K Breese - Future Imperfect

Copyright 2011 by K. Ryer Breese

Countless thanks to my agent, Jessica Regel, for her insight and enthusiasm, guidance and grace; an endless supply of gratitude to John Schoenfelder, a genius master of storytelling, and Russell Ackerman, a diviner in his own right; heapings of appreciation to Brendan Deneen for his superhuman editorial skills; and boundless love to Jess, EE, Mo, and Hedge, P-Dogg (Mutants!), Saba and Savta, and Grandpa and Grandma.

Jimi Ministry didnt have this many tattoos two weeks ago.

The ones on his wrists, its obvious that theyre pretty fresh.

Maybe its the fact that theyre still bright red, spanked raw and swollen, but looking at them I see my family. My distant family.

On his left wrist I think I see my great-grandmother Ethyl on my mothers side. And Ive only ever seen her in pictures.

On the right wrist, thats got to be my dads favorite uncle, the one who died in Korea. Was his name Benson?

It could be the fact that its night and Jimis underwater, but the images on his flesh are blurry. Like theyre dancing just under the surface of the lake. And his knuckles have gone cold white from grabbing on to my arms so tight.

This is because Im holding him down.

This is because Im drowning him.

Jimis face, it looks almost serene.

Its not like in the movies where people thrash around, kick the water into a froth, and their faces get all distorted with fear. No, Jimis practically calm and all this is happening very slowly. The night above us is cool and bursting with stars. On the beach behind me theres only the tiny lapping of waves. Like many dogs drinking water.

With my hands around Jimis neck, squeezing the air out of him, I cant help but get nostalgic. The rage in me has reached such a fevered pitch my hairs on end. If you took my temperature right now Im sure itd look fatal.

But Jimis finally under control.

Hes fading so fast.

The love of my life, shes back there in the night. Shes waiting, anxious.

Probably gripping the straps of her purse as tightly as Ive got Jimis throat.

On Jimis thumb knuckle on his right hand theres a tattoo of a turtle. Most turtles look the same unless theyre exotic. You know, like some Amazonian turtle. But this one, Im pretty sure its the same box turtle I had in fifth grade. His name was Metatron, after the archangel in the Hebrew scripture. My mom found him on one of her dashes through Pueblo. Id know his shell pattern anywhere.

Right now is right now.

Every half-second clicks into place as deafening as thunder.

Right now is all that matters

And right now, Jimis underwater and his face is relaxing into darkness.

The fury in me is so ferocious that Im likely to split in half.

This is what the Metal Sisters assured me. What Grandpa Razor was so confident about. All the experts, all the professionals Ive talked to, this is exactly why they told me they didnt know. This was inevitable.

Call it fate.

Call it destiny.

Whatever you call it, its murder.

Mr. von Ravengate

Ravens Magikal Gifts, Aurora Mall

Aurora, CO

Thanks for the letter, Heinz.

Off the bat, I should mention Im not religious. My moms super into Jesus, but that really hasnt rubbed off on me. Not to say Id dig Satanism either. Sorry, but thatd kill my mom. Stroke for sure. Good to know you find it meaningful though, and, hey, I am intrigued about the whole Atlantis psychic thing. But not so much the goat with a thousand eyes business.

Anyway, to answer a few of your questions:

1. No. Ive never seen any strange vistas that resemble Yes album covers. Ive never seen a Yes album cover. I just see the future and it looks pretty much like now.

2. No. No demons. Or Daemons. Or whatever.

3. Sure, there are Rules. Two major ones, really. Seeing the futures the easy part; the hard parts what comes after. Its breaking the Rules thats tough. These Rules, theyre mine. Didnt take long for me to figure them out either.

Rule No. 1. The future cant be changed once its been seen.

See, its not like on television or in the movies. Its not racing against the clock to make sure that x (the car, the tree, the cat, the ax, the bus, the moon) doesnt fall on y (the girl, the baby, the cat, the house, the church, the school). Theres no shouting into the phone trying to convince the police of something. What I see, it always happens. Always.

Rule No. 2. If you ignore Rule No. 1 and try to change the future, youll end up only making a mess of things.

This is the sucky part. Ive got all sorts of stories about things going really wrong when playing superhero. Once, I saw this guy die in a fire, just him wearing a suit of flames. Took me a long time to figure out who the dude was but when I did, I called him anonymously and warned him. Told him it would happen in like a week or so. The dude just totally freaked out, got off the phone, jumped in his car, and crashed into a semi. Burned to a crisp. Voil . Twice I tried to change things directly. Both times ended badly. Really really badly.

4. Exactly. Directional. If I focus hard enough, kind of clear my mind and then push down hard, you know, like when you focus on something really close to your eyes, the way those hidden picture posters work, then I can see really far out. Like decades. If I dont, if I just let the hit happen and not try to focus in, then I see maybe weeks out. Days. Once, even hours. But I try to avoid doing that. Doesnt have the same, well, effect.

5. Yes.

6. Like in comics? No. Once, I tried. You know, got a suit at a costume shop and tried to stop this dude from getting stabbed outside Rock Island. See answer #3 as to what happened.

7. Nope. Far as I know, Im the only person who can do this. Ive never seen anyone else, never met anyone else. Who knows though, right? Maybe there are some other freaks out there.

Dude, sorry I cant be of any help regarding your transitional journeys and black magic manifesto. And I cant focus in and see if your novel will get published and become a bestseller. Really, it doesnt work like that.

Heinz, why Ive been writing to you is because I need some help. If you were to consult your alchemical tomes and dark scrolls, ask a few minor devils or whatnot, do you think you could tell me how I can change the future once Ive seen it? Can you tell me how I can break the rules?

Thanks, Heinz.

And love the cape.

Ade Patience

Last night at the All Souls Chapel I told my moms Jesus friends I had a knockout summer.

Knock. Out, I said all slow. Know what I mean?

Mom knew what I meant and gave me a thumbs-up.

Her pals, they just nodded and smiled.

In their eyes, Im such a freaking good kid.

When summer break started I actually did keep things simple. For a while, anyway. Nothing too bold, nothing exceptionally daring. Not like what Id done over winter break. There were the usual fights; mostly it was East football players and a couple run-ins with the bikers you always find outside the Piper Inn. And, yeah, I was black and bruised, bloodied even, but thats par for the course. Wasnt until mid-month that I decided to kick things up a notch. You know, experiment a bit.