“Nine days. It seems like she has been here forever. I guess a lot has happened in the last couple weeks.”
“Only because you are running from crisis to crisis, trying to fix everything. And now I bet you are sitting there figuring out how to fix what happened to Cam last night.”
“Cam would not have been there, if I had not taken his head away from the hospital. Of course I want to help him.”
“And Abby and Ping.”
“What about them?”
“You’re trying to figure out how to help them as well, aren’t you?”
“Well, I’m not going to abandon Abby’s soul, or whatever you want to call it, to go traipsing around the cosmos sucking people into that big blue bubble. And Ping is stuck with the dragon because of me. What am I supposed to do? Just tell him to deal with it? Let it continue to snarl traffic whenever the mood strikes its fancy?”
“I’m not telling you not to help them, but you aren’t doing them any good if you turn into a zombie yourself,” Sam said.
“I appreciate your concern, but I need less useless advice on having a balanced life and more practical ideas about what to do.”
Sam slumped in his seat dramatically, deflated. “Fine. What practical ideas are you in need of this morning?”
She ignored his sarcasm, as she said, “I find it incredibly frustrating that these haikus, the only hints I have about what to do, don’t answer any of my questions.”
“Like what?”
“For example, let’s say that I need the Chronicle that Ned has made. From my perspective, if I had a working Chronicle, the first thing I would do is yank that dragon out of Ping and send it back where it came from. But the book says to ignore the dragon’s folly.”
“Obviously your future self knows you well enough to know that’s what you would do, and, if that’s the wrong thing, she would try to warn you off.”
“So why do I need to prepare like a pastor with this realm’s Chronicle, if it’s not to deal with the dragon? It makes absolutely no sense.”
“The dragon isn’t the only thing that is going on at the moment. Maybe it has something to do with Abby or one of the passengers you are supposed to be seeking out. Or it might be connected to that other haiku about forgetting your fears and exchanging memories.” He paused and sighed. “You know, I really think, if you would cut yourself a break, these things will eventually fall in place. I don’t believe your future self would just leave you hanging, if she thought she could help. And clearly she thought she was helping by sending Hannah back with the book.”
“I think you have a more trusting nature than I do, which is odd considering the life you’ve led before coming here.”
“No, what’s odd is that you are having trouble trusting someone when that someone is you—the future you—but still you.”
“Touché.”
“Honestly your problem isn’t trust. It’s that you want to have all the answers right now, and you can’t have that. Some answers you’re just going to have to wait for. I’d just take it one step at a time, and things will probably work out. Why don’t you start out by getting that Chronicle from Ned and seeing where that takes you?”
“Mom and I are running over to his place this afternoon to talk to him, since I’m only going to be at the shop for an hour or so this morning,” she said.
Mara pulled up alongside the curb in front of the row of businesses that included the Mason Fix-It Shop and Ping’s Bakery. She looked out the back window, as she parallel parked in three smooth maneuvers. Surprised that she did it so effortlessly, she turned back toward the steering wheel, turned off the ignition and glanced up to see all the lights come on inside the bakery.
“Who’s in the bakery?” She almost yelled, an alarmed look on her face.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Calm down. It’s Ping. He said he was coming in directly after he was released from the hospital this morning.”
“Who goes directly to work after being in the hospital for two days?” Mara said. “And who checks out of the hospital before seven in the morning?”
“He’s fine. He’s in better shape than you are right now,” Sam said, opening the passenger door. Standing up on the curb, he bent down to look into the car. “You