Read Online Rick Carter's First Big Adventure (Pete's Barbecue Book 1) by Samuel Belcher - Free Book Online Page B

pressed again.
           “Figures,” He muttered.  “They never do.  I know about them because I work for the same people.  I’ve worked for them for all this time.  That’s where I’ve been, working for the Company.  And, now, apparently so do you.  They hired you as a transporter.”  He said.  He finally let the curtains fall back into place, and he came back to the chair and sat down.    Rick didn’t respond to this revelation, so he decided to continue.  “Let me see how I can explain things in a simple way.  Have you ever had one of those feeling where you think the universe is conspiring against you?  Like there’s some force in your everyday life that keeps pulling at you or pushing at you?”
           Rick reflected for a moment. “Yeah, but who hasn’t?  That’s life.”
           “Exactly, that is life.  It’s also reality, and that’s what the Company deals with.”  Mel sounded a bit apprehensive like he was about to offer a class in physics to a bunch of second graders.
           “Reality?”  Rick was not following his bizarre train of thought.
         “Yes, reality.  All of this,” he waved his arms in the air, “is reality and you can see it can’t you?”
          “Yes.”  Rick looked at him unsure. “Can you?”
          “Of course.”  Mel huffed.  “But, that’s not where the problems are.  The problems are with us.  You see, all of this is just particles and energies constantly fluctuating back and forth.  But, the real problem comes with us, people.  We make decisions in our lives, big decisions, small decisions.  These decisions all have consequences. They have consequences because they interact with all of this.  And they interact with other people.  Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?”
         “Yeah.  I have.  Are you telling me a butterfly flapped its wings in China, and that’s why you fell on my car?”  Rick was entering a firm state of skepticism.
          “No.  I fell on your car because I tried a multi string reality jump and missed my exit by four meters.  They’re tricky.”  Mel rubbed his chin. “No, what I’m saying is that when you do something it affects other somethings, and they affect others and so on.  You have this ability because of free-will.  It’s a gift.  But, those decisions can sometimes cause some pretty nasty strains on the very physical fabric of the universe and those strains can cause some really, really large problems.  That’s where the Company comes in.  We monitor and fix tears in reality.”  He said somewhat smugly.
          Rick took another few moments to think about that last statement.  “Have you been doing drugs?”
          Mel laughed. “No.  Never touch the stuff.  Trust me I don’t need anything bending my sense of reality.  I have to be attuned to my surroundings at all times.”
         “Yes, well, it doesn’t sound like to me that you are.  I deal with a lot of…mentally unstable people in my line of work.  You aren’t filling me with a whole lot of confidence.”  Rick admitted.
           Mel sighed.  “I’m trying my best here, Rick.  I figure since you work with us now, you need to know.”  He pleaded.
          “That’s another thing.  Nobody mentioned anything the other night about reality or this Company.  I met two guys who wanted me to pick up…” Rick started to explain.
           “Strange people from other time periods that have temporarily fallen out of reality.”  Mel interrupted him.
            Rick looked at him exasperated.  “No, they just…”
          “Happen to be dressed in period clothing and headed to unreasonable points in the city, right?”  He finished his sentence for him again.  “You do that sort of thing all the time, right?”
           Rick felt like he was being trapped into a delusional line of reasoning.  “Stop