Chapter Two
    Joey found himself in an aura of light. As the light faded, he found 
himself with a broom, sweeping the floor of a small store. The store reminded 
him of CVS or Duane Reeve. Beauty items, baby items and other such common 
stuff lined the shelves.
    He stopped sweeping.
    "What de hell are you doing, Mario?" the middle-aged man behind the 
counter yelled at him in a thick Italian accent. "I told you sweep!"
    Joey didn't want to sweep. He wanted to look around. He swept lightly, 
looking around at the same time. &This is probably what was meant by a five 
and dime& the teenager thought. The prices were shocking to the 21st century 
boy, since there was nothing over three dollars there. In that respect, it 
reminded him of the dollar store in town.
    A teenage boy walked into the store, or at least what seemed to Joey at 
the time to be a teenager. The teenager looked exactly identical to him. Same 
facial features and coloring, even the same height and weight. 
    "Hey, Mario!" the guy said, his voice sounding completely familiar. 
"Luigi, what can I do today?"   
    "Straighten the shelves, Albert," the old man ordered.
    "Dad?" Joey questioned. It never truly dawned on him until that moment 
that his dad was once his age. He wondered what his father was like when he 
was 16. 
    Joey went to grab the "teenager's" arm. In an instant, the covering aura 
disappeared and Joey saw Sam standing in front of him. "Oh, it's only you, 
Doc B," he said disappointed.
    "Hi, Joey!" Sam greeted. "Expecting to meet somebody?"
    "No, its just you and your aura just caught me by surprise."
    "I wouldn't blame you. I leaped into your dad again, and even this leap 
is taking me by surprise."
    A redheaded Catholic high school girl walked into the store to buy 
something. Immediately, Joey left Sam and was by her side. "Is there anything 
I can help you with, gorgeous?"
    "No." She smiled at him, twirling a lock of her frizzy long hair.
    The two of them started to get to know each other. Joey felt like he was 
flirting with somebody's grandma, but now she was just some beautiful 
teenager. Her being a beautiful female teenager is all Joey could really care 
about at the moment.
     She walked up to the cash register and Luigi ran up her purchase.
    "By the way, what's your name?" Joey asked her.
    "Mary Margaret," she answered.
    "Like Saturday Night Live," he joked.
    "Are you trying to ask me out for Saturday night? Of course, a day is 
life."
    "Sure," Joey said. "How about tonight?"
    "It's Christmas Eve," she stated. "I don't know how my parents would 
react to me leaving, let alone going on a date with an Italian."
    "Please," Joey begged. He didn't know how long he was there for.
    "Sure! If I can make it, I'll meet you at Bonze's Drug Store and you can 
treat me to an ice-cream soda."
    Al was watching the whole scene from near a display of cough syrup. "Like 
father, like son."
    Sam nodded in agreement. 
"Joey, get over here!" Al commanded. "I have to tell you your mission."
"Why? You mean I won't be birthing horses?" Joey laughed. There were no 
animals in sight in the Bronx other than cats, dogs, squirrels and rats.
"Very funny, kid." Al was not amused. Al wanted his son to leap into a nice 
safe town like Elk Ridge, not be a Bronx street kid from the wrong side of 
the city. "You want to take a trip to the Bronx Zoo."
"No, dad." Joey rolled his eyes.    
"Who am I? I already know who Doc B is - you, right?"
"Right!" Al glanced down at the hand link. "You're Mario DeMugicio, and I 
don't feel like telling you anything else besides that you work here at 
Luigi's."
Al turned to Sam. "Can I see you outside, Sam?"
"But, who am I?" Joey yelled at the two older men as the glass door shut 
behind them.
"Now Al, why won't you tell you're son who the kid he leaped into is?"
"I don't feel comfortable. I spent all my life scrimping and saving to treat 
my kid's great and give them almost everything within reason. How do I tell 
my son on his first leap that he now lives in an orphanage?"
"Mario lived with you growing up."
"Yah. He was kind of my little brother, but not by blood. He arrived at the 
home a year after me, and I took him under my wing. It was my duty to see 
that he was safe, and well I did my best because he was a deeply good kid."
"Like you?"
"No, more like you, Sam," Al said. "That's why I thought my kid was going to 
leap into Elk Ridge. I honestly believed that he was going to leap into you, 
buddy boy."
"So, what should I do?"
"Well, you can ask Maria to let him stay the night at her place. Hopefully, 
that will work. If it doesn't, then we're in deep ca-ca." 
Sam knew that Al didn't feel comfortable with Joey around snooping in his 
past.