“Let me drive.”

            Joe shrugged his shoulders and threw the car keys to his sixteen-year-old brother Sam. He grinned as Sam climbed into the driver’s seat of Joe’s red 1990 Pontiac Sunbird. Joe frequently offered to let Sam drive his car, but Sam usually refused. Sam preferred Joe drove whenever the two of them went anywhere together.  

            “What’s the deal? Dying of cancer and it’s your last wish to drive big brother’s car?” Joe laughed as he got in the car and slammed the door.

            Sam turned and looked at Joe and smiled. “Not exactly. It’s just the right time, Joe. That’s all.” Sam started the car and looked forward, away from his brother. “You know how much I love you, right Joe?”

            “What are you talking about, you dork?”

            “It’s just that sometimes I don’t get a chance to tell you how much you mean to me. I couldn’t ask for a better big brother. Oh sure, you annoy the crap out of me…”

            Joe reached over and shoved Sam against the car door. “You need to stop this kind of talk, Sam. I’m gonna start thinking that you are either ready for the looney bin or hitting on me. Are you that desperate for a date?”

            Making exaggerated kissing noises, he leaned over towards Sam. Laughing, Sam pushed him away, yelling, “I’m not that kind of guy!”

            Eventually, Sam drove away from the curb, both of them laughing and talking about their day at school, Joe’s graduation next week and plans for college, and future goals for happiness and success. Sam and Joe were trying to decide between pizza and hamburgers for lunch when the pick-up truck hit them head on.

Joe sat in the passenger seat, unconscious. Despite a broken leg and multiple contusions, he would live.

Next to him was Sam. He had suffered more serious injuries. His back was broken and he had multiple broken bones. He was barely conscious. Sam opened his eyes, and turned to look at his brother. He knew Joe would be okay. A mix of blood and tears flowed down Sam’s cheeks. Sam felt himself slipping away. He knew he was going to die. He smiled. It had worked.

 

“Close your eyes and make a wish!”

Sam Michaels blew out the candles on his birthday cake that sat in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw the smoke swirling above the large sheet cake. Wax dripped from the forty candles onto the cake, lacing the frosting with droppings of waxy remnants of moments from each year of Sam’s life. With deft aptitude, Jody, his wife of twenty-five years, quickly plucked each year from their icy plot. Hollow sweet nothings dared to shout to the iciness around them while cold, thin carcasses of what was, lay on the table—discarded.

“What did you wish for daddy?”

Sam smiled at Danielle, his ten-year-old daughter. “If I told you, it wouldn’t come true.”

He glanced at Jody as she began cutting his cake. Jody looked up, met his gaze briefly. She knew. She knew his wish. It was the same one that he had made for the past twenty-four years. She also knew it was one that he would never receive. She smiled back sympathetically. Sam turned away from her.

Sam left the cake, the celebration, the laughter, and wandered through the house towards his den. With a sigh of relief, he closed the door behind him.

“Tough crowd out there, huh pal?”

“I should have known you’d be here,” Sam smirked.

“Figured you’d head in here first chance you got.” Paul handed Sam a beer from behind the bar. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Sam smiled as he took the beer from his best friend. “Thanks. I’ve been wanting this all day.” He took a drink from the bottle. “I hate parties. I hate birthdays.”

Paul placed a small gift on top of the bar.

“And I hate presents,” Sam finished.

“Go on,” Paul said, “open it.”

Sam looked at his friend as he sat across from him at his own bar. “Paul, seriously. I hate this whole day. I just want it to disappear. I don’t want a gift, even from you.”

“This, you will want,” Paul insisted.

Sam sighed and opened the small box. Inside was a business card. Printed in black letters on white cardstock were the words: ReTry Inc

Sam looked up at Paul. “What is this?”

“The only thing you have ever wanted.”

“I don’t understand.”
            “You will,” Paul said.

“What am I supposed to do with this, Paul?” Sam asked, flipping the card over and over. There was nothing on the card except the name.

“You don’t have to do anything. They will contact you.”

“For what? About what? I don’t get it!”

Paul smiled.

“There you are! I figured you two would be hiding in here. Sam, everyone is looking for you,” Jody said as she opened the door to the den.

Sam stuck the card in his pants pocket.

“You know me, Jody. Always looking for an out,” Sam said.

“Always willing to help,” Paul added.

“Can’t leave you boys alone for a second. Come on, put on your play-nice-with-others face and get out here,” she said kindly.

“Come on pal, we’ve been kicked out of the Garden of Eden,” Paul laughed as he walked out of the den.

Sam followed his friend, leaving his beer on the bar. “How come I always have to be Eve?”

 

“It’s too late.”

“What?”

“It’s too late to catch Fed Ex this morning, Mr. Michaels. If you want that report to go out today, I will have to call them back for a special pick up.”

“Oh. Ok, Janet. Yes. Please do that.”

“Are you ok Mr. Michaels? You seem, well…a little distracted today.”

“What? No. I mean, yes, I’m okay. Thanks for asking.” Sam walked back into his office. He sat down in his chair and looked out his window over the skyscrapers of the looming city. They felt cold, impersonal. All his life he strived to make his company one that stressed the importance of each individual. He turned back to his desk and looked at the pictures of his family on his desk. His wife, his daughter. He cherished them. He had everything any man could want. A beautiful wife, a wonderful daughter. Still, there was an emptiness inside of him that they could not fill. He felt guilty feeling this way.

“Mr. Michaels,” Janet’s voice said from the intercom on Sam’s desk, “you’re one o’clock appointment is here.”

Sam was sure that he did not have an appointment at one o’clock today. He looked at his computerized appointment book and was surprised to see RE-TRY INC in the time slot.

“All right, Janet, have them come in.”

Sam rose to greet the man entering his office. He looked like he could be one of his own employees, Sam thought. A young man, perhaps in his early thirties, he was dressed in a blue business suit, white shirt, and simple blue tie. There was nothing distinguishing about the man. Sam could have passed him in the hallway, on the street, in an airport, and thought nothing of it.

“Hello, I am Sam Michaels,” he said, extending a hand towards the stranger.

“Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Michaels,” the stranger said, simply taking a seat in front of Sam’s desk, without shaking his hand.

Sam lowered his hand. “Just who are you?”

“I am from Re-Try, Incorporated. I am here to discuss your birthday present from Paul Norman.”

Sam sat down and looked across his desk. “And what is your name?”

“My name is irrelevant. What is relevant is the service we have to offer you.”

Sam examined the stranger. Outwardly, he was quite average looking. However, it was becoming obvious that this man was all business. Still, Sam was intrigued with this company and wanted to know more about Re-Try, Inc.

“All right, then. Tell me more about your company. What is Re-Try?”

“What is your birthday wish, Mr. Michaels?”

Sam stared at the stranger.

“What is your birthday wish, Mr. Michaels?”
            “Look, I am not going to play silly little games with you. If that what this is all about, I think you should just leave,” Sam said as he started to rise.

“It’s to see your brother again, isn’t it?”

Sam turned pale and fell back into his chair.

“We can make that happen.”

“How? How can you make that happen? He’s dead. He died twenty-four years ago.”

“There are ways.”

Sam was silent for a moment. “Look, if this is some holographic, mind-induced memory moment thing, I am not interested. I’ve done that before. It was great while it lasted, but it fades. It doesn’t stick.”

“This is the year 2020, Mr. Michaels. Our technology is far advanced beyond ‘holographic, mind-induced memory moment things.’ I am talking about actually seeing your brother. Telling him those things you never got the chance to tell him.”

“How? How can you do this?” Sam’s mind was spinning. “He died. Died in a car accident. I was there. I was in the passenger seat. He was only eighteen-years-old, for Christ’s sake!”

“And you were sixteen.”

“He was going to go to college in the fall.”

“You were still in high school.”

“He didn’t deserve to die!”

“You believe you didn’t deserve to live.”

Sam looked away from the stranger. “Are you saying I can go back in time?”

“Yes. You can go back to the day that your brother Joe died. Relive that day, if you choose. You can tell him the things you wish you would have told him.”

Sam turned and looked the stranger in the eyes again. “Can I tell him not to drive? Can I prevent his death?”

“There are consequences.”

“What does that mean?”

“For every death prevented, another must occur. It is the law of balance. You would be causing the death of someone else, somewhere in the world.”

“I…I can’t be responsible for someone else’s death.”

“It is a choice you choose if you prevent your brother’s death.”

After a moment, Sam said, “All right. I wish to go back to that day. I want to see my brother. What do I need to do?”

“Come with me.”

 

“It’s time to go.”

“Yeah, I’m starving!” Sam said, reaching for the keys to the family car.

“Let’s take my car,” Joe chimed in as he walked out the door.

Sam ran after his brother, towards the driveway. Joe was heading for his car, ready to drive his little brother to one of their favorite spots for lunch.

They had just spent the morning looking at college brochures with their parents. Joe was trying to choose a college for this fall. He wanted to remain local and his parents were pushing him to choose something more prestigious. Joe’s argument was that his family and friends were in town. He didn’t want to move away from them. His parents argued that he would make new friends. His family would always be here and he could come home to visit. “You have to spread your wings, Joe,” his father told him. Joe’s reply was always, “What if I fall and break my wing?”

In the end, Joe told his parents that his education was important to him, but so was his family. “If I can’t have both, then I don’t want both. I can get a good education and be with you at the same time. What is wrong with that?”

There was nothing wrong with that. His parents agreed.

Joe reached for the handle of his car as he heard Sam say, “Let me drive.”

 

“It’s that time.”

The class groaned. “Do we have to?” asked one twelve-year-old girl at the front of the class.

“Well no, Tiffany. We don’t have to review the results from last week’s test to see how you did. We can just live in the world of unicorns and rainbows, pretending that everything is perfect and nothing in the real world matters.”

“Yeah!” the class yelled in unison.

The teacher smiled. “You are all pathetic.”

“You like us that way!” said another student.

“Ok, I will make a deal. We can postpone going over the tests for a day if you guys can actually discuss history for the rest of the class period.”

“I have a history question,” a student said from the back of the room.

“Oh, this should be good. Go ahead, Kelly.”

“If you could go anywhere in time, where would you go Mr. Michaels?”

Joe paused briefly. He felt the pang and choked it down. He knew the answer without thinking, but obviously could not tell his class. “I would go to Europe in the middle of the 14^th century. Does anyone know why?”

Several hands sprung up. Joe smiled. “Kelly.”

“The Black Death!”

“Right. Also called the?” He pointed at John.

“The Bubonic Plague.”

“Good. What was the cause?” More hands. “Linda.”

“Rats!”

“Close. Fleas, carried by the rats. Rats were everywhere.”

“Does anyone know how many people died from the plague?” No answers. “Up to two-third of the European population. And it spread to Asia, killing around 75 million people. Jennifer?”

“Why would you want to go there, Mr. Michaels? Everyone was dying!”

He grinned. “Hmmm…why would I want to travel back in time to see The Black Death? Well, why do you think they called it the Black Death? Any idea?”

The class did not have any ideas.

“If you caught the disease, your blood vessels would rupture beneath the surface of your skin causing a bruise. You would have so many of these your skin would turn black. Lymph nodes would swell at the neck and armpits. Their lungs would fill with fluid and eventually they would choke on their own blood. How cool is that?”

“Ewwwww!” permeated the room, mostly from the girls, along with a few “Cool’s” from the boys.

“Mr. Michaels, you are sooo disgusting!” Jennifer yelled.

“And maybe next time you won’t complain about reviewing your tests.” He smiled as class time ended.

“See you tomorrow! We’ll review your tests at the beginning of class!” His class filed out the door past him.

He closed the door behind them. Good kids, he thought to himself. The kind that makes teaching worthwhile.

He heard the door open behind him and saw the man in the blue suit enter. Wondering if he was an administrator or a parent, he said, “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to help you, Mr. Michaels.”

“If you’re peddling textbooks, the office buys those for my classroom. I don’t have any input. I wish I did, but I don’t. Sorry.”

“I’m here to present a gift to you from a close friend.”

“A gift? What’s this about?” Joe stopped to think. His birthday was last week. He had turned forty and his wife and two children had had a simple dinner out together. He did have a phone call from his college classmate Ian. They had reminisced for a while and he mentioned that he was sending him something. Could this be it?

“Ian? Is this from Ian? What’s that fool done now?”

“Let’s just say he is providing you the opportunity you have only imagined a thousand times before,” the stranger said.

“All right. What’s the deal? Steak knives? Season pass to the game?” Joe laughed.

“The opportunity to travel anywhere in time you choose. The opportunity to travel to the one moment in time you most desire.”

Joe stepped backwards towards his desk and leaned against it. “You’re joking.”

“I don’t joke.”

“You mean, really…travel. Go there.”

“Yes. You can go back to that day. You can go back to the day your brother Sam died. You can tell him all the things you wanted to tell him. The things you wished to had said to him.”

“He was only sixteen-years-old.”

“You were eighteen.”

“He was just a kid in high school!”

“You were on your way to college.”

“He didn’t deserve to die!”

“You believe you didn’t deserve to live.”

“It’s not right that he had to die. It’s not fair,” Joe said.

“Life is not fair, Mr. Michaels. We offer the opportunity to make it, well, a little more equitable.”

“What if…what if I tell him not to drive? What if I don’t let him drive? Can I save his life?” Joe asked.

“There are consequences,” the stranger answered.

“What does that mean?”

“For every death prevented, another must occur. It is the law of balance. You would be causing the death of someone else, somewhere in the world.”

“I…I can’t be responsible for someone else’s death. I could never do that.”

“It is a choice you choose if you prevent your brother’s death.”

Joe paused. “Okay. I’ll go. I’ll go back to that day. I want to see Sam. Now what?”

 “Come with me.”

 

“Time’s up!”

“I said I was coming! It’s not like you would leave without me!” yelled Sam.

“Oh yeah? Don’t bet on it!” Joe yelled back from the kitchen. He looked at the stack of college brochures they had just poured over this morning. He piled them into a corner.

Looking around the house, he gazed at the pictures on the walls. He saw Sam and him growing up together. Little boys turning into young men.

“Okay Joe, I’m ready to go,” Sam said reaching for the family car keys.

Joe held up the keys to his own car in his hand, showing them to Sam. “Let me drive.”

--THE END--