Chapter Two

    The young man's reflection was looking back at Sam. The young male deep 
dark Italian eyes, his athletic build, rugged good looks, and bleached blond 
hair stared back at the old man. Sam could not take his eyes off of the man, 
as he got dressed into black pants and a bright lavender shirt.
    Then Sam remembered the last time he saw almost the same reflection 
staring back at him, but he was certain that he was the only one who could 
remember it. It was back during a Leap to 1957. Sam had to save a woman from 
being raped and killed at Pensacola Naval Base. He had leaped into his best 
friend, Al, before Al was a kid of the 21st century. He wondered if the leap 
still occurred.
    Al had not gone off to Annapolis in the 1950's, but instead he had gone 
to college in the beginning of the 21st century. A good family of time 
travelers adopted Al when he was 16 and lived in the Bronx, a family Sam had 
also known growing up in Indiana. Sam now doubted that he ever met Al before 
yesterday except in class when he was a professor and on a leap into his life 
with the Viaggios, and had never met the Viaggio family except on his Leaps. 
    Sam missed old Al as he looked down at the outfit that he was wearing, as 
he tied a yellow tie around his neck.
    "So, the Committee finally got me outa my jeans, huh?" Al asked.
    "I guess so," Sam answered.
    Al lifted up his cigarette, only to have Tina take it out of her hand and 
put it in an ashtray behind her that Sam could not see. "I'm trying to get 
you to quit, kid. This is a no smoking room."
    "Yah, yah, yah," Al groaned.
    "So, do you know why I'm here?" Sam asked the two younger people.
    "No clue, Sam," Tina said.
    "Yah, nada, Doctor Beckett," Al agreed.
    Tina looked down at his Handlink. "Since you leaped into the future, we 
don't know what happens. I mean, like, I know it's only a year, but the 
future isn't written yet so it's not in Ziggy's database."
    "Can you give me any statistics at all?"
    "Well, judging on what's going on in the present," Al started "You're 
here to make sure that you come home safely."
    Sam was filled with utter joy at the idea of finally returning back to 
his own time.