"Billy, you're kinda scaring me. " She said.
"Good. " I answered. "That's my intent. Lisa Sanchez will be part of the group that gets in that car. Her boyfriend will be another college student named Rick Manchester. "
"Lisa Sanchez?" Tracy asked. "She's a cheerleader. I don't hang out with her. "
"You will. " I told her. "I'm giving you the names of all the people in the car so that you'll know when the time comes, that my information is accurate. I'm hoping that will be enough to keep you out of there. If you can keep Lisa out of there too, so much the better, but the important thing is that YOU do not get in that car on that night. "
I was gratified to see that she was scared shitless by what I was saying. Good. I figured she would obey me even a year and half later when all of the circumstances that I described came together. At least I hoped she would.
"What happens if I get in the car?" She asked me.
"Dave will be drunk that night. " I said. "He will drive the car into the Spokane River from the levee road near the falls and you and Lisa will drown before you can get out. " I took a deep breath, tears forming in my eyes as I remembered my mother coming to my bedroom at four o'clock in the morning in tears, waking me up to tell me that there'd been a horrible accident. Please, let me be successful here. There was more to the story of course. Dave would be charged with vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. His sentence would be suspended and he would go on to play football in college, prompting my parents to become victim's rights activists; a pursuit they'd still been active in at the time of my recycling.
Tracy was looking pale as she tried to digest what I was telling her. "Bill, how can you know this? Where did you get this information? Did you have a psychic flash or something?"
"I can't tell you now. " I told her. "It's too early. I'll tell you later if I can. "
"But… "
"Tracy, just remember. " I said. "Just remember and don't get in that car that night. "
"I won't. " She promised.
I smiled and nodded. If I was only here for one day then I'd done the best I could do. If I woke up tomorrow back in 1999 then Tracy would probably still be alive. That would be the best purpose of the gift I'd been given.
Although getting laid had been nice too.
I made sure my alarm clock was set for the proper time and turned it on. I then lay down and turned out the lights. For the longest time I still couldn't sleep, fearful of what I'd find upon awakening. But at last my mind was able to shut down and I drifted off.
CLICK. "So if you're tired of the saaaaame old story. Ohhhhh, turn some pages. I'll be here when you are ready, to roll with the changes…" Came the voice of Kevin Cronin from my clock radio the next morning. REO Speedwagon. Another blast from the past. A song I hadn't heard in years. My eyes opened and I saw the now familiar confines of my teenaged bedroom. I was still here! I felt like shouting with joy. Still here!
Tracy was looking someone haggard as she combed her hair at her desk. Her face was pale and her eyes had bags beneath them. She looked up at me as I headed to the shower.
"Morning Trace. " I told her.
"Morning. " She said slowly, her eyes trying to read my face.
"Sleep well?" I asked her.
"No. " She told me. "I was awake most of the night. When I did sleep I had horrible nightmares. "
I nodded. "I'm sorry about that. " I said. "They'll pass. Just remember what I said. "
"I will. " She told me. "I don't think I could ever forget it. "
"Good. " I muttered, walking to the bathroom and closing the door behind me.
Dad, as usual had the newspaper before him at the breakfast table. As I slurped down my cereal I asked him if I could see the business section.
"The business section?" He asked, raising his brow again.
"Yeah. " I told him. "I'm just curious about something. "
He shrugged and handed it over, going back to his perusal of the front page while I opened my section to the stock market report. I scanned through the list of publicly traded stocks for a few minutes, happening across several that seemed good prospects but, most importantly, not seeing the one that would be an absolute killer investment. I smiled to myself. So it wasn't on the stock market yet. Good.
"Find what you were looking for?" Dad asked as I sat the section back down in his pile.
"I think so. " I told him. "Have you ever considered investing in the stock market?"
He lowered his paper and looked at me, his eyes taking in my face, finally concluding that I wasn't joking. "Not really. " He answered. "I have my pension plan from the school district. The stock market seems like kind of a gamble. "
"In a way it is. " I agreed. "But if you could pick the right stocks and invest heavily in them, you could really make some money, couldn't you?"
"Ahh," He said. "But that's the trick. You have to pick the right stocks. If you pick the wrong ones, your money is down the toilet. It would take either someone with a lot more market savvy than I have or a genuine psychic to make a killing in the market. "
"A genuine psychic huh?" I smiled. Tracy, who had been silent during this exchange, gave me a sharp look.
"But as far as I know, such creatures are rare. " Dad said.
"I suppose. " I said. "But if someone DID have knowledge about which stocks were going to go sky-high in the future, that someone COULD make quite a bit of money. Couldn't they?"
"Well sure. " Dad answered. "It's a nice fantasy. Suppose you knew that say, oh, AT amp;T was going to go through the roof next year. If you knew that, you could invest every penny you had in it. When it skyrocketed, you could sell it off at enormous profit. But unfortunately, we don't know that information, do we?"
"I guess not. " I said, my mind whirring a mile a minute. "But it IS a nice fantasy. "
"So where were you yesterday dude?" Mike asked me as we walked to school that morning. The snow on the ground was almost completely melted and the sun was high in the sky. It was still a little cold but on the whole it was a beautiful Eastern Washington late winter day.
"Oh I met up with Raisin and Lonnie. " I said absently. "We went over to Raisin's house and smoked some buds. "
"Yeah?" He asked, obviously hurt that he hadn't been there.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Debbie was there too. I got to make out with her a little. "
"With Debbie?" He asked. "The cock-tease?"
"That's her. " I affirmed. "She cock-teased me damn near to death. "
He asked for details and I provided him with the story. I knew that would serve to reinforce the story that Lonnie and Raisin would pass around and therefore protect Debbie's reputation.
When I was finished he said, "It's too bad you didn't get to fuck her. " He put on a sophisticated look. "I fucked her once you know. "
"Oh really?" I asked, as if I believed him.
"Yep. At a party at Nick Costigan's one night. I had some weed and she wanted some. I told her she wasn't getting any until she gave up the puss. "
He then went on to describe his mythical session with her. Of course he'd made her come six or seven times until she'd begged him for more. He'd then fucked her up the ass, making her come an additional three or four times before he finally 'shot my wad' in her ass. After that she'd always wanted a repeat performance but he'd always turned her down. She was nice in a pinch he told me.
"How come you never told me about this BEFORE?" I asked, unable to help myself.
He blanched for a minute. I'd just asked a forbidden question. When you were told a pussy story you weren't supposed to question its validity. They might not listen to YOUR pussy stories if you did that.