Play it Again Sam Pt. 02

Julie had no answer. As the adrenaline wore off suddenly I was bone tired.

"You go to bed Hon. I'm going to get some coffee and see how long I can stay up. If the time loop has already been broken, I'll just have a shitty Saturday. There's no need for you to miss your rest."

"Nonsense, we're doing this together."

I just smiled. That's the beauty of marriage, knowing someone has your back.

I won't bore you with all the things we did to try to stay awake. Julie ended up passing out sitting at the kitchen table a little after 4. I didn't wake her. I sat and looked at her face, not thinking anything, just....loving her. I can't be sure, but I don't think I fell asleep.

Friday July 15^th, 2016 Day 4

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me....don't hurt me....no more"

Day 3 set the pattern for the next week or so.

I would wake Julie up (not by screaming), and tell her what was going on. Once I convinced her I was serious, she would call us both off work. I personally wouldn't have bothered, but that's Julie. Plus, I rarely managed to prove we were in a time loop before it was time to go to work. Though I did get better at that.

I started paying better attention to my surroundings, so I could better anticipate events in subsequent days. It seemed to me that one of the very few advantages of being stuck in a time loop was foreknowledge. Why let that go waste by being a lazy ass? It took some practice (actually a fuck-ton of practice) but eventually I developed excellent "situational awareness."

So did we combine our awesome intellects and whip this bitch? Not really. Mostly we theorized on the "what" of my situation.

Did a god, capital G or otherwise, do this? It seemed unlikely. Neither my wife nor I was particularly religious. We hadn't seen the inside of a church since our wedding. So we couldn't think of a reason why any divinity (if they existed) would take an interest in me.

"It's simply really...I am the Chosen One."

Julie smiled. "Chosen One? Sure you are babe. What have you been chosen for?"

"Greatness, obviously."

"Of course, silly me. But who has chosen you for this greatness Sam?"

"Someone very wise. Verrrry wise. When there's a choice to be made, choose Sam."

"Well I certainly chose you. Can't fault your logic babe," she laughed.

...

Another day...Another conversation...

"Maybe I'm being Scrooged," I said.

"So would that make me the ghost of Christmas Present? That's actually not a bad idea though, Sam."

"I know. I was half serious. There are a lot of stories of people caught in odd time warps. Usually the purpose is to teach them something. Could those stories be based on some sort of shared memory, fictional retellings of something we instinctively know is possible?"

Julie looked thoughtful.

"What would you be expected to learn though? It's a little early in the year to get the Christmas spirit."

"I've never been the 'bah humbug' type anyway," I replied. "Could there be something about today specifically?"

Neither of us could think of anything, so we turned to the internet.

"Well," I said. "It is National Tapioca Pudding Day."

"So maybe you need to learn the power of pudding. Easy, we'll pick some up at the store."

"I'm game, but just in case, we should probably keep looking."

....

Another day...Another conversation...

"If this isn't the doing of a higher power, then there must be a scientific explanation."

"Where would we start to look for answers? What do we even call what's happening to you?" Julie asked.

"Let's just call it a time loop. We're dealing with time, so it has to be a physics or math problem I would think."

"I agree babe," she replied. "Somewhere, on some college campus, there's probably some uber-nerd who has devoted his life to the study of temporal distortions."

She looked thoughtful for a second. "Actually, saying that out loud, I'm sure there are lots of people who study time. I just don't know whether any of them are likely to be helpful for us. I'm sure all their research is purely theoretical."

Once again I was struck by how Julie always referred to this as "our" problem, and talked about what "we" needed to do. Even though she wasn't stuck in this time loop, she made it clear that she was "with" me. It may not have made a practical difference, but I sure as hell appreciated it.

"So should we try to research time warps?" Julie asked. "Where would we even start?"

"We could watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show."

She sniggered. "I'm serious Sam."

"So am I Jules, very serious. You wake up every day and come into this fresh. I give you a summary of what we've talked about and you just launch into the problem. You never lose your eagerness because it's always new to you. But this is day 12 of talking about this nonstop for me.

I'm getting burned out. Let's go to the nicest restaurant we can get into without a reservation. Then we'll go see a movie...uhh, not Rocky Horror though. Then we'll come home, make love, and try again tomorrow. What do you say?"

"I don't know," Julie waffled. "Are you sure you don't want to-"

I swooped over and lifted her out of her chair. Not terribly difficult since I have 7 inches and almost 100 pounds on her.

I carried her with one arm under her knees and one behind her back. I started off with just a little sway back and forth, before...

"It's just a jump to the left..." I sang, while suiting action to words.

Julie squealed when we went airborne.

"And then a step to the riii...iii...iii...iiight! Come on Jules, sing it with me!"

In stereo....

"LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAINNNNNNNN!"

Friday July 15^th, 2016 Day 16

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me....don't hurt me....no more"

Day sixteen would be a turning point for my marriage, though it would be a couple more days before I realized it.

The night before we had followed up a nice meal at an Italian restaurant with a chick flick. She said I owed it to her for being a manhandling brute. I didn't mind. Now I could truthfully say I'd seen it if we went to the movies again, which I figured we would.

We jumped right back into our routine- wake, prove I was stuck in a time loop, talk it to death.

Once again we got to the point where Julie suggested we start doing research into temporal anomalies. I, of course, knew it was coming and had been thinking about it.

I didn't want to discourage Julie, but I just couldn't see any payoff going that route. The logistics of doing serious research in one day were ridiculous. I couldn't keep notes. If I found a scientist who might have relevant information, I had one day to get ahold of him or her, then convince them I was serious, and get immediate answers. Forget about traveling anywhere. Forget about setting up collaborations with multiple scientists. I didn't even really know what questions I should be asking.

Given enough study I could become the expert. But I'm no genius. How long would it take me to accumulate that much esoteric knowledge, especially when I would have to rely on my memory every step of the way?

The biggest problem of all though, was that I didn't really think that this time loop I was stuck in could be explained by modern science or mathematics. As Arthur C. Clarke said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." There may have been a scientific explanation, but I doubted it would make any sense to me, or anyone else on earth for that matter.

My gut said this wasn't scientific, but mystical in some way. At least I hoped it was. I hoped there was some kind of intelligence behind the loop, because if there wasn't...

More simply- if this was science, I was fucked. If it was divinity, spiritualism, or what have you, there was a chance it would end.

With that in mind, I decided that one night of relaxation was not enough. Julie was in the middle of her previous line of thought.

"-there are lots of people who study time. I just don't know whether any of them are likely to be helpful for us. I'm sure all their research is-"

"Time out honey. Sorry to interrupt. I swear you were using the exact same words as last night. That's my fault. I'm supposed to bring you up to date so we can keep moving forward without backtracking. Although, we might be reaching the end of that line of thought. Soon, it's going to take up so much of the day to recap, that we won't have time to cover new ground."

"So what do suggest we do, give up?" she asked a little angrily.

"No, no. Just hear me out a second. I know you're fresh and raring to go to solve this thing. Believe me, I want that, but after more than two weeks, our lack of progress is starting to get to me."

She looked a little pissed off. Before she could say anything I tried to head her off.

"The lack of progress is completely my fault. You've been my rock. All the progress we have made is about 90% down to you. But we're starting to repeat ourselves. I think that may be inevitable. Put the same two people, on the same day, in the same place, with the same problem...well after two weeks it's hard to find new ground to cover.

I have to think of some way to get us out of this rut. And personally, I need to decompress. I almost feel like I've got an illness and I'm spending every day getting treatment."

"Okay," she replied. "I can see how two straight weeks of having this same conversation every day could be exhausting. Do you want to shelve this until tomorrow?"

"Maybe not tomorrow. You don't remember, but I cut this discussion short last night too. We went out and had some fun. Let's do something like that again. But tomorrow...I don't think I'm going to tell you about the time loop."

"What!" she yelled. "You're not going to tell me? We are in this together buster and don't you forget it."

"It's just for a day. Since you won't remember this anyway, I'll tell you my plan. I was thinking I might send you a few dozen flowers at work in the morning, make the other women jealous. I'll go into New York and get your favorite corn beef sandwich from Katz and surprise you with lunch. Then I'll use the rest of the afternoon to plan a romantic evening for us. What do you think?"

I'd been watching her reaction to my plan, trying to get a feel for how my romantic gestures would be received. How many guys could ask their wives for advice on how to woo them? And then when I did put the moves on her it would seem spontaneous. Nice!

Her reaction puzzled me. She smiled at the thought of flowers at the office, but as soon as I mentioned surprising her for lunch, she paled a little. I don't think she even registered my evening plans.

"All of that sounds wonderful Sam, but maybe just the flowers at work. We'll be doing the bi-monthly payroll for all the nurses and support staff. I'll be so slammed, I probably won't take more than 15 minutes to eat wherever I can fit it in. If I don't know what you're going through, and I won't, I'll probably turn down lunch. Or if I don't turn it down, I won't appreciate it the way I should. Plus I'll expect you to be at work.

"You should just take a day for yourself. Go into the city and have fun. Maybe see a movie and walk through Central Park. Don't worry about me. When we pick up again the day after, I'll never know the difference."

I guess all that made sense, though I still thought her reaction was a little strong. I knew she was a very conscientious worker, so the idea of her turning me down to work through lunch didn't bother me much. But why did it bother her? Could she have been that upset just by the thought of giving me the brush-off?

Wow, she must really love me I thought.

...

Friday July 15^th, 2016 Day 17

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me....don't hurt me....no more"

I followed my wife's advice.

I went into New York and had breakfast at Russ and Daughters. They're famous for their smoked salmon. On a bagel with cream cheese it's called a Classic. It's fantastic. But for my money the Classic pales in comparison to the Mensch, which replaces the salmon with smoked sturgeon. I swear the first time I had one I had to go home and change my pants.

After breakfast I went to the Met. I'm not big on art per se, so I stayed away from the modern art section. But I'm a big history buff so I took my time in the medieval and Egyptian exhibits. I ended up spending most of the day there.

I had spent some time online that morning to set up Julie's flower delivery.

Around noon I was feeling a little guilty that she had to work, while I took a day to play tourist. I should have insisted on a day off for both of us. Why didn't I think of that before? We could spend every day together if we wanted.

I decided I'd call her, just to tell her I love her and ask if she liked the flowers.

I took out my phone and saw that it was turned off. I'd turned it off to avoid calls from work, since I didn't bother to call in. Also, there was no reason to keep in contact with the world at large when you're stuck in a time loop. Nothing is urgent.

I turned it on and saw that I had missed a call from Julie. Damn! I should have thought she would call when she got the flowers.

She left a message and as expected she thanked me for the thoughtful gesture and told me she loved me. Damn, I would have liked to take that call.

It appeared that we were playing phone tag, because I couldn't get ahold of her either. First, I called her extension at the hospital and got the automated message that she was away from her desk. Then I called her cell, but it went straight to voicemail.

I didn't give it much thought. Julie said she expected to have a busy day, so it wasn't out of the question that she would be hard to reach. As for the cell, there were any number of reasons for a cell phone to be off.

She called me back a couple hours later, while I was sitting in a small neighborhood park, people watching.

"Hey babe, sorry I missed your call, I've been running around all day. Did you get my message earlier? The girls in the office were so jealous, Susan said she was going to fight me for you."

"I think you can take her Jules, you've got about 30 years on her. I'm counting on you to defend my honor."

"Don't worry about it, we came to an agreement. She withdrew her challenge when I said you would be her love slave for a weekend."

I knew it was a joke, but I was momentarily speechless as I imagined servicing "Mistress Susan." For a woman in her fifties she was a damn fine looking woman. I'm not submissive, but I do enjoy the sight of a woman in leather.

"You there babe?" Julie asked. "Did I give you a woody at work?"

I didn't bother to correct her about where I was. "Sorry hon, I was just looking on Amazon for a gimp mask."

"Oh god, I should let you do it just so I can see that," she laughed. "Anyway, I really did want to thank you. A girl likes to know she's loved. I'll show you my appreciation properly tonight."

"It's a date. I love you Julie."

"I love you too Sam."

It never occurred to me to question why her phone had been off at lunch time.

...

Friday July 15^th, 2016 Day 18

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me....don't hurt me....no more"

I sat up in bed and stretched. My body felt equally rested every morning, regardless of what I'd done the day before. But even so I felt more relaxed this morning after taking a mental health day. The only way to make it better would have been to have Julie by my side.

I was supposed to wake her and get back down to the business of trying to puzzle out this time loop, but I decided to change the plan. This wasn't going to be solved with determination and grit. I decided that I would go with the flow more. Maybe try to vary my daily routine.

While I may be stuck in a time loop, it didn't mean I had to relive the same day over and over again (well, yes it did, but you know what I mean). So far I had spent the vast majority of my time stuck in the house, figuratively beating my head against a wall.

From now on I determined to get out more. If I was stuck in this day, I should make the most of it.

Of course, if I was going to attempt to live my very limited life to the fullest, then I wanted my wife by my side. Convincing her that I was in a time loop was old hat, but after I showed her the seriousness of the situation...could I convince her not to take it seriously? I'd already seen that her instinct was to buckle down and try to make sense of things.

This would take some thought on how to approach Julie. Should I try to talk her into spending the day with me, without even mentioning the time loop? The idea had a lot of appeal if I wanted to just spend a carefree day with her. But could I persuade her to play hooky? She took her job very seriously.

I looked at the clock and Julie's alarm would be going off in less than a half hour. I still didn't know what I was going to say to her.

I scrambled to throw on my clothes and left the house before Julie woke up. I figured I would let her go to work and I would take another "me" day. Sometime that day I had to give some serious thought to how I was going to get Julie to skip work for a non-emergency.

With a little work, maybe I could turn my never ending drudge into an endless honeymoon.

I went to a mall and wandered around as the stores opened. A book store caught my attention and I browsed until I found a novel that looked good. After I made my purchase I retired to the food court and sat down with a cinnamon bun and coffee to read for a while. If I couldn't finish the novel today, I could buy it again tomorrow.

I lost track of time for a while. The hard plastic chairs in the food court finally got to me about 11:00. I was getting hungry again, but going home didn't appeal to me. Even if I felt like cooking, I would have to clean up afterword and sweep the house like a crime scene to keep Julie from realizing I had skipped work.

There was a hipster diner not far from the entrance to our gated community. The walls were covered in minimalist artwork and the food was overpriced and undersized. But there were cozy seating areas with overstuffed chairs and ottomans that were perfect to relax and read over a meal.

I managed to snag a spot by the window, surrounded by covens of pampered housewives sipping their half-caff-half-soy caramel machiato lattes.

I had just placed my order, and was about to dive back into my book, when I glanced out the window and saw Julie's Honda Pilot drive by.

My first thought was surprise that she had time to go home for lunch when for a couple days in a row she had talked about how busy this Friday was for her.

My second thought was, why was Dr. Richard Peters following behind her in his Porsche?

Dr. Peters was the head of St. Gertrudes' oncology department. I'd met him at a few hospital function I'd attended with my wife. I didn't particularly care for him, not because of anything specific, but because he had that rock star arrogance that some doctors get. He was generally dismissive of anyone who wasn't rich, good looking, or better yet a doctor themselves.

As far as I knew, Julie and Dr. Peters didn't have much reason to interact at the hospital. And they certainly had no reason to be meeting for lunch at our house.

At that point I still didn't really believe anything untoward was happening. It just flew in the face of everything I thought I knew about my wife. My mind was blank, almost numb. I don't remember leaving the diner or getting in my car. I must have paid my bill, because nobody came running out after me.