James Bourne was a normal twenty year old, with an ordinary life. If you call being in a popular pop band, known over the whole world, ordinary that is. But to James it was normal, I mean, he got used to the screaming fans, begging for an autograph. He honestly was aware of the fact that he had been lucky, and that it took a lot of hard work to stay at the spot which he, and his band, was at the time.
But it all became routine; the promoting, the signings, the touring. He lost the love for his job, and he didn’t quite know what the cause of that was. Maybe he just missed his family too much. He’d been thinking over and over again, because that’s what James did a lot, thinking. Think until his brain started to hurt.
Matt, his older band mate, and Charlie, the youngest of the threesome, always teased him with him always staring. And he’d often tried to explain that he was thinking about serious stuff, but to his annoyance, neither of them really understood what he had to think about. James just figured that neither of them two could actually think themselves.
One night, in early September, James was thinking once again. Alone, in his pretty cold room, he was putting his brain to work, and think rationally. But it was no good, it only made his brain hurt and he couldn’t… …hey, what was that? He heard a noise coming from the front lawn. He slipped out of bed, only wearing his boxers, his smooth chest showing off in the moonlight that came peeking through the window.
He grabbed the baseball bat, that was well hidden in the meter cupboard, and raised it until it was high above his head.
Another noise drew James’ attention, now coming from the kitchen. He took a big bow around the black and white piano, pressing his bare back against the wall that divided the lounge and the kitchen. Slowly, and carefully, he opened the kitchen door. Falling pots and pans caught his eye as he wandered in. Just above the sink was a mop of blonde hair to be seen, and things were getting thrown aside. A big bread knife only missed James’ head by an inch. He tightened his grip on the bat and was ready to hit the burglar unconscious.
“H- Hey you! Stand… …stand up, w- with your h- hands above your h- head!” James stammered. The sound of braking plates and falling pans immediately faded away. A little kid hopped up, with his hands above his head.
“I only wanted my Michael Jackson album back, sir.” Squeaked the voice of the little boy, James dropped the bat onto the floor.
“Bloody hell,” He more mouthed than spoke. It was no wonder that James was shocked by what he saw; not only was there a kid in the middle of the night making loud noises in his kitchen, searching for a Michael Jackson album, which was something to be shocked about on its own, the kid was an exact copy of him when he was little. The light freckles that covered his little squishy nose, and part of his reddened cheeks were the same for instance. Big, blue eyes stared at James. James had the weird feeling that he was about get angry with his own son for being up so late. James squeezed his lips tight onto each other and prayed to God that this was all a dream. He closed his eyes for a second, but when he opened them again, he was still there. He decided that there was nothing else to do than bring this little boy home.
“What’s your name, kid?” James asked, still his lips pressed together. The boy’s eyes began to twinkle.
“Jimmy,” He smiled. “Jimmy Bourne.” James opened up his eyes wide. He wasn’t believing this, it was just a dream.
“James Elliot Vaughn Bourne.” James murmured. The little boy raised his hands to his ears to cover them up, and closed his eyes tight.
“Don’t call me that! I hate that name!” The boy yelled, still covering his ears up. James looked at him for a moment.
“Pull your collar aside for a sec, will ya?” The boy’s eyes rolled from a pan lying on the floor to James and lowered his hands to pull the collar aside. A small birthmark was to be shown, just under his neck. James took a step forwards.
“What are you doing?” The little boy asked with a tone of fear in his voice.
“Nothing.” James replied and pointed to the very same birthmark just below his own neck. Then, his finger going down, over his bare chest, to a V-shaped scar above his knee. The boy lifted one leg of his trousers and compared the scars, inspecting carefully.
“Who- Who are you?” He asked, not quite sure if it was a stupid question or not. James thought for a minute, then came to a conclusion.
“I guess I’m you, only a few years older.” He said with an unsure grin. The boy looked up to him.
“How old are you, then?” The boy bit his lower lip and looked at James’ face, seeking for some kind of hint for his age, like wrinkles.
“Gonna be 21 in a couple of days. You?” Although James had a pretty good idea of how old the younger boy was, he asked anyway.
“Gonna turn eight in a couple of days.” Jimmy answered, holding up eight fingers. “And by the way, you’re old, man.” He added. The corner of James’ mouth twitched. No one had ever said that he was old before, though James realised that it was true; nearly 21 and still no girlfriend. Not to mention, no wife, nor children.
“You’ve got a funny twitch there.” Jimmy pointed out, making the corner of James’ mouth twitch more frequently.
“Are you sure that you are me? I mean, I am you, or I- I mean you are you me you? I sure don’t have a weird twitch like you have.” Jimmy said and copied the twitch. A shiver went down James’ spine.
“No,” James said. “No, no, no, no! I’ve had this before, you will disappear in a minute.” James cried out and slid down onto the cold kitchen floor with his head in his hands, eyes closed.
A silent minute or two later, James looked up, and to his surprise, the boy was gone. Slowly, James stood up and stretched his legs.
“I’m still here.” Whispered a little voice. The boy sat at the other side of the kitchen, under the kitchen table. James jumped up and inch.
“Why are you still here?” James asked with a desperate tone in his voice. He wanted to get this boy out; it was way too weird by James’ standards. The younger boy opened his mouth to speak.
“No,” James quickly said. “I don’t even want to know. I just want you out of my house when I wake up, OK? I do not care where you go, just get the fuck out of my life.” With that, James turned on his heels and climbed up the stairs.
But James’ rest wasn’t for long; the little boy was determined to let James know that he was still there, and was lying on his back on one of the lounge chairs in the garden next to the swimming pool, singing his lungs out.
“Eency weency spider climbed up the water spout,” He sang. “Down came the rain and washed the spider out!” Jimmy nearly yelled the last few words to make sure James heard it. And James heard it, for sure. He was pushing his pillow onto his face, trying to block the younger singing version of himself out.
After another ten minutes of Jimmy singing and James trying to get to sleep, James had enough of it and went down the stairs, through the lounge and out to the garden.
“Now listen to me! I know you’re still here, can’t you just shut the fuck up?!” He yelled, causing the sleeping birds in the trees to fly out. Jimmy jumped up from this sudden outburst, but after he regained his composure he grinned widely. He stood up from the lounge chair and walked in the lounge room.
“Don’t you have a dog, James?” Jimmy calmly said, ignoring James outburst. James shook his head, and frowned. “Where’s your wife, then?” Jimmy continued questioning. More confronting James with what he had and what he didn’t have. James shrugged. “You don’t have a wife?” Jimmy asked, his eyes nearly popping out of his small head. “But you’re so old, man. You sure have a girlfriend then?” Again James shook his head. Jimmy waved his hands above his head.
“I can’t believe this! You don’t have a dog, no wife, not even a girlfriend! Is this what my life is going to be like? I’d rather kill myself!” He sighed deeply and turned to face James. Then he frowned and a corner of his mouth curled up. “What do you do for a living, James?” He folded his arms, making himself look like a grown-up, stuck in the body of an eight year old.
“I’m in a band.” James said under his breath. Jimmy’s face immediately lit up. “Successful band?” James nodded. Jimmy smiled broadly and punched into the air.
“Woohoo! I’m a rock star!” He squeaked and ran outside and jumped onto the lounge chair. James’ shoulders hung low; he was tired, he seriously needed some sleep. And now the annoying little boy was quite quiet, he was hoping he could get some sleep, and that he would be OK in the morning, for a quick meeting with his two band mates. After that he had lunch with his best mate’s sister to arrange some stuff for the mate’s wedding. It would be a tiring day, and James really wanted Jimmy out of this. He couldn’t explain to anyone who this little fucker was, especially not to Matt or Charlie; they knew practically everything about him and his family. Soon, James fell asleep with his pillow on his head, Jimmy singing ‘Eency Weency Spider’ in the background.
James was up early, he couldn’t really breathe with the pillow blocking his air supply anymore. Jimmy was eating an apple at the kitchen table while James made himself some pancakes. While shoving the pancakes through his throat and flushed them away with a glass of milk, he came to a possible solution for his little talking problem.
“Where do you live?” James asked nice and calm, leaving Jimmy with his mouth open and the apple falling onto the floor.
“How do you mean, where do I live? I’m you! You’re supposed to know where I live.” The boy bluntly said, leaving James on his turn to be surprised.
“True,” James agreed. “But I can’t go and drive all the way back to Southend right now, I have other things to do. I want you to stay in the house for the rest of the day and don’t touch anything you know you aren’t allowed to.” James bossily said and put the used plate into the dishwasher. “Now, I am going to meet up with the band I’m in and after that I have some other arrangements. I will be back around five.”
James left his house fifteen minutes after his lecture to Jimmy. No young kid hanging around singing ‘Eency Weency Spider’ for a whole day, even though James only knew this kid for a couple of hours, he’d started hating him the second he had found him in the kitchen.
Matt and Charlie were already waiting for James to arrive in the recording studio. They just had to sort out some things and then they would all go their own ways again, to come back together the next week.
“So, I was thinking to change some lyrics. Like in ‘Falling For You’, I think we shouldn’t use so many bad words. It may cause a parental advisory sticker, and will definitely not increase the sale of the album.” Charlie started as soon as James took a seat opposite of him and Matt.
“Well, personally, I think we shouldn’t change the lyrics, but just put some bleeps over them so there won’t be a parental advisory sticker needed. Why the hard way when you can take the easy route?” James said. It sounded quite logical to him, he was now seriously doubting on his friends’ intelligence.
“You’ve got a point there, mate. So if we put bleeps over them, we don’t have to change the lyrics, which will be so much easier.” Matt agreed. James sighed deeply and was now convinced that the level of intelligence had dropped to the zero point at the opposite side of him. Matt had just repeated what James had said, only this time Charlie seemed to understand what had been said. It basically pissed James off that Charlie understood what Matt said, but just didn’t even listen what James said. It was clear as a day that Matt and Charlie’s intelligence level were at the same height, or better said, depth.
“OK, was that it? I have other things to do now.” James said and stood up from his actually comfortable chair and found it a disappointment that he couldn’t take the chair home; he’d probably sleep very well in it.
Half an hour later he’d met up with Summer, the sister of James’ mate Ryan who was going to get married in two days. James was going talk some last things through with her and then he was going to see her on the day of the wedding in the early morning to make some last minute arrangements.
They were talking about the flowers for on the tables when a little boy pressed his nose against the window where James and Summer were seated. He knocked on the glass when he saw no one was looking.
“Do you know that boy, James?” Summer asked James, who had been furiously trying to ignore the boy. James shook his head and again tried to ignore the boy and get back to the conversation.
“James Bourne! How is it going with the wedding talk?” The boy shouted through the window. Summer eyed up to James, and raised an eyebrow.
“Are you absolutely sure you don’t know this boy?” She asked again, tucking a blonde lock of hair behind her ear. James sighed and stood up from his chair. When he was out of Summer’s eye, he ran outside and grabbed Jimmy by his arm.
“I told you to stay inside!” He hissed, and quickly let go of Jimmy’s arm as soon as he heard high heels tick on the pavement. Summer stood with her hands on her waist and watched the two softly fighting with an eyebrow raised on her face.
“Don’t be so cruel to him, James. Who is he anyway?” Summer asked. “He looks so cute.” She ruffled through Jimmy’s hair, who blushed and looked at Summer from top to toe.
“She looks pretty.” Jimmy whispered to James. “Shut up, mite. Summer, this is Jimmy, my- he’s my erm… …he’s the son of my mum’s sister.” James grasped Jimmy’s hand. “And I think I should take him home now. He was only staying over at my house for a couple of days.” James smiled and squeezed Jimmy’s hand so he would obey.
“Oww! James, you’re hurting me!” Jimmy yelped and pulled his hand out of James’ and clung onto Summer’s skirt. Summer just shook her head in disbelief and took Jimmy’s hand.
“I can’t believe you sometimes, James. Come on Jimmy, let’s get some ice cream at my place.” Jimmy licked his lips towards James, as a sign to make him jealous. James rolled his eyes, and got in his own car, to follow Summer to her house.
James waited in the car for half an hour, until he got sick of waiting and walked up to the front door. James looked up the house, taking a step back to see it better. On first looks, you’d never say Summer was a lawyer. More like a kindergarten teacher or something sweet like that. Now he was thinking, as per usual, Summer was actually quite an attractive young woman; long, blonde, wavy hair, that she tucked behind her ear so cutely and those deep brown eyes that seemed to see right through you. Oh, and not to mention her legs, James liked her legs. Especially when she was wearing a tight skirt like today. Her legs looked like they were made out of caramel, covered with a satin gloss.
“Are you coming in, or are you going to stare at the drainpipe for the rest of the day?” A kind woman’s voice asked. Her left hand was holding the door open, the other one signalled Jams for him to come in. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, Jimmy’s over there.” She pointed into the left room. James smiled politely and stepped into the like roses smelling house. James poked his head around the corner and saw Jimmy sitting on the couch, impatiently swinging his legs. He looked up when James came through.
“She didn’t believe you when you said that I was ‘err’ ‘uhm’ your mum’s sisters’ son, you know. I didn’t say anything, I only shook my head when she asked. Mum taught me not to lie. It’s wrong.” Jimmy said and sighed.
“She wouldn’t even believe it if we told her.” James replied.
“Believe what?” Came a sudden voice.
“James, she would, believe me.” Jimmy whispered like Summer wasn’t even there.
“She wouldn’t, I know her.”
“Tell her about the birthmark.”
“Coincidence.”
“The scar.”
“Coincidence.”
“Freckles?”
“No, she wouldn’t-” Bang, and Summer lay flat on the floor.
“Told ya.” Jimmy said sarcastically.
The day after that, Jimmy spent the whole day at Summer’s, so James had some time for himself. And besides, Summer liked Jimmy, she thought ‘he was cute’. How could a monster like that kid be cute? But on the other hand, James was flattered, seeing as Jimmy was the younger version of himself. So he was cute, when was younger, according to Summer. But was he still cute now? He’d never thought about these kind of things. I mean, he had loads of female fans that thought he was cute, but that was different. He knew this girl from since he was ten, and knew him from before the band.
The morning of the wedding soon arrived, and Jimmy woke James up by jumping on his bed.
“Wake up, wake up! Reese is going to get married today!” He yelped.
“It’s Ryan, Jimmy.” James groaned and rolled over to his side, pulling the covers over his head.
“Ryan is going to get married today!” Jimmy corrected himself. “We’re going to see Summer again!” He added and jumped off the bed, pulling the covers off James’ head and off the bed.
“Hey! I was sleeping here!” James shouted, and curled up to keep the warmth around him.
“Get up, get up! Summer’s going to pick us up in an hour!” Jimmy sang and got James by his arm and tried to pull him out of bed.
“Okay, okay! I’m up! Jesus, sport. Can’t you give me a break here?” Jimmy frowned his forehead, but soon the cheeky grin returned and he opened up James’ wardrobe.
“Here’s your suit. The tie is over there,” Jimmy pointed towards the bathroom. “Your shoes are downstairs under the stairs, all polished and shiny. Now, come on!” James rolled over on his back looked up to the ceiling. A deep sigh left his mouth and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He had been looking forwards to this ever since Ryan had proposed to his girlfriend, but now with Jimmy on his side, it was going to be a disaster. Jimmy was already wearing his tiny suit; he had to stand in for the pageboy, seeing as the original one was sick. His little tie was just hanging over his shoulders, his shoes, black and shiny. He looked like a man there, only a little one. Summer was really going to find Jimmy cute now, James thought and stood up, and walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Jimmy had put everything ready to use, the shower gel was already on the sponge, and the shampoo flacon was open and ready to get squeezed in.
It only took James ten minutes to shower, and with a towel wrapped around his waist he walked in his bedroom, to find Jimmy fast asleep on his bed, the covers around him. James showed a small smile before grabbing the suit and some clean boxers.
He was tying the shoelaces when the doorbell rang. He was about to open the door when a small figure came running down the stairs and flew to the door.
“Hello Summer!” Jimmy yelped out and gave Summer a hug. James put his hands in his pocket and took the time to look at Summer for a moment. She look absolutely beautiful; she was wearing a sand coloured, silk dress that just hung above her knees. The thin straps went all the way over her shoulder blades and down over her back where they ended just above her butt, that was covered up with more silk dress. She had her hair up, only one string of curled hair hung loose aside her head. She tucked it behind her ear when she let go of Jimmy, and grabbed James’ arm to indicate that they needed to go. James ruffled Jimmy’s hair before he got in the car in the front seat, and Jimmy sat in the back, singing ‘Eency Weency Spider’ again.
The wedding location was chosen by Summer; just up a little hill, under an apple tree was where Ryan and his girl were going to get married. About a hundred white chairs were spread in two parts, all neatly in line. The sun came through the clouds, and although it was a bit cold, it was a warm for a September day. Summer put the last decorations on the red carpet and the chairs, then took a few steps back to look at the result.
“Awesome!” Jimmy exclaimed. “Bit girly, but awesome!” He added and gave a wide grin.
People started filling up the empty seats, Ryan and James were already stood at the altar, with Summer on the other side next to two other bridesmaids. The piano was getting played, the bride with her father on her arm were behind Jimmy, who was spreading rose petals over the red carpet, and holding a black cushion with two rings on it. Jimmy looked up to James, who was in front of him and gave a big smile, he missed his step and fell flat on his face.
The wedding reception was about an hour later, James was dancing with Ryan’s mother, Mrs. Peters.
“So James, when are you going to start a family?” Mrs. Peters asked cheekily.
“I’m still waiting for you, Mrs. Peters.” James replied with a laugh.
“Oh, you’re such a gentleman!” Mrs. Peters said, while James swung her around.
Jimmy was on the other side of the room, looking around and watching James dance. Suddenly it occurred to him what had brought him here. He ran up to James and pulled his jacket.
“Not now, Jimmy. I’m dancing.” James said with an annoyed whisper and shook Jimmy off him.
“But it’s important!” Jimmy yelped, but soon gave up as soon as he saw that James wasn’t going to listen to him anyway.
“Kids can be a pain in the butt sometimes, eh?” Mrs. Peters said and smiled.
“Don’t you mean, all the time?” James replied and watched Jimmy wander off.
Jimmy was on his way over to Summer, and took a red rose out of a bouquet on his way.
“Summer?” He asked politely. Summer was happily chatting with a friend. The friend looked down and smiled.
“Aww! He’s so cute!” Summer nodded and agreed.
”I know, now Jimmy. Is there something you wanted to say?” Jimmy nodded and put the rose on Summer’s lap, he bent through his knee and held his hand out.
“Summer, if James is never going to ask you, will you marry me?” The seven year old asked, and held Summer’s hand. Summer seemed to bedazzled for a second, then regained her composure.
“What?” She laughed, and suddenly looked away from Jimmy, and to a figure behind him. Jimmy stood up and turned to the person behind him.
“What the hell are you doing?” James said angrily. Jimmy just shrugged and smiled.
“I asked Summer to marry you.” James’ jaw dropped to the floor.
“And what did she say?” James asked, in his curiosity.
“I haven’t answered yet.” Summer said, with a smile on her face, and a dark red glow on her cheeks. “And I think it’s really sweet of you to ask me if I want to marry you, but I think James can do that himself if he wants to.” She added and stood up. “I think it’s time for you to go to bed, young man.” She said and grasped Jimmy’s hand.
“No, but!” Jimmy protested, but it was no use. There were two people pulling his arms now, James on the one side and Summer on the other one.
“I think he should better stay with me for a couple of days, James. I don’t know what you have been telling him.” Summer said and gave a another strong pull on Jimmy’s arm.
“He belongs to me, he’s me. He should stay at my place.” James pleaded and pulled the other side of Jimmy like he was a doll.
“Hey! I’m not a puppet you can play with! I have feelings too, you know. God, you guys can be so childish sometimes.” Jimmy shrugged the two hands off him and walked out of the reception room on his own, closely followed by James and Summer.
James and Jimmy were sat in James’ car back to his house. Summer had agreed that Jimmy would go to James’, but only if she could come and pick him up the next day. This was sounding like two people who had just divorced and fighting over their child. James wasn’t really paying attention to the road and didn’t see the car in front of him coming. He turned the steering wheel and they drove into the bushes.
With a flash, James and Jimmy were in a white room, an old man sitting in front of them in an armchair.
“Who is he?” Jimmy asked James, but James only shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe God?” The old man sniggered and shook his head.
“No, I am you. Only older. I am 87 years old and about to die because of loneliness. I never married anyone, I don’t have any kids, and the band separated after a stupid fight about changing lyrics. We only lasted for about 1.5 year, you know.” The man inspected Jimmy and James’ expression before continuing. “We are here together so that you can see what happens if you don’t do anything, James, Jimmy. The only reason that you two are here is to prevent you from doing anything stupid, to make your lives better than it will be now. It sounds really complicated, but really it isn’t.” With those last words, a flash came and James and Jimmy were in the car again. No accident had happened. They were almost back home.
“What just happened?” Jimmy asked James, who had no clue either.
“I don’t know, Jimmy. You go to bed straight away.” Jimmy climbed up the stairs and flew into the spare bedroom. James flopped down on the couch and gave a deep sigh. For the first time in four days, he started to seriously think again. What had this old man meant? What should he do? Why was Jimmy here? He had no idea, and the man hadn’t been quite instructional either.
A knock on the door shook him out of his serious thoughts. He slumped to the door.
“Hey, thought I’d bring you this. Jimmy left it at the reception.” Summer said and gave James a Michael Jackson album. James frowned.
“Thanks.” He mumbled under his breath and turned around to the couch, looking at the cd he had in his hands. Summer followed him in and closed the door behind her.
“Something wrong, James?” James shook his head and sat back on the couch, his eyes still focussed on the cd.
“I didn’t know Jimmy took this.” James sad and looked up. Summer was staring at him with her big brown eyes. Her hair was loose and one string hung in front of her eye. James tucked it behind her ear, and cupped her cheek.
“What would you have said at the reception if I wasn’t there?” James asked Summer with his head slightly to the right.
“Yes,” She whispered and leant in forwards to kiss James. James kissed her back passionately.
“Thought you wanted to have this too,” Summer said when they parted, and looked through her bag. She took out a Polaroid picture. “It’s you and Jimmy.” She gave it to James, who frowned.
“There’s only me.”