Chapter Five Kelly and "Albert" sat in the Project's main cafeteria. Sam was having mystery meat and over cooked string beans, and Kelly was having a salad that was mostly lettuce and carrots. Suddenly a song came on the radio. Kelly started to dance around in her chair. "Al, don't you remember this song?" she asked. She started to sing along with the lyrics. It was the Monkee's "I'm a Believer." "Yah," Sam said. "High school." The song was definitely from his high school days. The days he missed spending with Kelly around Elk Ridge, when they were seriously dating. . . . But then again, that never happened in the time line he was now living, just like how Al did not go into the Navy to become a flyer. "In high school, all you listened to was hip hop and techno," Kelly corrected. "Well, after you became part of our family." Sam tried to picture Al listening to that sort of music, but his imagination failed him. He had trouble remembering that Al was now young, and joined the Project straight out of college. "Well, that was that time, after Mary Beth dumped you, that you did nothing except listen to Nirvana and eat microwave popcorn," Kelly told him. "At least, you learned how to listen to a CD and use a microwave." "Oh, right!" Sam said, not having a clue about what Kelly was talking about. "Feel like listening to Nirvana now?" she asked him. "I can play some for you on my guitar later." "Nirvana, a happy state of bliss," Sam gave the definition. "No," Kelly corrected. "How can lyrics like 'Jesus don't want me for a sunbeam' be happy lyrics? You were really bummed out back then for about a month. You really had it bad for her, didn't you?" "I guess your right." Kelly motioned toward the loudspeaker above her. "Now, do you remember this song?" Sam gave her a blank stare. "How could you possibly forget? It's your birth sister's favorite." "Trudy's favorite?" Trudy was Al's younger sister who was put into an institution due to her being a special person because of her developmental disability. "She's probably watching that movie right now," Kelly said. Sam was sure that Trudy was dead of influenza. "What movie?" "Shrek," Kelly said. "She loves that movie. She also loves the one about the alien and the little Hawiian girl, the one Disney made." "It was so nice that mom decided to adopt her too, and get her out of that awful place," Kelly continued. "Now, she lives with our mom and goes to that special program for retarded people. I heard that she's thinking about getting a job as bagger at the grocery store. Isn't that great, Al?" "Yah, that's super." Sam was proud of Al's little sister. He loved the idea of helping to mainstream special people, and remembered the time he leaped into Jimmy. "Is something on your mind, Albert?" she asked him. "You know something is," he answered. Too much was on his mind! First, he had to get use to Al being only in his twenties. Second, he leaped into the kid who was supposedly his best friend. Next, he had to deal with helping himself on a leap - a leap that he already completed. Finally and most importantly, he had to find a way to bring himself back to the Project from leaping around in time indefinitely.