Page 24 of Twice
“I can do something other people can’t.”
“Drive like an idiot?”
“No.”
Then, for the first time in my life, I blurted it out.
“I get to do things twice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just what I said. I get to do things twice. If I don’t like the way it first happened, I can go back and do it again. Like time travel. But only one trip.”
Wesley grinned, as if trying to unwrap a riddle. “OK, go back and make Pittsburgh lose the Super Bowl. I hate those guys.”
“It doesn’t work like that. I can’t change things I wasn’t involved in.”
“Oh, right.” He nodded. “In that case, get Jo Ann Donnigan back as your girlfriend.”
“Wes.” I exhaled. “That’s how I got her in the first place.”
I tried explaining. The summer of basketball. The sideburns. The information from Lizzie.
“Man,” he said, marveling, “you really thought this one out, didn’t you?”
I dropped my head. I wasn’t selling it, and he wasn’t buying it. I realized this whole thing is a lot harder to explain face-to-face than it is to write down.
“Look, the reason I’m telling you this is to save your life.”
“Come on, Alf—”
“I’m serious. You have a choice coming up between two jobs, a ship or a training center, right?”
He paused, then grinned.
“You got that from my mom. Nice try.”
“Take the training center job.”
“Alfie, stop screwing around—”
“You have a drill sergeant. You hate him. He hit one of your guys in the face with a rifle butt.”
Wesley’s mouth dropped.
“How do you know that?”
“Because we’ve been here before, Wes. We’ve sat at thistable. We’ve had this talk. When the panzerotti comes, you’re gonna burn the roof of your mouth with the first bite.
“And about five months from now, if you don’t take the training center job, you’re gonna get sent to rescue an American cargo vessel on the island of Koh Tang and a lot of people are going to die.”
“Where the hell is Koh Tang?”
“Cambodia.”
I saw him swallow. His voice dropped to a whisper.
“What happens tome?”
