A Divine Wrinkle In Time (Book)

The spirit of my past haunts me, it calls to me, and I don’t know why. I can still feel the essence of who I once was, as though I was a ghost in my own present time… in turn, it creates a yearning for the happy times of my youth and it saddens me to know they’re gone forever.

I’m now approaching the same age as I was when this all began, at this point I’m stable, and confident enough, to tell my truly unbelievable story.

Being that I’m the worlds first and only multi trillionaire, I feel there will be scandal upon the release this book. There are many who would like to either discredit me, or use it against me somehow in this desperate and angry world. I could be wrong, but being the richest man to ever live comes with a certain amount of paranoia.

The events which led to the life I am currently living, are unexplainable, and all I can say is that there are forces in our universe that have no reasonable explanation, and there are also forces, we as the human race have yet to conceive… yet they exist. Like air or the darkness of space and somehow, unknowingly, I stumbled into one of these bizarre forces of the universe. My life has not been remotely the same since.

This book is dedicated to the friends I had in my former life, and lost in my new one.

1984, TAKE TWO

Chris!…Chrriss!!…..Chrrrisss!!!… whaat!!!… get up!, you’ll be late for your graduation! It took a second to register, graduation? That sounded like my mom, definitely not Victoria.

Something was different, as I became more focused from what felt like the deepest sleep of my life, I was in awe of a room I hadn’t seen in over thirty years! I got up from the twin size trundle bed I had apparently been sleeping on. Right away i knew the contour, it was broken, a few support slats missing, back then I thought is was cool, like a recliner to watch the little 9” B&W TV that hung from a rope at the foot of my bed.

I looked closer at the details around me, it’s my old room in Tompkins Cove! Then, instinctively, without thinking, I leaped out of bed and practically ran to the attached bathroom of my bedroom. I looked in the mirror, and there I saw my eighteen year old self looking back at me. “Holy shit”! This was like a scene out of one of my favorite time travel movies, Hot Tub Time Machine!

I stood there in front of the mirror for what seemed like hours, my mind racing from one extreme to another, trying to make any sense of how this could be happening, i was shaking a little and felt out of control with exterme anxiety! I tried to calm myself down and took a long shower, sitting upright with my knees to my chest, thinking out loud, it’s 1984, the day of my high school graduation, 38yrs ago! What happened the day of my high school graduation? what happened afterwards? knowing the general answer, to those questions, It was incredible to fathom! I’m 18, with the knowledge of a life that has already lived 56 years! Am I starting over? The people I haven’t met yet, Dad!, he’s still alive! Holy crap! How did this happen?

At first, I thought, maybe I’m in a coma, did I catch on fire at the bonfire last night and now i’m in ICU fighting for my life? Then I started thinking about all the time travel movies i’ve seen, like, Somewhere in Time, where he mentally wills himself back to a period by surrounding himself with authentic artifacts and surroundings of the time he wanted to go to? And the movie Butterfly Effect, where he reads from his journal and travels back into his own life time experiences?

Throughout my life I’ve been slightly obsessed with time travel and have probably seen every obscure, mainstream movie ever made on the subject.

Last night I was celebrating my fifty sixth birthday, it was 2022 and I was drinking beer around the bonfire with my wife Victoria in the back yard along with a few of her friends. Victoria!, she’s just six years old now, still living in Russia!… damnnn! this is insane! It was a strange feeling I had never experienced before, I was excited and giddy like a kid having his first first kiss. On the flip side, I was scared shittless! I wondered if I was here for good, or will I be back to reality in minutes, hours, days, months, years? Was there some grand purpose for my time travel that had a time limit, like the TV show Quantum Leap?

As I continued scanning my thoughts for an explanation, all I could come up with, is throughout my life since 1992 when I was living in Chicago, I occasionally encountered an odd sensation where my whole body would tingle for just a few seconds. It almost felt like I was phasing out of physical reality, but my mind stayed sharp and It only lasted a few seconds. At first I thought this sensation was a little weird, but it didn’t happen very often, although, sometimes it was so intense i had to sit down or lean up against a wall.

This aphasia happened less and less as I grew older. Now I remember, I had one of those sensations last night, just before bed! Before I fell asleep and that feeling came over me I was thinking about what it might be like to start my life over from high school graduation.

That’s it! This could very well be the answer to my current! I didn’t know it at the time when it first started, but maybe if I focus my thoughts at the same time that feeling comes over me, I can time travel! The only problem is, I never know when that aphasia feeling will happen, it was the only reasonable theory I could think of in the moment, but even though I could be wrong, it was the only thing that made any sense.

When I got out of the shower I looked around and it wasn’t obvious what I should wear, so I put on the clothes laying on the floor next to my bed, ran up the stairs, down a very long hall and into the kitchen at the end, wow!, I haven’t done that in so long, it felt surreal! Probably because it was, and oh, did I have the warm fuzees! I couldn’t remember feeling this happy in the last ten years, probably more!

There was my mom still in her late thirty’s making breakfast. Dutch pancakes, they were more like crepes, so delicious and they were my favorite! I was so happy to see my mom. Yesterday she was 78 and recovering from back surgery, and today she still has her youth and life ahead of her. Sitting at the kitchen table eating my pancakes I reflected on my knowledge of how it all turns out for my mom and dad, and the warm fuzzies were gone in an instant.

Of course I couldn’t warn or tell my mom what I knew, or what just happened to me, she would never believe it. After inhaling my pancakes I gave her a big hug and thanked her for making my favorite breakfast.

“You’re in an afwly good mood this morning, what was that for”?
“Oh, nothing, just happy school is finally over, I guess”. Where’s dad?
“He’s still at the office and is going to meet us at the school”, but I already knew that.

I heard a scratching coming from the sliding glass door off to right side of where i was sitting in the kitchen, I felt a little bad, I forgot about my childhood dog, Elroy. Elroy was the first dog I had and picked him out of a local litter when I was 8 years old. It was a guilt present from my parents for moving me away from my friends in the city. Even though it was only 45min north, It might as well have been a million for an eight year old kid.

“Elroy!! hey boy”!

I havent seen him since I was twenty five, which is how old I was when he died from rectal cancer, but he lived to be sixteen which is a respectable age for any dog. I picked up my little wire hair terrier and hugged him like a little boy with his teddy bear! And as he licked my face all over in his little dog frenzy, I felt incredibly grateful for whatever cosmic event brought me back to this time in my life.

After my little love fest with Elroy, I told mom i was taking off for school and I’d see her there as she reminded me not to be late. I was eager to get on with my day and was overwhelmed with the possibilities of what I would or could do to make my life better than the one I just left.

Back down in my room, I looked through all my closets, my dresser, everywhere for anything I might need to bring and any reminders or clues as to what my life was really like at this time.

I knew from documentaries I had seen on the brain and how the mind works, reality and memories don’t always match up. I could remember a few things from the day of my graduation, but there was a lot I couldn’t. Then again, does it really matter? This could be a chance rewrite my life as I see fit. With the full knowledge of how my life and the choices I made brought me to a very unfulfilling fifty six. This time I will do better,
much better!

My room was ground level with a sliding glass door that led outside to the car port under the living room which was supported by steel gurders. Our house stood out from an otherwise blue collar, middle class neighborhood. It was a modern house with amazing views of the Hudson River situated on the side of a hill, with a switchback driveway carved in, ending underneath the living room.

My dad raised his first family here back in the forties and fifty’s and had it renovated back in the early 70’s to accommodate his new family, my mother and I. My mother was miserable living here and didn’t really fit in with the local mothers. I on the other hand learned to adapt.

The local mentality was more or less simple and religious and very un sophisticated while my mom was European, from the Netherlands and had a much more sophisticated view of the world. She tried though, volunteering at the local library and was my cub scout leader for a little while.

After a thorough search of my bedroom, I found some decent clothes and got dressed. As I walked outside it was sureal to see everything as I remembered it from so long ago. There was my 1963 Volkswagon Bug, which I owned for about two months at this point. I was pretty excited to jump in and go, but, instead I took it slow and walked around the car and out on the main driveway to see how everything looked… and it looked
the same.

It was a 45min drive to school and I didn’t need to be there till noon so I had some time. With that thought, it led to another, do I remember how to get to school? There was no GPS at this time, only the military had it. I knew most of the route but I might have to stop for directions once I get to town, where my school was located. I couldn’t ask my mom, she would think I’m crazy, she drove me to school and back everyday for the past year an a half.

Im not sure if I mentioned it yet, I went to a small private school with about 100 kids who all were dyslexic and had special learning needs. It was not a school of autistic kids if that’s whats going through your mind, all the kids were pretty normal and just like any high school, you had your jocks, nerds and cool kids. I hung out with the kids who had cars and smoked weed.

Starting Over

I opened the car door and got myself comfortable behind the driver seat only to realize, I forgot this was a standard shift, and haven’t driven a standard in about 15yrs! Forgetting that little detail sent a shiver down my spine and I froze with an overwhelming fright. Not because I was afraid of driving a stick shift, but if I can forget something like that, what else am I forgetting and what are the consequences to my life if I do? I could have a car accident and die before I even get started! Maybe i’m over thinking everything, another thing I forgot, but now starting to remember, was that you had very little fear at the age of 18 and if i’m going to live this life over I need to get over this feeling. Who knew the mental challenges of time travel into your own life would be so overwhelming!

I got into my car, started it up, put it in reverse, backed up, then 1st gear and I was on the road in my old neighborhood and free to go anywhere I please in what I’ve dubbed, a time paradox, what else would you call it? I drove to the Cove Deli (a local hangout) for something to eat, I was having an insatiable hunger ever since I woke up, even after mom made me breakfast, I was still hungry. As I walked into the deli, hopping to god I would’t run into anyone I knew. Lucky for me I didn’t see any familiar faces and ordered my favorite German bologna sandwich on a kaiser with nothing on it and got it to go. About 10min into my drive I pulled over on a familiar little, dirt pull over spot just before getting on the parkway. I sat there at the pull off thinking not just about graduation, but my whole life as I remembered it and trying not to be overwhelmed. One thing I knew was, I needed to start making money asap so I could invest into stocks like, Microsoft and Apple, Bitcoin riches were still thirty years away but weather its wrong or not to exploit your knowledge of the future, I say why not?

It’s June 13th 1984, its a warm sunny day and I’m on the parkway getting closer and closer to arriving at my high school graduation (at 57 years old in my head), part of me is petrified and another part of me is reeling with excitement. I’ll be seeing and speaking with people who have been lost to brief memories from decades past. Today I will walk among them, in the moments that will inevidably become memories once again as this new timeline moves forward.

1984 Graduation

As I pull in to a crowded high school parking lot, my heart is beating so fast I thought it would blow right out of my chest! I remembered a lot of the faces as I saw Tony, Mark and Jared walking over to meet me at my 1963 Volkswagen Bug, maroon with thick dark brown stripes on either side and painted with a brush.

We all shook hands, slapped each other on the back and walked to the back lawn, filled with rows of collapsable chairs all facing a small podium. We looked at the podium together and Chris said, “I guess that’s where our high school days officially end” and we all just said “yep”, then went to look for our parents who would be arriving soon. All of a sudden I was standing by myself and then, like a scene out of Godfather, there’s my dad walking over with my mom behind him.

In my former life, he’s been dead for 20 years! But this is obviously (I think) a different timeline, here, Im 18 and still have another 20 years with him. In my other life we had a horrible, stressful, father son relationship until the last few years of his life. After hearing my last thought, I did everything I could to contain that I was freaking out on the inside! I walked up and hastily welcomed my mom & dad and then excused my self. They both asked “where are you going”? I said “the bathroom, find a seat and I’ll be back in a minute”, and rapidly walked into the school and found an empty room to catch my breath, “I’m dead”, “I’m dead, but how”? This feels so real! I can see, I can touch… and taste! I know I wasn’t doing anything crazy at the bonfire, just sitting in a chair! Then I went to bed! I thought I was dead because I once heard that when you die, you live your life over again in about 10 minutes before you actually die. When I was thinking about my OTHER life, that’s when it hit me! The only way to test my theory was to change something deliberately that wouldn’t happen if I was reliving my ACTUAL life!

As I came out of the empty classroom and started walking down the hall, I saw other kids getting their yearbooks signed and remembered, originally, I never got a yearbook. This time I wasn’t going to make that mistake and immediately realized I just disproved my theory of being dead, if I was dead I wouldn’t know the difference between both lives, or would I? Either way, I went to the front office and bought a yearbook, just incase. I came outside and found mom and dad with big smiles and we were all in good spirits as I introduced them to my friends and teachers at the same time having them sign my yearbook. It was amazing how no one could tell I was any different except for once when I mentioned a Katy Perry song during a conversation about music where everyone looked at me and asked, “who’s Katy Perry”. However, it was nice to get so many positive comments on my artwork which was painted on the big picture windows on either side of the hallway, and even dad thought they were good. Otherwise, although I feel like an imposter in my own body, I can do this!

I went up and received my high school diploma from Dennis and Toby a principal and therapist, who, for the last 3 years were pivotal in my ability to graduate and also gave me great freedom I’d probably be expelled for in any other school. One memorable time was when Dennis let me use his office during lunch and I had sex with my girlfriend on his chair, but he never knew about it, at least I don’t think he did. After graduation was all over, everyone was signing last minute year books getting into their cars, saying goodbye and trading phone numbers. If I didn’t mention this before, I graduated from a very small private school where most kids came from different places, like Manhattan & New Jersey so nobody really socialized much out of school, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun at lunch time! In my other life, aside from Jared, I never saw any of
them again.

Meeting Freebird (old timeline)

After graduation I decided to relive certain parts of my life as closely to what I could remember from now up until I was discharged from the Navy. The crazy adventures that are about to happen were the experiences that educated me on the real world and were the most exciting times of my life!

I kept a pretty low profile, mostly staying in my room, trying to understand what was happening to me and why. Also going over what I knew, what I wanted to change and how. About a week later, summer was kicking off and one hot and balmy evening, about 25 local aquaintences were gathered at Jones Point, standing around in an abandoned, over grown parking lot next to the Hudson river. Train tracks and a few cedar trees divided the parking lot and river with a fabulous view of the Indian Point, Nuclear Power plant directly across the river.

The glowing lights made the power plant look very serious as the sun went down, and every now and then you would wonder how it would look to see your friends melt, if ever there were a nuclear meltdown.

On any given evening during the summer, at around six pm, you always knew you could drive down to Jones Point and find some of your friends, hanging out, trying to get a collection for the nightly beer keg going.

On this particular night it was mostly locals. Sometimes these parties got so big you were meeting new people from three towns over. But not tonight, tonight it was mostly familiar faces.

“Hey Karl” have you seen Hyler, I heard he was going upstate and I could use a ride to see Toot’s”.
“Chris, I can’t believe you’re still chasing after her”, you know she’s just gonna get you in trouble again, remember what happened last time? You almost got your head blown off”! “Yeah, I know”.

Karl has been my close friend since second grade when I first moved here. He tries to look out for me and sometimes drives me to catch the train to see Toot’s.

Alexandra is a blue eyed, busty blond I met when my parents sent me boarding school two years ago. The obsession we have for each other has driven our parents to the edge, and our mothers have become good friends as an alliance. At this point we have been forbidden to see each other by both her mom and dad.

Karl walked off and I was looking around, “Who else is here”? “John, Christine, Steve and a friend, Dawn, Liz, Stewart, The Palazo brothers, Mankowitz and his girlfriend, Michelle, Bill”… all people I know well.

Most of the guys here are friends from when we all rode mini bikes on the Pipeline. Sometimes ten of us would take long rides to some obscure place and camp out. Telling stupid jokes and all our mini bikes parked around the fire pit, you felt you were a part of something larger than just “one”. Looking back it was more like being in a pee-wee biker gang.

Karl and I got here about an hour ago and our friend Dawn is talking about her car problems, It is a boring conversation and I am anxious to move on to something more stimulating. My friend Steve is over there, leaning up against an old mustang with someone I’ve never seen before. Back over at Dawn, she just doesn’t stop talking about herself, I wonder… looks like Steve and his friend are coming over,
maybe they have some pot.

“Hey, what’s up Steve”,
“Hey Chris”, “what’s up”, “come over here for a minute”.

I walked over a few feet, “this is my cousin Freebird”, “he just drove here from Texas today”. He was a big guy with dirty blond hair and you could tell he had been on the road for awhile. He seemed a bit jittery as we shook hands. “How’s it going Freebird”, “is that your Mustang”? “Yeah, it needs a bit of work but it got me here”. Steve leaned in closer to me and started talking in almost a whisper, “Chris”, “Freebird has a bag of shrooms and a few of us are going to trip”, “you wanna join us”? “Yeah”, “ok, who else is joining us”?
“Michelle”, “Hyler and Stewart so far”, “are your parents home”, “can we go to your place”?
“Sure”, “nobody’s home”, “we can go to my house”, “but”, “lets get some beer and then go”, “my mothers been drinking gin lately so there’s nothing but dry gin”. “we’re waiting for Hyler to get back now”, “he went on a beer run, so as soon as he gets back we’ll all head to your house”. “Okay, sounds like a plan”!

After about a half hour Hyler finally got back and three of us climbed in to his old Duster, Hyler turned his head to the back seat, smiled, flashed a joint, hit the gas and we were on our way to my house. I sat quiet on the way to my house as we drove up the long hill away from Jones Point. I wondered what Alexandra was doing at that moment and if I should call her before I took those shrooms.

Freebird/Meets Toots

I woke up around 2pm the next day and as I walked through the house I saw it was a total mess from our night of drug induced hi jinks. Almost everyone who was here last night had gone home except for Freebird who I was beginning to realize was homeless. I remembered a conversation we had last night when we discovered we both knew people in Poughkeepsie. He had a friend in the city and Alexandra was just getting back to the boarding school where we first met. It was Sunday and we had nothing better to do so we took Freebird’s car and drove to Poughkeepsie.

As we drove into Poughkeepsie Freebird wanted to stop and see his friend Calvin first and pick up some coke and weed. We pulled on to a street lined with low rent, run down townhouses, we pulled up to one and parked. We got out, walked up to white, rundown townhouse with peeling paint, knocked on the door and a tall, skinny older black man answered the door. “Hey”, Scott”! “Holy shit, been a long time”! “What brings you my way”? Come on in”! My first thought was, Scott? That must be his real name. We walked up the stairs to the livingroom and the place stunk of old age with furniture that looked dated from the early 70’s.

Freebird/Drive to Fortworth

We finally got on the road and with gas card in hand I was excited see some new places.
Freebird/Thanksgiving & Bar hoping

As we drove through the simple ranch style neighborhoods of Fortworth it all I could think was that I would never want to live here. Everything looks the same and I wondered if these people were poor or if they liked living

Freebird/Hitching to California

It was day break and I squirmed into the front seat and out the passenger door to smoke a cigarette and figure out where to go from here. One thing I knew was that there was no way in hell I was spending another night in Fortworth and hustling gays out of their money. I wondered what else I would be doing if I hadn’t met Freebird. Probably working some odd job and hanging out with my friends.

Freebird/Meeting Cathy

After an hour of walking around the pier Chris stopped a stranger “excuse me sir, do you have the time”?
“uuhh, yeah, it’s 1:17”. It was close enough to 1:30 so we walked directly across the street to meet Cathy at Casey’s restaurant.

Freebird/Sunset Strip

As Cathy drove away I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of do or die. I couldn’t wait for the sunday paper so I could find a job and make some money. Freebird, on the other hand, had different ideas for making money.

Freebird/Parting Ways

“Freebird, you said we’d get jobs and earn money, now your telling me you want to hustle prostitutes”!
Sorry man but that’s just too much for me” Chris… if you can’t see the opportunity in making a lot of money here then I don’t know what else to tell you, do what you want”.
“Ok, whatever, get yourself killed when their pimps come looking for you”. I’m gonna call Cathy and get the hell outta here”.

Navy Recruit

The plane touched down in San Diego and taxied to it’s terminal. All the Naval recruits got off the plane and were led to the bus which then drove us to the base. It seemed to be a surreal moment as I looked at the houses and rolling landscape of neighborhoods that I was no longer free to wander, now I was the possession of the United States government for the next four years.

Bootcamp buddies

I couldn’t believe the shape Porter was in after just having two cavities filled. His head was almost completely wrapped in bandages, you would have thought he just got out of brain surgery. It was Coke & Smoke time, I reached for my boots under the bunk where I always put them and noticed they were gone. Like movie que, Nuke was at my bunk,

“geez Porter what the hell happened to you”?
“He’s on a lot of pain killers, doubt he can ever understand you.
Nuke gave porter a funny look,
Chris are your boots missing because everyone on my side can’t find theirs”?
“Bang!!”

All of a sudden everyone began running toward the showers. I looked at Porter, he was out of it so I started to walking to the showers to see what all the commotion was about. I couldn’t believe what I saw!

Life at sea

We all climbed out of the van in awe of the sheer mass of this ship we were all about to travel the seas on.

Last Day in Thailand

For 2 days and nights, the three of us could only see the city lights from the deck of our battle ship prison, or we would play cards below deck and talk about what to do when we’re finally allowed in to Bangkok. It’s the last day in port and we have finally been given the ok for six hours of shore leave. “Wilensky, Boyle, Nuke, you have six hours of leave, report back to the ship by o-eight hundred hours. All at once we responded with the typical “yes sir”!

Welcome to Australia

I was up before revelry, I couldn’t sleep because I was so anxious to see Australia. I walked the three decks topside and watched the emense city come into view as the sun rose above it. For the first time I forgot I was in the Navy and felt free like a civilian would as if he were here on vacation.

Trespassing

I opened my eyes, my head was still foggy and disoriented I immideatly heard Boyle. “No, no, we aren’t trying to steal anything we are in the US. Navy, someone left us here”!

Looking around I realized I was in a stall, like a barn stall you would find on a farm. “What are your names and why you trespassing on my property”?

She was an older woman with long black hair and a slightly weathered face as if she’s led a hard life in the sun. She was also pointing a rather large double barreled shotgun at my friend Sam. Sam spoke,

We’re very sorry mam, we were out in Melbourne last night and must have drank too much, honestly, someone dropped us off here, we thought they were giving us a place to stay”.

How to Poach Kangaroos on the outback

Seven am and the smell of bacon wafted through the room. One by one we all wandered into the kitchen and sat down while Mrs. Landon continued to cook breakfast over her ancient stove. Kiran sat across from me smiling like he had the inside joke on something. “Ay, Chris, ya lookin forward ta workin today”? his two brothers chuckled with their mouths full as to back him up. Then I knew something was up.

Riding motorcycles on the Outback

As I stood there in awe of my surroundings the feeling of complete freedom overwhelmed me. I gazed upon the endless landscape of the Australian outback. There was a warm wind and I never felt so content before in my life, as if you made a wish that it would come true. “How did I end up here, standing on this rock on this field, at this moment, so far from where I was expected to be”? It was then, eight thousand miles from home I had my first epiphany.

“Everything changes, grows and evolves, and change is essential to evolution, including my own”.
“what if I can control it? I will be empowered, the ruler of my own destiny”. “what If I can’t, then I will be at the mercy of influence”.

Five minutes later I had my second epiphany and realized I will always be at the mercy of influence. I wondered if that were true, then I would have to make sure I would always be surrounded by positive influence. If that was at all possible.

My moment was broken with the voice of Sam calling me down. “Come on Chris”! Hurry up, lets go!, we have to get back before they have dinner or we won’t eat till tomorrow, and I’m starving!

With that being said, and I knew it was true, took one last look at my view and climbed down from the boulder where I was standing. Our hosts were very timely and unforgiving when it came to meals.

Sam and I straddled our borrowed motorcycles built for all terrain, jumped on the kick start and the sound of engines filled the air. First gear, give it some gas, let out the clutch and with in a minute we were kicking up dust as we rode at 60mph over the flat, dry landscape.

As we rode my thoughts went back to boarding school where I met Toot’s, the love of my life and the woman who in many ways led me to this point in time. I wondered if she was a positive influence, It was, after all, my attempt to prove to myself and to her crazy parents that I could become something.

Meeting The Aborigines

Seaun was in the front passenger seat. “Ay fellas, when we get to the village let me do the talkin, ok, don’t want the three of ya to end up in another barn some where in Queensland three days from now”. “Yeah, who knows what we would have to do for the next farmers… Milk cows or something dangerous like that. We all laughed.

The Local Aussie Pub

After twenty minutes of driving we pulled up to the only building in the middle of XXXX It always amazed me how Shaun knew where he was without any landmarks except for the occasional dirt road which he would just cross over.

The Brig/OGU

One by one we all gave Mrs. Landon a big hug and said thanks for helping us out and that we would keep in touch when we got back state side. “Come on guys, Peter said , we’ve an hour ride ahead of us, don’t want to be drivin in the mid-day sun ya know”.