Changing Places with Yourself

Chapter 12

Soon it was July 1st, a whole year it passed, and that crazy Icon popped back on my phone.  Kara texted me asking me to press the symbol so that we could talk.  I was still living at the Novells' home so I went into my room with the door closed and launch the app, within a minute I was talking to Kara again.

Kara:  Thank you for calling Trans-Dimensional Switching Services, we are on a recorded line.  How have you been Miss David or Mrs. Novell now, isn’t it?

Me:  Hi Kara, Miss David is fine.  I don't feel like I'm really a married woman.

Kara:  Yes.  I've been monitoring that situation but unfortunately, we can't intervene with what will happen.

Me:  So, is this the last time we will speak?

Kara: Actually, yes ma'am.  We do the one-year review to see if you wish to stay or pass off to another one of your alternate selves in a different dimension then you started off in.  If you choose to stay, we will keep an eye out of you until your 21st birthday, just in case.

Me:  If I chose to leave, does that mean I would be switching with someone who's destined to die?

Kara:  That would be the case, in normal situations.

Me:  Okay Kara what’s going on?  Why isn't this a normal situation?

Kara:  Well, as miraculous as it sounds, it seems that the Becky who traded places with you, actually survived the crash.

Me:  Ooh my word, how is that possible?  I mean is she okay?

Kara:  Yes, she's been awake for a few months now and has resumed your previous life.

Me:  But is she okay?  Does she want to switch back now that I've got her past the danger?

Kara:  No, ma'am.  Actually, she's quite happy.

Me:  Even with all my physical issues, the knees, the back, and the weight?  Not to mention my mother and my money issues.

Kara:  When I spoke with her yesterday, she said your brother Tim found the books that you had started writing at your house when she complained about being bored all day in that danged hospital bed.  She was able to get them all finished before leaving the hospital to return home.  Someone brought her a laptop to type them up on and she just accessed your memories on how you were going to write complete them.  One of the nurses read some of your “mafia” stories and told her husband who works in a publishing company.  To date, the five stories you would start are now full-on books and selling quite well.  Also, she took a job using her sewing skills and moved out of the ranks quite quickly the manager of her division.  She said that your cats are all fine and amazing little fur babies, which makes her happy to have them to love.  I believe she’s in a way better place, she seems calmer and much happier, than when I first met her and even has lost quite a bit of weight.  And I believe by missing all the issues you faced here for her has helped her to grow.  She also cleaned your old house top to bottom before she sold it and bought a bigger one.

Me:  Did you tell her everything?  She could have children here, but there I was too old.

Kara:  Yes ma’am, we did a full download to her of everything that you’ve experienced this past year and ask her, if given the chance to return would she take it.  She said no, she’s extremely content living there in your previous life.  As to children when I asked her about them she told me that you deserve the chance to be a mom.  Because she was an only child, she never developed the maternal instinct like yours and she knows that your heart was made to be that of a mother, not just an aunt like her.  Although she does love your nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews, also she did agree that your brother “John is a major asshat”, those were her words exactly.

Me:   Hahaha!  I just want to make sure she's happy and doesn't regret anything.

Kara:  If you choose to remain where you are all her memories from the past year will be given to you as you sleep tonight.  Also, she knows that you tend to do for others at the expense of your own happiness.  So, she asked me to pass on the message to you.

Me:  Ok.

Kara:  She wants you to stay and finish what you started here.  Deal with the man-w***e you're married to.  Then have lots of babies with a man who will love and respect you.  Don't give up on searching for something better, live in the now and not what is or was in your previous life.  Stop thinking of it as her life, make it yours completely!!  Above all else, remember that you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for, and use that strength.  She was so proud of the way that you handled Gina, Donovan and the rest of the bullies saying it was “pure genius”.  Also, she wanted to thank you for singing at the funeral, she would not have had the courage to do that and I know, for a fact, that her parents were touched.  I actually think she's using your life story as a basis for the sixth book she's writing right now.  Speaking of which, if you stay, in the morning those books she finished will be in the hard drive of your computer and we’ll make sure that you get published since you did most of the work.  I have to tell you they’re all the rage around here in the office we’re hoping that you get back to writing because you have a real gift for it.

Me:  Thank you.  Wait, you have read my stories?  I was just getting into the swing of things before the switch, I had only published a few so far.

Kara:   We here in the office would love to read more of your work.  Sometimes we have nothing to do, but read and your stories excite the imagination in ways that we've never even known of or seen before.  Which is kind of saying something considering how old we all are and we think it would be a crime if you stopped. On a personal note, Miss David, we here in the office really want you to stay and not switch with any of your other-selves.  You have a team here that has been watching over you and the destiny department would like to help you find your own happily ever after.  They put a few things in motion that would let you continue to help others find love as you find your own “Mr. Right”.  It would be a shame to let all their hard work on your behave go to waste.

Me:  Okay, okay.  I’ll stay.  I have been missing writing, but with everything else going on I haven’t made the time.  I promise you all once my penthouse is complete and ready, my weekends will be free for me to be able to start writing again.

Kara:  Good!  We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Me:  How will you know?

Kara:  Every book that’s written in all the dimensions we serve is downloaded to us before anyone in that dimension can see.  We have to make sure that no one is talking about our services because it's not common knowledge.  If we find one that gives out too much information we switch it for another one in its place that doesn't give out as much information or doesn't talk about us at all.

Me:  What if the info is told but in a way that makes it seem like the pure fantasy of the writer?

Kara:  We have a team that can make that kind of determination.  Wait, you have an idea, don't you?

Me:  Yes, but I'm not sure if it will work.

Kara:  Please we would love to read it even if it doesn't get past the draft stage.

Me:  I'll begin working on it next week.  Kara, I want to thank you for all the help that you have given me.  You have been a shoulder to cry on, you’ve given me encouragement to be more than I thought I was ever capable of being, and most of all, you gave me the chance to go back to do it all again, the way it should have happened the first time.  I can never repay my debt of gratitude that I owe to you.  Don’t say that you were just doing your job because you went above and beyond the call of duty on this one.

Kara:  Ah, shucks, now I’m going to start blushing, you’re too kind.  Back to business, when you wake up in the morning you'll know everything and the books will be uploaded to your laptop.

Me:  Can you pass the message on to the other Becky for me?

Kara:  Of course.

Me: Tell her, I hope she never gives up on love and keeps looking for that special someone whose touch will send sparks through her entire body.  He’s out there looking for her.  Tell her don't resign herself to being a spinster ant and the crazy cat lady of the family.  Tell her when she’s blue think of the song, I Hope You Dance, by Lee Ann Womack.  “Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance.  Loving might be a mistake, but it’s worth taking.  Don’t let some Hell-bent heart leave you bitter.  Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance.  AND DANCE!!” I know there is more to the song, but those phrases are ones I should have listened to.

Kara:  We love that song here, and I will be sure to give her your advice.  Will there be anything else you need from us here Miss David?

Me:  No, you have all there at Trans-Dimensional Switching Services have given me the most wonderful gift anyone could receive and now it's time for me to really embrace who I have become along with who I want to be going forward.  Thank you.  All of you in the office do something amazing every day when you help someone’s dreams come true.  Have a wonderful existence, Kara, maybe one day we can speak again in the hereafter.  I know you'll be watching over me until I hit 21 here that you won't be able to contact me again.  I just wanted to make sure you all understand how much gratitude I feel at the astonishing gift that you and the other Becky have given to me.

Kara:  I would love that chance, ma'am.  Now, miss David, it's time you go to sleep.  Sweet dreams and goodbye.

Me:  Goodbye, Miss Kara.

I found myself on my bed not sure how I got there, but since I was so tired I gave into my body's need for sleep.  My dreams were filled with her memories.  Tears ran down my face as I slumbered at what she went through after waking up in the hospital.  Both legs have been almost crushed by the impact.  She had to endure several surgeries needed to remove bits of car and glass from her hand, arms, chest, and abdomen due to the crash.  The months of physical therapy she had to undergo were heartbreaking. My/her youngest brother, Tim, moved in to help her once she was home.  He and his son Michael, took turns watching over our fur babies while she was in the hospital.  Mom and Dad sued the trucking company on her behalf and got all her medical bills past and future paid along with the settlement of about 10 million dollars for pain and suffering.  When she learned about that she immediately gave her POA to Tim so that the money would be used for her and not fund the cruise that mom was trying to allocate some for.  Since she has endured so much here between the beatings Gina arranged for her at school and what her aunt did once her parents were gone, her pain tolerance was 10 times better than my own.  She was able to push further and faster than I ever could have.  She did clean the house that I had been living in after buying a bigger and better one for herself, Tim and Mike plus their cats and my cats (or her cats) I’m still confused about that.  She used a royalty check from one of the books to get Tim a fully restored 1987 Pontiac firebird just like he had when I was about 10 or so.  She dealt with all the money-hungry slime ball family members begging for a quote-unquote loan like a pro.  It was the weirdest feeling to be able to see through her eyes what she thought of me.  Since she was locked in a coma for 2 months it gave her the chance to really dissect every decision that I ever made.  There were few I was ashamed of, but she made me understand that those choices led me to who I was and who I am.  It gave me the strength and courage to be able to handle her aunt and the school bullies so efficiently.  Turns out she is just as proud of me as I am of her.  What I wouldn’t give to be able to just sit and talk with her for an hour or two about anything and everything.  To be able to hug her and help her grieve her loss, but I saw my family gathering her in their collective arms whenever she broke down.  Part of her was almost looking forward to joining her mom and dad, but then she got a taste of my family’s love and affection, which made her realize it’s possible for her to be happy and fulfilled in my old life more so than she could have ever been here even if her parents had actually lived.