Two Timers

two timers

Story by

Rodney Hart

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Rodney Hart

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Chapter 1

Are you watching football again?

Yeah! Come sit by me, we’ll watch it together.

He patted the space beside him.

Not me!! All I see is a bunch of angry animals killing each other. You know I don’t like football!!

Okay, I’m easy, what sports do you like, baseball, tennis, golf?

Bryan flipped through the channels.

How about a talk show?

He changed the channel.

How about watching a cook program?

Brianna looked at him with a snarl and sat close to him on the divan.

You’re bored, aren’t you? Let’s do something besides watching TV?

What?

I don’t know, let’s go somewhere.

Okay, where would you like to go?

Brianna looked at him with empathy. She knew he needed something to spark some life into him.

You know what, Bryan? You have the brain zeal of a twenty year old, and the body of a seventy year old. You and I need to be young again.

He laughed.

Yeh, that would be nice. What’s your magic formula? Do you have a potion of some kind?

She put her arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

Bryan changed the channel back to football.

She looked at him with a glint in her eyes.

Bryan, I saw an ad in the back of the ‘Generation Magazine’ the other day that promised to take people back to youth.

Bryan laughed again.

Come-on, Brianna. It’s some kind of gimmick. Nobody can make people young again.

"Yeah, I know, Bryan, but I wanted to call them just for the fun of it.

I’ll get the magazine."

She went into the bedroom and returned with the magazine with the page opened to the small ad in the back.

Read this.

Bryan laughed and read the advertisement.

‘Play it again, Sam.’ He laughed. Play it again? You gotta be kidding. Now I know it bull.

She looked at him with a sneer.

Bryan, you can’t say that just because it’s not an ad that you like!"

‘Brianna, I have a serious question: what would you do if you could do life again? Would you make the same mistakes? If you feel that you missed out on doing what you wanted to, will you do it this time?"

Yes, I’d do things like I wanted to, this time."

Bryan read the rest of the ad

Contact the Second time around life foundation at: 123-life.’

He starred at her with a smerk on his lips.

I’m not going to call them, Brianna. It’s a hoax.

What if it isn’t?

Get real, Brianna. No one has the fountain of youth. Call-em if you want to, it’s just some kind of sales pitch, you’ll see.

Brianna dialed. A pleasant sounding voice answered.

Second Time Around, Foundation, This is Diana.

Yes, I’m calling about the ad I read in the Generation magazine.

She looked at him and stuck out her tongue.

My husband thinks you’re trying to sell something. Are you?

She looked at him smiling.

He muted the TV and leaned his ear next to hers and listened.

He’s right, we are.

He laughed aloud.

There ya go, little lady. I told you!

He turned up the volume of the TV and sat down.

We sell a service. Would you like to make an appointment?

She looked at Brain with her eyebrows high and shrugged her shoulders.

Ah, yes. We would like to talk to you about it first.

We ask to see you in person. It’s not something we can talk about on the phone, you understand, don’t you?

Just a minute, I want you to talk to my husband.

She put her hand over the phone speaker.

Talk to her. See what you think!

Bryan took the phone from her and spoke abruptly.

Look, I’m sorry, but if you’re selling something, we don’t want to buy anything or subscribe to anything.

Her voice was pleasant in reply.

I can understand your reluctance. I can assure you that we are not selling anything. However, what we offer is not a free service.

Brain looked at Bianna with a snarl on his face.

This is insane, no-one can give people youth, its unheard of.

If you would like some time to think about it, you can call us back at another time.

Bryan relaxed. The women took the wind out of his sails.

Well, I guess it won’t hurt to talk to someone about it.

He quickly added:

That doesn’t cost anything, does it?"

Your interview is free.

The service will cost if you should decide to use it.

How much?

I’m sorry. We don’t talk about prices over the phone. I’m sure you can understand.

No, I don’t, not really!! If you are telling people you can make them young again, you must have a million calls a day.

Well. People are very cautious about this, just as you are. So surprisingly, we find very few takers.

He looked at Brianna and shrugged his shoulders.

Well, it doesn’t hurt to talk.

What day is good for you?

Tomorrow is alright.

Can you come in at ten in the morning?

That sounds good.

She gave Bryan the address and directions.

We’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

He hung up. Brianna laughed.

So much for the skeptical man.

Yeah, well it won’t hurt to talk.

They sat quietly on the couch for several minutes.

It would be a hell-a-va thing to be young again.

She moved close to him.

Yeah, I remember the lover that used to drive me crazy.

He laughed.

Yeah, we had some pretty wild rides, didn’t we? I guess I don’t do much for you anymore, huh?

I can’t keep up with you. You’re more then I need, Bryan. Is that a good enough answer to satisfy your ego?

Was it ever the other way around.? He asked with a grin on his lips,

Yeah, I wanted you more times than you could handle in our youthful days.

That’s a lie. You never could keep up with me and I couldn’t keep my hands off you.

They laughed together.

Brianna was a striking woman for age sixty four. She still had a firm and slim shapely form with a tiny waist. She was blonde by the bottle and graying at the roots. Her deep blue eyes sparkled with a youthful vitality. Bryan called her the clone of Morgan Freeman.

Bryan was a handsome man in his youthful years. Now, at the age of 72, his once wavy dark brown hair is gray and thinning on the top, but he still carries his six foot two frame proudly with a slim physique. Brianna jokingly calls him Tom, because he resembled Tom Selleck, but with light blue eyes. He retired from the airline business five years earlier, working for United as company director. Now, he played golf with Brianna three times a week. They tasted each other’s love that night, stimulated by the memory of their youth and the help of a little blue pill. But the morning light brought them back to the reality of old age.

It was nine o’clock by the time they backed their blue BMW out of the garage of their two-story house on the plush side of town.

The institute was 10 miles east and up to the end of Mount Palamar road.

They arrived at an iron gate with brick pillars on each side of the driveway. Sculptures of animated winged angelic creatures were perched on the top of each pillar.

Bryan pulled up to the fence. A speaker was near his door. A voice came from the speaker.

Are you expected?

We’re Mr. And Mrs. Linden, from La Jolla. We have an appointment at ten.

We are expecting you. Please come in. The voice said as the gate opened in. They drove to a circle drive that passed near the front door and stopped at the front steps. A man dressed in a black tux with a bow tie came out the door and greeted them with a smile. Bryan sneered.

Oh, brother, take a look at this guy!! Brian said with an accusing sound as another smartly dressed man approached them.

Hello! My name is Walter Bentley. I’m happy to see you. Come into the institute, he said, beckoning them with his stretched out hand.

They followed him into the lobby with a high ceiling and a twelve-foot round crystal chandelier hanging from a four-foot laminated wood beam stretching over a span of 30 feet, Then, they walked into a long hallway that led to a double door entering into an oak paneled 16x20 room.

A clean-shaven neatly dressed man with a blue flannel suit and vest, sat behind a large oak desk.

He had strong masculine features and piercing blue eyes with blonde strait hair, combed with a single part on the right side.

Brianna thought that he looked like Robert Redford, but taller and with a slightly narrower face.

He looked up and smiled. His eyes sparkled.

This is Mr. And Mrs. Linden from La Jolla. Walter said and closed the door behind them.

I’m Doctor Harold Steel. Please have a seat.

He glared at Brianna for a few moments. They sat opposite Steel.

He moved around the desk to a chair beside them.

I dislike talking to people across a desk.

He starred at them for several moments.

I’m impressed. You two take care of yourselves. I can tell by the shape you’re in. Do you work out at a gym? He was looking at Brianna, but speaking to Bryan.

Yes, we attend a gym several times a week.

He smiled, continuing to look at Brianna.

It tells me a lot about you.

What do you mean? Bryan asked.

He looked at Bryan.

Well, if a person takes care of his body, he or she must enjoy life.

Now, I’m sure you’re here because and want to get the most out of it."

Bryan started to speak, but, Harold seeing that he was anxious to get to the matter at hand spoke first.

I’ll get right to the point, Mr. And Mrs. Linden. I’m sure you have a hundred questions. We offer a revolutionary service. We can bring a person back his or her youth through the use of an invention my colleagues and I have been working on for over 90 years.

He laughed, seeing their mystified expressions.

Yes, ninety years!! I know I look the age of forty. He said laughing.

"I’m living proof that we can revert people, back to youth.

It’s a procedure we invented using a youth machine associated with the complex mixture of drugs that we induce into the body intravenously as a person undergoes the transformation process."

I have a question, Bryan said.

I know what it is. Tell me if I’m correct. You want to know why millions of people are not lined up and breaking down our door to take advantage of this fountain of youth.

Yes, you’re correct in an assumption. You’re thinking that surly if we are successful, we would have a million people busting down the door to revert back to youth and why doesn’t the whole world would know about it?

That’s a good observation, Mr. Linden.

"There is two basic reasons that we don’t shout out to the world about our fountain of youth. The first is that we do not have medical approval, because of the red tape associated with getting approval, and secondly it takes years of documented experimental proof that our concept works.

It’s a matter of simple mathematics, mister Linden. We don’t have a government grant to pay for research.

It’s also because not everyone is a candidate for the procedure and it is risky at that. Lastly, the cost of the procedure makes most candidates ineligible"

Bryan and Brianna looked at each other.

How does one know if he or she is a good candidate? Brianna asked.

We have tests that determine that prior to the procedure.

What is the cost? Brian asked.

He looked at them and remained silent for a few moments.

"Before I answer that question, I have a question for you.

How much is living another lifetime worth to you?"

Bryan and Bianna looked at each other.

Harold laughed.

You can’t put a price on it can you? You might say that whatever the cost is, you can’t take it with you when your life is over. Am I correct in my assessment?

"I’m going to be frank with you two. The cost is one million dollars each plus fifty percent of all your assets.

He waited for their reply. They remained silent.

"Before you respond to the cost, let me tell you that we have already evaluated your financial means and assets prior to meeting you. In other words we know that you are good financial candidates. It only remains that you qualify for the physical.

He stood.

Let me take you on a short tour of our facility and I’ll explain the processes. Follow me, won’t you?" He said as he gestured to the door

He walked with them back to the hall and turned right to a double door at the end of the hall and they entered. Bryan and Brianna starred around a very large room filled with equipment of a strange type.

Sixteen Machines similar to tanning machines lined the walls.

Five machines were occupied. The top half of the cover was a clear glass bubble over the head and chest area of the individuals lying in an inclined position on their backs. Four IV bottles were connected to each individual. Plastic lines that emptied into waste blatters were connected to the patients within the capsules.

A board of Dial indicators, temperature gages and monitoring devices were mounted side by side, covering a two by two section on the exterior of the machines.

A low hum was the only sound that could be heard.

What do these machines do?

"The machines are very important, Bryan.

Under pressure, pure oxygen is pumped inside for the patient to breathe, but more importantly the oxygen penetrates the cells and rejuvenates them as they divide and create new cells.

A current of electricity is supplied by the machine’s transformer that vitalizes the nerves and accelerates the process."

What are all the IV connections for? Bryan asked.

To reverse the ageing process, in combination with the machine, we have developed a complex of drugs that feed the body cells. The drugs are the key to reversing the body’s age. I can’t give you the exact combinations, but they are designed to heel the cells.

The doctor began to expound on medical terminology that Bryan and Brianna found foreign. He walked around one of the machines as he spoke.

"A structure called Telomeres, are like the plastic covers at the ends of shoelaces. With age, we have found that that these Telomeres ware away and expose the chromosomes to damage.

The damage causes the Telomerase, an enzyme, to shut off in the adult body, resulting in ageing. We have developed a drug that switches the Telomerase back on, and allows the rejuvenation of cells and the creation of healthy cells that split, and develop new cells that reverse the aging process."

Bryan’s expression became full of excitement.

We have also taken an advanced study of Stem Cells and have inculcated the findings into the therapy we use to develop the Vitro culture of stem cells which have led to the conversion of a single undifferentiated cell, the fertilized cell and different cells comprising the organs and tissues of the human body.

How long does it take? Asked Brianna.

He looked directly at her as if she were a colleague with an expression of admiration.

It wasn’t that her question was an intellectual one, but it was his evident attraction to her that made him respond to her.

That’s a good question, Brianna. We have found that a new set of cells develop within twenty-eight days. Our process takes twenty one days longer allowing for the reversal of the ageing process. We have found that introducing Amino Acids such as L-Proline and L-Lisine, into the body tissue helps the cells develop youthful skin.

Along with that it facilitates the increase of muscle mass, connective tissue and builds the immune function."

An expression of excitement came over his face.

"Recently, we have found that we can isolate the cell that is at the end of its life span and is fully senescent and is undergoing all the unpleasant changes that contribute to ageing. Then we can revert the