A Contract is a Contract
by bekysu
In the episode Snake Bite, when Johnny is bitten by the rattlesnake, he drops the HT over the top of the car, and then when he sits down on the ground just a few seconds later, the HT is back in his hand. This is one version of how it got there.
Many thanks to Audrey for the beta read.
Johnny peered into the car trying to locate his Handie-Talkie. He spotted it in the back seat of the vehicle. He reached inside and picked it up. As he stood up, he heard an ominous sound; a rattlesnake. The paramedic looked down just in time to see the snake sink its fangs into his right calf. Surprised, he dropped the HT he had just picked up and it went sliding down the roof of the car, out of sight.
“Oh, man! Now what am I gonna do?” Johnny muttered to himself. “I have to use that HT to call for help. It’s written in the script.”
Time seemed to stand still as the dark-haired paramedic heard a disembodied voice call seemingly out of nowhere, yet everywhere. “Use the Force, John,” the voice commanded.
Johnny looked around as he leaned against the wrecked car. He didn’t see anybody. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that voice sounded just like Obi-Wan Kenobi from the movie Star Wars that he had seen a few weeks earlier when it first premiered.
“Who’s there?” Johnny questioned as he looked around again. He could see Hector frozen in place several feet away. “Hector, are you all right?”
“Don’t worry about him,” the disembodied voice instructed. “I just stopped time for a little while so we could deal with the problem at hand.”
“This is really incredible,” the paramedic exclaimed.
“Yes, it is, isn’t it,” the disembodied voice replied. “Now let’s get back to business. If you use the Force, you’ll be able to retrieve your Handie-Talkie.”
“If I can use the Force to retrieve the HT, why didn’t you just come a little earlier and we could have prevented this snake bite in the first place,” Gage said a little heatedly.
“My alarm didn’t go off and I was running a little late,” the voice explained. “Now, will you please listen to me?”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you, but I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“You don’t need to understand it. Just close your eyes and you can feel the Force flowing through you.”
Johnny closed his eyes and he could, indeed, feel something flowing through him, but he feared it was rattlesnake venom. But then suddenly, the Handie-Talkie was in his hand. “Wow, that Force stuff really works!” he said excitedly.
The disembodied voice answered, “I told you, all you needed to do was use the Force.”
“This is great!” the young paramedic shouted. “Just think of all the things I could accomplish with the Force. I could end world hunger, prevent wars, and maybe keep stupid kids like the ones we just rescued from having accidents.”
“I’m sorry, but I will not be able to help you any longer,” the voice said somberly.
“Why not? You just got here!”
“I’m afraid I’m under contract with George Lucas, and I have to return for a sequel.”
“Just my luck. Finally, something is going my way, and then it’s gone just like that.” Johnny said, as he snapped his fingers.
“Well, my friend, a contract is a contract. I’m leaving now. As soon as I’m gone, time will continue on as if it had never stopped.”
“Thanks for your help.” Suddenly Johnny had a thought, and asked, “Oh, yeah, by the way. Where are you gonna be in a couple of years when I’m scheduled to get hit by a car?”
Author’s Note: My apologies to George Lucas and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I realize that Star Wars came out after the episode Snake Bite. I wrote this story for fun.
