Jon swallowed a liquid that he suddenly felt in his throat and began to cough. The dizziness didn't totally subside and Jon was confused as there was suddenly a commotion all around him.
But Jon wasn't in a locker room this time. It looked like he was in an apartment at some sort of party. He was holding an empty shot glass in his hand and it was immediately apparent that he had just downed the contents.
Jon was sitting on a couch in between a guy and a pretty good looking girl. He guessed they were both in their mid-20's. Jon needed to figure out what was going on so he got up and headed for a door. He stumbled when he got to his feet and realized he was drunk. "Hey Ted, grab me a drink while you're up," shouted the girl. "Uh, OK," Jon tepidly responded.
When Jon got to the sliding glass door, he saw his reflection and confirmed that he was once again in another body. At least he wasn't a girl this time, but who was he? He looked like a thoroughly average guy in his early 20s, standing at about six feet with bleached blond hair. His shirt was unbuttoned so Jon could see that he had a good build, but nothing special and certainly not the body of a pro athlete.
"Dammit," Jon said. "I wanted to be a baseball player or something, what am I doing here?"
"Dude, you're kicking ass here!" exclaimed another guy as he put his hand on Jon's shoulder. "If you ski next weekend like you did in the giant slalom today, you could podium. And what are you talking about, you hate baseball."
"Uh, yeah," Jon muttered as he opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. He was stunned when he saw a spectacular mountain vista bathed in moonlight. He was definitely not near home anymore.
Jon was having a little trouble thinking straight in his drunken state, but figured out his mistake. He wished the jockstrap would turn him into an athlete, but he never said it would be during a game. He was apparently some sort of athlete, but he wasn't competing, he was at a party.
Seeing the rows of skis lined up on the porch confirmed for Jon that he was a skier and he didn't know how he knew it, but he couldn't shake the thought in his head that he was on the US Ski Team.
Jon took a deep breath when he was interrupted by someone else walking out to the porch. "Dude, what are you doing out here?" he asked. "Leanne was all over you in there. Teddy, you gotta get that done."
Jon recognized the guy as Bode Miller, his teammate, but he couldn't figure out if he had always known that or not. Jon looked again at his reflection in the glass door and a smile crept across his face. "Yeah," he said. "I'm gonna go back and talk to her some more."
Jon went back inside and stopped at the fridge to grab Leanne the beer she had asked for before sitting back down next to her on the couch.
"Thanks, Ted," she said and crawled over to whisper in Jon's ear. "Hey, do you want to show me your gold medal?"
"Come with me," Jon responded as he got up and grabbed Leanne by the hand to lead her to his room. He closed the door behind them and followed her over to the medal that was displayed in a modest case on a shelf.
Jon saw the inscription and a flood of new, albeit hazy, memories came back to him. "Ted Ligety - 2006 Olympic Champion - Combined Alpine Skiing" read a small plaque beneath the medal.
"What was it like?" she asked and Jon found he was able to describe in depth the rush of racing down the mountain as they sat down on his bed.
