Chapter 3


Stallion's Gate, New Mexico June 15, 2000 6:30 PM

Al came out of the imaging chamber and headed for Tina's courters.  He 
would have to get with Ziggy and Beeks about what Sam should do, later.  
First, he had to talk to Tina about him going to see Beth.  He was 
dreading it; but like Sam said, he'd have worse problems if he doesn't 
tell her.

Al rang the door bell to Tina's courters.  She had had Ziggy reprogram 
her standard buzzer to sound more like bell chimes, which actually Al 
preferred.  Tina opened the door wearing a pink terry cloth robe.

"Al!  Like, I thought you would be working on Sam's problem tonight.  
Did you change your mind about my offer?  If you give me a moment, I'll 
change into something more comfortable."  Tina giggled.

"Well, it's tempting; but that's not why I'm here Tina.  I do still need 
to work on Sam's problem, but there's something else I need to talk to 
you about."

"What is it Al?  You sound serious."  She looked at him inquizitively.

"Well...  I got a call today from someone in my past."

"It's one of your ex-wives, isn't it?  You're going to go see her aren't 
you??!!  You promised you wouldn't see anymore of your ex-wives, Al!  
You promised!"

"Yes, Tina, it was one of my ex-wives; but this time it's different."

Tina started to say something, but Al continued.

"This time it was Beth, and she thought I was dead all these years."

"What?  I thought she knew you came back."

"Well, I thought so too; but the fact is, neither the Navy or I could 
find her to tell her any different.  I just assumed that she had seen me 
in the paper when I flew the Apollo mission."

"So...does this mean you're going to go see her?"  Tina asked sadly.

"Yes.  In 2 days in Albuquerque.  If you don't want me to go, Tina, I 
won't."

"No.  You go.  I know how much Beth means to you.  I suppose she's still 
married?"

"Well, no, she's not.  Her husband, Dirk, got a bad case of mid-life 
crisis and ran out on her for a younger woman."

"That's awful.  Al, does this mean we're through?"

"No, I don't know Tina.  We might find out we don't even like each other 
anymore."

"Al, if you really want to go back to Beth and she wants to you back 
too, I won't stand in your way.  I know how much you really love her."

"Thank you, Tina.  For being so understanding."

Tina weakly smiled at him and gave him a hug.

Al started to leave and then stopped.

"Tina, what do you think Sam should do to get an old high school friend 
to fall for this Sharon Sam's suppose to help?"

"I don't know.  Does this high school friend of hers love her."

"I don't know.  Sam seemed to think that they were glad to see each 
other, and Ziggy says that there is a 98.9% chance that he's there to 
get this Randy and her together."

"Well, I would think that Sam should spend some time with this Randy, 
and try to convince him that he should take her out."

"Yeah, that's a good idea Tina.  We'll try it."  Al kissed Tina 
good-bye; and then left, heading for his courters.  He thought he'd try 
to get some sleep before he had to back into the imaging chamber early 
in the morning.

*****************************************************************************

Las Vegas, Nevada April 21, 1955 7:00 AM

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGG!!!!

Sam, to his surprise, shot up to the sound of Norman's alarm clock 
blairing in he ear.  The hammer banging back and forth rapidly against 
the bells on either side of it.  Still half asleep, he rolled over 
towards the nightstand reaching for the clock to shut it off but instead 
missed it entirely falling to the floor, covers flying.

"AHHH!  Ouch."

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGG!!!!

"Ohhh, that hurt."

This is when Al came through the imaging chamber door wearing red pants, 
a multi-colored shirt, and a red fedora.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGG!!!!

"Hey, Sam, what happened to you?  Did you fall out of bed or something?"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGG!!!!

Sam glared up at Al.

"You know, Sam, you can turn that off by pushing in the knob on the back 
of the clock."

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGG!!!!

Sam glared again at Al.  

"I know, Al!"

Sam then reached up to grab the clock off from the nightstand, turned it 
around and pushed in the knob.  Then he slammed it back on to the 
nightstand.

RIIIIIIIIIINNNNNG!

"Al, I miss my beeping alarm clock at home."  Sam said as he got up from 
the floor wearing only white boxer shorts and pulling the covers back up 
on to the bed.

"I know what you mean kid."

"Al, did you find out anything from Beeks and Ziggy about what I should 
do about getting Sharon and Randy together?"

"Well, I didn't exactly ask them yet."

"What?!"

"Don't worry.  I have an idea.  Tina gave it to me."

"Tina?  If this is one of your sleazy sex stories, I don't want to hear 
it!"

"No, Sam, it's not.  I took your advise and went to tell her about 
Beth."

"How did she take it?"

"Quite well, actually.  I told her that it was Beth I was going to see, 
filled her in on some of the details, and then she gave me her 
blessing."

"See Al.  I told you to have a little faith in Tina."

"Yeah, you were right Sam."

"So what is this idea that Tina gave you?"

"She thinks that if you hang out with this Randy Johnson that you could 
convince him to take Sharon out."

"What does Ziggy say about that idea?"

"I don't know.  I'll check."  Al began to punch the data into the 
handlink and it squealed back at him.  

"Well, Ziggy says that there is a 88.8% chance that Tina's idea will 
work."

"Only 88.8%?  What does Ziggy say our other options are?"

Al punched the buttons on the hand link again, and when the answer came 
up Al looked at it strangely.

"What?!  This can't be right Ziggy!"  He started punching the buttons 
again, hitting it on the side and shaking it.

"What, Al?  What's Ziggy saying?"

"Ziggy's saying that Sharon's going to marry that Bob now."

"What?! Bob? You mean that guy that Ziggy said will keep her a prisoner 
in her own home and end up killing both her and Norman?  How could that 
happen?!"

"I don't know.  Maybe she met him sometime last night after you left to 
go home."

Ziggy squealed and Al looked down at the handlink.

"Uh, Oh."

"What, Al?"

"Now Ziggy's saying that there is a 99.9% chance that Bob is going to 
kill you and Sharon tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?!"

Sam gulped and he and Al looked at each other.

"Oh, Boy."  They said in unison.

*****************************************************************************