A Loop in Time by Clark Graham Read Free Book Online

“Do you have to watch the commercials?”
    “I guess we can get up and change the channel, but they seemed to be synchronized. All of the channels have them at the same time. Don’t tell me they don’t have commercials in the future.”
    “I’m pretty sure they do.”
    After an hour or so, Susan got up to make dinner. John followed her into the kitchen. “Can I help?” he asked.
    She looked surprised, “No, I don’t need you underfoot. I can cook, you know?”
    “I wasn’t trying to insult you.” He was a little defensive.
    “After telling me that you wanted to do all of the driving and now you want to cook, you can see how I took that.”
    “I didn’t say I wanted to cook, I just want to help.” It had seemed like the polite thing to do when he started out, but now it was not looking so good.
    “You can help by staying out of the kitchen and letting me cook. I have never met a man who was any good in the kitchen.”
    “Okay, now you’re insulting me. One of these days I will surprise you.”
    “Hmmf,” was all she said in response and then went back to her cooking. ‘A man cooking in my kitchen? That will be the day.’ The future was looking weirder and weirder. She didn’t know if she wanted any part of it.
    That night the two of them set down to a dinner of meat loaf. John smiled when he tasted it. “You are right, you can cook. This is good.”
    She just smiled. She was still back on the part of, ‘a man who thinks he can cook in my kitchen.’
    After dinner John was hands off and just watched her clean up. He didn’t dare ask to help again and risk her taking it all wrong. They watched some more TV. There were programs that John thought he might have heard of, but wasn’t sure. He was frustrated with his memory loss.
    That night, he went to bed on a lumpy mattress. He thought the floor might be more comfortable, but when he tried it, it was worse, so he went back to the bed. He tossed and turned and finally around two in the morning, he fell asleep.
     
    It was dark as John sat down in the cockpit of the plane. When he pushed a few buttons, the flight displays came to life. There were computer screens giving him the airplane status from fuel status to oil pressure and everything in between.
    “Moondog, everything looks good from up here. Go through your preflight checklist.”
    “Roger, Control, going through the list.” John looked over to the side where a built in metal clipboard hung. He went through each item one by one. Flaps, brakes, stabilizer and ailerons. They all checked out good. “Preflight good,” John reported.
    “Roger that. Clear to start your engines, Moondoggy.”
    “Roger, starting engines.” A loud roar started up behind him as he pulled the engine start switch. It settled down to a deep hum. He checked his engine status and oil pressure. “Engine running good, Control.”
    “Roger, you are clear to taxi out to runway 32.”
    “Copy.” John put the throttle forward until the plane started to roll. When he left the hanger and got out into the bright sunshine, he put down the sun screen on his visor. It didn’t take long for John to align himself with the runway. “Ready for takeoff.”
    “Roger, Moondog, you are cleared for takeoff.”
    “Copy.” John pushed the throttle forward and the low hum went to a dull roar as the plane started to vibrate. John released the brakes and soon the plane was building speed as it rolled down the runway. When the speed was sufficient, John pulled back on the yoke and the plane sliced gently up through the air. It did not take long before he could see the runway far below him.
    “Moondog, get to a cruising height of 35,000 feet.”
    “Roger, Control.” John watched as the world passed by below him. He was up above some mountain peaks that were snow capped. He recognized the city of Denver below him.
    John leveled off the plane, then reported in. “At the cruising altitude, Control.”
    “Roger, Moondog, it is time to