The Great Altruist (28 page)

           
"It's a lot harder than it looks actually," she said exhausted and out of breath.

           
"Are you okay?"

           
She was doubled over and breathing as though she just sprinted a mile. She nodded and flew up to rest on his shoulder while he studied himself in the mirror. "Using my powers like this just takes a lot out of me."

           
"How does this work by the way?"

           
"It's pretty complicated. That's another reason this is dangerous. You could have woken up on the far side of the earth if I wasn't careful."

           
"Why didn't you warn me?"

           
She glanced down at him as though he should know better. "Because
you
weren't listening. I tried to warn you that you could die and you didn't seem to care about that. What difference would it make if you woke up in China? At least then I'd be able to find you."

           
"So you can put me in the body of
anyone
?"

           
"I could. This is hard to believe, but I'm actually able to detect a signature in your genes. All I have to do is sense someone with a similar signature in the stream. You then wake up wherever that person currently is."

           
"What happens to them while I'm in them?"

           
"They're like a phone call that’s been put on hold. They see all you do and hear all you say but they don't know it's you talking and not them."

           
"Why are you so tired though?"

           
"I know for you it seems like we are only in the stream of time a few seconds, but I had to find someone suitable for you to enter. I can't just sense your younger self anymore. I have to find someone new - but close enough in relation to you as well. This time, it took me a few hours."

           
"I thought you said you didn't know how your powers work?"

           
"No, I know
how
they work. I just don't know where they come from."

           
“This is amazing,” he said. “Kind of weird too. This body is uncomfortable.”

           
“It will take a while to get used to. This guy's a lot shorter than you are.
Take your time and walk around a bit.”

           
James pranced around his Uncle's house and tried to orient himself. It took a few tries, and James fell a few times to Genesis's delight. Within moments, he was ready to begin the next phase of his adventure.

           
Unfortunately, James's parents changed little. They still fought like cats and dogs. James spent a few days in the bodies of nearly every relative that was alive at the time, and his parent's relationship was constantly fraught with tension. James spent several months of his life waking up in relative after relative trying to find where problems first developed at the newlywed Grant home. As early as a few weeks after their wedding, there was no sign that arguments were anything new.
But if they fought like this before they got married, why did they go through with it?
he wondered.

           
The events of his parent's wedding day did much to explain his parent's tenuous behavior in James’s future. Remarkably, there was a heated dispute between his parents during the reception! Genesis was the one with the idea to sneak around and listen in on the argument. The subject of their dispute turned out to be trivial, but what James learned from this journey was that there was already a mountain of tension building, even on what should have been a happy day.

           
"I'd like to go back a few weeks earlier," James whispered to Genesis, who crouched inside his tuxedo pocket. It was a few hours after the reception and the staff had begun to clean up. Genesis poked her head out carefully and tried to stretch without being seen.

           
"Quite a day, huh?" she remarked.

           
"Yes, quite." He sat there a few moments longer and soaked in the sights and sounds of the day. "I can't believe I'm even here. And as my Uncle Joe no less," he said as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

           
"Whenever you're ready to leave."

           
"Yeah, give me a minute to go outside so no one sees," he answered and finished off his glass of wine.

           
A few moments later, James was no longer a guest at his parent's wedding.

 
          
Three weeks before the wedding, James was in the body of his father's cousin, Greg. He sat with his father at a bar and shared a beer, though the visit was hardly nostalgic. He hoped to learn more about his parent's relationship during their engagement.

           
Genesis was not happy with this stage of their journey because the stakes were much higher. His parents hadn't even married yet; if James wasn't careful, they might never. James promised her that he would keep the conversation light. He knew his father's cousin well enough to carry on a conversation with his own father. He promised there was little she needed to worry about. Genesis wasn’t happy to do it, but she agreed once he also promised to let her hide in his coat pocket again. As tense and anxious as James felt, it was Genesis’s tiny heart he felt beating against his chest.

           
"Congratulations," James said to his father, still amazed at how much he and his future father looked alike.

           
"Thanks," his father said. "And in a few more weeks, it'll all be
over."

           
"Over?" James asked curiously.

       
    
"All this wedding crap."

       
    
"What do you mean?"

       
    
"I mean it will be nice not having to work at this goofy relationship anymore. We'll be married and together and life will take care of itself."

       
    
"You're kidding, right?" James blurted out. He couldn't believe his father was being so naive. Genesis forced James back into character the only way she knew how: she kicked him square in his chest. "
Ow
," he whispered as he rubbed his chest. “What do you mean about life taking care of itself? I always heard marriage was hard work."

       
    
"Maybe for women it is. But a man’s life is easy," his father chuckled.

       
    
James turned his head away in disgust. He hated men who talked with such a chauvinistic attitude. He hated even more that he was the son of such a man. "I can’t speak to any of that; all I know is what someone once told me about women," James began. "Don’t just marry someone you can live with, but marry the woman you can’t live without.”

       
    
"I don’t get.”

       
    
How can my father be this dense?
James thought. "The point is: is this the woman you can't live without?" Genesis kicked James again; this time she used the heel of her foot so the pain was sharp.
Funny
, James thought,
how one day he'd end up giving me the same piece of advice about Katherine!

       
    
"Maybe,” his father said. “I didn't tell you about last night, did I?" His father chugged the last of his beer.

       
    
James turned to face his father, but his father was just staring down at his emptied beer glass. "No. What happened?"

       
    
"She hit me," his father said plainly.

       
    
"But why?”

       
    
"I asked her the same thing, but she wouldn't tell me."

       
    
He watched his father's eyes fill with tears and just as quickly dry them off so no one else in the bar would notice. “That doesn’t make any sense,” James said.

       
    
"And when I tried to tell her that I loved her, she stormed out of the car. I'm starting to think there's something wrong with this woman."

       
    
James nodded for support but hardly believed his father's words without reservation. It wasn't fair for him to take his father's side just yet. Who knows what details of their conversation James's father was leaving out, particularly the stuff
he
said! Nevertheless, James began to understand why there was so little respect in their relationship, especially if what his father said was true. "What do you think is wrong?"

       
    
"It just feels like she hates men. She hates her father, she doesn't respect me - the only man she ever says anything good about is her stepfather!"

       
    
My mother has a stepfather?
James thought. "Then what are you marrying her for?" he blurted again, followed by another swift kick to his chest from the woman in his pocket.

       
    
"I have to go through with it," his father said. "If I bail out now, I'll let everyone down."

       
    
"How would you let people down by not getting married?" Another kick.

       
    
"They'd say I'm being irresponsible and immature. I just want people to think of me as a grown man already."

       
    
"Do you really think people would think you're being immature if you go through with marrying the wrong woman?" Another hard kick. James could tell that Genesis was using her unusual strength to make her point.

       
    
"She's not the wrong woman, Greg,” his father said as he pushed his beer glass away from him. “She's just got some problems."

       
    
"It's your decision."

       
    
James's father nodded and looked at his watch. "I gotta run," he said. "Look, thanks for your concern and all, but who knows? Maybe after we're married and all the stress of the wedding is over, things will work themselves out."

       
    
“I hope so.”

           
His father stood up and left his future son alone at the bar. James finished off his beer and set it down on the table. A moment later, he felt a strong pinch on his breast and looked down at the scowling woman peeking out of his coat.

           
"Can I speak with you in private?" she demanded.

       
    
James got up from the bar and went to the restrooms. As he walked through the bathroom door, he took a deep breath and got prepared for the onslaught of scolding about to hit.