Negotiating Karma (P.4)

 

As I stood above my younger self laying next to his new bride, my first thought was how young we appeared, and that it was almost 25 years to the day of my death.

Jasper was behind me, jumping up and down like a jackrabbit because the heat of the sand was burning his paws. He eventually made his way to the path above the beach.

The younger George sat up and said, “It's getting way too hot. I'm going to the room for a shower and hit the bar for a cool drink. Care to join me?

Christine slightly changed positions and said, “No, I'm staying here for a while. But I'll meet you in the bar later.”

“Don't stay out here too long, or you'll burn.” he said.

I followed George, the younger, inside the resort, and up the elevator to his room. He didn't waste any time jumping in the shower, dressing and out the door, back down the elevator, and into the bar. The bar is relatively empty. He sat on a stool and ordered a scotch neat. I decided to sit beside him, wishing I could have a drink as well. When the bartender walked in front of me and asked, “What will you have, sir?”

This was a great surprise because let's face it, I was dead.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked.

“Who else would I be talking to, sir?” he replied with slight sarcasm, looking around the empty bar.

“Of course, sorry. I'll have a scotch neat.” I said.

The handsome bartender returned with my drink, saying, “I gave you a double on the house. You look like you need it.”

I smiled and sipped the drink and relished the taste.

George the younger turned and asked, “I'm sorry but do I know you. Sorry if that sounds weird, but really, you do look familiar.”

 As far as I know, one living has ever looked face to face into the eyes of one's younger self. I remember back in medical school taking psychology, and this is a treatment in certain therapy sessions. That is, asking one's younger self why they made certain decisions in life, etc... This wasn't a therapy technique, however, but the real thing.

I turned and said, “No, I don't believe we have ever met before. But I must say, you look a bit familiar as well.”

George the younger shrugged his shoulders, sipping his drink.

A few minutes passed when a young, beautiful woman entered the bar. I'd guess her age to be around her late twenties. She sat down at a table next to the open window overlooking the beach. I noticed George, the younger, turn around and began sizing her-up, admiring her beauty.

 The memory of this encounter with the sophisticated woman on my honeymoon in Hawaii flashed into consciousness at once. I absolutely knew the chain of events that would follow meeting this woman in the empty bar. We would strike up a conversation and immediately connect on a mental and physical level. In a few hours, she would hand me her room number, offering a more kinetic connection later that night. Once Christine fell asleep that night after dinner. I would sneak out of our room and meet the young woman in her room. We would have unmitigated sex like only strangers can or dare. After this meeting, I would come back to my room, relieved that Christine hadn't woken up, and slide back next to her like a garden snake.

Above all else, I believed it was necessary to prevent this encounter, this adultery, from happening because my future depended on it. But what could I do? And really, this betrayal had happened 25 years ago.

I sat at the bar, watching the entire event between my younger self and this beautiful woman transpire before my eyes. How could I intervene and stop this from happening?

In over an hour, I had consumed 4 scotches to see the woman pass George the younger her room number. He stood up and kissed her on the cheek, walking out of the bar and up to his room. 'What a sleaze bag!' I thought.

Leaving the bar, I walked outside to see my cat, Jasper, comfortably sitting on a lounge chair waiting for me. Sitting down next to him, I put my head in my hands, feeling confused but more guilty than anything else. Jasper waited without uttering a thought. He was waiting for me to come up with an answer.

“Jasper, this betrayal on my honeymoon started all the crap in my life. I wish I could change my mind about going to that woman's room. I really don't know why, because I never admitted the fling to Christine, over our 25 years of marriage. I don't understand.”

“There's something you need to see,” Jasper said.

He extended his paw, and instantly we were standing in the hallway of the hotel. The elevator doors opened, and out I walked with a strange expression. George the younger knocked on the door of a room, and the beautiful woman from the bar let him in.

Jasper whispered. “Look.” Standing in the shadow of the hallway was Christine, who I guess followed me to my adulterous rendezvous. She put her ear to the door, listening to the rough and tumble of my fling. After a few minutes, she walked to the exit sign leading to the stairs.

“My God, Jasper, Christine knew about the fling the entire time and didn't say a word for 25 years. I'm a total idiot!”

Jasper looked up and said, “She found the card and number in your pants and waited to follow if you decided to go through with it.”

Jasper extended his paw, and I bent down and connected. There I was sitting at the bar again at the same time earlier that afternoon. George, the younger, sat next to me as the handsome bartender asked me what I wanted to drink.

“Give me a scotch neat.” I said.

“I gave you a double on the house. You look like you need it.” he said.