The Arcade

On the way to the hospital, Cosmo sat huddled in his seat while his father concentrated on following the ambulance as it wove through traffic.

Everything that had taken place in the last fifteen minutes seemed a blur now, although at the time it happened, it was as if everything took place in slow motion. While he was piecing together the events of the morning, which included his conversation with his dad moments before the accident, something his father said came back to him.

“Dad?” Cosmo began.

Joe gave Cosmo a sidelong glance. “Yeah, son?”

“When we were in the restaurant, and I was telling you everything, you said that you believed me, and that you had your reasons for believing me. What did you mean by that?” Cosmo turned to look at his dad. “What reasons?”

Never taking his eyes off the road, Joe slowly replied, “I’ve met Sal, too.”

Cosmo could only gape at his father. After several heartbeats, he managed to get out a whispered “What?”

Joe looked over at his son, saw the look of shock, disbelief, and fear in his eyes, and said “We’ll talk more when we get to the hospital. I’ve got to call Theo’s folks first – then I’ll tell you everything, at least as much as I understand, anyway.” Cosmo only nodded.

Holy Family Hospital was only a few minutes away, and after calling Mr. Castelhano (who was at work, and said he would pick up his wife), the only thing left was to give his witness statement to the police.

He found a quiet corner of the waiting room to sit down with Cosmo, where he began to tell his story.

Cosmo was sipping on a soda, while his dad was stirring fake creamer into fake coffee from a vending machine. He looked at his son, and then his eyes took on a distant look, remembering the past. “I met Sal fifteen years ago, just after your mom and I found out we were going to have you.”

Cosmo’s eyebrows inched up his forehead. “Really? Where? How?” Joe’s expression grew impatient as he waved away any further questions. “Let me get this out, son. It’s complicated, and we don’t have much time before the Castelhanos get here.”

“Sorry.” Cosmo mumbled.

“It’s alright. Anyway, Your mom and I had gone to the fair. It was a really beautiful day, and we were having a really nice time. We didn’t ride any of the fast, loopy rides – but we did get on the Ferris wheel and carousel.” Joe smiled at the recollection. “Your mother always made fun of the fact that I got dizzy even on the carousel.

“Well, we were strolling down the fairway, when your mom stopped at one of those booths with the games, you know – the one where you have to shoot the star out of a paper target with a BB gun. As I dug out a couple of dollars, an old-ish sort of fellow walked up to me and said that he and I really needed to talk.

“Of course, I didn’t know this man from Adam, but the urgency in his voice made me think that if I didn’t, I might regret it. So I paid the barker for a couple of games, and told your mom I was going to get a couple of hot dogs. Of course, she harrumphed a little, but in those days she knew I usually thought with my stomach – and that I was a little scatter-brained.

“Anyway, I took a brief walk with this old guy – who never introduced himself, I only knew his name by his name patch – and I assumed he worked at the fair as a janitor or something, since he carried around a push broom.

“As we walked, he told me that unless things changed, you were in danger. I didn’t know how he knew about you, since your mom and I had only found out the day before, but he knew. I started to get angry, thinking that he was some psycho who was threatening my wife and unborn son – until he called me by name.

“He said ‘Joey, I know you may think this an odd coincidence, but it really isn’t. I know you and Rosemary are going to have a baby. In fact, you are going to have a son, and he is going to save a life – but only if you listen to what I have to tell you.’

“I was so stunned that he knew what he knew, that all I could do was listen. He then told me that there were things I needed to do over, or that future where you save your friend’s life wouldn’t happen. So he somehow – I don’t know how he did it – but he somehow took me back several years to just before I started college, so that I could avoid making a mistake that would have had your mom and I living somewhere completely different.”

At this point Joe paused, and Cosmo spoke up “Do you mean you and mom would never had gotten married or something?”

“Oh no, I had already asked your mom to marry me by then. No, it was worse.” Joe continued “I would have been in the Air Force, and we would have been station in Italy – at least I think it was Italy. I can’t remember that part too well.

“Anyway, I changed my plans of joining the Air Force, and instead decided to go ahead and attend college, where I majored in computer engineering.

“After I graduated, I went to work for IBM out on the East Coast – where you were born – and then later I met some guys who worked for the company where I am now. Your mom and I decided it would be a good fit, so we relocated. The rest, as they say, is history – or in our case apparently, the future, or maybe the past…you get the idea.”

Cosmo looked at his father. He had heard everything the man said, and all he could do was that slow blink, indicating that he was trying to process everything.

He looked down, looked up at his father, opened his mouth, and then shut it twice before finally clearing his throat and asking “Why us?”

Joe thought about this for a moment before answering. “I really don’t know, son. I think that somehow we are tied together, the three of us, but I can’t for the life of me understand how. The only thing I know is that everything happened for a reason, and we probably won’t know what that reason is for some time – if we ever.”

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

Joe blinked. “Huh??”

Cosmo said “You asked me earlier what I was going to do with the knowledge I had. I dunno, dad. I dunno what I’m supposed to with it.” With this, Cosmo stood up and began to pace.

“I mean, do I tell people what I know of the future, do I use the knowledge of future events top prevent certain things from happening – really bad things? I mean – I know about wars, presidents, stocks, companies, new technology…you name it. What do I do with all that??”

Joe bowed his head for a moment, then looked back up at his son. As he was about to respond, he saw Theo’s parents hurrying toward them. “We’ll talk more, later – okay?”

Cosmo nodded. “Okay dad – thanks.”

Joe smiled and winked at his son. “Hey – ‘home team’, remember?”

That was their inside lingo for ‘just between us two.’ It meant that whatever Cosmo and his dad talked about would always remain just between the two of them. Only the Catholic Seal of Confession was more ironclad.

Cosmo smiled back. “You bet, dad…”