It was about a mile walk to the bar, and by the time Sam arrived he was tired and thirsty. Sam hadn't walked a mile since his senior in high school, when he and Roy Sands had a competition to see who could &quot;run&quot; the mile the slowest. Their gym teacher stopped keeping track after a half hour. As he opened the door to The Rusty Tailpipe, Sam couldn't help but notice the bicycle parked outside the establishment looked nearly identical to the one the little boy was riding, though this one appeared considerably older. &quot;Couldn't be,&quot; Sam thought to himself. Jonathan Spokes was sitting at the bar, sipping on a fuzzy navel, reading the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Resting on the bar to his right was the time machine. &quot;Ah, Sam, right on time,&quot; said Spokes. &quot;Have a seat.&quot; &quot;Spokes,&quot; said Sam, sitting beside the old man. &quot;If I wasn't so tired I'd kick your butt. What's going on?&quot; &quot;Two lagers for my friend,&quot; said Spokes motioning to the bartender. &quot;And you, drink up. You may enjoy my little story better that way.&quot; 2007-05-20T04:21:23Z http://ficlets.com/feed/story/2769 <p>sweet twist</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/2769?basename=2037 2007-05-20T04:21:23Z FlirtingWithaBrickWall http://ficlets.com/authors/sanitytookaholiday <p>Doesn&#8217;t bother me at all. This mulitple pathway stuff is really what the ficlets is all about. How many ways can a story end :)</p> <p>I like seeing how peeps take the same peice and write something totally different to what I&#8217;d write.</p> <p>S.J.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/2769?basename=1726 2007-05-09T20:21:50Z SJHundak/S.J.Willing http://ficlets.com/authors/sjhundak <p>Note to SJHundak/S.J.Willing &#8211; I hope you don&#8217;t mind that I sequeled &#8220;Time Keeps on Slippin&#8217; &#8221; too. I liked your piece, but I had something else in mind.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/2769?basename=1716 2007-05-09T18:11:43Z StrugglingWriter http://ficlets.com/authors/strugglingwriter