Two doctors—one with an eerily familiar young face— stood by John Lydon'sbedside.
"Let me getthis straight." He looked from Norman to the new guy. "I was givena second chance so that I could reconnect with my one truelove."
"Right." Normanwas clutching a clip board.
"And if I canget her to fall in love with me in this body before thereunion weekend ends— midnight on Valentine's Day— I get to keep mylife and this body. If not, I have to go back to my old body,John's body dies like it was supposed to, and I lose the girl."
"Right." Normanfidgeted.
"But I can'ttell anyone who I really am unless they guess first."
"Right."
"Not going tobe a problem."
Uriel held up ahand. "You not only can't reveal yourself until the other party hasguessed accurately. If you agree to the terms you will be JohnLydon. None of your money or resources will be available to you. Asfar as the world is concerned, Jack is in a coma. This is certainlynot an ideal situation, but..."
"It's not aproblem. My mom will loan me some money."
"You can't tellher who you are, Jack." Norman bit his lip.
"I know. Itwon't be a problem." John smirked at the angels in white coats. "Mymom will figure it out in ten seconds."
"You don't knowthat. You need to think very carefully before you agree to therevised plan, Jack— err— John." Uriel was worried. This was notgoing well at all.
"Mister Uriel,how many Irish mothers have you known in your eternity?"
"Quite a few,actually," Uriel answered.
"It won't be aproblem." As he spoke a small woman with lavender hair bustled pastJohn's room. A large black dog with an orange service vest clickedacross the tiled floors at her side. She was on her way to theIntensive Care Unit, where the body of Jack Lynch— the originalbody, at any rate— lay in a coma.
John-Jackfingered the bandage covering the stitches in his forehead. "Am Ifree to go?"
The angelsnodded, and watched him stroll out of the room, hot on the heels ofthe lavender-haired woman and her guide dog.
John— he wasgoing to have to start thinking of himself as John, at leastuntil he could get people to start calling him Jack—followed his mother to the elevators. He stepped in beside her,automatically making room for Preston, the service dog she'd beenwith for six years. Preston's tail began to wave slowly; he lookedup at John with clear, bright eyes and shoved a wet nose into hishand.
"Can you pressnumber three for me?" Her voice was thin and shaky. A pang shotthrough his heart as his mother's fear reached him. He hated thatshe was worrying about him.
"Yes, ma'am,I'm going there, too." Feel me, mom. He sent the thoughttoward her with all his might. I'm right here. Preston knowsme.
His mother hadalways been special. Born blind, she had never let her disabilitykeep her from living a full life, trying new things, and meetingeach day with a sense of adventure. She was a woman of faith, andhad an uncanny second sense... some would call it intuition, butJack knew it was more. He stood beside her in the elevator, tryingto become accustomed to his new John-ness. If anyone wasgoing to figure this out, it was mom.
"Do I know you,young man?" Atta girl, he thought.
"You do, ma'am.I'm John Lydon. I was in the car with Jack, he offered me aride.
"John Lydonnever called anyone ma'am in his life and my Jack never liked him.The voice is right, though. You must have learned some manners inthe last twenty years. Your mother will be thrilled."
"Yes, ma'am."He grinned. Bless her purple-headed heart! "I know Jack and I werenever friends, but he was generous enough to offer me a ride anddiscuss some business matters with me. I wanted to see him,actually, before I left the hospital. I wasn't sure they would letme in. I'm not family."
"No, youdefinitely aren't." Kate Lynch tilted her head. "But I guess Icould vouch for you. I get the feeling there's more to this storythan you're telling."
The elevatordoors opened. Reaching for his mother's arm, he took the sideopposite Preston and guided her into the hallway. She froze.
"That'sstrange." Her little head tilted again, as if she were listening tovoices only she could hear. "Preston let you lead me. He's onlyever let my husband— god rest his soul— and my son do that."
"Yes, ma'am?"You can do it, mom!
Uriel andNorman (who didn't need elevators) were lingering by the nurse'sstation as the trio— man, woman, and dog— entered Jack Lynch'sroom. Norman flashed a "thumbs-up" as they passed. Kate Lynchturned her head, almost as though she could see him. The handsomeyoung man at her side grinned.
***
Two hours laterJohn Lydon was sitting in Kate Lynch's kitchen, a mug of coffeesteaming in his hands. If the neighbors could see them they wouldbe astonished. The boy from three doors down who had egged herhouse every Halloween and tormented her son through four years ofhigh school was eating a warm scone with jam.
"Do you need meto go to the bank, Jackie?"
"I should befine for a while, mom. If I can stay here I'll just check out ofthe hotel and use the cash John has on him to get through theweekend. I have a sinking feeling it's almost everything he's got.And you're going to have to start calling me by his name fornow."
"Not when it'sjust us!" She reached over and placed her hand on his arm.
"It would bebetter to make it a habit, mom. I have to get used to it, too." Hetook another sip from his mug. "If I keep thinking of myself asJack I'll slip up. I'm John. At least until I've gotten Rorito see me. I can always start using Jack as a nickname lateron. Like JFK."
"Rori... she'sgoing to be a problem, Ja— uh, John. She hated him— uh,you."
"She went tothe prom with John Lydon. This John Lydon. The good-lookingfootball star."
"Shewanted to go with you. She hinted for weeks. And shenever forgave him for what happened that night, son."
He shrugged.His mom had been insisting that Rori McLeary felt more for him thanfriendship forever. But every girl at Hammond High wanted to beseen
