Read Online The Power of Un by Nancy Etchemendy - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nancy Etchemendy
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because the unner works. I’ve already lived these few seconds. I’m living them over again, right now, because I’ve already used the unner, and it works, cross my heart and hope to die. You’ve got to believe me.” I grabbed his sleeve, cocked an ear towardthe tree, and held my breath, hoping to high heaven that I hadn’t accidentally done some little thing during the past thirty seconds that would keep the bird from singing this time.
Too tweet dee tweet
, sang the bird.
After a beat or two of stunned silence, Ash wrinkled his nose and said, “How’d you do that?”
“I didn’t do it. I mean, I didn’t make it happen. I just knew it was going to happen, because I’ve already lived it. Three times now, as a matter of fact.”
He pressed his lips into a line, still not really convinced. I could see he was trying to decide whether I was telling the truth or just messing with him.
“O.K.,” he said slowly. “Prove it. Tell me what’s going to happen next.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, then opened them again. This was beginning to feel like pushing a car uphill. “I can’t,” I said. Which, unfortunately, was true. The thirty-five seconds I’d unned were over. I was living life just like everybody else again, uncertain what might happen in the next instant.
A tide of angry red crept up Ash’s neck into his cheeks. “Oh, right,” he snapped. “You can’t? Pretty convenient, isn’t it? You know, this stinks, Gib. You tell me to trust you, then you jerk me around and lie to me. I don’t even know why. Is this your idea of fun? Because if it is, you sure picked a stupid time for it.”
My heart thumped against my ribs. Who could blame Ash for reacting like this? My story would have seemed lame to anyone for whom time had been moving along in its usual orderly path. There was only one way to convince him.
I held the unner out. “Here,” I said. “Take it. Try it yourself.”
He glared at me. Heat flickered in his eyes like candle flames. I could see I’d hurt him, and it made me feel bad inside, even though I hadn’t meant to do it. After a long moment, he took the unner from my hand without a word.
Only Ash knows what I did next in some chain of events that he later unned. From my point of view, it was all very simple, though surprising. Suddenly, Ash wasn’t mad anymore. He looked at me, grinning as if he’d just gotten the birthday present of his dreams. His hands shook as he clutched the unner.
“It works! I can’t believe it! It works!”
I whuffed out a gigantic sigh of relief. “What happened? Tell me!”
Ash looked confused for a second or two, then smiled again and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! You don’t remember, because it hasn’t happened! Now I totally get it.” Then he told me how I’d given him the unner and shown him how to use it; how the two of us had decided how much time to punch in—nine seconds; how he’d hit the big red button, still convinced I wastrying to make a fool out of him. Then the world seemed to stop. And when it started again, I was back in the middle of handing him the unner and saying,
Here, take it. Try it yourself
. That’s when he knew at last that I was telling the truth.
One thing seemed clear. The only person who could remember what was undone was the person who punched the ORDER button. For everyone else, it was as if the unned time had simply never happened at all.
Ash handed the unner back to me. “What now?” he said. “Are you going to do it? I mean, un everything that’s happened since … you know?”
“Since just before the accident? Yeah. I don’t think there’s any other way to fix it.”
Ash pushed air out softly between his lips. It was almost a whistle but not quite. “Scary,” he said.
I nodded. “But then, so’s living with Roxy’s accident for the rest of my life.”
Ash nodded in return. “Stinks,” he said. “A bad choice or a worse choice.”
I stared at the unner in all its shabby glory. I thought
Too tweet dee tweet
, sang the bird.
After a beat or two of stunned silence, Ash wrinkled his nose and said, “How’d you do that?”
“I didn’t do it. I mean, I didn’t make it happen. I just knew it was going to happen, because I’ve already lived it. Three times now, as a matter of fact.”
He pressed his lips into a line, still not really convinced. I could see he was trying to decide whether I was telling the truth or just messing with him.
“O.K.,” he said slowly. “Prove it. Tell me what’s going to happen next.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, then opened them again. This was beginning to feel like pushing a car uphill. “I can’t,” I said. Which, unfortunately, was true. The thirty-five seconds I’d unned were over. I was living life just like everybody else again, uncertain what might happen in the next instant.
A tide of angry red crept up Ash’s neck into his cheeks. “Oh, right,” he snapped. “You can’t? Pretty convenient, isn’t it? You know, this stinks, Gib. You tell me to trust you, then you jerk me around and lie to me. I don’t even know why. Is this your idea of fun? Because if it is, you sure picked a stupid time for it.”
My heart thumped against my ribs. Who could blame Ash for reacting like this? My story would have seemed lame to anyone for whom time had been moving along in its usual orderly path. There was only one way to convince him.
I held the unner out. “Here,” I said. “Take it. Try it yourself.”
He glared at me. Heat flickered in his eyes like candle flames. I could see I’d hurt him, and it made me feel bad inside, even though I hadn’t meant to do it. After a long moment, he took the unner from my hand without a word.
Only Ash knows what I did next in some chain of events that he later unned. From my point of view, it was all very simple, though surprising. Suddenly, Ash wasn’t mad anymore. He looked at me, grinning as if he’d just gotten the birthday present of his dreams. His hands shook as he clutched the unner.
“It works! I can’t believe it! It works!”
I whuffed out a gigantic sigh of relief. “What happened? Tell me!”
Ash looked confused for a second or two, then smiled again and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! You don’t remember, because it hasn’t happened! Now I totally get it.” Then he told me how I’d given him the unner and shown him how to use it; how the two of us had decided how much time to punch in—nine seconds; how he’d hit the big red button, still convinced I wastrying to make a fool out of him. Then the world seemed to stop. And when it started again, I was back in the middle of handing him the unner and saying,
Here, take it. Try it yourself
. That’s when he knew at last that I was telling the truth.
One thing seemed clear. The only person who could remember what was undone was the person who punched the ORDER button. For everyone else, it was as if the unned time had simply never happened at all.
Ash handed the unner back to me. “What now?” he said. “Are you going to do it? I mean, un everything that’s happened since … you know?”
“Since just before the accident? Yeah. I don’t think there’s any other way to fix it.”
Ash pushed air out softly between his lips. It was almost a whistle but not quite. “Scary,” he said.
I nodded. “But then, so’s living with Roxy’s accident for the rest of my life.”
Ash nodded in return. “Stinks,” he said. “A bad choice or a worse choice.”
I stared at the unner in all its shabby glory. I thought
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