TIME WARPED
(From page 63) reference to up or
down, he became disoriented. In a
few minutes he started to feel dizzy,
the kind of dizziness that pounds in
your head and makes you want to
blow lunch. The situation overcame
him and he lost consciousness.
John felt cool and sensed bright-
ness. "Did I die? Is this the wonder-
ful light I've heard so much of?" He
opened his eyes and detected the
faint hum and beeps of electronic
equipment. Pain began to well up
"Skateboarding, what do you
think?"
"Was anybody with you?"
"Yeah, Marc Louis, that bag. He
was supposed to call if I fell. When I
get out of here, I'm going to kick his
butt for leaving mel
"Uh, I think I have enough for
now. I'll be in touch. Thanks."
The pain killers took effect and
John fell asleep minutes after the
detective left.
and repeated answers of "I can't
remember the reporters left. For a
couple of weeks, John was sort of a
local celebrity, but that status faded
as the days went on.
Skating had run its cycle again.
Everyone was riding boards similar
to what John rode five years ago.
The skaters in Thrasher were all
new to him. The guys he used to
skate with had gone their separate
ways. It was hard to get enthused
about skating. His parents were
pushing him to make a decision.
"Ma, Dad, is that you? I'm having Either get a job or go back to col
lege, but decide on something
before the end of the month.
"John? Oh my God, Larry, it's our
Johnny"
all over his body, and he realized he a little trouble focusing."
was far from heaven.
"Glad to have you back," said the
doctor. "Your burns are coming
along quite well. Your unconscious
state the last couple of days gave
us time to do some good work."
"A couple of days? Burns? What
happened?"
The EMT's report said that when
they found you, you were three-
quarter's of a mile down the pipe,
flat on your back and unconscious.
You left a ten-yard trail of clothing.
skin and blood. Essentially, you got
a third-degree burn from sliding on
your back. Good thing you wore a
helmet, you might not have sur-
vived without it."
"Now that you're awake Mr. Doe,
can you tell us what you remem
ber? Let's begin with your name."
"You know what my name is, you
just said it."
"John Doe is what all accident
victims are called if they don't have
an I.D. What's your real name?"
"John Doghe, spelled D-O-G-H-
E. Surely Marc gave you that info
when he called for help."
"Marc? Who's Marc? You were
discovered by some kids exploring
the pipe. They said they saw a flash
of light, heard some sort of impact
sound, and then your groans."
"Kids? There was only me and
Marc, there was no one else
around for miles."
"Miles? There are homes less
than five hundred yards from that
opening. Maybe you're a little con-
fused. That sometimes happens
when you come out of a coma,
even a short one."
"Whatever. Can I call my par-
ents? They'll probably want to know
I'm okay."
"Give me the number and I'll call
them for you."
"All right, their names are Larry
and Elaine Doghe, the number is
555-7583.
About an hour later, a man in a
grey suit entered the room. "Hello
John, I'm Detective Hanson. I'm
here to get some info on your case.
"How old are you, John?"
"Eighteen."
"Yes, dear, it's us. God, how
we've missed you!"
"I know it was a couple of days,
but that's no reason for all the
tears."
One July afternoon, John decid-
ed to return to the scene of the
crime. He had wondered what hap-
pened to his board on reentry. The
"A couple of days, son? It's been police obviously didn't find it, so
five years."
"My hearing must be bad too. I
thought you just said five years."
"He did, Johnny. You've been
missing for five years. When Marc
lost sight of you he got scared and
called the police.
"John, we searched for anything.
any sort of sign which way you
would have gone. A mile into that
pipe, it branches out and drops
pretty steep. At that point we
stopped looking and hoped your
body would be found in the reser-
voir. But in five years, nothing."
"This is too strange, I must be
dreaming."
John decided to look for it. Not far
inside, he realized he'd need a
flashlight if he was going to find
anything. He headed back home to
get a lantern and some rope and a
few other supplies. The pipe open-
ing, once located in a desolate
area, was now bordered by sub-
urbs. The previously secret spot
showed signs of many sessions. It
even appeared there had been a
highest sticker contest, the winner
being placed at 11:00.
When he returned, he hooked
the lantern onto a belt loop and
headed into the pipe. He searched
up and down the sides of the pipe
and then to the ceiling for a trace of
his last ride. Nothing. John reached
"How come I don't feel older? Do the branch of the pipe, which was
I look older?"
more of a "T" section.
"You're not, honey. Look at us
good; we've aged."
"No son, you look exactly the
same."
John thought to himself, "Well, I
guess I went too far. They said they
"What about Marc? Does he found me only three-quarter's of a
know?"
"I'm afraid not. He just couldn't
handle it; he felt responsible for
your disappearance. Five months
afterward, he stepped out in front of
a cement truck. He died instantly."
John began to cry. This was not
a bad dream, it was reality. He had
lost five years of his life and his
best friend.
A month passed and John was
released from the hospital. When
he arrived home, there was a flock
of news people waiting to interview
America's first time traveler. The
hospital had instituted a policy that
prevented media circuses from
occurring on hospital grounds. Up
to this time, stories on John came
from "informed sources" close to
the family. John's parents warned
him this would happen. They told
him if he didn't want to talk to the
reporters, he could stay in the car
until his Dad pulled into the garage.
John decided to talk to the
reporters. The sooner they got their
"What were you doing in the story, the sooner they'd leave. After
pipe, besides trespassing?"
76 THRASHER MAGAZINE
forty-five minutes of questioning
mile inside the pipe." He was about
to head back when something
caught his eye. Where the "T"
formed, the seam was a little
uneven. Something sparkled in the
light of the lamp. On closer inspec-
tion, John saw flecks of metal and
pink paint, the same pink that was
on his old trucks. Just then he
noticed a small pattern caused by
his trucks crossing the seam. Now
he was getting somewhere. He
figured that he hit the seam, went
up the face side of the "T" section
and was directed back in the direc-
tion he came, making a loop similar
to the top of a figure eight. He tried
to walk a path back up the pipe that
would follow his new trajectory.
About fifty feet up from the "T," at
about three o'clock on the pipe,
John noticed an unusual blob on
one of the seams. The pipe did not
meet flush in this spot. When he got
close enough to it, he realized it
was the remanents of his skate,
fused into a one-foot wide, half-inch
thick piece of slag. He also noticed
a large scorch mark on the wall sur-
rounding the blob. If his board
impacted here, he would have been
thrown almost a quarter mile to his
impact spot. This all seemed logical
to him except that for being thrown
that far, he didn't get too seriously
injured. John pried his skate out of
the seam and headed home.
That night at dinner, John's dad
asked him what he was going to do
with himself. John surprised his dad
when he responded, "I was thinking
about heading down to the campus
tomorrow. I thought I'd see if they
kept my transcripts and what
chances I'd have getting back in."
"That's great, John", said his
father. "I think that's a fine idea"
John took his crumpled skate
and headed for campus. Though it
was summer, John knew the man
he wanted to see would be there.
"Dr. Fingart? John Doghe. I was
a freshman in one of your classes a
few years ago. I was wondering if I
could speak with you."
"Why, yes, John, I was hoping
you'd come back to class. I've been
following your story very closely.
Extremely interesting."
"Dr. Fingart, I need to understand
what happened to me. If I can't
change it, can you at least explain
what happened?"
"If this were Star Trek I could say
that you either exceeded the speed
of light or found a time warp. Scien-
tifically and realistically, I can't ven-
ture a guess, at least not without
seeing the area your event took
place in. Some way, somehow, you
defied the known parameters of the
time/space continuum. Time warps
may exist, but no one has ever
found or proven their existence.
You didn't travel in time; you sus-
pended it for yourself. Theory says
that if a man could travel faster than
the speed of light, time for him
would stop and so would aging. But
there is no theory or possibility of
reversing time. You could try to
duplicate your experience, but if
successful, you would end up sus-
pending time for yourself again
while everything else aged or you
would die in the attempt. You
lucked out the first time. You are
still young and your whole life is
ahead of you. We will go and inves-
tigate what happened tomorrow. Be
here at 9:00 a.m. sharp. That will
give me time to get some instru-
ments together. By the way, what's
that lump your carrying?"
"I brought what's left of my
skate..."
"Can you leave it? I would like to
analyze it prior to our journey
tomorrow."
"Sure. See you tomorrow, Doc."
Since John was already on cam-
pus, he decided he'd make good on
his promise to his dad and see if he
could re-register. (continued on page 80)
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