"Psst, wake up, buddy," Wes whispered and shook Jace lightly. "It's Christmas."
"Mmm… Too early," he mumbled back and pulled at the covers.
"But Santa came. Don't you want to open your presents… Uh, present?"
"We put them under the twelve-inch tall plastic tree last night…"
"Hey, work with me here, this is still a Christmas and we're celebrating it."
Jace opened his eyes, saw that it was just past dawn, and grudgingly got out of the hotel bed and met Wes at the room's desk, where the little tree he had gotten from the nearby dollar store was plugged in, its multi-color lights giving both of them just the slightest feeling of the holiday spirit. Under it were two gifts, wrapped in newspaper.
He knew that it was all just mostly symbolic or something—Wes just had to acknowledge that it was December 25th, 1995—but he would have been perfectly okay with the low effort attempt if it wasn't for the fact that they had spent the last few days just yards away from a giant temporal barrier that might suddenly close in overnight and disintegrate them, or worse. Needless to say, he had been a little stressed.
"Here you go," Wes said and handed Jace his lone present. "Hope you like it!"
He rattled the box first out of instinct, and then promptly tore it open. It was a silver Game Boy Pocket, loose in its original and now beat-up old box. It even had fresh batteries. A smaller, more energy efficient upgrade to the original model, the Pocket had a real black and white screen instead of the original soupy green one.
"Nice, huh?" Wes asked. "It'll make your little growing collection look better, and it's lighter; less bulky. Thing is, it doesn't actually come out for a little while, so you should probably just hide it from the gang. They're… not ready to see it."
"What, why? Wouldn't they just think I was cool for getting it early?"
"Probably too cool, maybe a little suspicious. Better not to take the risk. But, hey, it was a nice find—especially with the box. Got it at the pawn shop in 2020, brought it back and I've been carrying it in my case since. Just so I could give it to you now."
"Well. Thanks. Um, here," he said and handed over an obvious mug.
Wes unwrapped it with a smile to reveal the white porcelain drinking tool, with nice reflective blue writing that proclaimed, "WORLD'S GREATEST UNCLE".
"Aw…" he happy-sighed. After a few moments, he looked at Jace and chortled. "Ah, yeah, this is meant to be ironic, isn't it?"
"If you mean that it's a joke, then yeah."
"I'm rubbing off on you. But I gotta say, I am kind of impressed actually that you found one of these in the 'uncle' variety. They can't be all that common."
Jace smiled a little at the compliment, and then looked back at the window, at the enormous curtain of darkness that threatened to erase them from all space-time.
"Now that we've had our Happy Santa Day… Can we go home? We've been here for a while with that thing outside, and you haven't even learned anything about it."
"Oh, that's not true. I learned that it doesn't appear on camera. Remember when I tried to make a video of it on my iPad? That was a pretty neat discovery, right?"
Jace didn't really think so and Wes also knew that it was time to go home, though he still wasn't up for it himself. He had stalled for as long as he could. Now he had to go back and face whatever or whoever had been taunting him for nearly a month.
Worse, it was inevitable that he would have to reveal a few things to Jace, likely sooner than later. The trip could only ever be a temporary diversion from some rather heavy revelations and his upcoming "Stage Two" plans that involved the kid.
"And have a Merry Christmas, we hope to see you again soon," the desk clerk said once his business with the two guests was concluded.
Wes sighed and looked around at the decorated lobby, filled with garlands, wreaths, and a single large fake tree with shiny wrapped empty boxes underneath. As a kid, he had wished the day could last for one more, maybe two. He suddenly felt that way again. As a time traveler, it seemed like it should have been possible.
"Okay, Jace," he said and tucked his case under his arm. "Back to Royal Valley."
• •
By noon, they had made some distance from San Diego and the outer boundary of their accessible cosmos. Traveling north closer to the middle of the state, they were between two cities and surrounded by a desolate landscape and a nearly empty highway. It was particularly hot and dry out, so it felt more like an Australian Christmas.
Jace looked up from his Game Boy Pocket to check on Wes again. The unending holiday songs playing on the radio no longer seemed to reach him, as he drove with both hands firmly gripping the wheel—in this heat, Jace wouldn't be surprised if they got stuck on the thing. Wes stared straight ahead, looking unusually stressed. A lot must have been on his mind, as he had barely said a word since they left the hotel. The speed limit had also become a suggestion, as he was constantly fifteen to twenty above it.
"Hey, um, Wes… Maybe you should slow down before you get us pulled over. I mean, I guess the roads are pretty empty, but what's the rush?"
Wes eyed him, looked at the speedometer, and let off the gas a little. He also noticed the temperature gauge; the engine had been running a bit hot.
"You okay? Are you worried about seeing the time-eye thing again?"
Jace waited about a minute for a response, before giving up and unpausing his game—and the moment he did, Wes finally muttered listlessly, "Laser tag…"
Jace put Mega Man on hold again and replied, "Huh?"
"I should just tell you. I should let you in on some things about us being here. All of this? All of what we've done so far? It's just about making you a reliable friend to my old ones. We've had time to do that. Good, useful time. Bonding time."
"Oh…kay. But again, what about laser tag now?"
"That's when it all started going wrong. I didn't know it at first, you know? How could I? But that day launched a slow burn chain of events that, from all the calculations I've done, leads to the kind of adult life I had before I came back, to this year. And now, we're almost in 1996, when things will actually start to matter. Where we can start to make a difference. I didn't want the fun times to end, Jace. I didn't want to get serious."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
Their speed picked up a little more again as Wes steadily got more intense. "In a few months, King Arcade has a big park-wide laser tag tournament around sunset, a first annual thing. My team didn't even make it into the top four. We messed up."
"Wait, really? That's what all of this has been leading up to? You've already lost some accomplishments during our visit. Why does this one matter?"
"Because that solid relationship we all have in the gang begins to fall apart after the match. It's not just that my team lost badly. It also has to do with the friends I chose to be in the team of five, and how I treated everyone afterwards. All of our unshakeable friendships began to, well… shake. Right into and through middle school and beyond. Starting to sound familiar at all? Kind of like what might happen with you, right?"
Jace looked down and thought about the remark. "Maybe…"
"Up until now, or more specifically about a couple months from now, it's all been about acclimatizing you to the decade, and making you a reliable friend to my gang. Now we have the tough part coming up. We need you to influence the way my young self makes his team. And I know exactly who we need in it, and who we don't."
"Is this… really so important?"
Wes turned to him and exclaimed passionately, "Yes! It is. And it's not like we can just skip or avoid it anyway. Jared and Zach really wanted to be in, Arthur not as much. But in the end, it was up to me to pick and choose, and I was bad at it."
"Okay. But, still, all of this is a ways off, isn't it?"
"It'll be here before we know it, and we need to get you in a few Bullet Water games to prove to the others that you can shoot. You'll need to go, too, so we have our influence on the game, so someone on the team knows of its importance."
"Oh. Great. So you can blame me when we just make it all even worse."
"It can't be worse, even if we lose again. I originally chose Colin, Sadie, Arthur, and Zach. I promised to share the glory if we won—invite the whole gang to the victory pizza dinner. But even just the selection process they entrusted me with created a rift.
"Colin didn't even want to participate. He was into fighting and racing games, not shooters, or shooting in real life, either. He just liked water guns because it was a way to cool off and he enjoyed making strategies for each block. But I made him, just because he was my best friend. I didn't want to do the tournament without him.
"Sadie is fine, so we can keep her on. But Zach was an idiot—guy went rogue, ran off on his own instead of working on a team because he thought he was some hotshot and could take down an enemy squad on his own. So, we don't want him."
"Y-yeah, I remember his dual Super Soakers way back…"
"He got hit two minutes into the laser tag match. Arthur, I chose because of our Area 51 victory, or what was once a victory. But he just… I don't know what to say, he just didn't perform that well at the match. He was nervous, didn't shoot straight, had trouble with his equipment, even knocked his glasses off once. Kid gets anxiety attacks sometimes. Not a problem with Sadie, though. She was into it and solid as a rock in the few minutes that the rest of us survived, and was the only one that made a few kills."
"We have to swap out Arthur and Zach then…"
"And Colin, but he'll be okay with it. What will be tricky is convincing Wessy to bring in Celeste, what with their… um, our weird history."
"Celeste?! What? Why her?"
"She has freaking eagle eyes. But I never even considered her, and I didn't regret that until much later when I started noticing that all the shooter games in the mall and at the Galaxy Hub… Vanni wasn't the only person with high scores. 'CEL' was also a common initial. I remember when I finally saw her play in late '96 or so, and she hit everything. She has pinpoint accuracy and amazing reaction time, and she makes it all look effortless. I'm serious. I was actually amazed when I saw her tear it up."
"Then we need a way to convince Wessy of her skills. Maybe set up some kind of day out at the arcade together…? Without… turning it into a date? Ugh, that's tough."
"We'll work on that. If you make the suggestion out of the blue, Wessy will think you're crazy. The other kid we want in is Jared. He'll probably just do okay, but I don't want to kick him out of the team a second time. He will really want to be in, and I hate it, but we need to oblige him. Not for a chance at winning, but so we maybe stay friends."
"Why'd you kick him out in the first place?"
"Because I was so obsessed with wanting to win, that I chose Zach over him. I already told you how that ended up. 'Wes, you moron! I would've done a great job!' Jared will tell me. I should've just listened to him, gave him a chance, blah blah… It was never really the same between us after that. He always had something of a grudge."
"Wes, I should've told you this earlier… Jared is jealous of you. Maybe the laser tag match doesn't help, but he's already jealous, and when I asked him how he'd feel if you got to the Toy Run… Um, yeah, he looked pretty pissed off at just the idea."
"Son of a… Of course. That explains a lot. He just never had the guts to admit it when I got back home, and carried that intense jealousy all the way up to…"
"Sounds like most of your adult problems revolve around Jared. Would it be worth it to just not do the Toy Run if it makes him hate you so much?"
"What? No way. Him being an envious little prick is his problem. I'm only going to try and appease him so much. Laser tag team? Fine. Sacrificing the Toy Run? Nope."
Jace saw that Wes had become visibly frustrated just talking about Jared, and had to ask, "Then why try to be friends with him at all, if he just ruins everything?"
"Because…" he sighed. "We still have a history, and our moments together. Sure, we're like rivals sometimes, but we have a lot of good memories, and there's still potential in this future. There's something I might be able to fix."
"And what's that?"
"Kid… He's a big part of my adult life problems." He looked at Jace. "Jared's my boss. He's pretty much the one guy in the gang I still know, and he's my asshole boss."
"Really? In 2020? How did that happen?"
"By high school, we both got into tech and computers—we kinda became nerds, but cool, confident ones. We both majored in that kind of thing in college, and even though we weren't the best of friends anymore by the time we graduated, we decided to try and make our own little software company, as partners. But it fell apart because all we did was argue, about how to run it, and about our personal problems. After that, we both got into the same company that needed a two-person IT department, and he was such an ass-kisser that he advanced past me and basically owned me from then on. And he's never let me live it down since. Every weekday, I go in and I'm at his mercy for eight miserable hours. I think it's basically revenge for him at this point."
"That sounds horrible. So… Jared really is behind your misery, huh…"
Wes did something of a sorrowful shrug. "Most of it."
"But what about all the others? Do you at least still talk to them?"
After hesitating, he replied, "You remember the end of that kids' baseball movie, The Sandlot? When the narrator is saying what happened to everyone on the team, and they all disappear one after another? That's pretty much the scene I'd be setting up if I started talking about the others. I don't know. What good would it do to tell you?"
"I said I wanted to help more kids than just you. But I still want to help you, too. Especially now that I get how badly things suck later on. So, come on, quit keeping so many secrets. If you want my help, you have to let me in on more things."
Wes took about a minute to gather his thoughts before replying, "I have no idea what happened to Zach. He went to my high school and hosted parties, but we never really hung out past middle school. Colin, I still talk to a few times a year online. He lives in Japan, teaching an English class. Crazy, right? Celeste, I also have no idea. We didn't really see each other again after prom. Sadie… We chat sometimes on Facebook. I think she feels as lonely as I do. Couldn't hold onto a boyfriend for more than a few months. She's living somewhere out in Houston and I think she hates her job, too.
"It's not like they were my only friends I ever had, Jace. I made others in high school and college, too. I just never got close to anyone, we always fell out of contact."
"And what about the twins?"
"Hm?"
"Ash and Arthur—you didn't mention them."
"O-oh…" He took a deep breath. "Arthur is secretive because of his job. He went to work for the government, out of state. I'm not sure where exactly. And Ash…" He stared at the endless road ahead and fell into a murmur, "Yeah… She's… Ash is…"
"Wes? What happened to her?"
He looked at Jace again and managed a trembling smile. "Ash is just fine."
"Then why did you get all sad just now?"
"I was just remembering something. That's all. Ash is okay. Really."
"But…"
Wes pressed on the pedal again, and the car struggled to get up to 80. "Look, don't worry about Ash. Don't worry about any of my friends. I'm sure their lives aren't nearly as bad as mine. Not like they get a chance to change any of it. But I do."
"You okay, man? You heading for another freakout here?"
"All that matters, is that I give Wessy a better life by the time he's my age…"
"Yeah, I get that. That's always been your goal." Jace then repeated what Wes had just said in his mind, and realized something. "Wait, what do you mean Wessy?"
Wes gripped the wheel even harder. "I mean… I'm not sure I want to go back."
"Are you crazy? You have to go back! We're returning to 2020 together, right?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. Even if I fix everything about my life, even if doing that replaces my old memories of the last ten years that I've wasted… It's not like I can change the world itself. I'll still be in a time that I mostly don't like. So, maybe I'll stick around for a while in the past after you go home. See the rest of the 90s, watch myself grow up, better than this me, right here in this car did. And then… maybe ten or fifteen years from now, I'll finally use the portal again and come in right behind you. Just, older, hopefully over my insane fascination with my childhood. What difference would it make for you anyway? The time we come out on the other side is fixed, too."
"But you will be a lot older by then! Why do you want to waste your years reliving all the stuff that already happened once? What's so bad about the present?"
"It's not all bad, but there are so many things I miss. I don't smile nostalgically when I reminisce about them, either. I just… I want to see them again. I miss seeing pay phones, even though I never used them. I want to live in a time where authors had to go to libraries to do their research instead of just Googling everything. I miss the classic computer sounds, the art of a good MIDI. Not everyone has a huge TV yet—I liked having a reason to get close and watch the small sets from the floor. Movie trailer voice-over narration, the guy from the Micro Machines commercials, kid snacks that kept trying to get more and more creative, Subway's original weird yellow bread, classic deep dish 90s Pizza Hut pizza, video stores and having to see a new movie release on Friday nights instead of Thursday, and having to call Nintendo Power's help line for video game help. I miss Nintendo Power. I miss video game magazines. Tamagotchis!"
Wes had ranted before, but this one was more intense, faster. Jace was both impressed and a little frightened how he could pull out so many aspects and things from his past, one after another. And he wasn't done yet. After a deep breath, he continued.
"Toy stores, writing to pen pals, the drive-through part of banks—I looked forward to the lollipop the teller would give you if they saw you in the backseat. I miss all the stores that have closed, even if I never went to them. And the connections and physical effort people had to make at stores to secure an item. Blue light specials, getting a worker to special order something, scheduling a pickup, asking questions. All the little things that have disappeared, or became rarities, that you never thought you'd miss."
"Um, Wes…" Jace tried to interject when he noticed something about the car.
"It's not all 90s stuff I miss either, so I wouldn't mind staying longer. From 1998 to 2006, I ran a message board. It had hundreds of members, thousands of posts. I'd love to see that again. Maybe I could even sign up and post once it goes up. And look, it's not like I'm trying to be old and crotchety and say that everything new is bad, but the present doesn't have… this peak analogness of everything, a warm iridescent glow of a light bulb hanging over a dusty CD player. Does that put an image in your head of what I'm trying to convey? I don't want these years to be forgotten, by me or anyone else."
"Yeah, but they're not—nostalgia sells, remember? All the merch, the reboots of 90s shows we got? But never mind that, I think you should look at the car hood."
"I'm just saying that we lost something on a social level in the digital age, and…" He finally noticed the steam coming from the engine, and then looked down at the temperature gauge, which was best described as being at 'Level: Scary'.
"Is the car on fire?" Jace asked. "Maybe it's time to pull over and get out."
"Fine, but I'm not done talking about this. Crap. Must be a coolant leak."
Wes pulled off and they evacuated, both making sure to take their luggage in case the car ignited. Thick vapor was coming out from the seams of the hood, and the owner dared not open it up to take a look. The car had served him mostly faithfully, despite probably always teetering on its last few miles before heading to the scrapyard in the sky.
"Honda makes good cars, but I think her past owner abused her…" Wes sighed and took out his cell phone, as vehicles raced by behind them. "I think we may have to say goodbye here. Not to worry. I'll look into getting a new one when we get back."
"You were riding it pretty hard. I guess it's all that stress. I angry-drive too sometimes, in video games. But how are we going to get home?"
"Los Angeles is just west of those mountains," he answered and dialed a number. "We can just take a regional flight right back to Royal Valley."
"I hope the plane doesn't get lost and take us right through the barrier."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Wes assured.
As he began speaking with AAA to arrange a tow truck pickup and Jace played some roadside Game Boy, he gave his trusty 1987 blue Accord a pat on its roof and thanked it for being his personal DeLorean for the past five months.
• •
Jace stared out at Los Angeles International's big and famous "Theme Building" while Wes took care of something at the ticket counter, its four sweeping white legs keeping the restaurant floating above the terminals as if it were a landed flying saucer. He knew of the building, but always assumed it was just the airport's massive control tower, until Wes corrected him shortly after their arrival just past four in the afternoon.
"That took even longer than I expected," he said after joining Jace at the glass.
"What'd you have to do?"
"Uh… paperwork for some checked baggage. Come on, we have a plane to catch."
Since the security procedures were still easygoing—and there weren't many visitors heading home just yet, it still being Christmas and everything—the checkpoint was a breeze and the two were quickly among the few waiting at the small gate for the equally small regional jet heading to Royal Valley. They looked around at the other fliers to see if any of them were familiar but didn't spot anyone they knew.
Jace got up to check out some very old coin-operated televisions near the windows—he found that to be a really bizarre concept—and then returned to Wes, who looked a little down again. He assumed that this time, he was just sad about the car.
"So… What will happen to the Honda?"
"Huh? Oh. The engine was too far gone. She'll be scrapped, parted out. At least I made a few hundred bucks. Plane tickets are paid for."
"Uh-huh…" Jace muttered and dangled his legs off his chair.
After a few minutes of silence, Wes leaned back and said hesitantly, "I'm going to tell you something. Because I know you won't be able to keep it off your mind."
"O-okay…"
"It's about Ash. Jace, we've had fun here. That's the kind of guy I am. I don't like serious things. I don't like… loss, or talking about it. Maybe that's why I never told you about Tiger, my dog. He'll… go in about a year. Made my 6th grade even crappier than it already was. Ruined me for about a week, too. But that was nothing compared to…"
Jace tightly grasped the fake leather of his airport chair, his heart beating faster. Wes had to take a deep breath and rub his forehead a few times to prepare himself.
"And that's probably… why I didn't mention Ash before you saw her."
"Uncle Wes… W-what… What happens to her?"
"She, ah… She h-had a… a car accident. In our senior year of high school. It, um… It was sudden, and tragic, and happened just after the first semester." He looked at Jace to see him staring back, wide-eyed in disbelief. "I never hung out with her like I did with the others, but still, I knew her, and Arthur was my good buddy, so I saw what it did to him close up. He was… He changed, a lot. He stopped talking to us, to his own parents. Didn't go to prom. Didn't attend graduation. Then disappeared after that. High school was over, welcome to the real world. Let's start off with a brutal sucker punch."
"She can't be… T-tell me… Tell me you changed that. You had to…"
"Of course, I did. Of course! Before I finished up my first visit, I snuck into their house and slipped a cryptic note into her backpack, about not driving on a certain date far in the future—something to that effect. I'm not proud of the delivery, but it worked. Thank God it did. Do you remember how excited I was when I came over that Friday morning in 2020? I was that happy mostly because I changed the past, for the better. I looked her up the moment I returned to my apartment. She's alive and well. Works as a veterinarian in San Fran. I think Arthur still works for the government, but wherever he ended up, I'm sure he's at least happier. But, as of right now, Ash still has her old future. So, I can't leave without giving her a note. I just want to make sure to do it on the same day I did last time, since I know it worked. Maybe… it's even the real reason I'm here."
Wes looked back down at Jace again, still in a degree of shock over all that he just heard. He smiled a little and patted his nephew on the back softly.
Eventually, Jace murmured, "And you originally had to live with that…"
"Yeah. I never fully recovered from it. But I can save her a second time. When I first brought you here, you must've thought I just wanted to have fun and play some games in the past. Now you know… a life is actually at stake, too. And you have to do something for me. Don't look at Ash any differently. Keep being her friend like nothing has changed. I'm sorry I had to tell you something so heavy, on Christmas no less."
"It's… it's not fair. Her life's already half…"
"No, it's not. We'll save her. I already did it once. I'll never let that future happen again. As I said… there are some things I can't sacrifice on this visit."
Jace didn't know what else to say, so he just leaned tiredly against the world's greatest uncle and watched as their plane arrived outside. The road trip was over.
• •
The small jet plane was half-full, and the flight was just under an hour. Wes, in the aisle seat, kept quiet most of the way. From his window, Jace watched the mountains pass by outside and thought about everything. The idea that something terrible could happen to Wessy's friends was pervasive in his mind. It wasn't just the far extreme he was concerned about, as in Ash's case. He liked his uncle's pals, yet rarely gave much thought as to how they ended up and what kind of challenges they'd have in their lives.
Kids had struggles and problems too, sure, but rarely did they seem to compare to the worries that could plague adults, Wes especially. All of those kids would grow up and face true misery at least once in their lives, even though at the moment all they really knew were games and carefree days, at worst a nasty rumor spreading around school, or getting grounded, or failing a test. And Jace realized that those days wouldn't last for him, either. He only had a mere seven years left until he too was an adult.
He saw Ash's smiling, sometimes dorky bespectacled face, and imagined that in a similar timeframe, without Wes' intervention, her cheery disposition would become nothing but a memory, forever growing more distant. He suddenly felt a little older.
Eventually, he also thought of Felicity again, and remembered that he had gotten her a present. He wondered if she had similar thoughts, or 'darker,' more serious ones like he had during the flight, only all of the time. She wasn't all about the daily cultural commentary of her peers, nor their desire to run around outside while being loud. She might really have had something bad happen in her past, as well. Whatever her reason for being unable to connect to anyone else her age, Jace still wanted to try and help her open up. Or at least give her one friend, even if it would only last for a few months.
At early sunset, the lights of Royal Valley appeared below, bathed in a light violet. They touched down at the city's small airport, and after a quick dinner at the also small food court's Burger King that resided between murals of King Arcade and Castle Hill Overlook, Wes collected his special cargo and they took a taxi back to the apartment.
Wes was tired by the time they arrived and didn't pay attention to Millie eyeing them as they returned. But Jace noticed. She was watching from her unit on the other side of the parking lot, the window's curtain at her back. Once her eyes met Jace's, she quickly retreated. Wes stuck his key in, opened the door, and tossed his case on the sofa.
"What are you doing?" Jace asked as soon as he locked the door behind them.
Wes was looking around the place, running his fingers between the cushions of the couch and his hands around the edges of the TV. He checked every corner of the room, and then went into his bedroom to do the same. He seemed paranoid again.
"Really, what are you doing?" Jace questioned again after following him in.
"Checking for cameras, or anything else someone might've put in here."
"Who would do that?"
"Your ninja friend? The time-eyes? Someone else? Heck, I wouldn't put it past Millie's dad. The guy eyeballs me and looks like he has military surplus stuff in a closet somewhere. The point is, we haven't been here in a while, and I'm just playing it safe."
Jace was okay enough with that reasoning and headed back into the living room to check out how some of his favorite early internet sites were doing. There wasn't much out there that attracted him, and what there was had to be tame and more text-heavy than what he was used to, but there were a few proto-blogs out there that he followed, including a couple from some teenagers in Royal Valley itself.
But he couldn't help but notice a few things peculiar with the computer setup. The latches on the bottom of the keyboard that kept it elevated were collapsed, the mousepad was askew, and the floppy disk that he could have sworn was inside the drive when they left was now ejected and lying on top of the beige tower.
"Hey, Wes, were you messing with the PC before we left?" Jace called out as he put the latches back down to fix the keyboard. "I didn't leave it like this."
His uncle soon traversed across the hallway, grabbed a frosted Poptart from the cupboard, warmed it up, and sunk sleepily into the couch, all without answering.
"Wes—seriously, I think someone might've been screwing with our computer," Jace repeated, and checked the internet browser's history; it was completely empty.
"You've always been that way," he murmured, took a bite, and turned on the TV with the remote. "You'll grow up to be the guy at work that wants his workspace perfect."
"Maybe, but I'm being for real here. You were freaked out that the place got bugged, so why wouldn't you believe that someone was using our machine?"
"Why would you even remember how it was set up or whatever?" Wes argued and slouched down into the sofa. "It's been a week. You just forgot things."
"The internet history is empty…"
"So? It didn't last for all eternity like it does in our time. You just want to freak out about something because that's what I've been doing. It's okay. It's been a long day. Chill, and I'll look at it tomorrow. Anything important is password protected anyway."
Now not feeling comfortable playing with Windows 95 tonight, Jace shut it down, joined Wes on the couch and asked, "Can I watch something on the iPad?"
Wes groaned about having to move, but went ahead and slid the tablet out of his case, its ear buds already attached. While the tablet's owner flipped through channels and watched more holiday specials for a few minutes each, Jace scrolled through the downloaded movies on the iPad, eventually settling on the 1990 classic Home Alone.
"Seen that before?" Wes asked a few minutes in after getting a peek and seeing Joe Pesci's character impersonating a cop while the house's many kids ran around.
"Once, when I was younger. Don't remember much about it."
"Always liked the set design, especially in the basement. It feels like a real house. I think over time, Home Alone kind of became 'my' Christmas movie."
"As in… you watch it every year?"
"Some years. My parents were more, uh, religious about their Christmas movies. Mom was a Christmas Story lady, Dad was a Christmas Vacation guy. I always saw both this time of year. They're like the decorations, you don't bust them out in the other seasons."
"What about my mom?"
"She was always a Die Hard girl."
"Come on, seriously, I want to know. She always just lets me pick the movie."
"Hm, well, she liked Ernest Saves Christmas. And 1985's Santa Claus: The Movie, where he takes on corporate greed. And she also liked this obscure kid's movie she saw in the theater when she was three, Prancer, about a girl who has to take care of one of Santa's lost reindeer. I'm surprised she doesn't put them on anymore, for you two."
"Kind of a strange Christmas for us, huh? Here in the past…"
"Sure, but wait until New Year's Eve. We'll be celebrating an old year."
Wes went back to skipping across channels, at which point Jace took a quick break from the movie to take another look at something else made in 1990—that clothing ad with the twins. He was still processing what he had learned about Ash, and had yet to quite shake off the realization of that smiling, "HIP!" girl's original fate.
• •
They had stuck mostly to the apartment the following days, Wes still wanting to give his younger self plenty of space for his winter break enjoyment. When New Year's Eve rolled around, they finally emerged, both eager to rejoin the Royal Valley populace for the big gathering downtown to see the annual crown drop from the side of Victory Plaza, the tallest and currently newest tower in the city, with a reflective glass exterior.
"You'll need that jacket you barely get to use tonight," Wes said before they headed out. "I vividly remember it getting chilly out there, maybe even high forties."
He grabbed the big blue and black windbreaker and asked, "If, like, half the town is gonna be there, I hope you don't run into Wessy or something."
"I'll keep my distance, but you shouldn't be afraid to say hi to the gang if you see any of them. This is the first crown drop, by the way. All of its lights are really bright."
"Man, so much keeps happening this year."
"I told ya when we arrived, it's been a big one. And now it has a few hours left."
They went out into the late evening air, just as Millie and her father were doing the same. After Wes locked their door, he noticed his landlord and they exchanged nods at a distance. Millie, in a red overcoat, eyed Jace suspiciously before following her dad.
"You gonna get a new car?" Jace wondered, looking at their empty parking space.
"Yeah, yeah, in a few days. Downtown's in walking distance, anyway, and parking will be hell. This will be one of the largest crowds in the city's history, I believe."
Again reminded that maybe just about everyone they knew could be there, Jace asked, "Can you unlock the door? I need to grab something."
"All right, but hurry up. I want a semi-decent spot."
He was in and out in under a minute, emerging with his backpack on. They then left, leaving the Flamingo behind and walking the several blocks to Main Street, where the street cars were still ferrying revelers in from all around.
Once they stepped past the barricades and hit the core of the city, they had to begin weaving through thousands of people, some of whom could have been there since morning. Most were dressed up in their mid-90s light outerwear, making for a rather unusual sight in a place where summer clothes fit the bill eleven months of the year.
Ahead and above everyone, a large crown lit up by golden bulbs dangled just off the side of a building that almost qualified as the city's only true skyscraper.
"I still wonder where our whole 'European nobility' motif came from," Wes said over the noises of the crowd they squeezed through. "It's like, here we are, a desert valley California city with Royal in its name and a giant crown! But why?"
"I'm sure there's something about it in the local history books."
"Yeah, I really should find out more about the city where I grew up." They found a good spot near a street light where there weren't too many people, and Wes looked at the radioactive crown with a nostalgic glint in his eye. "When I was younger than Wessy, I thought that when they dropped the ball in Times Square, they actually dropped the ball. As in, they let it fall and shatter and then people danced around the pieces or something. I knew otherwise by the time we had our own version of it, but I remember what I was thinking, maybe around this very moment… wherever I am in these crowds."
"And what's that?"
"That it wouldn't surprise that if Charlie Pippin were still in town right now, he might've tried to pull the ultimate prank and find a way to make our crown really drop. Would he have found a way, as a ten-year-old kid? I dunno. The logistics of it didn't enter my mind. But he was still on it a lot at this point. I could just picture him pulling it off and having a good laugh. But, eh, he got taken away before he had a chance."
"Are you… are you sure you looked up to this kid as much as you think?" Jace questioned. "Because that wouldn't be funny. It'd just ruin a lot of hard work."
"Ah, Jace…" Wes sighed. "I know. I guess we just came from a more thoughtful, sensitive-to-others time, maybe. But Charlie wasn't exactly into the whole right or wrong thing. He just wanted to be behind as many 'epic' moments as possible."
"Um, so, is it okay if I can see if Felicity's around and give her my present?"
"Yeah, sure. Say hi to anyone else you find on the way. We got thirty minutes."
Thankful for that, Jace gave his uncle a wave and disappeared into the swarm of people out in the cold waiting for some lights and fiberglass to lower a few feet.
He found someone he recognized quicker than he thought he would—Lucy was elevated above many heads, as she was sitting on someone's shoulders. He got closer and as a few other adults parted, he saw that the entire gang was together. Wessy, Sadie, Arthur and Ash, Colin, Jared, Zach, and even Celeste were all in a group, with some of their parents talking together. Lucy and Wessy were with the dad they shared tonight.
They were watching the band on the stage some fifty feet away, under the crown. A local rock group, no doubt; it all really was a mini version of New York's festivities.
Jace hesitated, thinking that as the outsider, maybe he shouldn't interrupt this moment. That, and Wessy's dad and his wife had yet to meet him. They had no need to. He knew that the fewer people that could remember him back in his time, the better. So, he turned to leave and look for Felicity—but then Wessy saw him and called out.
"Hey, Jason! Dude, you're back!"
He breathed out and turned to wave. Welp, now he had to go say hi.
"Jason, how'd you like your road trip?" Colin asked.
"Where'd all you go, anyway?" Ash wondered.
Jace looked at her eyes for a moment before snapping back into his acting role. "Oh, you know… Vegas and Los Angeles and a little bit of San Diego…"
"Yep, those are the places to see in the Southwest," Zach affirmed.
"Oh, this is my dad and Lucy's mom," Wessy introduced them.
He had never met Wes' dad, not once. And he already looked aged, like one of those guys with premature gray and thinning hair who spent all day on the golf course talking about the stock market with his business friends. At least, that was how he saw him in his young mind, mixed in with what little Wes had shared about him.
"Oh, hey, sport," Mr. Colton said down to Jace. "You're another one of my boy's friends? A newer one, I take it? I haven't seen you around before."
"Y-yeah… Since the start of this school year."
"That's good. He's still making new pals. Our friends carry us through the days. You okay up there, sweetheart? Can you still see the crown?"
"Dad…" Lucy sighed. "It's on the side of a tall building. You can't not see it." She then looked down at Jace, her olive-green jacket draping off her dad's shoulders. "Hey. It's Jason, right? Your friends were at my dad's place all day. They started talking about you and wouldn't shut up. They think you're a really cool guy or something."
Still young and used to looking up at his mom from below, he caught Lucy's eyes just right—and he could see her, even in that yet somewhat chubby little face. For a brief instant, it was just like his mother was speaking to him, and for the first time on his visit to the past, he felt some very real and deep pangs of homesickness.
"Luce, don't talk about embarrassing stuff like that," Wessy grumbled. "But yeah, it's kinda true, Jace. We were starting to miss you. Hey, you looking forward to 1996? I bet it'll be great. But, man… I can't believe we have to go back to school in a few days."
"You feeling okay?" Colin asked. "You look a little sad all of a sudden."
"I, um…" Jace looked back at everyone. "I was just thinking about all the stuff we did this year, and it's like, it's never enough… Years actually go by too fast."
That was a true reflection of how he already felt on the New Year's Eves of his time, and he said it while also thinking about how long he had been away from home.
"Yeah, I guess, but then you suddenly have a whole new year to fill up with new memories, and movies, and ways to have fun, right?"
The band finished, and the elderly vice-mayor came on stage to announce the next number. Four teens walked up, ready to play. Even from a distance, the drummer looked familiar. Jace squinted to identify them—and, yes, that really was Vanni up there.
"Hi, everyone!" she called out to the crowd. "You ready to kiss goodbye to '95? We're Rambunctious Jester, and we'll take you up to 11. Or, 11:50, more or less."
They took their places and got right to making noise, with Vanni slamming on the drums. They had time to play maybe two songs, and while some in the crowd really got into the Nirvana-lite grunge rock music, Lucy's parents were not fans.
"What is this racket?" her dad complained. "Jesus, is this the best we got?"
"They're just teenagers, hon," Lucy's mom replied. "I'm sure they haven't been around long enough to have heard any real music, like from The Mamas & the Papas."
"Yo, Wes, is that Vanni up there?" Jared asked, looking a little more impressed.
"Yeah, I think so. She's pretty good."
"Man, someone in her band must know a dude to get a gig like this," Zach added. "Didn't know she was the only chick in a band of three dudes."
Jace listened for a few minutes as the lead singer and guitarist, who had a gruff voice for a guy his age, shared a tale about "posers tagging over his masterpiece graffiti", or something like that. It sounded like an angry tragedy, that few adults would relate to.
"Hey, have any of you seen Felicity around?" Jace eventually asked them.
"What? McAllister?" Arthur replied. "Why do you want to talk to her for?"
"I, uh… I was just wondering if she'd show up at an event like this."
"I think I saw her up front," Sadie shouted over the noise. "Her parents are like, real community people, always volunteering and leading bake sales and crap."
"Have you guys seen a lot of the other kids in Ms. Porter's class?"
"A few," Wessy replied, and then got closer so the others couldn't hear. "So, what are you doing tonight, Jace? Dad's letting us go back and watch a movie before taking us all home in his big van. He's cool like that. But not Celeste. She just came over here on her own and isn't with us. I don't even really know why. She's… weird."
"I got plans already. But thanks anyway. I better get going."
"Aw. Well, okay. I'll see you back at school if not before."
"Bye, Jason!" Celeste called out cheerfully. "Happy New Year's!"
Jace waved to everyone and after he turned to head off, he heard Wessy say something that he didn't really want to turn back around to investigate. "Celeste, can you like, stop trying to hold my hand? It's kind of gross. No offense."
"But it's cold out and I don't have any gloves."
Catching another flash of that prom photo, Jace worked through the crowds again, on the lookout for anyone else from his class. And he did find a few. Willa was wearing 1996 novelty glasses along with her usual cat ears, while her parents only wore their normal human ears. Brian was nearby, hanging out on top of a van with his big brother, who must've found a way to get—and keep his vehicle downtown. He was enjoying a beer, while the younger brother used the light from a street lamp to fill out another sheet of graph paper, maybe trying to turn the scene into a video game locale.
The BFFs, Tamatha and Trudy, were watching the spectacle together in matching Lisa Frank jackets. Park was hanging out in his hoodie near the side of a bank, with his mom and three older sisters. There were plenty of other kids from school and other schools too, but the only other one he found from his class was Spice, dressed in expensive formal wear between her also stylish Latina mother and British father.
Closer to the stage, he saw Gavin and his friends from way back at the mall arcade watching Vanni and her band play, with Gavin cheering on his stepsister.
Once they had finished their second rock song, about a fictional comet named Harley that flew over Royal Valley but couldn't visit, Jace gave up on his search and took a break near a public garbage can. He was ready to go back and find Wes.
"Don't we have such talented musical teenagers in our city?" a blonde bombshell of a woman sent off the band, her teeth blinding even at a distance. "And so creative!"
Only a few in the crowd cheered, but they remained excited about the coming late-night hour. The small countdown clock on the stage now showed 9 minutes left.
"Hello, everyone, and thanks for coming out tonight! I'm Heather McAllister, your local county commissioner, and I'm just as happy as you are to be here tonight, on our inaugural dropping of the crown! Isn't she just beautiful?" She gawked up at it and became the hundredth person of the night to introduce it. "The art department at Royal University designed it, and what a good job they did! We have just minutes left…"
She rambled on, with Jace being surprised that Felicity's mom held such a high position. Now knowing where to look, he scanned the stage. Seated near the back was Felicity, her older and very proper sister, and their dad, dressed in a business suit. Even having never met the man, Jace was confident he was a high school football star.
He also got the sense that the matriarch of the clan would be talking until midnight, so with the advantage of being a small kid able to worm through adults, he made his way closer to the stage until he was near the right side's stairs. Nervously at first, he began waving at Felicity, and did so more "loudly" until she saw him.
When it became obvious that he wasn't leaving, she left her seat and walked down from the stage. Her family and the other city officials didn't even seem to notice.
"What do you want?" She asked on the other side of the barricade. "It's horrible enough having to be up there with my family in front of the whole town."
"Um, hi, I just wanted to… I mean… I'll be quick."
"Really? This is already taking too long, whatever this is."
"Did you get some nice presents?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever. Pretty pink dresses and a stuffed pony. You want them? Or know someone that does? I'm serious. I'll probably end up burning them."
"I… I saw this and thought of you." He took off his backpack, reached in, and pulled out a gift bag with the snow globe inside. "I mean, it's nothing special. And it's not like I got everyone a present either. I just thought… Well, just open it."
She huffed, grabbed it, opened it, took out the globe, looked at it, shook it, gave it another glance, and then looked at Jace. "This is… It's actually kind of nice."
"Oh. Good. Um, thanks. I kind of figured that you never really got presents you liked. Y-you know… I mean, kids talk at school, about your family…"
She glared at him. "They pass a lot of stupid rumors around."
"I get that, but, you know… Your family doesn't really 'get you' either, do they?"
"No duh. My sister even tells kids that our grandma's a dead Gypsy and other lies. And I'm the sick one? She's a living hairdresser in Oregon, and the only one in my family I get along with. But I don't see her often. I miss her… Do you listen to gossip?"
"N-no, of course not. No way. I, uh, I hate rumors."
She sighed again. "Honestly, this is one of the nicest gifts I've gotten in a long time. My family doesn't care for… grittier stuff like this. They don't even like the color black. You're not an easy kid to dislike, Jason. You can actually be… pretty thoughtful."
He felt himself blush and began to worry that Felicity might even do something crazy like kiss him on the cheek. She had never looked so happy. There was almost a smile on her face. Instead, she wished him a "nice new year" and with her gift in hand, headed back on the stage and rejoined those that were blood relatives but not much else.
Satisfied that she liked the globe, and a little hopeful that it would play a part in the act of helping her later in life, he began the return trek to his uncle. He made it halfway before the other trouble girl in his life showed up in a crowd clearing, as if she had been expecting him. Millie, away from her dad, stood coolly with pocketed hands.
"You really are a strange one…" he heard her say after he had passed her.
He turned and replied, "Takes one to know one. By the way, your credibility just took a hit. Felicity's grandma works on hair in Oregon."
She shrugged. "Can't get 'em all right. All my sources on her are secondhand."
"Yeah, well… Sometimes asking people directly works, too."
With two minutes to go, Jace began heading back again, only to hesitate and turn around a second time. "Hey. Do you know anything about Charlie Pippin, and what actually happened at that candy store? Wes won't stop talking about him…"
"Hm. That incident, huh? Yeah. I know. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who has it right. I could tell you… But as you said, why not ask directly?"
"Yeah, but who? Who has the real story?"
"Gee, I dunno. Maybe try talking to the guy who runs it? See ya next year, Jace."
She disappeared into the crowds, leaving him alone in the clearing of people. As he thought about doing some investigation work of his own soon, he looked up at the crown—and something caught his eye. There was a red dot, reflected in the glass of Victory Plaza. Thinking it was peculiar, he did a 180 and tried to spot its source above.
He soon found a little drone, its red light peering down as it hovered between two shorter office buildings. He squinted to try and get more detail, and it took him a few seconds to remember… This was 1995. People weren't flying drones around yet.
And then it darted off, disappearing somewhere over a parking garage.
Feeling suddenly unsafe after the sighting, he ran the rest of his way back to Wes. He was too out of breath to tell him about it on arrival. Behind him, the crowds begin to count down loudly the last few seconds of the west coast's run of the year.
Wes hoisted Jace onto his shoulders—something he hadn't done since he was a pup—and counted down with them. "Seven, six, five… You ready, kiddo? We made it!"
One. Zero. Sparks shot out from launchers behind the pulley mechanism as the magnificent royal headwear descended and the audience went wild with applause. It was 1996. Knowing this, Jace decided then to wait a day or two to tell his uncle. Wes had already been so stressed recently, and he didn't want him to have another thing to worry about on the first day of the second and last year of their time traveling adventure.
• •
It was sometime around nine the next morning that Jace woke up to a light knocking on the apartment door. He choked on a snore, got up, and looked around. He had fallen asleep on a pillow on the floor. Across the coffee table and two empty pizza boxes, Wes slept sprawled out with an open, drooling mouth. The VHS movie they had watched late into the night and that apparently ended without them was no longer playing, leaving the TV on a blank blue screen. They might've been up until 3.
He stood on wobbly legs, tried to flatten his hair some, straightened out his night clothes, and tiredly headed to the door, but not really in any conscious way just yet.
His eyes opened when he saw Millie on the other side, hands in her pockets again and looking serious. "What do you want this early? Sorry if we were loud last night…"
"I know why you are strange," she replied sternly, and looked inside at sleeping Wes. "So, do you want to talk about where you and your dad are really from?"