Hugh was in no hurry to get home. He would be late for work anyway. He needed to take time to get his head round the strange happenings. He followed a car on the Newton Stewart to Glentrool road. He had no desire to overtake as it was travelling at a reasonable pace. They both turned right leaving the A714. 


Must be going to Glentrool, but I don’t recognise the car.


The car pulled up outside his house. The lady driver walked to his front door and let herself in.


Who the hell is that? And what she doing letting herself in to my house?



He parked the van. There was no sign of his own car. He rushed into his house. She was still in the hallway hanging up her coat.

She turned to him, but before he could say anything she gave him a passionate kiss.


“Oh Hugh. Thank God you are OK.”


“W … W … What’s going on?” Hugh enjoyed the embrace, but forced himself to pull away to take in all her beauty.


“Haven’t a clue. Our kids are okay, but some of the others seem lost. Caroline says there’s been an anomaly in space-time and she’s from a different universe. A different universe - can you believe it. She says that one minute she was in Edinburgh the next in Glentrool. She’s living with Phil now. Expect you’ll meet her when you take his van back. How was Inverness?” 


“R … R … Are we married?”


“Of course.” She saw the confusion in his eyes.


“M … M …My name is Hugh, but I’m not the Hugh you think I am. C … C … Caroline is right, I think I’m from another reality. I … I … I jumped into my car to go to work, the next moment I was in a van the other side of Thornhill.”


“You look like my Hugh, and Caroline looks like she always did. Lets both go and see Caroline and Phil - you need to take the van back to him anyway - Caroline seems to understand better than me what’s happened.”


Hugh was in the body of his namesake, who had the accident and was unable to do forestry work. Suddenly he was married to a beautiful wife and had two children. In the months that followed he had intimate fun with her and she gave birth to a son. Alternate realities can be good.


***


One minute Hugh was on a layby outside Thornhill. He was about to start the van, the next moment he was sitting in a strange car outside his house. He went into the house. There was no sign of his wife or kids. 


She must have taken them to school. Bit early though.


He walked to Philip’s house to report the missing van.


“Oh hello Hugh. Back from Inverness already. My word you made good time” The Philip that answered the door was married to Caroline, but was in the process of explaining to Joanne that he was from another universe.


“Ph … Ph …Phil. I don’t know what happened. I … I … I delivered the stuff to Inverness. No problem. I stopped to have a pee in the layby outside Thornhill, then suddenly I was back in Glentrool, b … b … but the van’s still in Thornhill. I don’t know what’s happened.”


“You’d better come in,” Philip put his hand on Hugh’s shoulder when they were in the hallway as a gesture to stop him in his tracks. “Look Hugh, I’m the same Phil that sent you to Inverness, but we have both travelled into a new reality. Last night Caroline and I were talking about some experiment that David Dinwoodie was performing. Caroline thought it dangerous and might open up a rift in space-time. I disagreed. It didn’t seem logical to me that there was more than one universe. I was wrong. The experiment went ahead. I’m in a different universe and no longer married to Caroline. I don’t know where she is, but I love her and will find her one day.”


“Whose there Phil!” Joanne called out from the kitchen.


“Come into the kitchen and meet the lady I seem to be married to. Let me assure you I’m not in love with her and want to get back to Caroline.” Philip removed his hand from Hugh’s shoulder and gestured him to follow.


“Y ... Y ... Yes, or course.” Hugh followed him. As they entered the kitchen, Hugh shouted, “Joanne! What are you doing here!” he ran across to give her a hug and kiss.


“Get off me Hugh! What do you think you are doing?” Joanne pushed him away.


“He’s glad to see his wife. Back in the universe where we both come from, I’m married to Caroline, and Hugh is married to you.”