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.