Time Leap by Steve Howrie

for the big Saturday
Euromillions Lottery draw.
    “ It feels a
bit like cheating… stealing even,” I said.
    “ I know
exactly what you mean – that’s what I thought at first. So we
talked it through yesterday – that’s tomorrow for you. But it’s not
stealing – it’s an opportunity. Some people have a premonition, a
sudden insight. Is that cheating? For whatever reason, we’ve been
given this ability to go back and forward in time. It’s a gift, and
we should use it wisely. But to use it fully, we need more time –
if you see what I mean. We’ve – you’ve – got full–time jobs. We
could do so much more with this ability if we weren’t working. The
lottery money will provide us with that opportunity. Money will buy
us freedom.”
    “ How much can
we win?” Niki asked.
    “ Twelve
million pounds,” Niki2 replied.
    “ It’s a
start,” Niki replied.
    “ What!” I was
shocked.
    “ It’s okay,
don’t worry,” said Joe2. “Just try it – and if you think you don’t
need it, give it away to charity.”
    It was very strange
talking to myself, but I had to admit that it all made sense. By
having that money, we would have time to really do good things. The
ability to go back forward in time is time–travel – not space
travel. If we want to help to change things in other places in the
World, we have to go there by conventional means – fly, sail,
drive, whatever – and that costs money. So the next morning, Niki
took the numbers to our local shop, filled in the Euromillions
coupon and we sat back that night to watch our numbers come
up.
    As the last ball with our
number was selected, we smiled at each other and kissed. “That was
lucky,” I said. “I think you could do with some new jewellery
baby.”

Ten
     
    Money can have an amazing
impact on your life. For me, it brought Niki suddenly back on board
as far as time–travel was concerned. Her comment about destroying
my phone and forgetting the whole damn business became a distant
memory as soon as the lottery was mentioned; and with both of us
having given our notices at work, we turned our attention to our
next project. But first, some unfinished business from
1992.
    Niki was keen to meet the
younger version of herself (they never actually met up when we
jumped before), and I wanted to try the tattoo experiment. So we
jumped back to find Junior in North London, choosing a couple of
days after our first jump so that our appearance would not seem so
strange this time.
    “ Oh, it’s
you,” Junior said as we met at the same school gates I’d seen her
previously.
    “ I’m Wendy,”
said Nik.
    “ I asked Ma
about Aunt Wendy, and she said she’d never heard of you. You’re not
her sister, are you?” Junior said flatly. Nik shook her head. “So
who are you really?”
    We looked at each other,
and then I said, “We’d like to show you something…”
    We took Junior to a small
Tattoo parlour in East Finchley. It was a place she knew, and it
seemed to be reputable. Junior had been thinking of having one
done, but didn’t think her mum would accept it. In fact, she knew
she wouldn’t. Nik suggested she have it done on a private part of
her body, where her mum would not see it, and not to use a
name.
    “ You mean
like, ‘Steve’?” asked young Niki.
    “ Definitely
not Steve,” I said.
    “ But I love
him!”
    “ Yes, I’m sure
you do. But tattoos can last for ever… are you sure that your love
will last that long?” Nik replied.
    We took at look at the
shop’s catalogue – they had hundreds of different designs in all
sorts of shapes and colours. In the end, Junior selected a small
red rose and asked to have ‘Niki’ written underneath it. It was
going to be at the top of her thigh, near her bum, and I looked
away whilst it was being done.
    After a few minutes, Nik
turned to me and whispered.
    “ Joe –
something’s happening! I can feel it…” She moved away from Junior
and lifted her skirt. There on her thigh