The Mandela Effect

Chapter 74

Jon watched for a minute or two until another figure came out from the house and walked around to the end of the pool. When she got to the end and turned, Jon recognized his wife but she looked different. She was skinnier and more bohemian: both in her dress and her natural hair. Video Jon didn't notice until he reached that end and popped up. He was startled and they both started laughing.

"So?" Video Jon asks.

His wife looked at the ground and shook her head left and right. Video Jon pulled himself out of the pool and sat next to her on the edge.

"I'm sorry, babe," Jon says, "next month."

"No," she answers, emotion in her voice, "I'm sorry. I said we didn't have to rush. We should wait until we were older and more settled. Now, here we are, and we can't."

"Look at me," Jon says sweetly, pulling her chin up until their eyes met, "I would not change a single thing about this amazing life we have."

"I know you always wanted to be a Dad," his wife started.

"No," Jon interrupted, "no, no. I always wanted to be with you. I wanted to be the father of your children. I love kids, but without you, I wouldn't even think about it."

Psssh, his wife interjected, "I don't need you to lie to me."

"I'm not lying," Video Jon says sweetly, "if something happened to you, I wouldn't have kids. I probably wouldn't get married. I'd still be teaching back in Chicago or curating in London or something."

Jon chuckles to himself, "he's not lying."

Video Jon wrapped his arms around her.

"Ahhh," she squealed, and tried to move away, "you're all wet."

Video Jon ignored her, "I'd probably be some sad old man, living on my own with my cats or plants."

"Ouch," Jon says, again to himself.

Video Jon kissed his wife. She stopped struggling and kissed him back. Suddenly, she shoved him away and he fell back into the pool. Before he could recover; she stood up, pushed her shorts to her feet, and ripped her sweater off. Video Jon looked up just in time to see her cannonball into the pool next to him.

Jon turned the dial again. There were other scenes, but most were similar to what he had seen: Walking the street in what looked like New York. Eating at a cafe in what looked like London or Paris. Teaching in a dozen different classrooms.

Jon sighed. He was a simple man. There was so little variety in the different versions of him.

Finally, after several full turns of classrooms, he stopped turning right. Quickly, he whipped back left, trying to find the first timeline. He recognized moments from the screen as he flipped back and forth through the various timelines. Eventually, he was back in the house from the first timeline, although not sure it was the exact same.

Video Jon was sitting at a desk in what was an office somewhere in the house. The style of the house, the outside of the windows, all of it seemed to match what he had seen before.

Jon continues turning left. There were a lot of these similar timelines. One caught his attention and he stopped. This was in the same room, but the couch in the corner was pulled out and the bed was bedraggled.

"So," Jon says to himself, "I guess we're not always perfect and happy."

Jon kept turning. There were so many in this room. Sometimes his wife was there, most times not, but this seemed like the most likely outcome.

Then, everything changed drastically. Video Jon was still there, but he was sitting in a cafeteria across from Mark. He was laughing and Mark was, as always, hamming it up.

Jon leaned close to the screen and finally Video Jon lifted his hand up. There was no ring on his hand.

"Ahhh," Jon grunted to himself, "this is more familiar."

There was no need to watch this. Jon lived this life most days.

Jon turned the dial left again. There were maybe a dozen of these and then the screen went black.

Jon looked down at the desktop. The number of the dial was now on '-' with no number.

Was that it?, Jon wondered to himself, hundreds of lives where I'm with her. A dozen where I'm not. And I'm stuck in one that isn't.