When Time Collides ★ [2] ✔

A Covert Mission

And then she disappeared. She didn't turn up to the our usual coffee shop one day. She'd given me a watch identical to hers as a means of communication. I'd tried it so many times with no avail to get to her. It had been a month now. And she was still missing.

I shook off my thoughts. "It takes some getting used to," I replied. I smiled and turned on my heel to leave. "It's good to meet you, Sam."

"It's your bed, right?"

"What's that?"

"Your bed. It's too soft. When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like—"

"Lying on a marshmallow. Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." 

Yeah, I knew what he was feeling. I understood entirely. 

I nodded slowly. "How long?"

Sam shrugged. "Two tours." He crossed his arms. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"

I scoffed. "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up."

Sam smiled, an idea forming. It seemed then that I was going to add something to the List. "Marvin Gaye, 1972. Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album."

I pulled my small notebook and pen from my back pocket and opened it to the page I was looking for. "I'll put it on the List."

There was plenty on there already: the Moon Landing, the Berlin Wall (up and down), Steve Jobs from Apple (whatever that was), disco, Thai food, Star Trek, Nirvana, Rocky, and now the Trouble Man soundtrack. There was only one thing on the list that I'd scratched off: Star Wars. Andi and I spent two days watching every film.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I shoved the notebook into my back pocket and pulled the phone out. 

I had a message:

Mission alert.
Extraction imminent.
Meet at the curb. :)

I smirked. "All right, Sam. Duty calls. Thanks for the run." I shook his hand. "If that's what you want to call running."

"Oh," he scoffed, "that's how it is?"

"Oh, that's how it is." And I began to walk to the curb.

"Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know," Sam said.

"I'll keep that in mind."

I heard the roar of a car nearby. A black sports car pulled up at the curb as instructed in the message. The passenger side window hummed as it lowered.

Natasha leered inside. "Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

"That's hilarious," I commented as I got into the car.

Sam crouched where he stood, looking into the car at Natasha. "How ya doing?"

"Hey," she greeted politely.

"Can't run everywhere," I remarked.

"No, you can't."

And then the window went up and Natasha floored it, pulling out from the curb and zooming away.