There was an awkward, deafening silence in the diner, broken only by the clink of the older Maggie’s coffee cup on her saucer as she placed it down.
Colin was trying to act busy, but kept glancing at the woman’s face, while Sheriff Maggie seemed to be deep in troubled thought. Maggie was similarly speechless; she really wanted to say something, but she just didn’t know what. What was the appropriate thing to say in a situation as ridiculous as this?
This is a dream. This is a dream. This is—
Finally, the older woman broke the silence.
“So, Sherri…”
She knows the name I just made up before she arrived…? Maggie tried to mask her reaction, and by the looks of Sheriff Maggie, so did she.
“That uniform really doesn’t suit you, you know?” The older Maggie leaned in, and fiddled with the Sheriff’s star on her chest.
‘Sherri’ pulled away. “I’m aware, Mom,” she deadpanned, with a heavy sardonic quality to the last word.
Maggie grasped a train of thought to vocalise.
“We were… just looking to get Colin here in touch with our uncle,” she said to her faux-mother. “Would you know anything about his whereabouts?”
There had to have been a reason this woman had appeared in this way, and she could only guess it was in some kind of relation to the conversation at hand when she came in.
The older Maggie turned to her, flashing her a smile. “Yes, I would.”
She looked at Colin. “Would you have a pen and paper? I can write his number for you.”
Colin straightened from the counter he was wiping down, and his face was lit up. “Really?”
He grabbed the notepad and pen stuffed into his apron, and handed them to the woman.
“Thanks… this means a lot,” he said. Maggie smiled as she watched him rocking on his feet with excitement. She didn’t know what kind of weird reality this was, but she felt that this version of Colin deserved a break.
As the older version of her handed him the note, she said, “I think he’ll be expecting your call.”
He looked at her with a tilted head for a moment, before scurrying away to the back room with the slip of paper.
With Colin gone for the moment, Maggie whipped her head around to the older woman.
“What’s going on here?” she demanded.
Older Maggie stood from her stool, stepping back from the counter. She held up her hands defensively.
“Sorry to intrude on your together time,” she said. “But I’m here to help the two of you.”
“Who are you?” Maggie asked weakly, hoping she’d elaborate further than what Maggie had already deduced.
“I’m a possibility,” Older Maggie replied. She pointed towards the door, where Colin’s back could be seen as he spoke on the phone. “So is he.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Sheriff Maggie asked.
Older Maggie sighed. “It means you’re all at a crossroads, and there are decisions you need to make right now. But first and foremost…”
She stepped towards Sheriff Maggie, and took one of her hands, squeezing it between both of hers. “You need to let go of… her.”
As she said the last word, her head turned and she locked eyes with Maggie.
Sheriff Maggie wrenched her hand away. “What do you mean ‘let go’ of her? I don’t even like her.”
She doesn’t like me?
Older Maggie shook her head.
“You two currently have a sort of mental connection right now, preventing you from being properly separated.”
“You mean this is a dream?” Maggie asked.
I knew it!
The older Maggie gave a noncommital tilt of her head. “Yes and no. The procedure kind of put your mind into a limbo state in spacetime. It fed on temporal flux points close to you when the accelerator activated, and created this construct that exists in your shared consciousness…”
She chuckled at the bewildered faces staring back at her. “Okay, let’s call it a dream. But that’s not entirely adequate.”
“And what does this have to do with me?” Sheriff Maggie said, her flat voice cutting through the friendly tone of the older Maggie.
“You’re the reason the procedure hasn’t completed,” Older Maggie explained. “You don’t want to leave the memories behind, do you? Of the life you never got to live.”
“Shut up,” Sheriff Maggie said, rising from her seat.
Maggie could tell she’d hit a nerve.
Older Maggie pressed on: “You feel like your life never started, and you’re jealous of all her adventures. You don’t want to face the reality of who you really are.”
“Stop…” Sheriff Maggie pleaded.
Maggie didn’t even know what to say. She thought about all the internal conflict as they shared a body, the envy that flared up at memories of her life, in spite of all its tragic, devastating events.
“My world is gone…” she whispered, and she felt Sheriff Maggie’s eyes flick to her. “Everything I had is gone, and you’re jealous of that?”
She set her jaw, and made eye contact with Sheriff Maggie. “Where do you get off?”
Maggie balled her fists, and a second later, Sheriff Maggie was keeled over the counter, clutching her jaw in pain.
“Stop!” the older Maggie grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back, and Maggie glared at her.
“This won’t help,” the older Maggie said, pleading with her eyes. “Just let me talk to her. Trust me.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I used to be her,” she said, lowering her eyes.
Maggie fell into silence, and stepped back, as the older Maggie – the older Sheriff Maggie, apparently – moved to assist her younger self.
“Listen to me,” she said, helping the punch-drunk Sheriff to a seated position on the stool. “It’s not too late to make your life just how you want it. You’re not Sheriff Maggie. This stupid badge isn’t who you are, and you can forge whatever new path you want, okay?”
“I can’t do anything right,” lamented Sheriff Maggie, as she rubbed her mouth.
Her future self wrapped her in a comforting embrace, and rocked her.
“You can, and you will. Believe me. You’re going to do amazing things. Stuff that will make you totally forget about your double’s accomplishments.”
She glanced at Maggie. “No offense.”
Maggie gave a weak smile.
Older Maggie pulled away from the hug, and assessed Sheriff Maggie’s red and swelling jaw.
“Don’t worry about that. Your physical body is undamaged,” she said with a wink, before turning towards Maggie.
“You should go,” Older Maggie said, gesturing towards the exit. “Everyone’s waiting.”
Maggie nodded, bewildered, and walked to the doors, before turning around to see Sheriff Maggie looking at her with moist eyes, and the older Maggie filling with a shimmering blue light, and vanishing.
Dream. It’s a dream. Wasn’t it?
She shook her head, and left the diner, into the blinding sun.
She blinked rapidly as her eyes filled with light, and she brought her hands to her eyes to shield them, only to knock a small flashlight from the hands of Uncle Sam, who cried out in surprise.
She was lying on a bed, her body covered in a blanket.
“Oh… oh!” she scrambled to a sitting position, as Sam stepped backwards, a smile forming on his face.
“You’re okay!”
He pulled her into a tight hug.
What a weird dream… she thought, feeling her grasp on what she was just doing slipping away from her memory.
She looked around her, and saw her double stirring from her own apparent sleep, with a very relieved younger Sam greeting her with a warm smile.
“Welcome back…” John said. “Now, uh… which of you is which?”