Meet Ryan Michael Zimm. An out of shape, middle aged man who is struggling with life after losing his childhood sweetheart and wife to an act of God a few months ago.
After finding a gemstone while working at his job for the County, he takes it home. That night while holding the gem, he makes a drunken wish while looking at a picture of his late wife. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds himself in the bedroom of the house he grew up in and discovers that he is 18 again.
After accepting his predicament, he realizes that he will meet his future wife for the first time later that day. Should he pursue her again or change the life he knew for something completely different?
He is enlisted in the Army and is scheduled to leave for basic training in a week, so he needs to come up with a plan quickly.
With his knowledge of the future, would it be possible to change his life and others from the future he knew? Could he benefit from that knowledge?
Read on to find outâŚâŚ
Meet Ryan Michael Zimm. An out of shape, middle aged man who is struggling with life after losing his childhood sweetheart and wife to an act of God a few months ago.
After finding a gemstone while working at his job for the County, he takes it home. That night while holding the gem, he makes a drunken wish while looking at a picture of his late wife. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds himself in the bedroom of the house he grew up in and discovers that he is 18 again.
After accepting his predicament, he realizes that he will meet his future wife for the first time later that day. Should he pursue her again or change the life he knew for something completely different?
He is enlisted in the Army and is scheduled to leave for basic training in a week, so he needs to come up with a plan quickly.
With his knowledge of the future, would it be possible to change his life and others from the future he knew? Could he benefit from that knowledge?
Read on to find outâŚâŚ
LATE
âAt least you remembered the donuts this time. Krispy Kreme even. Iâm impressed. But then again, after being late three times in one month, I suppose you should remember the rule,â said the forty-something, lean, bald, black man standing by the coffee machine in the small break room. The digital clock on the wall over his head read 8:40 AM 7/7/2019 78°. He filled his cup that read â#1 Dadâ and replaced the urn to its place on the coffee pot burner. He started walking towards the door and said, âCome to my office before you head out, Ryan.â
âIâll be there in a few, Doug,â replied Ryan as he placed the box of donuts on the lunch table. Hopefully itâs just an ass chewing and not a written warning. Although being late for work three times in one month would sure as hell justify one, he thought as he left the break-room and went to the restroom across the hall.
He unlocked the padlock and opened his locker. It was just a normal gray locker in the middle of a row of ten with the name Zimm stenciled on the front. There was nothing too exciting inside. A spare work shirt, underwear (Fruit of the Loom boxers), and socks (white calf length) in case the clothes he wore to work at the Sarasota County Maintenance Facility got dirty or wet or torn (which happened occasionally). The inside of the door had several pictures taped to it. Mostly pictures of him and his wife Dawn in various settings. There was another picture of their Pekingese named Boo looking at the camera with his head cocked at an angle, his tongue sticking part way out. Ryan sat on the bench in front of the locker, took out his work boots, and changed out of his Adidas tennis shoes. He stood up and looked at his favorite picture. It was him and Dawn standing with their arms around each other beside a small waterfall. Damn that was a great day he thought, and only what? Two years ago?
He stood 6â1 and was a middle-aged 220 pounds. Short, dark hair just starting to get a little gray on the sides, but the top was so thin, and the hairline had receded so much that he just combed it straight back. Dawn wasnât much shorter than him, a couple inches. Naturally straight brunette hair that came just past her shoulders. Her face was very pretty with thin features. Some people said she could be Sandra Bullockâs cousin without the cleft chin. Her right canine tooth stuck out just a bit. Not quite a âsnaggletoothâ, but noticeable. Ryan always thought it was a sexy feature. They were both smiling like they had just won big on a slot machine pull.
He shut the door, replaced the padlock, and spun the dial a couple turns. I wish those Tylenol would kick in, he thought. His head had a slight throb of a hangover headache, and he hoped whatever Doug had to say would be fast so he could go to the job site and get lost in his work.
He poked his head in the supervisorâs office and said, âLook, Doug, Iâm sorry about being late again, but I use my phone as my alarm, and I forgot to put it on the charger last night. Needless to say, the battery was dead this morning.â That was the bullshit lie he came up with on the way in. The truth was, he simply forgot to set the alarm on the bedside clock.
âCome in, close the door, and have a seat,â said Doug. Shit, he thought, this is going to suck. âRyan,â began Doug after he was seated in the high-backed chair in front of a cheap metal desk, âI donât want to, but we are going to have to do a written warning this time. Itâs policy that after two orals, the third time is a write up.â He slid a piece of paper across the desk. âGo ahead and sign and date it after you read it.â Ryan gave it a quick glance and signed it. Fuck it, he thought and pushed it back across the desktop to the man in the blue button up shirt with a name-tag on the pocket that read âDougâ. The Supervisor picked up the paper and put it in his âTo Doâ basket and said, âLook Ryan, itâs been how long now since the accident? Four months or so? I canât tell you how sorry I am that sheâs gone, hell, everyone in the department is. Dawn was a wonderful person, and it was a terrible tragedy, but you need to start getting your shit together.â
Four months and two weeks to the day, thought Ryan. It seemed like yesterday. He was home after work and had just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell of their three-bedroom pool home in Englewood rang. Who could that be, he wondered. Boo was on the lanai and started barking. Dawn wasnât home, she took that Friday off with a personal day from her job in accounting at Venice Regional Hospital so she could go shopping in Sarasota at the big mall. He was wearing cargo shorts and a tank top from Hooters, his hair was still wet from the shower. There was a policeman standing at the door when he opened it. âYes?â he asked with an inquisitive look.
âAre you Ryan Zimm?â asked the middle-aged officer with a name-tag that read âGoldâ and a silver cross pinned to his collar.
âI am. Is there trouble officer?â Ryanâs heartbeat picked up as he wondered what the hell this was about.
âMy name is Sergeant Gold, may I come in?â asked the blonde-haired officer.
âOf course,â said Ryan as he opened the door and stepped aside. He closed the door and led them down a short hallway to the living room where he turned around to face the officer. Boo was still barking, but the slider door to the lanai was closed so it was muffled.
âMr. Zimm,â Sergeant Gold began. His hands were clasped in front of him as he looked at Ryan and said,â Iâm afraid I have some terrible news to tell you, you may want to sit down.â
âIâm fine standing, and you can call me Ryan.â His forehead and armpits suddenly broke out in a fine sweat.
âVery well, Ryan. There is no easy way to say this, so Iâll just say it. Your wife Dawn was struck by lightning this afternoon in a Sarasota parking lot, and the strike was fatal. CPR attempts were unsuccessful, and she is no longer with us. Iâm so very, very sorry, Sir.â
Ryan just nodded slightly while looking at his supervisorâs name tag. âRyan, itâs pretty obvious that youâre drinking too much and itâs becoming a problem. Not to mention you look like shit.â He paused for a second and drew in a breath. âI like to drink a few cold ones myself, hell, who doesnât? But you need to use some better judgment. Are you still going to the grief group meetings?â
Ryan blinked quickly a couple times and said, âNo, I havenât been to one in a few weeks. Itâs just the same bullshit sob stories repeated by the same people every meeting.â
âOK, I get it,â began Doug. âLook, youâve used up almost all of your vacation and personal time and Iâve given you the easier jobs lately. Youâve been with the County for almost twenty years now and you have what, another ten or so before you can retire?â
âSomething like that,â replied Ryan.
âYouâre one of my best workers, Ryan. You are one of my senior people and I need you to get your focus and start getting back to your old self.â Ryan nodded while still looking at the nametag.
âI know, Doug, and I appreciate what you have been doing for me, I really do. Yeah, Iâve been drinking five or six beers (more like twelve) a night to help me relax and get to sleep. Iâll cut that back to a couple. Just keep the faith, Boss, Iâll be fine.â
âOK, Iâll hold you to that,â said Doug as he set his #1 Dad coffee mug down after taking a sip. âI hate doing this shit as much as you hate sitting there, so no more late starts, alright? I donât want to get HR involved. Itâs Friday, so I want you and Angie to continue working on the sewer trench. I know you guys have been making great time on it, so letâs try to get the last few blocks done by the end of next week, OK?â
âSure thing, Boss.â
âAngie is waiting for you in the shop, so get the fuck out of here and work safely please.â
He went by the break-room and filled his coffee mug, adding two sugars. He grabbed two bear claws out of the donut box, wrapped them in a napkin and headed out to the shop. Angie was sitting in the driverâs seat of a white extended- cab Chevy pickup that had Sarasota County Maintenance stickers on the front doors.
âWell, youâre not walking funny, so it must not have been too bad,â said the mid-twenties redhead behind the wheel.
âNo, he was cool about it.â He opened the passenger door and climbed in. âLetâs hit it and get the day over so we can enjoy the weekend. He handed her a donut, âHere, breakfast is on me. And good morning to you too, Red.â
DISCOVERY
The ride to the jobsite took about twenty minutes. It wasnât hot yet, but the humidity was high, so the air conditioner was on. Angie turned on the radio and Roxanne by the Police was on. Ryan quickly reached over and turned it to 96.9 KIX Country and they listened to Toby Keith asking, âHow Do You Like Me Now!?â Angie was going to tell him about her dinner date last night but could tell he wasnât in the mood for conversation, so she kept quiet and ate the bear claw while he ate his. It was going to be a typical Florida summer day. Humid and sunny in the morning with clouds moving in off the gulf around three, and then the âafternoon peeâ as Ryan called it would dump around an inch of rain for an hour with the thunder making dogs everywhere shake. The temperature would drop around ten degrees and the sun would come back out. âNatureâs air conditionerâ people called it. They were working in South Englewood, a sprawling Florida city that was growing at a dizzying rate. They were digging a trench for a sewer line in a new housing development and were about halfway done. The backhoe was parked and waiting for them where they had left it the day before. It was a medium sized Kubota with an air-conditioned cab. He pointed to a gopher tortoise walking along the cleared lot across the street.
âMake sure that little guy stays away from the backhoe, Iâd hate to run it over.â Angie gave him a thumbs up. Normally he let Angie run the backhoe because he liked to be on his feet and truth be told she was a better operator than him. But his head still had a slight throb, and the air conditioning would be welcome. âIâll drive this morning and you can take over after lunch, howâs that?â asked Ryan.
âOK, Iâll play gofer and run the stick while itâs cool,â Angie replied.
The trench needed to be six feet deep and five feet wide to accommodate the pipe. The person not running the backhoe had a length of pvc pipe cut to length so they could measure on the go and the trench would be correct in size. It was a one-person job, but department policy states a minimum number of two people on a job for safety reasons. They began working and after a little while got into a nice rhythm of scooping sand.
Around 10:30, Angie motioned for him to open the cab door so she could talk. He throttled down the machine and opened the door. âWhatâs up?â
âI know itâs getting close to lunch time, but I gotta use the ladies room. Iâm going to run up to Circle K and grab a soda while Iâm there. You want one?â
âSure, a hot coffee would warm me up some, itâs so damned cold in here.â Ryan said with a smirk.
âHa ha, smart ass. Weâll see how cold you are around three.â
âYa ya, a Pepsi would be great, and donât forget to fasten your seatbelt.â She had a habit of not using it.
He closed the door and throttled back up. The Tylenol had finally kicked in and his headache was a distant memory. He watched her drive away and started digging again. He went to take another scoop with the bucket and struck something hard. He couldnât see what it was from inside the cab, so he moved the bucket out of the way and climbed down. Probably a good-sized rock again, he guessed. Once on the ground, he stretched and got a pretty good pop out of his backbone. He looked into the ditch and wasnât sure what he was looking at. It was a bunch of medium sized stones about four feet down. A couple of them had collapsed into a hollow area when the bucket hit them. He couldnât tell much from ground level, so he climbed back into the machine and put the bucket down into the trench and shut off the backhoe. Using the bucket arm as a makeshift ladder, he climbed down to get a closer look. The hole left by the collapsed stones didnât allow much light in, so he climbed back up and got the flashlight from under the Kubotaâs seat. He turned it on to make sure it worked (God knows how long the batteries had been in it) and it lit up faithfully. He climbed back down and shone the light in the hole. What he saw made him catch his breath. It was a grave of some sort. Lying inside was what looked like the skeleton of an old Spanish soldier. He couldnât make out the entire space, but what he could see was the upper part of a skeleton. It had some polished body armor on its chest and arms. A helmet was lying beside the skull. âHoly shit,â he whispered. Looking closer, something green caught his eyes. The skeletonâs hands were crossed over its midsection, and in one of the hands was what looked like a good-sized green gemstone. It was rectangular in shape and around three inches long by two inches wide. Without thinking, he reached down into the hole and gently grabbed it between two fingers and pulled it out. He turned off the flashlight and laid it up on the ground. He blew on the gem and wiped it with his shirt. It was heavy for its size as he hefted it with his hand a couple times. It looks like it might be an emerald, he thought. It was polished and had several markings on it. OK, letâs think about this for a second. This is a showstopper for sure. They cover this in our monthly safety meetings. The most important thing is, âDO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!â Weâll report this to Doug, heâll call the proper authorities and they will treat this like an archaeological find. The trench will probably have to be rerouted. He knew he should put the stone back, but he didnât. To hell with it. I need to catch a break for a change. They can have the soldier, but Iâm keeping the damn rock. He slipped it into his pants pocket and heard Angie pull up in the company truck. After climbing out of the trench, he watched her get out of the truck and walk towards him holding a Pepsi in each hand.
âIs everything alright?â she asked after seeing him climb out of the trench.
âYouâve got to see this, Angie. Pretty amazing what I just dug up. I canât believe it.â Angie climbed down after handing him the sodas and Ryan handed her the flashlight.
âHoly shit! Is that a Conquistador or something?â she asked while looking up at Ryan.
âI donât know, my history knowledge isnât that great. It sure looks Spanish to me, and Ponce De Leon was all over this part of Florida, so I would say that is a pretty safe bet. Come up out of there and letâs call it in to Doug and see how he wants to handle this.â
He called Doug and told him about what they discovered.
âWhere exactly?â asked Doug. Ryan walked over to a lot marker for the waterfront property.
âParadise Road, Lot 71,â he said. The same year I was born.
He was told to sit tight, not let anyone near the find, and DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!
After waiting for ten minutes, a sheriffâs car pulled up. A deputy got out and introduced himself as Deputy Gritz. Anyone looking at the scene could see what had transpired, but Ryan went over the details (most of them anyway) of what had happened while the Deputy took notes. When that was done, Ryan said, âMy supervisor said that when the authorities showed up, weâre supposed to load up the equipment and go back to the shop. Is that ok with you?â The Deputy thought for a moment and nodded his head.
âI donât think there is anything more you can do here. I have your statements and names and if there is anything else I have your phone numbers. The newspaper and TV station reporters will probably be here shortly, and if I know them like I do, Iâm sure they will want to interview you. Donât you want to be on the news tonight and have your pictures in the paper tomorrow?â
Ryan and Angie glanced at each other, and Ryan shook his head. âIâm good.â At first Angie thought it would be awesome to be on the news, but then she remembered what she was wearing and how her hair probably looked like shit.
âIâll pass on the fifteen minutes of fame thing.â she replied with a smirk.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. Since it was Friday, they loaded up the Kubota on the trailer and Ryan drove them to Wendyâs for lunch and then back to the shop. Most of the crews were back out in the field since lunch hour was over, and the shop was quiet. Doug met them in the break room and Ryan explained in detail (but not all) again of what had happened. His hands were in his pockets and his left hand was fondling the stone. Doug was not happy about this turn of events. He said he wasnât sure if the sewer line could be diverted or if they would have to wait for the grave to be moved by the people who dealt with this sort of thing. One thing was for sure, the project that had been ahead of schedule was now going to be delayed. He told them to hang around the shop and do maintenance until quitting time, then left to go see the site for himself and maybe get some answers from the people now in charge. Ryan knew that another reason Doug was going to the site was because of the press. Anytime a government employee can get their name in the paper or their face on TV for something good, it could only help their career.
HOME
Driving home after leaving the shop, Ryan pulled the Explorer into an ABC Liquor store. The beer fridge was getting low, and he was out of bourbon (the reason for his earlier headache and this morningâs tardiness). He looked up at a cloudless sky and wondered why there was no âafternoon peeâ today. A quiet Friday night on the lanai drinking beer and eating some pizza sounded pretty damned good. Hopefully, some team other than the Yankees or the Red Sox would be playing baseball on TV.
No chance the Rays would be on, those games were always blacked out. He put the silver Explorer in park and took the stone out of his pocket. âDamn, you are a pretty thing.â he said to it while turning it over in his fingers. The jewel went back into his pocket as he went into the store.
Yuengling beer and Bulleit bourbon were both on sale. Perfect, he thought. Three cases of cans and a large bottle went into the shopping cart as he made a mental note to try and make this last for at least a week. He stopped by the walk-in cigar humidor. He inhaled deeply after walking in and smiled. One of the best smells in the world. Right there with baking bread, good reefer in a baggie, and a fresh cut alfalfa field. He glanced at the Alec Bradley cigars, nodded, and grabbed four Prensado torpedoes.
After parking in the garage, he walked down to the mailbox at the street. A neighbor lady weeding in her front yard across the road saw him and waved. He waved back and said, âHey Debbie. Big plans for the weekend?â
âYeah, Rhonda and I are leaving for St. Augustine in the morning. Just a quick weekend trip.â
Ryan said, âMake sure you go to the Spanish Bakery for lunch and get some Picadillo.â
The short haired lady nodded, âSounds good. How about you, any plans?â
âNothing yet. I need to get some yard work done myself. Drive safe and have fun!â She gave him a thumbs up and he turned and walked back up the driveway with some junk mail in hand.
Boo met him at the door when he walked in. The little tan dog was barking and wiggling like crazy. Ryan bent over and picked him up. âHow was your day, little guy?â Bark bark bark!, replied Boo enthusiastically. He set him down after ruffling his fur. He is going to need a haircut soon, thought Ryan. âIâll bet you have to pee like a racehorse, huh? OK, letâs go out back.â
After setting his phone and wallet on the counter-top, he let Boo out the lanai door into the white privacy fenced yard and then went back out to the Explorer for the beer and cigars. When the beer fridge was re-stocked and the cigars put in the humidor, he grabbed a beer, closed the two-stall garage door using the door opener button, and went to take a shower in the master bedroom. The bed was still unmade from the mornings âOH SHITâ moment of oversleeping (again) and running around the house like a person who is late for work will do. He opened the beer, turned the tab a quarter turn to the left (an old Army habit that let him identify his can from others) and took a big drink. He put it down on the dresser, took the jewel out of his pocket and placed it next to the can. He kicked off the Adidas without untying them and began to undress. He reached through the mermaid themed shower curtain in the bathroom and turned on the water to let it warm up. After several seconds he lifted the diverter knob and stepped in. When he finished, he walked back into the bedroom drying his hair with the same towel he had been using all week.
He grabbed the beer off the dresser and took a long pull. Setting the beer back down, he glanced at himself in the mirror. Damn, Ryan, what the fuck happened to you? He looked objectively at his forty-eight-years-old self for the first time in a while. The receding, graying hairline, chest hair that was more white than black, tits starting to get saggy, crows feet around the eyes getting more pronounced, his belly way too big. The American eagle tattoo on his upper arm had lost its sharpness. He turned around and looked at his ass. Damn. It looks like a marshmallow some kid chewed on for a bit and then spit out after deciding he didnât want it anymore. Iâve got to get back to the gym. It wouldnât hurt to start playing tennis again too, he thought as he walked back to the bathroom and hung up the towel.
Using his foot, he dragged the scale out from beside the toilet. âHere goes nothing,â he said as he stepped on. 234 the digital readout displayed. âSon of a bitch!â he exclaimed. Fifteen pounds in four months? I knew I had gained a few, but damn. He put on a fresh pair of underwear, his favorite shorts, a Crabby Peteâs T-shirt, and combed his thinning hair straight back. He grabbed the beer and the stone and walked out to the kitchen where he set them on the counter.
He let Boo back in and the small dog ran to his food dish. Ryan gave the dog some kibble and fresh water. After getting another beer, he decided that he wasnât going to lose any weight by ordering pizza, so he opened the fridge and got out some smoked turkey lunchmeat, Havarti cheese, spicy mustard and made a sandwich. He made a mental note that it was time to buy groceries again. Tomorrow, Iâll scoot over to Winn Dixie, do some shopping, and then come home and start with the laundry and household chores.
He walked out to the lanai, put the ceiling fan on medium, turned the TV on to News Center 11 and ate his sandwich with some barbecue chips and cold beer. There was a short segment on the news about a discovery made involving a grave in Englewood close to the Myakka River. There was some footage showing the grave with an
official-looking person peering through the hole with a flashlight and a brief interview with Doug explaining what had happened and what appeared to be inside.
No mention of him or Angie by name. More to come later.
He went and got the jewel and examined it closely. On each side there were markings engraved into it. One side had four squiggly lines like elongated Sâs. One side had three slashes with a fourth going opposite. One side had four circles inside of each other. The fourth side had four triangles inside of each other, but every other one was âupside down.â Hefting it in his hand again, he guessed it weighed around three ounces or so. âI wonder how much you are worth?â he said out loud. It sure looked like an emerald. Deep green and flawless as far as his naked eye could tell. I think Iâll take you over to see Kevin at Suncoast Jewelers tomorrow. Kevin had helped him in the past when he bought jewelry for Dawn on special occasions. Iâll tell him it was in my grandfathersâ estate and was willed to me after his recent passing.
Money wasnât a big issue with him and Dawn for the past several years. Dawnâs parents were pretty well off financially and when her father unexpectedly died, Reeva, Dawnâs mother, gave them two hundred thousand dollars in âearly inheritance money.â
The housing bubble had burst not long before and they were able to buy a house in foreclosure they would never have been able to afford pre-bust. Then used their previous two-bedroom block house in Gulf Cove as a rental. He was truly sorry that Gene had died because he was a great father-in-law and Dawn loved him deeply, but he was ecstatic over the windfall and the new pool home in a much nicer area of Englewood.
When Dawn passed, there was only a small life insurance policy through her work that basically paid for the cremation and the trip back to Nebraska for the funeral. They never really talked about buying additional life insurance, who does? His income from the County and the rental was more than adequate for his needs, but he didnât like to spend frivolously and put as much as he could into savings. But, if this rock was worth some serious money, he daydreamed, a new pickup and boat might be sitting in the drive shortly. Fishing in the gulf would get him out of the house and maybe take his mind off losing his wife and best friend of over twenty-five years. He set the stone on the counter top.
He took his empty plate and the chips inside after he was finished, then went to the beer fridge and grabbed another beer and the bourbon. He took one of the cigars out of the humidor and using the cutter, snipped the end. Back In the kitchen, he opened the booze and poured a generous amount into a glass with a few ice cubes. He went back to the lanai and sat on the wicker couch. Boo was giving him âthe lookâ, so Ryan patted his thigh and said, âCome on.â The little guy nimbly jumped up in his lap and welcomed the scratching of his head.
Turning his attention back to the TV, he checked the guide to see if there was anything worth a shit on. There werenât any ball games on that he was interested in (Cubs vs Brewers or Red Sox vs Mariners), but the Road Warrior with Mel Gibson came on in a few minutes. That sounded like a winner. Now that was a bad-ass car Mad Max drove. âLast of the V-8âs, with a blower that you could turn on and off with the flick of a switch.â (Yeah right, he thought with a smirk.) He took a big sip of the bourbon and rolled it around on his tongue before swallowing. He lit the cigar, blew smoke up in the air and placed it in his cigar ashtray.
Before Dawn died, he only smoked cigars when he golfed, usually two or three times a month. They had both quit smoking cigarettes several years prior and he had a much harder time than she did. Pretty typical. When she put her mind to something, it was done. He, on the other hand didnât have the same will power. He figured cigars were much better for him than cigarettes because he didnât inhale, so a few a week couldnât hurt. Besides that, there was nobody around to nag at him.
Halfway through the movie during a commercial, he threw his empty beer can in the recycle bin and went to the bathroom to take a piss. Back in the kitchen, he added another big splash of bourbon to his glass and grabbed his fifth beer. He was catching a nice buzz and the movie was as good as he remembered it to be. Maxâs car had just gotten totaled, and his dog was shot trying to protect him. The helicopter dude was flying him back to the compound and Max was in real bad shape.
The cell phone buzzed alerting him to a text message and he picked it up. The message was from Phil saying they needed a fourth for golf on Sunday. Phil was a good friend about the same age that Ryan had met when he was playing tennis on a regular basis. He hadnât done many extracurricular activities since the accident, and he knew he needed to start making a better effort. Sitting around getting shitfaced and watching old movies every night wasnât healthy, he knew. He replied back, âWhat time and where?â. â9 am at Heron Pines,â Phil responded. âSounds great, see ya then.â âAwesome, havenât seen you in a while, weâll play some shitty golf and catch up.â Phil wrote. He smiled and set the phone back on the table and thought, Iâll have to dust off the clubs and make sure I have enough balls and tees in the bag tomorrow.
When the movie was over and his cigar finished, he got up to let Boo outside and stumbled just a bit walking to the screen door. Getting my moneyâs worth tonight. Better stick to beer for the rest of the evening. He turned the channel to the news again to see if there were any updates on the grave and there werenât. They just ran the same segment from the 6 oâclock show. After the weather (87 with scattered afternoon showers tomorrow) and sports were done, (Rays win 3rd straight!), he picked up the remote and shut off the TV.
He let Boo in and locked the screen door. Then went in the house, shut and locked the slider door, turned out the lanai light, and closed the blind. He thought briefly about getting another beer and watching TV in the living room, but he was tired, fairly drunk, and didnât want to sleep the next morning away. âBetter call it a night little buddy, sleep well.â he said to Boo. The little dog went to his bed, got on, circled around twice and laid down.
Ryan picked up the jewel on his way to the bedroom and rolled it around in his hand. In the bedroom, he stopped to look at a picture of Dawn on the wall. She was around twenty-five at the time and wearing a blue ski cap and vest standing on a ski slope in Colorado. Big smile and cheeks red from the cold. He smiled a drunken smile and while still rolling the jewel around in his hand said, âBaby, I wish I could go back to the day we met and do it all over.â He set the jewel down on the dresser and got undressed down to his underwear. After using the toilet and brushing his teeth, he looked at the clock on the nightstand and noted it read 10:55 pm. He shut off the lights and crawled into the unmade bed. In less than a minute he was passed out on his back, a small snore already coming from his slightly opened mouth.
An hour later, the bedroom clock changed from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am and the green stone with the strange markings began to glow from within. It started to pulse slowly and get slightly brighter. Boo saw the green pulsing light coming from under the bedroom door and began to growl from the back of his throat. The pulsing continued to get brighter and faster. A passed-out Ryan rolled over and put his face into the pillow. Anyone walking by on the street would have assumed there was a green strobe light in the room and would wonder what kind of party they were throwing. Faster and brighter the jewel pulsed and exactly one minute later, it stopped. All was dark, and all was silent.
Over by Dale Buhr is an emotionally charged page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. This novel tells the story of Ryan Michael Zimm, a middle-aged man struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of his wife. After finding a mysterious gemstone, he makes a drunken wish that transports him back to when he was 18 years old.
As he tries to navigate his new reality, he faces a difficult choice: pursue his future wife or alter the course of his life completely. With his knowledge of the future, Ryan is faced with the opportunity to change not only his own life but the lives of those around him as well. However, he is also faced with the consequences of his actions and must navigate the difficult choices that come with them.
Buhr has created a captivating and unique story that will keep readers engaged from beginning to end. The character development is strong, and readers will find themselves rooting for Ryan as he faces numerous obstacles and challenges. The pacing is excellent, with the story moving along at a steady pace that keeps the reader engaged without feeling rushed.
I would give Over by Dale Buhr a rating of 4 out of 5. The novel has a very unique and engaging story that keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end. The character development is strong and the pacing is well done, allowing the reader to get invested in the story without feeling rushed.
The only reason I am not giving this book a perfect 5 out of 5 rating is that some aspects of the plot felt a bit predictable at times. While the story takes some unexpected twists and turns, there were still some moments where I saw the outcome coming from a mile away. Additionally, there were some moments where the story felt a bit repetitive, but this is a minor issue that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.
Overall, Over is a fantastic novel that I would highly recommend to fans of science fiction, time travel, and stories that explore the human condition. It is a well-written and thought-provoking book that will leave readers eager for the next installment. Dale Buhr is a talented author, and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for us next.