8.

Oddie and Q are working out at North Hollywood Park. Q is doing pull-ups in which he launches himself above the bar, and then catches it. When he finishes a set, Oddie jumps up. He’s slender with a good build but he’s let himself fall out of shape in the last year. The beer fat, the bad haircut, the wrinkled and stained workout clothes. He struggles to do ten pull-ups, and then they head to the bathrooms. Q balances himself on his hands against a wall and does about 15 upside down pushups.

“What do you think it was?” says Q as he exercises.

“I’m not sure,” says Oddie. “I’ve never really had an out of body experience before. A couple of times playing football I got hit in the head and felt déjà vu but this wasn’t like that at all.”

Q drops back down to his feet and Oddie assumes the same position against the wall. He gasps out five or six, and then falls over to his feet.

“You said you felt like you were traveling through time?”

Oddie, gazing at the sunset, nods.

“That’s some heavy shit my brother. Some heavy, heavy shit. Maybe, maybe you’ve tapped into the mind, into the part of the mind that controls time.”

“The Fourth Dimension part of the brain?”

Q gives Oddie a quizzical look, knits his brows.

“The fourth dimension is time,” says Oddie. “Length, width, depth and time.”

Q says ‘time’ at the same time. “That’s deep, man. That’s very spiritual. What if, with all the stressful things that have been happening to you, what if you found a way to travel through time, using the mind? You said it felt like it was a year ago?”

“Yeah. It was the year of the coin. The time was the same but it was last year. The banner said Seniors 2009.”

“You don’t think you were just trippin'? Yo, speaking of, you wanna smoke?”

“Sure.”

“You got a wrap in your car?”

“Nah.”

“Let’s head over to the store.”

They head towards the 7-11 across from the park.

“No,” says Oddie. “I don’t think it was a ‘trip.’ I really don’t know what it was. It felt so real. Like when you’re really tired and you fall into ‘dreams’ right away. Except I wasn’t sleepy, I was just relaxed. I was doing that meditative breathing you showed me. And I was holding a penny.”

“The penny from last year.”

“Right.”

“Well,” says Q. “Maybe the penny made you travel.”

“Ha.”

“No, my brother maybe it did. Maybe you just willed yourself back in time.”

Oddie laughs. “Man, this shit is a trip. It would make a good movie.”

“It would make an excellent movie. We could shoot it. I could film it, you could write it. You’d be the guy who travels through time. We’d call it….let’s see, what would be a good title. ‘Penny for Your Thoughts?’”

“Nah,” says Oddie as they stop at the corner and wait for the light to change. “Sounds like a romantic comedy.”

“You don’t think it would be a romantic comedy?”

“Nah,” says Oddie as the light changes and they cross. “It would be a thriller. Like the guy goes back in time and tries to avert a crime. Maybe he’d try to save somebody. One of the Kennedys. And there would be people trying to stop him. Something like that. Or maybe something in his own neighborhood.”

“There you go,” says Q as they walk up to the glass doors of the 7-11. An elderly man approaches and Q holds the door for him. “What would the title be then?”

“I dunno. Maybe ‘Bad Penny.’”

“That sounds good.”

“Or ‘Penny Dreadful.’”

Q’s head snaps back in surprise. “Whoa, I like that. ‘Penny Dreadful.’ Where’d you get that title?”

“I saw it in the dictionary the other day. It’s a British word for a cheap magazine that features murder and crime and shit like that. ‘Penny Dreadful.’”

“I like it,” says Q. “What flavor blunt you want? You wanna try menthol?”

“Too dry,” says Oddie. “Get grape. Those are always fresh.”

“Check you out,” says Q. “Knowing what’s up”