"Yup, that's what it says. Bradley Jones." Bradley took the envelope with excitement and tore it open. "What is it?" Jenn asked her son.
"It's an invitation to a birthday party this weekend! We are spending the weekend in Atlantic City!" The ten year old jumped up and down on the stairs.
"Do you want to go?" Jenn asked while going through the rest of the mail, seeing mostly bills. Bradley nodded and ran upstairs to pack. Jenn walked into the kitchen and set the mail on the table with a sigh. She knew the bills were coming soon but she didn't think they would come today. She also knew that they were running out of food, but she decided to wait a couple hours before going.
Jenn grabbed the newspaper from the counter and began to read it. While to most people it seemed outdated, she still enjoyed it. The smell of the printed ink on the paper gave her a sense of joy that few things could give her. She opened to the news section and a certain headline caught her attention right away. In bold print it read, "A Real Life Captain America!" She further read the article, seeing that a man that had been presumably dead for sixteen years had his body preserved for a science and he was recently awoken about a month ago. The article seemed surreal, but she truly thought nothing of it. She continued to read the rest of the paper until she heard her stomach growl an hour later. Jenn decided to finally go grocery shopping, so she grabbed her keys and wallet as she walked towards the front door. "I'm going grocery shopping! Don't leave the house or let anyone inside!" She yelled up to Bradley, who responded with a simple grunt.
The grocery store was cold like usual and smelled like a mixture of fruit and vegetables. She walked over to the produce section to find some things for meals opposed to snacks. Jenn reached and grabbed a frozen steak and a frozen chicken. As she began to walk to the fruit section, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me?" a man said. She turned around a smiled at him.
"Yes?" she asked simply.
He looked down at the frozen ribs in his hand. "This may seem like a really stupid question, but how would I cook one of these?" It was obvious by the look on his face that he was completely confused. Jenn laughed lightly.
"You put them in an oven for.." she looked at the instructions on the ribs, "about twenty minutes. Or you can use a crock-pot." The man nodded.
"Sorry for the stupid question." He chuckled. "You'll have to excuse me, I um, just woke up from a sixteen year nap." At first Jenn thought he was joking, then she remembered the article from earlier.
"You're the guy who preserved his body for science?" She asked, in a tone that more so turned it into a statement. The man nodded again and put the ribs in his cart. He stuck out his hand for her to shake.
"I'm Bradley," he said with a smile.
"I'm Jenn," she said in return as she shook his hand. The second their hands touched they both felt a shock, but it wasn't one of those cheesy romance novel "i felt electricity shocks" or like there had been static, it was an actual shock. They both pulled their hands back confused. It was then that Jenn really looked at him. His features started to look familiar and memories came flooding back into her mind. "Well it was nice meeting you," Jenn said abruptly as she walked away before he had the chance to speak.
She sped walked into the condiment isle, which was thankfully empty, and leaned up against the shelves. Jenn tried to think of a reason why it couldn't be him, how something didn't add up but she couldn't. He had the same name, same face, he died sixteen years ago. It felt impossible but she didn't know what was impossible anymore. Jenn was utterly exasperated. She payed for the few things she had grabbed and went home, not in the right state of mind to continue shopping.
