I don't know why I have to keep several series going on at once, but this one's been burning a hole in my brain for a while. Do Over almost went this way, but found it's own identity. If you haven't seen the Bruce Willis film "The Kid", you won't know the plot anyway, but you really should rent it.

The Girl

Tanya Lynn

I unlocked the door of my apartment and went in. Another boring day on the job, to pay for a small one bedroom apartment. I threw leftover enchiladas in the microwave as I stripped off my security guard uniform. I put on a pair of cloth shorts and flipped on Survivor. I turned on my computer while I ate and watched and checked my email. As if I had any real friends online except for the authors I emailed. After deleting all of the spam, I found the usual amount of emails- none. I turned off the computer and pulled out my pipe and put some pot in it. After smoking it, I tried to relax, but even that couldn't hide the truth. My life was shit. This sure as hell beat living on the streets, which I had for years, but it still sucked. At 30, I had no future I could see. If I really cared enough, I might have killed myself, but I really didn't. Tomorrow was my day off, so I stayed up late watching a movie, and then went to bed.

But, I found the strangest thing by my bed- a Nancy Drew mystery. It was one of the older ones, with the old yellow cover. I panicked and tried to figure out who had been in my apartment, and why they had left something so strange. What if my once in a while girl friend from work, Sarah, had found it? Then I thought, had she left it? she liked jokes, but had she gotten a spare copy of my key? I went and looked for the spare and found it in the cupboard where I had left it. I pulled my asp out of my daypack and put it next to my bed, and fell into a fitful sleep.

I woke up earlier than I intended because I thought I heard a noise in my living room. It was still dark outside, but starting to get light. I picked up my asp and slipped into the living room. I wasn't at all ready at all for what I saw. There was a boy laying there in a dress. He couldn't have been more than 10. I thought I had gotten some pot laced with some bad drugs or something. This did not compute. I wanted to wake him, but could think of no sane way to handle this. This was too insane. There was something familiar about him though, and it looked like he had cried himself to sleep. Something stirred deep within me as I sat down and tried to think this through. A memory that I couldn't quite grasp. Then it was gone.

I decided to make breakfast, so I went into the kitchen. I guess the smells and sounds must have woke him, because I heard him gasp. I went into the living room and saw him staring around. He asked, "where am I? Who are you? How did I get here"? and then he saw the book on the table and began to cry. Something made me go over to him and say, "what's the matter? What's your name?" he said, "my name is David and I just remembered where I was before I fell asleep. I thought I was safe- home alone in my house, so I put on my favorite dress and laid on my bed to read this book that I got from my friend Sarah. She knows about me and lent me this dress". I asked him, "what does she know about you"? he said, "that I'm really a girl in a boy's body. Anyway, my dad came home and found me like this and yelled at me and said, 'wait until your mother gets home! We will decide what to do then". I didn't even think- I ran out of the house and into the woods where I had a tree house and went to sleep there. I woke up here".

I wasn't really processing- I was having flashbacks. My name was David, and some long forgotten memories were crashing in. all of the years on the streets and on drugs had buried them, but they came back. I had gone through the same thing! I had returned home, taken off the dress, and promised my parents to never do it again. I had never felt complete, and buried myself in drugs and alcohol instead. I had landed on the streets until I managed to get it together and was where I was now. but, how could it be? Could this kid be me? Maybe I was hallucinating. Then, there was a knock on my door. It was Sarah, and she let herself in. she stopped in the doorway, looked at the kid, and said, "who is this and what is he doing in your apartment with a dress on"? I said, "you mean you can see him- he's really here"? she said, "of course I can! What's wrong with you"? I told her everything. Somehow I knew, it was all true. She sat there with her mouth hanging open and said, "we need to figure this out. I think we need to do what we were going to do and drive into the mountains for the day and think it out". She then asked him, "is that ok with you honey"? he said, "I don't know why, but I trust you. You have the same name as my friend, and you remind me of her. Let's go"!

We piled into Sarah's car and took off. I don't know why she was attracted to me- I was a lowly security guard in the building where she had her office. She was a junior partner in a three lawyer firm. She said that it didn't matter- she could see the real me inside. We drove with the top down on her convertible and the kid just stared around him. We did stop at a Wal-Mart to get a pair of shorts and T-shirt for him. We left him his panties- it seemed like less of a hassle. We got to the spot where we normally hiked from and he said, "I love the woods! Are we going to go hiking"? just like I remembered- I had always loved the woods. I said, "I know a beautiful spot near a waterfall, where we can relax and talk". It took us about an hour to get there. My younger self kept running ahead and coming back all excited. Rachel and I held hands as we walked, and got caught up in his excitement. It was a beautiful spot. I laid out the blanket and Sarah unpacked the picnic lunch we brought. After eating, we walked around a bit and then the kid asked, "so tell me how I turned out. Is anything like I hoped it would be"? I told him about my life, and could see how disappointed he was. He said, "don't you remember our dreams? We wanted to somehow become a girl, and find someone to love us, and have a successful career as well. You didn't get anything right, except maybe Sarah". I didn't know what to tell him- he was right. I had made a terrible mess of everything.

We decided to go back, but as we started through the woods, nothing looked right. We got confused. It seemed as if we wandered around for a couple of hours, until we found the lot. There was a problem. Where Sarah's car had been parked, there was a 20-year old car. I said, "what the hell is going on"? I went over to the bulletin board and saw that the notices on it were dated 1984. I said, "this is impossible, but somehow we are 20 years back in time! Who is doing this, and how? Is it the same person that brought me forward in time"? Sarah said, "maybe my keys will fit in that car". She pulled out her ring, and sure enough, one fit in the car. We got in and took off for town. But, even then, things looked different. I suddenly realized where we were. We were about to drive into the town I grew up in. it looked just like it did twenty years ago. Sarah looked at me and asked, "where do we go"? I said, "I have no idea. We may as well go to my house where I grew up".

To be continued