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     “Who are you?” He whispered.  I surprised myself by tell
ing
him my story.  I had planned to wait until we built trust but it came pouring out.

     He drank in every word and by the time I finished it was getting dark and the others had kept their distance.  They had noticed the intensity in which Charles Manson and I were
engaged in our conversation.

     He sat there with tears in his eyes, “So, my destiny is to become a monster.  You probably already think I’m a monster.  I have stolen but I haven’t killed anyone yet.  Why did you invite me here?”

    
“It’s destiny, Charles.  For some reason, I was supposed to come back to this time and give mankind another chance to get things right this time.  You’re only 19 now and you can choose what kind of person you want to become.”

     “If I had had a mama like you, who wanted me and loved me, I think things would have been different.  I watch you with Josie and Randall and I feel so jealous.”

     “You can’t have a loving mother, but you can have the love and acceptance of friends.”

     “Do you think I could become a musician?  I would love to be in a band like Joe’s.
”

     “I know you’ve always wanted to play in a band.  In one of your prison terms years from now another inmate will teach you to play the steel guitar.

     “You have talent.  Ask Joe to teach you.”

     He looked like a little boy who had been given a new toy as he hurried off to find Joe and the others.

    
He ended up joining the band and Joe taught him to play the steel guitar.  One day he came to me wanting to talk.  I had become the one he went to when troubled.  I
believe I was a mother figure
for him.

     “I always hated niggers…” He began.

     “Don’t call them that,” I interrupted him.

     “I’m sorry.  I always hated the blacks.  After playing in the band with the two black guys, John and Joseph, I like them.”  He laughed, “John looks a lot like Fats Domino.  They’re biblical names, you know.
  A dude named John wrote the book of Revelations.
”

     “I know.”

     “Do you think it means something?”

     “Since I started this life, I th
ink everything means something.  I’ve learned a lot from Irene and I think you need to talk to her sometime.

     “Of all the planets that are represented in our community, and the stories they tell, I see a p
arallel between the way
each one developed.

     “I believe that you are a big contribution to the changes that we are supposed to be making.

     “Talk to some of the others and listen to their stories and you will see what I’m talking about.  Who knows, maybe this John is the reincarnation of the one who wrote the book of Revelations.”

     “I love you, Ashley.”

     “I love you too Charlie, just like a son.”
 

     Remember, he was only 19 during this time.  This was also about a decade before the Beatles and I doubted they would write the song, Helter Skelter or have the Whit
e
album.  It was too similar to Joe’s album.

CHAPTER 39

     The other two main issues that had caused trouble in the future were the food/chemical issue and the technology gone awry issue.

     I didn’t worry about these issues because I
knew we could somehow divert the trouble in these areas also
and we would do so without knowing we were doing it.

     In the next few months, Charles Manson not only integrated into our community, but he got involved with a girl named Sally, a waitress at one of the small seafood diners on the beach.

    
Sally moved into our community and they planned to marry.  This small part of history was changed but I didn’t know how the rest of the wrongs would be put to right or if they were supposed to be.

     I would trust the messages that I contin
ued to get and see where it went
.  If you’re reading this in the future, I hope we did a good job.  If not think about what you can do to help.

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