From Another Lifetime

It was eight months to the day since Rebecca asked Aaron to make sure to stop by her office before he headed back to the airport. They had known each for fifteen years and had always gotten along well, well enough that there had a few more than friendship moments over the years, though it had never gotten beyond kissing. Their respective businesses worked together closely and they often went to the same conferences and Aaron had long been one of the reps designated to work with Rebecca and her team. Though they lived about five hundred miles apart, they usually saw each other about ten times a year and always enjoyed getting together but they still had never discussed any of the more romantic moments that had come up between them. Some of that was due to Rebecca having been married some of those years, but she’d now been divorced for a little over three years, a date that was easy for her to remember because the date her divorce went through was her fortieth birthday. Aaron had never been married despite a handful of longer-term relationships over the years.

           Her office door was open when Aaron came by and tapped on the doorway. She was smiling as she looked up which made him smile as well, a childish grin he couldn’t help having around her so much of the time.

           “Close the door, and sit down, please. And don’t worry, this has nothing to do with work,” she assured him.

           “Thank God. And I’m intrigued,” he replied, noting how great he thought she looked in her white blouse and navy blue blazer. It was a very business casual outfit, but he thought she looked amazing. He noticed her auburn hair was longer too, something he’d somehow missed earlier in the day.

           “Well, actually my first question is related to work, but I am going somewhere with this so I’ll just ask it. Do you like your job? Are you happy with it?”

           “It’s OK,” he answered with a shrug. “Most days it’s fine, but to be completely honest, some days I can’t stand it and, on those days, I wonder what I’m doing with my life and why I haven’t been looking for something else. How about you? And are you trying to recruit me?”

           “Yes, but not for what you think. I don’t hate my job, but I can see there will be a day when that happens. I’ve happened to come into a lot of money recently when my mom died and I’m ready to ditch all of this: my job, my home, everything, and drive around the country living out of a van. Not just the US, but Canada and Mexico too. I’m completely serious. A life without all the attachments I’ve wound up with. Not forever, but I’m thinking a year or two to see how it goes. I know that this will probably sound crazy, but I want you to come with me.”

           Aaron sat stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say, not sure what kind of expression he had on his face.

           “Was that too much, too fast?” Rebecca asked, sounding a little worried. “I’ve rehearsed that in front of the mirror so many times and I thought it would go over all right. I’m not expecting an answer right now. I know we are talking serious life change here.”

           Aaron felt another smile come across his face.

           “Rebecca, I do need to think about this, but more about how to get ready for it. I’ve been able to put away some money too. I think I’m going to want to do this. And you’ve been watching Nomadland again, haven’t you?”

           “Oh, only about five times in the last month,” she said with a smile, “And I’ve been re-reading the book too. I’m inspired, and I’ve realized just how much of my life I’ve spent doing stupid shit that doesn’t make me happy.”

           “I’m very familiar with that feeling.”

           They decided that they were probably doing it, but that they would give it some time and more thought to make sure it was really the right thing. They gave themselves a ninety day period to think it through and as long as they both stayed positive about it, they would start making basic plans too. They’d both have homes and furniture to sell, other possessions to get rid of or to put in storage. They stayed in touch about it every day, each day ending with each sending the other a number between one and ten, ten being the best, for how committed they were to the idea. Aside from a week where they both hovered at fives and sixes, mainly over how much they would have to do to get ready, most days were eights and nines. Then on May 15^th, Rebecca left her home just north of San Diego and drove in a brand new camper van up to San Jose to pick up Aaron. They spent that night on a blow-up mattress in Aaron duplex, sleeping together for the first time, before heading up the California coast the next morning.

           The first few weeks were a little rough. Despite their planning, they both quickly realized that they had a lot to learn about this new life. But they were patient with each other, and quickly adapted to seeing each other when they were at their worst in terms of cleanliness and moods. No matter what happened on a given day, every night they sat on their camping chairs with the door of the van open eating whatever they managed to put together and on most nights, they shared a bottle of wine, mostly just the two of them, but sometimes with others, as they were usually parked with groups of fellow travelers. The more they got to know each other and this new life, the more they grew to like and to love each other and they had no regrets about leaving their previous lives behind them. There were people they missed but had their phones and a WI-FI connection and they could stay in touch with the people they wanted to.

           The more they got to know each other, the more Aaron started to think that they had known each other before somehow, sometime before they started working together. Rebecca couldn’t think of when that would be, but neither did she dismiss the idea. Still, neither of them could put their finger on when that would have happened. On top of this, Aaron started to have memories that he could not identify happening in this lifetime. The thoughts were fleeting and difficult to grasp, but they didn’t trouble him. He treated these more as a curiosity and that maybe it was just having so much time, open space, and not working allowed his mind to play some tricks on him.

           On the night they considered their eight month anniversary, they sat outside the van in their camping chairs listening to the waves crash on the shore near Seaside, Oregon. The breeze picked up, bringing a chill to the air, but they still didn’t need anything heavier than a sweatshirt and a wind breaker. They had been in the area for a little over two weeks and that night Aaron had brought back sandwiches and a salad from his job as a short-order cook at a local diner. They didn’t need the money, but Aaron had been offered the job after unknowingly talking to the manager in the parking lot one morning shortly after they got there. It was part-time, just a few hours three days a week and they paid him in cash, which was perfect. Rebecca had brought in a little too by helping their sometime neighbor in the parking lot Marion sell her knit scarves and hats at the local Saturday market. As they’d suspected, in this new life, most business among the nomads was done in cash and this kept the cash coming in. They met people from all walks of life, from a lot of political views and almost all of them had a distrust of banks and financial systems of any kind. 

Rebecca and Aaron relaxed and talked about their days and the pros and cons of staying in the area for another couple of weeks and decided that just one more week there was probably best, especially if they wanted to get up to Vancouver Island before it started getting cold and rainy. Rebecca gave his hand a squeeze and told him she was going to go in the van for a little while to talk to her sister after promising her that she would call her that night. As she stood, Aaron stood as well and gave her a hug and a kiss before she went in. Though it was dark, they both sensed the happily dopey smiles on each other’s faces. Aaron sat back down, finished his wine and before he knew it, he dozed off.

           He couldn’t tell how long he’d been asleep when he woke up. Or where he was. Or who he was. He was in an apartment somewhere in the Berkeley in the late 90s with someone who was evidently his sister along with his sister’s boyfriend and one of her friends, a woman who was clearly a young Rebecca. He was also twenty, but his name wasn’t Aaron. Despite a certain level of disorientation, he was able to function just fine and add to the conversation they were having which ranged from new Madonna and Foo Fighters albums to the book Rebecca was reading and whether or not it was OK to root for both the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s. In this life, his name was Marcus and when he saw himself in the mirror, he could see that he was a different person. But soon he could function naturally and without thinking, like he was living a memory somehow, and that he was this person. Marcus had just met Rebecca that night. Despite his not being a big fan of his sister’s boyfriend, they clearly had all enjoyed each other’s company that night, going out for dinner and drinks before coming back to the apartment. With it getting late, they finished up their drinks and got ready to sleep, with Rebecca taking the couch in the living room and Marcus taking a mat and a sleeping bag on the floor. And they started talking. Just small talk at first, but it gradually got more personal and they both opened up and stayed up talking, laying separately in the dark living room, for nearly three hours. Both of them thought about going to lay with the other, but it was so comfortable as it was that they both thought that might mess it up somehow.

           They both had to go their separate ways in the morning and because they both overslept, they had a hurried exit and somehow managed to not exchange phone numbers or addresses. They never saw each other again.

           Shortly after, Aaron jerked awake and found himself back in 2022. It felt a little colder and he wondered how long he had been out. He heard Rebecca end the call with her sister. They weren’t particularly close, but they always stayed in touch. Aaron tried to make sense of what just happened and the possibility of having been two different people. He pulled out his phone and Googled “Marcus Halstead” and just a few results down was a link to the obituary headlined “Garfield High graduate Marcus Halstead Killed in Hit and Run at age 25.” The thought that he might be a reincarnation felt simultaneously remarkable and absurd.

           “Hey Becks? Do you know how long I was out there?” he called out.

           “I’m not sure. I only talked to Gina for ten or fifteen minutes so no longer than that,” she said as she brought out a box of photos and a lantern.

           “Another box of her photos?”

           “Yeah. I’m liking this project more than I thought I would. I don’t know who she’s with in a bunch of them, but it’s fun to go through. I’ve got one I want to show you.”

           Aaron put another splash of wine into each of their cups and when he put the bottle down, she handed him a photo from the night Marcus Halstead met Rebecca, a photo taken at a pub after dinner, the four of them all smiles, arms around each other near the dart boards.

           “I didn’t know there were any pictures from this night,” she said. “That guy was someone I only met once, just that night, all we did was talk, but we stayed up late talking and I’ve never forgotten him. I have no idea what ever happened to him.”

           Aaron considered how to approach this. He had to put it out there without sounding crazy.

           “I know I’ve asked this before, but I’m asking again: Have you ever felt like you’ve known me longer than you’ve actually known me?”

           Rebecca nodded.

           “And I have felt the same thing about you. I think I know why and there’s a good chance that this is going to sound a little crazy, but eight months ago tonight you came to me with something you thought might be crazy.”

           She smiled.

           “Good,” she said. “I’d like to hear something crazy tonight.”

           Aaron smiled. He’d never felt happier.