Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 19:18:19 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: The Impossible Dream - Chapter 4 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII More technical problems with "Theresa". I just can't seem to get the stupid thing to ftp properly! Well, anyway, I thought I'd do more of "The Impossible Dream" instead. ---------------------- Chapter 4 Sam had been about the entire arena and he still had very few answers. But the answers he did have helped with how he acted around his new companions. He knew he was Jack Stutzman, an ex-Hollywood stuntman working for Susie Paprocki in a stunt show in Colorado Springs. He knew it was June 15, 1989. The blond man's name was Bill Haywood, whom Jack called Mr. Hollywood. The other man was Shaakeen Baker, irreverantly called Shake 'n' Bake. According to what Sam gathered from them, Stutzman had a big ego and an attitude to match. And the "dance on the semi" Susie referred to was Jack's doing wheelies on top of a thirty foot semi-truck used in the stunt show on a tri-weekly basis. Also, according to how Susie acted around him and how Bill and Shaakeen teased him, Jack and Susie were dating. Sam also found out he was supposed to be finding a stunt to replace "the semi stunt," of which he, of couse, had no idea. Worst of all, he was supposed to do the stunt at tomorrow's show and Al was still not there to tell him what he was there to do. It was late. Susie, Bill, Shaakeen were all getting ready to leave. They had practiced their performances, whether stunts or songs, until they were certain of their performances' perfection. Sam watched the stunts with trepidation He could never in his whole life do those stunts. And he was supposed to do the show-stopper? "Oh, boy" seemed too much of an understatement for the situation. "Do you have anything for me yet?" Susie asked him as she took off her helmet and shook out her hair. "Anything?" Sam asked. "To replace the stunt, doofus," Susie shook her head in disappointment. "Uhh... not yet," Sam told her. "Well, you'd better thing of something ot you're doing the stunt tomorrow. Or I will be." There was an implicit threat in her voice. Sam knew Jack's ego would have had Jack fighting for the stunt back. But Sam wasn't Jack. "Well, you'd probably do it better than I could," Sam said honestly. Susie slapped him. Sam frowned. What the hell was he doing wrong to get slapped by the same person on the same day? "You big-headed chauvinist pig!" she said angrily. "Keep your sarcasm to yourself!" With that, she marched off, leaving the helmet on her car seat and the car door wide open. Confused, Sam looked at the ceiling. "What did I do?" he asked just before closing the car door and then the warehouse door. It took a while for Sam to find where he lived. According to his driver's license, he lived at 2510 S. Academy Boulevard, Apartment #319. Unfortunately, he found it very hard to find the apartment complex. Academt Boulevard, it appeared, was a large six lane street that was more of a highway than a boulevard. And since he couldn't remember ever being in Colorado Springs, he was unprepared for the seemingly erratic driving habits of the city's inhabitants. The large street was a mad house at seven o'clock in the evening on a Thursday. He was grateful when he finally found the address and entered the apartment. He looked around. It was a typical bachelor's apartment. A sofa with a mismatched coffee table and television with VCR adorned the living room. The kitchen had three days worth of dishes piled in the sink. There was a stereo system, at the far end of the apartment's living room, which covered up most of the only window in the living room. Sam shook his head. He was surprised there weren't any clothes sprawled all over the living room. He walked about the apartment, getting a grasp of its layout. The bedroom was down a short hallway just to the left of the kitchen. It, like the living room, had mismatching furniture. An oak waterbed covered with simple white bedsheets and an apple red comforter sat in the center of the room with the headboard against the wall. There were two pillows, each covered with a pillow case that didn't match the other pillow case. Against another wall was an old plywood dresser, its varnish wearing out. Above the dresser was a simple rectangular mirror that looked as if it had once been a part of a mirrored closet door. The room was unusually clean. The carpet needed vacuuming but there was nothing on the floor except for a strategically placed pile of dirty clothes. Sam had to give Jack a couple of points for trying. The bathroom, on the other hand, was a mess. The sink was covered with soap scum as was the shower. A pile of towels lay crammed in one corner. Everything a man needed for hygiene was sprawled on the counter by the sink. Sam looked through the bathroom cabinets in search of a clean towel. He was growing tired and he desperately wanted to take a shower, brush his teeth, and get some sleep. He took his shower and cleaned the bathroom before going into the bedroom to change into a pair of clean undershorts. Noticing that Jack didn't have a washer and dryer, he packed all of his laundry into a large trash bag, planning to wash them at a laundrymat before the show tomorrow. Then, locking the apartment for the night, Sam washed and put away the dishes that were in the sink before going to bed. Sam laid on Jack's bed, his eyes closed. He wasn't really asleep. There were far too many things on his mind to allow his to sleep comfortably. The stunt. Susie. Bill. Shaakeen. Al. Where was he?" Suddenly, Sam had a feeling that he wasn't alone in the bedroom. He opened his eyes and looked about. At first, nothing seemed to be there. Then he saw a darkly-cladded figure standing by the bed. "Can't sleep?" Al asked gently, noting the hour on the clock on the nightstand. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning. "Where the hell have you been?" Sam asked, turning on a light to see Al better. "I got here as soon as I could, Sam," Al told him. "It's not easy getting here when you're in another state, you know." Sam looked at Al, noting his simple black suit and tie. His eyebrows furrowed. "Don't tell me. Another alimony suit." "No. A funeral," Al said softly. Sam's eyes widened slightly in surprise. They softened quickly. "Who died?" Al sighed and blinked slowly. "My first wife." "Beth?" Sam said softly. "Al, I'm sorry." Al shrugged it off. "It's okay. I just figured you'd want me here as soon as I could. So, here I am." Sam sat up in the bed. "What have you got for me?" Al raised the multi-colored handlink in his hand. "Well, it's June 15th, 1989 and you're Mike Selantono, otherwise known as..." "Jack Stutzman," Sam put in. "Right," Al confirmed. "You're an ex-pro stuntman now working in odd shows around the country. You've been doing stunts for...oh...ten years now and your M.O. is 'Stutzman the Stuntman!' This guy is incredible, Sam! I saw him perform in '83! Doing death-defying stunts on his mint condition '75..." "Al," Sam put in, breaking Al's memories. "I'm not a stuntman! I certainly can't perform death-defying stunts on a motorcycle!" He paused. "I'm supposed to perform tomorrow, doing some kind of semi-truck stunt." Al hit the handlink with his palm, trying to get information from Ziggy as he spoke. "Oh, don't worry about that. The show gets rained out tomorrow." "Rained out?" Sam questioned. "It's not supposed to rain tomorrow. Just some clouds." Al laughed. "Well, welcome to Colorado and count your blessing." "You can say that again," Sam muttered. "Does Ziggy know why I'm here?" Al frowned. "She's not sure. We just got the guy's real name. Sam, this guy in the Waiting Room has an ego bigger than Ziggy's, if that's possible. You'd better study up on him so you don't make people think there's something wrong with you." "What about Ziggy, Al?" Sam put the conversation back on track. "Oh, she's still digging into the newspaper files but we have a theory as to why you're here. There's a woman named..." "Susie Paprocki?" Sam questioned with concern. "Yeah," Al told him. "She owns the stunt show where Jack works. Nobody knows it but Susie's in financial straits. She was only barely getting by when Jack joined the team last summer. Jack introduced ths new stunt about two months ago and, ever since then, the stunt's been packing in the audiences." "The semi-truck stunt," Sam realized. "What exactly is it?" Al thought for a moment. "You know, he performed it when I went to see him. What he does is jump over a semi with his motorcycle4 and land on the pavement with his rear wheel first." "Pretty dangerous stunt with how wide the semi is," Sam commented. Al hesitated. He hated to burst Sam's already weakening bubble but it was better that he learn the truth now than later. "He didn't jump it width-wise," he said firmly. "Well, then how..." Sam began. He suddenly realized what Al was telling him. "Al, that's crazy!" "You're telling me!" Al agreed. "Only two people ever survived that stunt: a veteran stuntman name Michael McColly and you - I mean Jack. All others have either been killed or paralyzed for life!" "And Susie relies on this stunt to keep her out of bankruptcy," Sam concluded. "Exactly," Al told him. "In the original history, Jack decided to stop doing the stunt." "Why?" Sam asked. "Too dangerous," Al said the obvious. "Last Tuesday, Michael McColly was severely injured doing the stunt and it apparently freaked Jack out. So, he refused to do the stunt anymore." "I imagine that made Susie pretty angry." "She was furious!" "And so Jack has been searching for another stunt," Sam put in. "Something safer than the semi-truck stunt. But Susie turns them all down," Al told Sam. "And Jack still refuses to do the stunt. So..." Al hesitated. "Susie tries it this Saturday." "And severely injures herself," Sam concluded. Al closed his eyes. "You could say that," he whispered. Sam looked at him for an explanation he knew he didn't want to acknowledge. Al looked into Sam's eyes sorrowfully. "She breaks her neck," Al answered finally. "Dies instantly." ------------------------------------- Want more? Well, you'll just have to wait a bit. That evil H! word is plaguing me once again. College life! Don't worry. There's definitely more to come and, since I myself hate reading only part of a story, all of this will be posted (one way or the other) Keep the Leap! Kat