3. Act 3

I now get a chance again to do things right

So here I was with a woman that thought she could do magic. It would hurt her if I mocked her for thinking this. I decided that I would play along. It was her way of saying thank you, which shows that society is all screwed up when people think that they need to give something when they get helped or even noticed!

She did raise an interesting point. If I had one wish, what would it be? I mean I was now used the life I had and quite happy about it. It would be nice to be financially secure. It would be nice to stop the aging process. Losing weight would be nice. Then we have the big wishes like world peace, no hunger and more tolerance and respect.

“OK, I have thought about it” I said with a smile, “I want to go back in time to my wedding day, so I can do things right this time.”

“I think you must think about this and make sure this is your wish,” she warned, “There are two things to consider. One is that you are not the same person. You will have the personality and memories you have now. You will just have your younger body. Everyone else would have some personality they have now, but they will not remember anything”

“I have made up my mind.”

“There is another thing. Something that people do not think about. You may learn from the mistakes you made, however you will make new ones. Are you so unhappy with your life that you want to go back in time?”

I told her that my mind was made up. I could never forgive myself and this was a chance to make everything better. Besides, I did not believe that she could do magic. I expected her to come with excuses why it could not be done.

The room became black with stars. It looked like I was floating in space. I could see the world spinning. I was afraid but it was a beautiful sight. The earth starting spinning the other way and much quicker. I could see city lights turn on and off in a blink of an eye. The woman was not a fake. She could do magic. I looked down at my body and I could see that I was getting slimmer and younger. I felt also that my lungs and heart were stronger.

Before I knew it, I was in the church where I was married. I looked around and figured this was the day of my wedding so many years ago. Well it's not years ago now, as I was once again in the past. I was confused as I never believed in magic. Here I was standing. Once again young and about to be married. This time, I would be the perfect husband and father.

The priest got my attention as he said for the second time if I would take Mia to be my wife. The priest was impatient as I shouted that of course I would. Mia and I were once again married.

Everything was as I remembered. It was a lovely feeling with my young body. I was also once again with Mia, and she was speaking with me. The wedding party went great. I kept on thinking that this was my chance to prove to myself that I changed as a person.

Mia was smiling and it was the day of her life. After we ate the cake, she sat in a corner and was very quiet. I do not remember that this happened. I sat down next to her and held her hand. We said nothing. I honestly thought that she needed time to let all the events of the wedding to sink in. It was not until her mother came and reminded Mia that it was her wedding day, and she should enjoy it.

“I just feel so stupid,” Mia responded, “Its like the whole day… the wedding... the party... everything… Its like déjà vu. Its like I have tried it before. I know its stupid that I feel this way!”

I could have fainted when I heard this. The old woman did warn that some of Mia's emotions and the way she thought would be part of her if I travelled to the past. This statement was not stupid. It showed that Mia was not exactly like when we got married. She had some bits of her future self in her!

The honeymoon went fine. We were once again in Tunisia. The time came when I remembered that we had an argument in the first honeymoon. This time we did not have an argument. When Mia suggested that we would do something, I just nodded my head and agreed. I was so proud of myself that I was now doing what Mia wanted.

It did not stop from another argument to start. Mia was frustrated and asked me why I never suggested what we would do? Why did I always have to agree with her? She told me she wanted me to start taking initiative, as that would strengthen our marriage. I agreed with her and told her that we could both decide things.

When we got home, we started with our daily life. The first time was getting used to the life as a married person. We would often fight because she thought my cleaning was not good enough, and she depended a lot on her parents. It hurt my pride when she would ask her Dad for help over the smallest thing.

Now I had another chance and I cleaned as good as I could. If it was not good enough for Mia. I would do it again. I spoiled her by cooking and even washing up afterwards. In the evening I would turn off the TV and spend quality time with Mia. She would tell me how her day went and what was her thoughts were. I was doing my best to be a good husband that would help and listen to her.

I had a picture of Christoper and Nicholas that was standing in front of a bush. This picture was  smuggled to the past and hid it in my desk. Mia found the picture one day when she was looking for something and was quite upset when she seen it.

“Why do you have a picture of two men hidden in here?” She asked

“They are some men I know. I am sure you will meet them at some stage”

Mia thought it was strange that I had the picture hidden away. I could not tell her that they were her future sons! Mia accepted that they were my friends, but insisted that we put the picture in a frame. Her reasoning was that if she was a friend of someone, she did not want her picture to be locked away hidden from sight.

I did much better this time as a husband and was proud of myself. There was one problem. Mia was not the wife that I remembered. She was more frustrated and distant than the woman I remembered. She often got mad at me that I was so submissive that I nearly spoiled her. Mia felt like I set her on a pedestal and I clung to her. She wanted a strong and independent husband that would do things with her and not for her.

She was also annoyed at my knowledge. I still remembered all the theory I learned as a teacher and would often discuss things with Mia. Another dangerous thing was that I also knew the future. I knew that we would soon get cell phones and the internet. I knew who the next president of the USA would be or when Madonna would release a new CD. This annoyed Mia. I remembered when we were watching a documentary about Donald Trump and told Mia he would one day be the president. Once again, Mia thought this was a ridiculous thought as she thought that Americans would not be stupid enough to vote for him.

Christopher was born 15 months after we were married, so I was looking forward to this again. The first marriage was a time when we planned and prayed that we would get a child. There was no child as wanted as Christopher was.

I felt the same again, and I was getting excited about Christopher coming back in my life. I told Mia that having children is the best achievement we would ever do and our children would enrich our lives. We should try to have a child and assured her that she would be the best mom there ever was!

Mia was not so enthusiastic. She was studying to be a nurse.

“I would like to have children,” she said, “But not now. We are students and live a very simple life. I think we should have jobs and a house before we even think of children. We are still very young. We need to have a secure life first before children comes. In this way they will be secure. They would have everything they need, and we would be wiser!”

This was not the answer I remembered. This was not the Mia I knew. I could not convince Mia that we could have children now, and they would be happy. Mia wanted her life to be financially secure. She wanted a career. She was not ready for children. This means she used birth control.

I knew something was strange and that Mia was not the woman I remembered. One night I sat up in our bed as I could not sleep. I really wanted a cigarette. I smoked in my old life but knew that Mia did not like it, so I did not smoke when I had a second chance. As I sat on the bed, I could hear Mia talk in her sleep.

“I love you Steen” she said as she slept.

I could not believe my ears. Mia talked about the man she married after we got a divorce after the first marriage. Now that we were in the past, she still had him in her heart. She of course have not met him. It was part of the Mia that was transported back to the past. This meant that she still loved him! What about me?

I tried forgetting this the next day. I had something else to worry about. She showed me to look at the picture of Christopher and Nicholas.

“This is strange,” she said, “The two men here are fading and half invisible, yet the bushes has not faded. I wonder why.”

To be continued