Foreseer Of Possibilities

Part 2

As years passed, Jack did every favor the Seer asked of him, and as the Seer had promised, Jack was rewarded for his actions each time. The rewards often came in unexpected and interesting ways. One of the more memorable experiences for Jack happened about 2 years after he first agreed to help the Seer."Jack, I need you to go downtown tomorrow," the Seer requested. "Enter Garmin's Liquor at exactly 12:37pm. A man will ask you a question. The answer you're to give him is 'twenty seven.'"As always, the Seer's instructions were simple and direct, yet mysterious. The next day, as requested, Jack entered the store. In front of him, a burly construction worker was at the counter filling out a lottery playslip."Let's see here," said the construction worker, "My birthday, that's the 15th, my wife's birthday, that's the 24th, and my kids' ages, two, ten and thirteen."The man scratched his head and looked around, zeroing in on Jack, "Hey buddy! I need another number. Ya got one for me?"Jack smiled, "Twenty seven.""Really? I was thinkin' bout playin' thirty five. But ya know what? I like your face, let's go with twenty seven!"With that, the man completed his slip and paid for his lottery ticket. "See ya, pal!" he said happily and he patted Jack on the shoulder on his way out the door.Jack tried not to put any more thought into what would happen to this man. "Just let these things play out, Jack. You'll never guess how things end up, so just let yourself be surprised," the Seer had advised him. Still, it was impossible not to wonder about these things from time to time. He knew, considering the way the Seer worked, there was no way possible that he'd actually helped this man. But giving him a losing lottery number? That was too simple for the Seer. And he couldn't imagine he'd actually given him a winning number. So that's how Jack was surprised, when two weeks later, he ran into the same man again, this time at the grocery store."Hey buddy! It's you! I remember you! Check it out, I won!" Indeed, the man looked like a million dollars. Wearing new clothes, a new gold watch, and a big goofy smile, the man walked right up to Jack."I didn't think I'd ever see you again, but I'm glad you're here. I coulda never won without you. Hey, lemme buy these groceries for you. No wait, that's not good enough for you, you're my good luck charm. Always gotta treat people right, that's what my mom says."Reaching into his pocket, the man removed his checkbook and promptly wrote Jack a check for ten thousand dollars. "It's the least I can do for my good luck charm."After thanking the man, and feeling a bit confused by the whole thing, Jack raced home to his computer. After turning it on, the Seer's writing appeared on the screen. "Well Jack, how does it feel to be ten thousand dollars richer?""It feels good. But I can't help but wonder, we've never helped anyone before. Why are we starting now?" Jack asked that question with a tinge of guilt. He never liked to admit that people were being hurt by his actions, but in this case his curiosity overwhelmed any latent feelings of guilt."Oh Jack, we haven't helped anyone. Yes, that man is happy now, but he'll have lost every last penny within two years. You saw it for yourself, he just gives money away. Old friends, lost relatives, they're all going to come asking him for money. And there will be some very bad investments as well. The stress of losing everything is going to cause his wife to leave him. She'll take the kids too. He'll be alone and broke, a ruined man who would have been much better off if he'd never won. You needn't feel bad Jack, it's the man's own stupidity and greed that will do this to him."Jack felt some regret, but the Seer's rationalizing, and focusing on his own reward, always put him at peace in the end.Through the years, no two tasks were ever alike. Sometimes the effects of his actions were direct and easy to see, other times they caused a chain reaction so complex that he simply could not follow it."Go to the County Administrator's building, park in space number 43 at 4:47pm." came one such request. Jack did so, and two months later he met Donna, with whom he fell in love and ended up marrying. He wouldn't have even known the two events were even related if he hadn't asked the Seer about it."Jack, when you parked in that space, you caused the person who would've parked there to park in a different spot, but she bumped the car next to her. She barely made a scratch, but she called her insurance agent anyway, causing him to leave the office late. He missed his train home, and while waiting for the late train, he was mugged and stabbed, he'll never fully recover. The muggers took his credit cards and used them.....and Jack, I could keep going with this, but there's another twenty three people involved. Sometimes these favors are going to be very complicated, but let's just say your action ultimately caused Donna to be in the exact right place for you to meet her."Jack's relationship with the Seer grew. Though remaining mostly mysterious, the Seer divulged enough information over time so that Jack could get a generalized understanding of the Seer's history. From historical references, Jack knew the Seer was thousands of years old. When still alive, the Seer had been a powerful fortune teller and artist, who foretold future happenings through paintings. A foolish king, who misinterpreted the Seer's prediction and lost a battle as a result, had the Seer executed. Unencumbered by physical senses, and existing in a lonesome void, the Seer's abilities expanded exponentially. Finally learning to communicate with the living, the Seer began reaching out to those who would respond, including Jack. And of course, the Seer knew everything about Jack. In all, it was as much of a friendship as one can have with a dead person. And Jack was grateful to the Seer too. He had a nice job, a nice house, a beautiful wife, and people respected him. He was happy, which is something he never really felt before the Seer contacted him.Twelve years in total passed, twelve good years for Jack. Task after task was completed, usually about one every month. Jack, sitting in the office of his large rural house, was contacted by the Seer once again."Hi Jack, I have a favor to ask of you. This one's the easiest yet, you don't even have to get up. Call Riago's Pizza in exactly two minutes, let the phone ring three times, then you can hang up."Jack smiled, nice and easy. He no longer wondered about how these tasks would play out. He trusted the Seer and simply did as he was told. Jack made the call, exactly two minutes later.The quietness of the household was broken 30 minutes later by the ringing doorbell. "That's odd," Jack thought. Neither he nor Donna were expecting anyone. Jack looked out the peephole and saw a pizza deliver boy. The logo on his cap said "Riago's Pizza".Jack opened the door. "Here's your pizza," said the boy as he thrust it into Jack's hand."But I didn't order this." Jack argued."Look, I don't give a damn if you ordered it or not. Mr. Riago told me to take it here, so that's what I'm doing." the delivery boy argued, as he looked increasingly annoyed and spat in the bushes.Jack looked at the boy in front of him. He looked to be about seventeen years old, but the most noticeable thing about him was his size, he was huge. Probably about six and a half feet tall, and very muscular."It's already paid for by credit card, just take it, because I'm not driving it back." The boy put out his hand for a tip."I, I don't have any cash on me." Jack told the truth."Whatever," came the disgusted reply. The boy looked past Jack into the house, then turned and walked slowly to his waiting car, looking over his shoulder as he walked.Jack closed the door and took the pizza to the living room, where Donna was watching TV. After explaining what had happened, he excused himself to go to his office, promising to return shortly.Donna opened the pizza and took a piece. "Come back soon sweetie, this pizza's got all your favorite toppings on it." Donna giggled as she took a bite.Arriving at his computer, the Seer's words appeared on the screen. "Confused, Jack? Don't be. Your neighbor down the road ordered the pizza. Mr. Riago told that boy the correct address, but a ringing phone made it difficult for him to be heard clearly. Still, give the boy credit, he got the street right at least.""So my reward is a pizza?" Jack typed, a little confused."Yes Jack, your reward is a pizza, and also the chance to spend a little time with your wife. Go down there, share the pizza, enjoy it. When you're done, make love to Donna. That's not one of your tasks, that's just some advice I think you should follow. Oh, by the way, your neighbors who ordered the pizza are arguing right now, over the silly fact that the pizza didn't arrive. Some of the things people argue over amaze me, they really do. Their fight is going to get very heated, but you don't need to worry about that. Go, enjoy your night."Jack followed the Seer's advice, cuddled with Donna as they enjoyed their meal, then made love to her on their big, comfortable living room couch. Donna fell asleep on the couch shortly after 11:00pm. Jack lay there awake, this latest favor, it just felt odd. Carefully extracting his arm from under Donna, Jack left the living room and headed upstairs. Sitting down at the computer, Jack typed, "Are you there?""Yes Jack, I'm actually always here. I've been waiting for you to come back. That pizza delivery boy. He's quite a specimen, isn't he?"Jack looked quizzically at the screen.The seer continued, "He's a horrible employee. He was hired only three days ago and already Mr. Riago wants to fire him, but as a physical specimen, he's strong, fast, and VERY observant. For example, he noticed that you didn't lock the front door after he delivered your pizza.""What?" Jack said aloud as he started to get up."Sit down Jack. I need to tell you something important, and locking the door now won't change your situation."Jack slowly took his seat again at the computer, looking behind himself as he did so."You see Jack, it's true that I never lied to you. Everything I've ever told you is 100% honest. But yes, I've withheld certain facts. You see, I told you that every task causes something bad to happen to someone else and something good to happen to you, but there's a third thing. There's an ultimate goal that each task was working toward. Remember Allie? Of course you do. What you probably don't remember about her is that she was helping to pay her brother's way through college. When she died, he had to drop out. He was going to be a great psychologist, but now he works in a factory instead. That's really too bad for our pizza delivery boy, he could've used a good therapist a few years ago, but that good therapist wasn't there for him, instead he got some Freudian quack. And remember our lottery winner? Yes you do. He was a neighbor to our pizza boy, after he lost all his money of course. He beat the boy senseless after the boy jumped into the street in front of his car. Quite a traumatic memory for our young lad. And his mother didn't care about that incident, didn't protect the boy at all. She couldn't, not after using all the drugs given to her by her boyfriend, who happened to be one of the muggers who robbed that insurance agent. He bought the drugs with the money he made from the robbery. Do you see now the scope of my artistry?"Jack sat, glaring at the monitor. He wanted to get up, to check on Donna, but he was too scared to move.The Seer continued, "Jack, you've done over a hundred tasks for me, and each one has served an ultimate purpose, to psychologically destroy this boy, turn him into a monster, and to bring him here tonight. Don't you see Jack? This involved tens of thousands of people, and billions of possibilities. If you had failed to complete even one of the tasks, the whole chain would've collapsed. This was orchestrated by me, and set in motion by you. Together we've done something wonderful, this is a masterpiece of human manipulation. Our masterpiece. And it all begins and ends with you, two perfect points in time. Tonight, wrong address, no tip, this poor boy finally snapped. He's downstairs right now. He's slitting Donna's throat, at this exact moment.Jack could hear a short, muffled scream coming from the living room, followed by a gurgling noise."No!" Jack screamed and stood up, starting to run downstairs."Jack, stop!" The voice startled Jack. It was inside his head. For the first time, the Seer was talking to him directly. It was a pleasant voice, a feminine voice. "You can't do anything, she's already gone. He'll be coming for you shortly, and you can't stop him.""But why?" Jack cried with tears welling up in his eyes."It's not an artistic masterpiece if it doesn't begin and end with you, Jack." Her voice was soothing. "I want you to appreciate the fact that I'm talking to you directly. This requires all of my energy, and as a result, I'll have to rest for several years before I can contact anyone again. That's how special you are to me. Please don't feel bad about this, Jack. I want you to take a moment and enjoy our accomplishment as much as I do." The voice paused briefly, and then continued. "Do you know what Jack? If I'd never contacted you, you would have lived for eighty five years. Eighty five boring, meaningless, and bitter years. And when you died, nobody would've been at your funeral. I gave you twelve great, meaningful years. You were happy, and together we did something beautiful, something unique."Jack paused a minute and considered his twelve years of happiness, and his tears of sorrow mixed with tears of joy. He turned and looked at the computer, while behind him, the massive hulk of the demented delivery boy appeared in the doorway, a bloody knife in his left hand.On the screen, the last words from the Seer appeared, "Don't you have something to say to me, Jack?"Jack wiped his tears, and absorbed everything the Seer had just told him.As the hulk started stepping closer to him, Jack said mouthed his final words, "Thank you."