Chapter 8

Saturday morning Richie came downstairs to find Jon sitting in the living room staring at the antique grandfather clock.

"Mornin', bro. What are you doing?"

"Your clock."

"What about it?" Richie glanced at the time. It was almost eleven.

"I swear I saw the second hand move backwards."

"You don't suppose that coming through the wormhole has scrambled your brains a bit, do you?"

Jon just glared at Richie for a while but decided to ignore his remarks and turned back to watching the clock. "What if I'm right, Rich? What if this is the way to go back to 1987?"

Richie crossed his arms and stood there just watching Jon watching the clock, then shook his head and headed to the kitchen for some coffee. When he returned, he found Jon standing in front of the old clock with his back to it and eyes closed.

"What the hell are you doing now?"

"Standing closer to the source of time travel. Think about it, Rich. What could be more obvious than a clock as a means of traveling back in time? And don't you the fuck say a DeLorean."

Laughing at the absurdity of this, Richie turned and went to his office to check on his email. "Why don't you wear a tin foil hat, too, while you're at it?" he called back.

"Laugh if you want, Sambora, but don't be shocked when you come back and find that I'm gone."

*****

After an hour answering emails and making some calls, Richie came back out to find Jon still standing under the clock face. Only this time, Jon had on an aluminum foil cone hat perched on his head.

Seeing Richie staring at him, Jon quickly pulled off the hat and grinned sheepishly. "You gotta try everything."

Richie snorted, "whatever. Just don't wear that to the mall."

"We're going to the mall?" Jon was running after him excitedly.

Richie stopped abruptly, turned and faced him. "What are you, twelve?"

"I just don't want to be cooped up inside the house all day. We're not getting any closer to finding the answer by sitting around here."

"And you think that there will be a solution at Chuck E Cheese?"

Seeing his sullen face, Richie suggested Jon go for a swim in the pool. When that didn't get any response, he gave in. "Alright look, we can't go to the mall. It's Saturday and the place will be crawling with people. If you want, we can go for a drive somewhere, but now right now. I've got a little more work to do."

He could have sworn that Jon almost jumped up and down.

"What should I do until then?"

"I don't know. Go watch some TV or something," he said absent mindedly and walked back into his office.

*****

They were having lunch out in the patio when Jon spoke up. "Politics sure have changed over the years, haven't they?"

Richie eyed him but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"I mean, I never thought I would see a black dude run for President. And he was running against a woman, too. I seen her husband before."

This surprised Richie. "Where?"

"In the photos at the house in Jersey. I saw several photos of me with him. Who is he?"

"Bill Clinton. He was the President before the one we have now."

Jon sat quiet for a few minutes. "There's photos of me with the President of the United States. We're doing some huge charity work. What else, Rich?"

"You own a football team."

"All I wanted when we started the band, was to write songs and be famous. Things like this never even crossed my mind." Jon raked his hands through his hair. "I wanna go back, Rich."

"Why? Aren't you proud of what you've accomplished?"

"It's not that. It's just too much to take in. I don't think I'm capable of handling all that. I mean, I can't handle anything without Doc. Does he help me with all that stuff?"

"No. Look Jon, you'll do just fine without Doc. It's not like it all happened overnight, it took years, but you've managed and did a great job."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Now stop worrying about it. We'll figure this out and get you back where you belong, okay?"

*****

The drive through the city and along the coastline was relaxing but uneventful. Jon was quiet for most of the way just taking in the scenery.

"Things really haven't changed all that much in twenty years."

"What did you actually expect to see, flying cars?" Richie chuckled. He couldn't fault Jon, though. The poor kid had been pulled out of his environment and catapulted twenty one years into the future. He was taking this much calmer than Richie would have in the same situation.

"Why don't we stop somewhere for an early dinner and head back home?"

They went in to a small diner where Richie knew the food was great. A couple of women who were there kept looking their way but for the most part, they were left alone.

Back at home, Richie left Jon on his own while he took a shower.

Wandering through the house, Jon came upon some sort of machine in Richie's office. It had a screen much like a television and a typewriter with no paper in front of it. He had seen something like this in Doc's office, only that one seemed huge and clunky in comparison.

He sat down at the desk and stared at the screen. The top of it read 'Time Travel', to the left, 'Wikipedia'. Jon began reading about gravitational time dilation, twin paradox and general relativity - words he did not understand. He saw what Richie had referred to earlier; wormhole, but the screen ended there. Jon tried to peer down the bottom of the screen to see if there were more information there. Finding nothing, he sighed in frustration and walked back out to the living room and turned on the TV.

He thought back to the events leading up to now, desperate for a clue. He wanted, no needed, to go back. As much as he was relieved to find that things are good in the future and grateful for Richie's friendship, he missed what he left behind. He knew there was no way he could continue living here. He would be among friends and family but still alone.

His thoughts were jarred by the now familiar buzzing. It was Richie's cell phone. He debated whether to answer it or not, when it kept ringing. Seeing no harm in taking a message, he picked it up and flipped it open like he'd seen Richie do and pressed a button.

"Hello?"

"Daddy?"

Jon's heart jumped into his throat at the voice. He knew it was Romeo.

"Daddy, don't go back yet, okay?"