * *

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Gary checked his email on his phone several times a day. It was important to keep up with his colleagues for his job, to touch base with friends, and most importantly, to stay in touch with Melinda. He was so madly in love with her that it was hard to breathe sometimes.

He sat up straight with a start. There was an email message that had originated from the future! The email claimed to come from Melinda. He thought about calling her and asking her about it, and then he felt very foolish. He realized she would not know anything about it. The actions of the Melinda of the future who had sent the message would be unknown to the Melinda of the present. So, there was no way she could know anything about the message, or what it said. He read the message again, finding it very difficult to believe what it was telling him.

Melinda Fielder

June 28, 2015

Dear Gary,

I am writing this message to you filled with grief, but I am also hopeful. I am going to send this message to arrive to you on Thursday, June 25, to give you a little time to decide what you are going to do.

You will know this message is genuine because you are familiar with the technology you invented to make messages like this possible. I, of course, will know nothing about it. It is just as well that you never tell me.

Yesterday, you were killed as you drove off of a cliff in the mountains. I am giving you some information about the incidents surrounding your death so that you can take steps to prevent it.

Here is what I know about the circumstances of your death.

You went alone to spend time in the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. You went to the Alpine Visitor Center, arriving there a few minutes before noon. While you were there, you spotted a man named Jacob Romero, who lives in Denver. I have attached to this message a photo of this man, and a photo of his car showing the license plate. I am sure that you already know him from some unfortunate encounter you must have had with him in the past.

The man in the photo is a criminal involved in drug trafficking in this area. He is wanted for questioning in connection with a murder in Denver. I don’t know what your involvement was with him, Gary, but he started chasing you as soon as he saw you, appearing to want to hurt you. You escaped and took off in your car, but he left in his car right behind you. As he chased you down Trail Ridge Road, heading back toward Estes Park at high speed, you must have rounded the hairpin at the Rainbow Curve Overlook, crossed into the oncoming lane, and then plunged off the cliff on the outside of the curve, falling several hundred feet to your death.

I didn’t know myself how much I love you until fate snatched you away from me. You have no idea how precious you are to me. Please take whatever steps are necessary to protect yourself from harm. Take yourself back from death for me, Gary. Don’t let this happen.

Love and kisses,

Melinda

Gary read the message again with great care. He was impressed with the detail she had gathered in the short time she had to investigate.

Gary had encountered Jake, the man in the photograph, a few weeks back. He had trouble finding parking for a building downtown where he had some business, so he had to park a few blocks away. He passed by an alley and heard a voice shouting as he passed. He glanced into the alley and saw two men facing off a little less than half a block away. “Jake,” one of the men shouted, “what do you expect me to do? I am getting the money together as fast as I can.” The other man was tall, with a dark complexion. Gary saw the man reach to his side and slice upward with something in his hand. The other man grabbed his throat, fell to the pavement, and lay still. The man who had been called Jake glanced around and spotted Gary. He began to run toward Gary, so Gary turned and ran into the nearest building, which was a large retail department store. Gary managed to elude Jake in the store. He went to his car and drove to the nearest police station. He was interviewed by the police about what he had seen. The police told Gary that they did not know who Jake was, but that they might need Gary later as a material witness, so they recorded his name and contact information. The police later informed Gary that they had found the man dead in the alley where Gary said the incident took place. They opened a murder investigation and soon cleared Gary of any suspicion in the incident. Because of this brief experience with the man named Jake, and based on what Melinda had written in her note, Gary concluded that Jake had noted Gary’s appearance carefully enough to know who he was on sight.

For the rest of Thursday and all of Friday, Gary puzzled over what he should do in response to the foreknowledge of the circumstances surrounding his death on Saturday. He did not want to let Jake’s choices determine his plans. He was not going to allow himself to be pushed into a life of fear because of the actions of this horrible man.

When Saturday morning came, Gary decided to follow through with his original plan to go to the visitor center in the mountains. He got up, dressed, ate breakfast with Melinda, and hugged and kissed her on the way out the door. He had decided not to tell her anything about the message that she had sent back to him from the next day.

Gary left their apartment a few minutes before 10:00 in the morning. He passed through Estes Park and continued on Trail Ridge Road into the mountains. Eventually he encountered Rainbow Curve Overlook, the hairpin turn that Melinda had mentioned in her message.

Gary continued on to the visitor center. He got out and began walking around the parking lot. It is a beautiful day, Gary mused. Too bad some maniac is going to come along and ruin it. How odd it feels to have knowledge regarding what is about to happen.

Gary straightened sharply as he looked toward the building. Another man, who he recognized as Jake, was running toward him. He turned around and started running toward his car, pulling his keys out as he ran. Gary unlocked his car, jumped in, slammed the door, and locked the car, all in one fluid motion. Jake was trying to yank open the door to Gary’s car. Gary started the engine and pulled out in a rapid semicircle, his tires leaving marks on the road as he sped away.

He could soon see Jake speeding up behind him. Here we go, Gary thought. He increased his speed on the straightaway, and rounded several corners at high speed. Gripping the steering wheel with sweaty palms, he slowed slightly as he approached and rounded the hairpin turn at the Rainbow Curve Overlook. He pulled the steering wheel hard over and veered sharply toward the inside of the curve. He accelerated a little as he began to straighten out. Meanwhile, Jake had not slowed at all. Gary glanced at his rear-view mirror and saw that Jake was fighting for control of his car. As Gary flashed past an oncoming car, Jake, in close pursuit, veered into the oncoming lane on the outside of the curve, lost control, and plunged off the edge of the cliff into the abyss.

Even though Gary was horrified at the calamity, he breathed a sigh of relief as he braked to slow his car to the speed limit. It took him a few minutes to calm down and breath normally. I did it, he thought. Melinda’s message saved my life! His hands were shaky and his pulse was still racing as he drove on through Estes Park, and then continued on towards the apartment that he shared with Melinda in Lyons. He was growing calmer. He considered again whether to share this experience with Melinda. He decided not to tell her.

When he arrived at the apartment, he found Melinda dressed in sweats, busy with household chores. She was surprised to see him back so soon. “I thought you were not coming back until late afternoon!” she said. “But since you are here, can you bring that basket of laundry to the laundry room? I was just about to start washing a load of clothes.”

Gary carried the basket and followed her to the laundry room. He emptied the basket into the washer and started the wash cycle. Then he turned around, grabbed Melinda, and swept her into a big hug. “I love you so much, my prophet!” he said.

“You’ve called me a lot of things, but prophet is not one of them,” Melinda said. “What am I prophesying?”

“You are prophesying that I will love you for ever and ever and ever and ever.” Gary exclaimed. “How would you like to change into that white cotton dress with the blue and green flowers on it? I want to take you to an early dinner at the Black Cat.”

“Oh wow!” said Melinda. “You know I love that place! What’s the occasion?”

“I am happy to be alive… with you as my love. I want to go somewhere fun and exciting with you this afternoon. I want to get you foie gras, apple and mâche salad, seared ribeye paired with a mild but savory cabernet, chocolate cake, pistachio, chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream, poached cherries, and...” Gary said.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Melinda interrupted. “You’re making me crazy! Let’s go!”

Gary smiled like only a man who has narrowly escaped death can smile. He was happy as he drove forward to get a fabulous dinner and to continue a rich and wonderful life together with the woman he loved. Carpe diem, he thought to himself. now.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.