He was lost for words, really not sure how to reply, but he didn’thave to. Andy came to his rescue and intervened. Normally Andy’s interruptionswere a nuisance, but on this occasion he was grateful.
“Tell this idiot he can’t leave,” said Andy. “If he goes,what will happen then? This place will get taken over and ruined like all theothers. Where will we drink then?”
For once, Kent was in total agreement with Andy. This was theonly decent pub in the town left. If it ended up turning into another Italianbistro, or even worse, a coffee shop, there would be nowhere left for them togo.
“Surely things can’t be that bad, Craig?” asked Kent.
“Look, how many times have we had this conversationrecently? Do you want me to carry on until I’m totally bankrupt and get chuckedout onto the streets?”
“I’d take it over if I had the money,” said Andy.
“You’d drink all the profits,” replied Craig. “Not that thereare any these days.”
“I’ll make it worth your while if you stay,” said Kay,suggestively.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass if it’s all the same with you.”
It was clear that Craig’s mind was made up. Despite the threeof them presenting a rare united front to try and persuade him to stay, theyhad to face the likelihood that the days of having Craig at the helm werenumbered.
Would the pub still be there in the future? Was it doomed todisappear like all the others? Kent might be able to find out, if the angel agreedto his proposal for the following day.
He had considered at great length what he was going to say whenhe returned to the car park for his final trip on Saturday afternoon. Asbefore, he shielded those thoughts as he approached their meeting point, concentratingagain on the England game from Euro ’96.
“Here we are then,” said the angel, cheerfully. “Five down,one to go. How do you feel it has all gone?”
“It’s been brilliant,” said Kent, which it honestly had been.He really was feeling much better about everything now. Thoughts of suicidewere long behind him and if this final trip worked out, he might well feel evenbetter.
Elaborating, he added, “I’ve settled a few old scores, relivedsome great moments and I really feel ready to move on with my life now. I knowI seemed a bit angry and resentful when things didn’t go exactly as planned atfirst, and I apologise for that. But now, it’s all good.”
“That was all part of the learning curve,” said the angel. “Mostpeople take a few trips to get the hang of it, that’s why I offered you six. Itseems to be about the right number for most people.”
“I agree,” said Kent. “One more and I’ll be happy.” With thatremark, he focused his thoughts once again on the memory of Alan Shearerslotting in England’s second goal.
“Let me guess, Euro ’96?” asked the angel.
So you aren’t all-powerful after all, thought Kent. Hisefforts to shield his thoughts had been successful. Who would have thought a meremortal like him could have outwitted it?
“Actually, no,” said Kent, relaxing the hold on his mind toallow his true intentions to come to the fore. The angel instantly picked up onthem.
“Oh, no, that’s highly irregular,” said the angel. “I couldn’tallow that.”
“Why not?” replied Kent.
“Well, no one’s ever asked for that before. And anyway, thatwasn’t part of the deal.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Kent. “You clearly statedthat I could visit any day of my life that I wanted to. You never actuallyspecified that it had to be in the past.”
“No, I didn’t, but it must have been pretty clear what Imeant. Why do you think I set Universe 2.0 up for you?”
“So I couldn’t make changes to history,” replied Kent. “Butthat won’t matter in the future, will it? Nothing I do there is going to changeanything in the here and now, is it?”
“What if you don’t like what you see in the future?” repliedthe angel. “What’s to stop you taking a different path once you get back hereto 2018? You could alter future history.”
“Can’t you just trust me? What if I promise that I won’t? Crossmy heart and hope to die and all that,” said Kent. “And anyway, even if I did, I’msure you’ve got enough powers to do something about it. Just create anothercopy and revert to that if things go wrong. Or send me back here and wipe mymemory if things look bad in the future. Then I wouldn’t be able to do anythingdifferently, would I?”
“I suppose it could be done,” admitted the angel. “It’s notsomething I would agree to, generally. But since you have provided me with alot of entertainment, I guess I could allow it, just this once.”
“You won’t regret it,” replied Kent, hoping that he wouldn’t,either. This was a bit of a gamble. He may well not like what he saw in thefuture, but he felt that he had to find out. His trips to the past had givenhim a fresh perspective on life that had stripped away the disillusionment hehad felt at the onset of middle age. But that was only half the picture. To seewhat lay in the other direction, the great undiscovered country that was thefuture, that was truly the ultimate adventure.
These thoughts brought to mind a very old story, one that hadbeen retold many times.
“Think of yourself as the ghost of Christmas past, presentand future,” he said to the angel. “Scrooge got to see himself in the future,and that turned out alright, didn’t it?”
“That was just a story,” the angel said. “And if you recall,Scrooge didn’t have much of a future until he decided to change it, which isexactly what you just promised not to do!”
“Was it just a story?” asked Kent. “I wonder. You’ve beenaround a long time, judging on what you said the other day about Jack the Ripper.Dickens only lived a few decades before him. Could it be that you paid him a visitand that’s where he got the idea from?”
“I couldn’t possibly tell you that. It’s a question of clientconfidentiality,” said the angel. “Even if I had,
