Time and Again

As Pamela grabbed the mail from the mailbox, she was surprised to see that a chunky manila envelope had been stuffed in there with the many bills that were becoming overwhelming lately. She lost her job when the owners of the company decided to retire and move to Florida. They gave her a nice severance package, but the economy had been so bad that she hadn’t found what she was looking for as yet. She was at the point where she was going to have to settle for something that pays less than she was accustomed to.

As she walked into her small apartment, she tossed the bills onto the stack of overdue bills already piled on her desk waiting to be paid. Pamela was much more intrigued by the manila envelope. She tore it open and saw a little black book inside. It was four and a half inches by seven inches tall and had ivory pages.

As Pamela flipped open the book a folded loose-leaf paper flew out and landed on her lap. It was a note that said to follow the instructions in the book carefully if she wanted all of her dreams to come true. Pamela picked up the envelope again to see if there was a return address on it or some way to figure out who had sent it. Nada! Nothing!

She started reading the pages at the beginning of the book and realized that this was about traveling to a parallel universe. As unbelievable as it sounds, Pamela had studied this a few years ago. She even had gone as far as having conversations in chat groups with other people who swore by the research and the ability to travel between the parallel universes. She got to the point where life got in the way and she just stopped being involved with the site. But someone from the website must have sent her this!

Well, she certainly had the time to check this out now. The book had very specific instructions. First, she had to use her cellphone to download the program at the web address listed. Then tape a long piece of string to her ceiling above her bed. She had some cash set aside for the daily essentials that she put in her jeans pocket, along with her phone. She put the black book into her waistband of her jeans, since she didn’t know if she was going to have to escape from wherever she landed. When she was ready, she put her earbuds on and turned her phone to the program. There were different decibels to sort of hypnotize her brain to shut out the world. After awhile Pamela fell asleep.

Pamela woke up in someone else’s bed! She was by herself and still dressed in her jeans and shirt. As she gazed about the room, she saw her own familiar things on the dresser and nightstand. Then she heard someone moving around outside of the room. She quietly opened the door a crack to peek out. Pamela was shocked to see her best friend Amy in the quaint kitchen. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee. When she looked up and saw me, she was not the least bit surprised. “Do you want a cup of coffee?” she asked. Pamela dropped to the nearest chair and said sure.

According to Amy, they have been sharing an apartment since college. Pamela has her own business in town selling art. As a matter of fact, she just received an advance of $20,000 to do a portrait of the Mayor for the Town Hall. Pamela must have put her art degree to good use instead of going to work in an office, not giving herself the chance to prove what she could do. In the “other” universe, Amy had gotten married and moved away, only to get divorced. Pamela tried to tell Amy about the parallel universe, but she laughed and told Pamela she has such creative dreams, which is why she is such a good artist.

Pamela went into the bedroom and saw the string hanging above the bed. She quickly pulled it down. She was never going back to where she came from. She took the little black book and hid it in the bottom of her dresser drawer, since you never know when it might come in handy. Maybe she could pay it forward sometime to someone else! That would be a great idea!