I Don't Predict the Future...I Remember It...

The Horrible Happenstance

Rob Malone's mother once said that it was impolite to stare; ergo Rob was face to face with King Rude. The much older man wasn't staring in anger or a catatonic state, rather he had an incredibly nervous look...no...he was frightened...

It was not that long ago that Rob would've cracked, why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer, but with the current craze for smart phones and genius phones the staring man not only could have taken a photo, but he would also be able to film an entire movie and give it worldwide distribution.

Attempting to outstare the weirdo, Rob slowly pushed the opposite chair of the restaurant table towards him and invited the man to sit by using eye contact and head movement. Rob initiated the conversation,

'A day without weirdness is a day without sunshine...Mister...'

The old man forced a smile as he sat, but his eyes still had a fearful look. He was too well dressed to be trying for a free drink and he wouldn't appear to be as frightened as he was if he was only begging for money, and frightened he was...

'Wilson, John Wilson.'

'Where have we met before, John?'

'Here, in the town square.'

'I can't recall meeting you.'

'It hasn't happened yet.'

'That's what I call a great opening! You've impressed me in only a few seconds...now can you explain yourself? What do we do when we meet? Will you bring me the grand prize I've won in the lottery? Tell me, so I can buy a ticket.'

Rob wondered if he was a dirty old man trying to do a sleazy public pick-up; that would explain the fear.

'No...'

'Your time's up...what do you do when we meet?'

'I...', his fear was increasing, 'I...don't do anything...'

'Another public servant! You people are everywhere with my tax money! Well, if you don't do anything, what do I do?'

Rob's curious expression bade the stranger to continue, and he did,

'I saw death...'

'That's a great way to kill the conversation you started...are you going to kill me?'

'I don't know how you die.'

'If you don't know how I die, how do you know that I am going to die? You're not much of a fortune teller...'

'I don't predict the future...I remember it...I don't see death, I feel it. I saw your face, I felt death, and I know it will occur here in this town square, where I saw you in my vision.'

'What was I wearing? Was I dressed like I am now? Was I older than I am now? Or are you vision impaired?'

'I forgot what you were wearing, I've never seen you before until I saw you then and I just was walking by when I saw you at the table just now...you looked the same age as my vision...'

'I must admit, you're not shy...do you use this as an opening line often? How many people have you scared to death?'

The soothsayer's fear increased,

'This only happened once before. I saw a woman not too long ago where I felt her death at the same location that I had the image of her. I later actually saw her in the street, and of course, I didn't say anything. I saw her being struck and killed by a motorcar at the same location I visualised her...I wondered if I had given her a warning, would she have listened? Would she have been able to prevent her death? That's why I was staring at you...I was deciding what to do...'

Rob tried to take it all in,

'Coffee?'

'No, thank you.'

'When is this going to happen?'

'I don't know.'

'How is this going to happen?'

'I don't know.'

'So, all you know is who, me...what, death...and where, here...and like a vowel, sometimes why?'

'Never why...'

'I used to love surprises...once upon a time.'

'I shouldn't have said anything...'

'So, all I do is avoid this...'

'Town square', he nodded. 'I can't tell you anything more...I don't even know your name...'

'You've told me enough, John.'

The Crazy Coincidence

Someone once said, If you have friends who are as weird as you are, then you have everything...A true friend is someone you can tell anything to and they'll try and understand. Lee Taylor was that type of friend.

'I would've kicked him in his crystal balls, Rob.'

'The thought didn't cross my mind...if he was smug about it, maybe...but he was genuinely scared.'

'My grandfather had a friend he went to university with who was a practical joker. He would send telegrams saying IGNORE FIRST WIRE merely to shake people up. He wasn't there to see his handiwork, he just enjoyed the idea of driving people mad, maybe you met him...'

'All I have to do is stay away from that town square...easily done...'

'Are you scared, Rob?'

'I'm prudent.'

'That means you're scared with a university education.'

'There's no need for me to go there; I don't live there, and I haven't any more business there.'

'All the more reason to go.'

Lee had always been the sparkling catalyst that led Rob to adventure and laughs. The pair joked that every time that they went to a Chinese restaurant, Lee's fortune cookie would give a prediction of the future whilst Rob only received a proverb. Now the situation was reversed.

'I shall avoid the place. I don't live there, I just was doing some once off business; I have no reason to return.'

'I'll give you a reason; I'll buy you lunch at your choice of restaurant in the square.'

'Why tempt fate?'

'You don't believe in fate, do you? Fate's do it yourself life improvement; you make your own fate. What are you afraid of?'

'I believe in God, and I live a good life; if I'm wrong about God, I'll merely have lived a good life and not harmed anyone. If I'm right about God and I didn't live a good life...'

'You'd burn in Hell.'

'Better safe than sorry.'

'That's your motto, Rob. Mine is "fortune favours the brave".'

'What's my fortune for being brave?'

'A free lunch! There is such a thing...if you're brave enough to go back to town square one...Uncle Creepy didn't say I'm going to die, did he?'

'I didn't ask him.'

* * *

Rob and Lee had a wonderful lunch together at the same outside table of the restaurant of the fateful meeting. The three-course prix fixe lunch accompanied by a basket of fresh bread at Lee's expense was as excellent as Lee's company. The pair concluded with coffee,

'Not too many people get to live as dangerously as you are now in such comfort. This was a onetime offer, Rob, but the food was excellent. I'm glad we came.'

'I agree. but I'll pay for the wine.'

Lee nodded, then picked up a copy of the weekly local newspaper on an adjacent table and held it up.

'Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Rob Malone scared by a crazy old man!'

Rob believed Lee's sense of humour was like Jerry Lewis in his prime; sometimes a lot of fun in a pointless way that made you unexpectedly laugh out of embarrassment, other times merely annoying...

Lee's voice suddenly changed to a tone of wonder,

'Maybe this is the story Uncle Creepy told you about the woman who was run over?'

Rob took the paper and gleaned the story, closely examined the photo taken shortly after the fatality, then pointed and showed Lee.

'That's him! That's the man who gave me the prediction!'

'Well, that explains it. He became unhinged because he witnessed the accident; now he's contagious with his madness.'

With coffee finished and the bill paid, it was time to go.

'Let's walk off the meal with a constitutional, another death-defying act. Now I know what your bête noire looks like, if I see him, I'll have a word or two with him for being an idiot out of season.'

Once Rob stepped into the street there was a loud screech of tyres...

Lee pulled Rob back out of the street in the nick of time. The driver stopped and apologised profusely.

'Is that Uncle Creepy driving the car, Rob?'

The Deadly Destiny

Lee convinced Rob that walking across the street after sharing a bottle of wine without thinking to look and being hit by an unseen car was a too common occurrence, as had happened to the woman who was killed in John Wilson's presence. Rob had to agree.

Best of all, Lee made Rob believe that the near miss by the car when crossing the street was Creepy John Wilson's prophecy come to pass.

* * *

As the days went by, work kept Rob busy; and there was no reason to go to that town square. Had there been another assignment to the same location, Rob could easily get out of it by swapping assignments with another workmate.

After finishing a work visit, Rob reached in his car's door and began recording information in the company's logbook.

'Give me the keys to your car!'

Rob turned to face an angry but nervous tattooed teenage boy holding a silver snubnosed .38 calibre revolver.

Time seemed to stand still...Rob had time to think...

It wasn't that town square they were in; therefore, Rob was not going to be killed there. Rob shoved the teenager's pistol out of the way with a karate block, then gave him a righteous punch in the right place, sending him straight down to the street.

'You'd better get some new tattoos, punk. You're just not tough enough.'

Suddenly there was pain; Rob saw flashes of light; what the hard-boiled detective novels called 'seeing stars'. Feeling faint from the blow in the back of the head, Rob also fell to the street, perceiving what must have been warm blood...then everything went black...

* * *

Waking to the sound of police sirens on the floor of the back seat of the company car, Rob's hands were literally tied. With a massive headache inside and dried blood outside Rob's head, it took some doing to struggle up to the front seat.

The teenage boy driving the carjacked vehicle was the one Rob hit; the punk's girlfriend had the same or a similar snubnose .38 pointed at Rob's head.

'I bashed you once and I'll bash you again if you don't do what we say.'

Rob looked through the front windscreen, there was the town square...

'Get back on the floor or I'll kill you!'

'Yeah, you would, wouldn't you.'

Rob complied and went to the floor.

Their car screeched to a halt, the teenage boy ran out of the front door, opened the back door and pulled Rob out. The boy had his pistol to Rob's head, his girlfriend was by his side.

A stern no-nonsense voice on a police loudspeaker spoke,

'Drop the weapon or we'll drop you.'

The punk responded with an obscene phrase that made his girlfriend laugh.

KWAK!

The back of the teenaged boy's head exploded in red mist. The teenage girl screamed literal bloody murder.

'Told ya so!', the police loudspeaker gloated.

The teenage girl was shrieking as she went to the remains of her boyfriend who now only had the lower half of his face. She vomited on his remains.

'Hostage lives matter', smiled a policeman who untied Rob.

Two other policemen handcuffed the vomiting girl and informed her of her right to remain silent and have an attorney as they tried to avoid getting their uniforms soiled. Her mourning sickness vomiting was the gift that kept on giving.

'Are you all right?'

Rob must have been in shock. The policeman sat Rob down at a chair at the same outdoor restaurant table where he met John Wilson and had lunch with Lee.

'Stay here! Don't go anywhere, I'll get a paramedic to look you over.'

Rob couldn't answer, everyone seemed to be staring...

'You could use one of these...'

Rob heard a sound on the table and looked down to see two glasses of what smelled like brandy.

John Wilson had the other one. Rob clinked glasses without thinking,

'Well, I didn't say that it was your death that I saw...'

FIN

Author Notes: I am the author of three Extra Dimensional/Ultraterrestial military science fiction novels MERCENARY EXOTIQUE, OPERATION CHUPACABRA and WORK IN OTHER WORLDS FROM YOUR OWN HOME! as well as two travel books THE MAN FROM WAUKEGAN and TWO AUSTRALIANS IN SCOTLAND (all from Lulu.com). I live happily ever after with my wife in paradise (coastal Kiama, NSW Australia).

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