figure out who he was. The title of the story is from a Beatles song that plays during the opening credits of "Garp."
Disclaimer: The characters from The Sentinel belong to Pet Fly Productions and Paramount. I just took them out to play.
by Laura F. Schomberg
"Why are we watching this movie?" Simon asked. He looked over to his coat, hanging on the coat rack. Jim saw the glance and shook a finger at his captain, warning him away from his cigars. Sighing, he leaned back on the
sofa, saying, "Everyone dies in it."
"Not everyone dies, Simon," Jim corrected.
"Excuse me, the main characters are dead or dying at the end of the film."
"Thanks *alot* guys," Blair grumbled from his seat on the other sofa. "I haven't seen this one before."
"Really, Chief." Jim sat down next to Simon. "I would have thought Naomi would have taken you to see this film. I mean it's a bit strange and full of women's lib type stuff."
"Thanks." Blair crossed his legs on the sofa without taking off his shoes. "This came out in 1982 you said?" Jim nodded. "We were out of the country then."
"You still haven't told us why we're watching this film," Simon reminded the man next to him.
Turning to watch Blair, Jim said, "Simon, do you remember when I first told you about Blair?"
Simon nodded. "And?"
"Do you remember my telling you that I thought I'd seen him somewhere before?"
Simon took off his glasses and got up to get a napkin. Returning to his seat, cleaning his glasses, he said, "I remember. We ran a thorough background check and found nothing."
"What!?!" Blair's feet slammed to the floor. "You checked me out!?!"
Jim shrugged. "It had to be done for your clearance anyway, Chief. Simon and I were just a bit more diligent than usual."
"Why were you more diligent?"
"You have to admit you were pretty over the top when you first came to the station," Simon said. Blair gaped at him.
Jim suppressed a grin. "It's not like you were a paragon of honesty," he pointed out. Blair choked on the tea he was sipping. Simon's sip of coffee misted from his mouth as the older man tried to contain his laughter.
Finally catching his breath, Blair wipped his hand over his mouth. "Paragon?"
"What?" Jim innocently asked.
"Nothing, man." Blair shook his head. "I just never expected to hear you use a twenty-five cent word like that."
"Are you implying I don't know what it means?" Jim asked, his face grim with mock annoyance.
"No, man. Not at all."
As Simon cleaned up his spilled coffee with the napkin he'd been using to clean his glasses, he asked, "So what does thinking you've seen Sandburg before you met him have to do with this film?"
"I figured out where I've seen him before," Jim answered.
Both Blair and Simon turned confused faces to each other then back to Jim. "And?" they chorused.
"Wait a minute. It's coming up," Jim said, settling back against the sofa. Blair and Simon looked at each other again before also settling back. A few minutes later, Jim hit the pause button, freezing a boy's face on the screen. "There he is," he told his audience.
"Are you nuts, man?" Blair asked, looking from the screen, to Jim, and back again. "That's not me!"
"I hate to say this, Jim, but I'm going to have to agree with Sandburg on this," Simon agreed.
"Besides," Blair continued. "I was thirteen when this film was made. That kid isn't thirteen."
"Just because you were thirteen doesn't mean you would have looked thirteen," Jim teased the young man.
Simon stood up and walked over to the television. Leaning down to get a closer look, he said, "You know, now that you mention it, it could be Sandburg."
"I think I would remember making a movie when I was thirteen," Blair insisted.
"Sure does look like those pictures of you Naomi showed me," Jim said. "Did you ever see those pictures, Simon?" Still staring at the boy's image on the screen, Simon shook his head. Jim quickly walked over to his friend, pulling
a picture out of his back pocket. "Here's one."
"How did you get that?" Blair asked.
"I asked Naomi to send it to me," Jim explained, turning back to grin at his roommate.
"Damn, Jim. It is him," Simon said, holding the picture next to the screen. "Why didn't you tell us you used to be in movies."
"I have never been in a movie," Blair said. He popped off the sofa, went over to Simon, and jerked the picture from the older man's hand. Holding it next to the screen, he said, "Look, my hair is curlier. I don't see this amazing resemblance."
"Hair can be straightened," Jim said, grinning at Simon above Blair's leaning figure. Pulling a paper from his other back pocket, Jim unfolded it before passing it to Simon. "I even had that kid's face computer aged. Look for
yourself."
Simon whistled. "Looks like a match to me."
Blair tore the paper out of the captain's hand, leaving part still clutched between the tall man's fingers. He started to protest but the words died on his lips. Staring back at him was the unmistakable image of one Blair Sandburg. "This is a trick," he sputtered.
"I can call the person who did the aging if you want, Chief," Jim offered.
Blair shook his head, then took off for his room, clutching the picture and paper in his hand, muttering about calling Naomi.
Jim and Simon stared after the anthropologist's retreating form, Jim serious, Simon with a hand over his mouth. When the young man's door shut behind him, they broke into laughter, trying desperately to keep the volume down.
Slapping Jim on the back, Simon said, "That was beautiful, Jim. I don't think I've ever seen that kid at a loss for words."
"What can I say. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without you."
Chuckling Simon went back to the sofa and dropped down. "How did you get that photo?"
"I asked Naomi for it when she was here. Wendy and I watched this movie one night just before Naomi visited and I noticed the resemblance."
Simon wipped the tears from his eyes. "That was priceless. Your computer aged Naomi's picture of Blair, I take it."
Jim's smile faltered. He came over to sit next to Simon, pulling another piece of paper from his pocket. Handing it to his captain, he said, "Actually I don't know which picture Blair has now. On a whim I had them age both images."
Simon turned stunned eyes from the computer aged picture to Jim. The detective shrugged and Simon looked back at the paper on the table. The hair was slightly straighter but the face belonged to Blair.
Behind Simon, Jim smiled.
The end
What did you think? Like the story? Hated it? Let me know. Laura
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