Page 67 of Fast Forward

So, the person who made the website in the future hadn’t registered it yet. I should just wait and check on it every now and again. Unless… What if it’s meant to be me? What if I was the one who was supposed to have made the website?

Tentatively I clicked on the registration link. I’d never registered a website domain before, I didn’t even know how it all worked, or how to make a website, but heaps of people had them so it couldn’t be that hard, could it?

But what if someone else was destined to make the website and me registering it would stuff things up for them somehow? I thought about the experiences I’d read on the site, especially the one about Polly who seemed permanently stuck in her fast forward, and a pang of sympathy ran through me. One way or another, this website needed to be born. If someone was to contact me down the track and say they had thought of creating this website, then I would simply let them take it over.

Yes. That sounded like a plan. Okay, here we go. I typed in my details and gave up my credit card number, something I was quite used to doing and the website tried to get me to purchase other domains as well.

Would you like to add the following to your order?

fastforwardexperiences.net

myfastforwardexperiences.com

fastforwardexperiencesnetwork.com

Um, no, thank you very much. One would be enough and I wasn’t just talking about websites. As valuable and life-changing an experience it was, I couldn’t bear to go through another shock like that. I just wanted to get on with living my life and creating the future that was right for me.

A minute or two later I was the proud owner of a domain name. As for the website itself, I’d figure that out later, at least for now I’d got the ball rolling.

Oh damn! While I was in the future why didn’t I think to check on Foogle for other important things that had occurred between my twenty-fifth and fiftieth birthdays? Like, winning lotto numbers, fashion trends, Oscar winners – apart from Selena – and whether anyone else had been to the moon. Maybe there was a hotel on the moon. Or a prison. Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t check! Oh well, too late now.

I went to close the laptop but hesitated. There was one more thing I wanted to do. I opened Facebook and searched for a profile. As expected, there was only one William McSnelly. I clicked on his profile and giggled at his picture. I’d become used to seeing him as a fifty-year-old man yet here he was, a twenty-five-year-old with a soft, sexy smile on his face, gentle eyes, cropped brown hair – much better than the wavy disaster he’d had in high school – and a simple blue shirt. Unassuming, but from what I’d discovered, completely, totally and utterly irresistible.

I hovered the cursor over ‘add friend’, then moved it away. This wasn’t the way to go about reconnecting with him. I knew exactly how I would do it, but today was about my birthday, my friends and my family. Will could wait a little longer. I was saving the best for last.

“Right, I’ve got the wood, newspaper and matches for the campfire, anything else we need?”

“Hello to you too, Kasey.” I chuckled as I opened the door of my apartment to my sister.

“Oops, sorry. Hi, and happy birthday… again. Now, what about a picnic rug?”

“Oh yes, hang on.” I dashed to the linen cupboard and withdrew my non-tartan rug, which I had to order online. Did you know how difficult it was to find a non-tartan picnic rug?

“Okay, let’s go,” I said.

“Wait, let me give you your birthday present now.” Kasey smiled as she handed me the large slim package she had tucked under her arm.

“Okay, thanks! Here, let’s swap.” I handed her the picnic rug and accepted the gift. I placed the package on the dining table and tore off the paper, realising how cool it was that I’d got to experience two birthdays. Shame I wasn’t able to bring back the gifts I’d received from the future, I’d have to wait another twenty-five years to get my hands on that magical vacuum cleaner!

“Oh, Kasey,” I said, eyeing the artist’s quality sketchbook, drawing pencils, empty portfolio and a selection of inspiring home magazines. “This is perfect.” A shimmer of anticipation rose up inside and appreciation for my sister who knew what mattered to me. “Thank you so much, I can’t wait to get started with all this!”

“And I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

“Thanks,” I said again, wrapping my arms around her and pecking her cheek.

“So, let’s get this party started!”

Fifteen minutes later, we were spreading out the picnic rug by Kasey’s awesome campfire on North Beach. I looked up to find Selena approaching and flung my arms around her.

“It’s so good to see you!” I almost apologised for missing her call yesterday during the meeting but bit my tongue.

She smiled curiously. “I only saw you last night, but I’ll accept your compliment anyway.” She greeted Kasey then handed me a small gift.

I unwrapped it and held the garnet teardrop earrings up to my ears. “They’re beautiful,” I exclaimed. “Thanks, Selena, I’ll put them on now.” I took my silver hoops off and replaced them with my new earrings. Selena snapped a photo with her phone while I flashed my best model pose.

Then Selena sidled up close to me. “So, when’s Grant getting here, are you ready for his proposal?” She nudged me in the ribs.

“Ah, actually, he’s not coming.”