Skipping into Time
Just one single boy slipping on a rock is all it took to send the whole world reeling towards destruction. That is what they told me happened when I fell. Of course, a lot of people think the world is going to ruin anyway. When I told them this, it didn't bring any smiles. The point is that the earth and all its peoples are stuck with the consequence of what I did unless someone undoes it.
I asked, "But how can I put the dirt back? How can I un-slip my foot? How can I roll the pebbles back up the slope? How can the dish or what-ever-it-is be fixed?
At my questions, Old Shareen put his wrinkled old hands up to his long white hair and started twisting it and turning it and twisting it again, deep in thought. Finally his glasses fell off his nose as he jumped up and shouted. "You, my boy, you must fix it. And I have figured out how."
It all began Friday, the morning of the first day of spring. It really felt like a spring day with the sun shinning bright at seven thirty in the morning when I walked to the bus stop. I kept walking real slow because I couldn't stand to face Mr. Mendelson, who I call Mr. uppity because he said he came from King H. S. just to teach "you little, smart assed middle schooler's how to grow up." Bad enough I had to face my dad coming home drunk late last night. Right now, he is still slouched over in the chair where he fell asleep.
I hate him, well, I hated him right then. He took me from my mom, wouldn't give me money for new jeans, and kept putting me on punishment for nothing. I wanted to get back at him somehow. The only way I could think of to really get back at him and piss him off, was to skip school.
So that is what I did. I turned left instead of right at the end of the Farnsworth and kept walking. I didn't have nothing but a dollar twenty five in my pocket. My lunch money. But I didn't care. I just kept walking. I wanted to get away from the house, school, the neighbors, and my life. "It sucks." I said out loud, over and over as I walked. "My life sucks."
After I
walked around for a bit, down Moran to Gratiot, I decided to turn back towards
That's why mom left, she couldn't take it any more. And neither can I. I hit the hard cement with my foot in anger. I just might get my bike and never come back. But I’d need money for that, I am not that stupid to think I don't need money to run away. My mom did, she ran. Don't even know where she went cause she won’t say on the phone. Far away, that's for sure. As I said, my life sucks.
I walked threw the alley behind Farnsworth, took a short cut down Ellery to see if his car was still parked in the street. It was, so I turned back into the alley. I would need to be real quiet at the garage. The garage door squeaked but I didn't think that would wake dad up. If he was still sleeping off a drunk, nothing would. Lucky that I had brought the bike chain key in my pocket. Need to keep everything locked up around here. I kept my bike chained real good with heavy steel running through the spokes and frame. When I unlocked the chain, it made some noise but not much; so, when I pulled out of the garage with my bike, it was a shock to see my dad coming at me from the house.
Damn. He saw me and yelled. "What the hell you doing home. Get your ass to school. Right now."
Man, I was scared. I had already jumped on my bike. So I was only one pedal away from escape. I had a choice, stay and confront my angry dad or push on that pedal. Quick, decide. I pushed on that pedal and rolled away as fast as I could. He tried to grab me as I sped past, but couldn’t catch me. By then I was crying. Guess I hate to admit it, but I felt afraid. I might hate my dad sometimes but this action was really a defiant statement of no return. Sure I was scared, but I was real angry too, angry won over scared right then.
Well, I did
what all of us
I love
Belle Isle. We learned in school that it is one of the ten best island parks in
the
I rode over the bridge looking both ways to make sure my dad’s car wasn’t in sight and turned down one of the middle avenues as soon as I could. The paths or ground was still too muddy at this time of year, so I stayed on the roads. The whole island was quiet and empty this early in the day. I had my choice of where I wanted to go. I wasn’t sure where would be best place to hide. I thought of going back into the woods behind the zoo. The zoo is closed down now but had a lot of paths and the woods, good places to hide or just hang out. As I rode past, I noticed that the trees were just now turning back to green so there wasn’t much brush back in the woods. Might make hiding out harder. What if a police car came by? Would he be able to see me? I didn’t know. That calls for thinking. So I decided to change my plans and go to the light house. The light house is far back from the paved road, the only dirt road leading to it is for the city workers. Just past the light house, if you follow the winding trail, there is an island that no one can get to except across a narrow path over the water. Certainly, no police car can get there.
So I rode past the Coast Guard Station and turned left onto the path to the light house. I wasn’t worried about the people who work there, I’ve never see them outside this time of year. I rode the half mile to light house and then kept going far behind it. I got down and walked my bike over the narrow lane that is at the tip of the island. I actually had to jump onto the island carrying my bike because the path was cut off by a few feet of water.
No one ever comes here, except kids. A few kids ran away and camped in the woods here last summer. I talked to them for a few. But at that time, my mom was still around and I was happy.
My legs were tired from all that riding so I parked my bike against a tree and sat in some tall weeds by the lake. I wasn’t feeling scared or angry any more, just numb. I knew I’d need to go back before night, but for now, I decided to sit and have a pleasant time. I wished I’d brought something to eat before I came so far back on the island. Nothing to eat, not even berries at this time of year, I guessed. That is if I knew which ones weren’t poison. I didn’t. I found a package of cinnamon gum in my pocket and chewed a piece while I watched the water. I threw a few stones and then got thirsty from the gum.
The edge of the lake was too muddy to stoop down and drink water, so I stepped over to the tip where there was a small culvert with water rushing like a water fall beneath. This water was clean and easy to get to. So I climbed over the rocks and down over the small dirt hill. The grass was skimpy which made the hill slippery where there weren’t rocks, so I tried to be careful where I stepped so I wouldn’t loose control.
One wrong step and that is exactly what happened. I lost control. My foot slipped of a rock, slid rolling in the mud and stones down the slope. My arms went waving and I tried to catch myself. But right then my foot slid into some deep crevice at the culvert edge and disappeared. I tried to jerk my foot out with my body out of balance body. That is when the rest of my body followed my foot into the long crevice where I landed out of this world. Actually, I fell out of time, or into it, still not sure which.
Suddenly, I was sitting inside a large round thing that looked like an antenna dish, beneath a ceiling of dark, gray rock. A really, strange, person, with no hair except on the side of his face and huge black eyes, stared at me from across the bowl’s edge. I guess, right then, my eyes were just as big with fright as his because the strange person was screaming. I was screaming too and the echoes coming from the antenna dish and all around the cavern made it sound like the whole place was caving in. At least ten more people came running to where I sat screaming.
Well, sort of people. They didn’t look like any kind of people I was used to or ever seen before. Yet, they were sort of human.. They all had the usual stuff, two eyes, a mouth, and two arms and legs, but they were different too, short, and squat, like people of middle earth, and their skin had weird colors.
We both stopped screaming and everyone started jabbering at once. Me included. “Where am I,” I kept saying. I didn’t know what they were saying. They were waving their short, skinny purple or green arms at me and nodding their bare green or blue heads. Those different colors was maybe the oddest part of the whole scene for me. For them, I guess the biggest surprise was that this young human from above sat inside their antenna dish. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I didn’t learn how wrong my presence made everything until later. Until, an older person, with a large mane of white hair, normal brown skin, and very tall form walked right though the small group of short people who were making a ruckus. He spoke one word. “Quiet.”
By this time, I was thrilled to hear someone speak a real word. I said, “Where am…”
“Quiet.” The tall man with white hair said as he looked at me with penetrating black eyes. He lifted his hand and pointed a finger at me and said for the third time, “Quiet.”
I shut up, and so did everyone else. I didn’t hear a sound.
The tall man spoke a few words to the group. They answered. Then he frowned and turned back to me and said, “You are?”
I felt a little shaky, but managed to say my name, “Dan, Dan Stoker.” By now, I was beginning to feel great relief at the sound of real English, but what really calmed me down was his full mange of white hair. It moved like a horse’s tail when ever he spoke. I mean, imagine me sitting there with a lot of short, bald heads nodding at me wearing different colored skins and odd clothing. It was out of this world weird. So when one old man, with long, white hair and normal human brown skin, wearing a nightgown, spoke my language, I felt like hugging him.
He motioned with his hands that I should come to him. Attracted by his understanding, I obeyed at once. I climbed out of the antenna bowl. It was big and not easy to get out of, but I did and then walked on unsteady feet to where he stood waiting. His gown was long and fell all the way to the stone floor. Did he just get out of bed? The other people had various garments hanging on their bodies, but I could see their stubby legs.
When I walked up to the old man with white hair, wearing his nightgown, he motioned me to follow him. We walked to a stone ledge carved from the rock.
“Sit,” he said.
I sat. Like most boys my age, I am still a robot when it comes to following orders from adults. He seemed to be the only sane adult in the cavern, in spite of the nightgown, so I looked to him for answers.
The other people came and gathered around, still mumbling. He motioned them away with his hands and most of them left, but a few lingered. Guess they were curious about me. I wasn’t as curious about them because I just wanted to climb out of here and go home.
I asked again, “Where am I.”
The old man just shook his head as if he were puzzled.
“Look, I’ll just leave. I mean, where’s the door?”
That was when one of the other people, a purple one, came running up with an object in his hand. When they showed it to the old man in the nightgown, he threw up his hands, as if in despair. Then he covered his face. I wondered if he was crying.
Finally, I asked in a low whisper, “Could someone tell me what is going on here?” I didn’t want to disturb him too much if he really was crying.
It seemed like a few minutes went by before the old man, took in a huge breath, and spoke. I kept watching his dark eyes blaze with sadness and his white hair move here and there as he talked.
“I am Shareen. The nozz is broken on the focuser.
When I looked puzzled. He added, “The stream runs wild. The direction has bent.”
“Couldn’t I just, ah, leave now?”
He sighed a big adult sigh like some of my teachers.
“Let me explain. The nozz can be repaired. The stream not.”
“What is this stream?”
“You.”
“Me?’
“Your world. Un-repairable.” With these words he shook his head and his dark eyes blinked as if we were describing a great horror. His hair almost stood up around his head.
“But, but, wait a minute,” I stammered.
He spread his hands out in a futile gesture. “Your life is with us now.”
Considering the problem I had at home, you’d think his words would please me, but they didn’t. I wanted normal. This wasn’t.
“I’ll just climb back into the bowl
then.” I went over to where the antenna bowl lay on the floor now, leaning
against a gray rock wall. I looked up. There was nothing on top of it except
more rock. Then where did I fall from? I looked around. I was inside a huge
cavern or cave. A salt cave? That seemed like a strong
possibility. I knew that
“So how do I climb out of here?” I asked no one in particular, as I studied the ceiling of the cave once more. I looked around for a door. All I saw a few dark openings far away on the other side of the cavern, but not close to where I stood. I looked back up at the ceiling, puzzled.
Still busy studying the situation, I startled when my arm was nudged by a soft hand. I looked over and there was a plate of green food held by a very pretty, blue girl with strands of white hanging down to her shoulders. I was stunned by her sky-blue beauty, and her huge dark eyes reminded me of Pudgy, my first puppy. I am a guy, I said to myself, so I guess if I had to be on an adventure, there might as well have a pretty girl in it. I smiled at her.
She stood next to me holding the plate of green, slimy, solid stuff, but wouldn’t smile back until I gave in and took the plate from her.
“ Eat.” She said. She also motioned with her hands from plate to mouth that I should eat it. I did. It wasn’t bad. Sort of like spinach and peas and green beans all mixed in together. I didn’t gag. I thought that was very polite of me.
As I ate with my fingers, I followed her back to where the old man wearing the nightgown still sat. I split my awareness between her walking and the plate of food I carried. By her shape I knew that she was around the same age as me. Her skin was like the sky walking. Her mouth was a deeper blue and there was a blue tinge around her eyes. Her silver hair seemed so right and young. She wore a top shirt and knee pants that was one piece and the same color as her skin. The top wrapped around her neck in dark folds. The girls at school were drab compared to this beauty. When I wasn’t chewing food, I looked at her with my mouth open.
When I was finished eating, I stood there holding the plate not knowing what to do. She gently took the plate out of my hands and left. I felt like I’d lost something at her absence. Is this what first love is like?
The old man, Shareen, pointed to the girl who was walking away with the empty plate. He said, “Mareena, A student of the old language. My understudy.”
I nodded my understanding. “I still need to know how to get out of here. Am I in a salt mine?”
“I must explain.” Shareen said. “It will not be easy. True, you are in a salt mine. But one that exists in another time. By coming here, you have damaged your own time badly. It stayed together until you come here.”
“Hey, man. I am not as stupid as I like to let on, but what you just said doesn’t make sense.”
Then I will tell you the truth straight out. You world is gone. It ended. It no longer exists as you know it.
“I just left it, what? A half hour ago, an hour?”
The old man stood up and began to pace as he talked. “Haakle had been making adjustments to the focuser when you stepped into it. You broke the center nozz. The focuser and nozz is what we use to move the time stream forwards. Now that it is broken, we can no longer hold on to it.”
“I never heard of holding on to time before.”
“We have been doing so for many years.”
Shareen sighed and sat down on the ledge once more. “Our effort is destroyed now.”
“Well, I am sorry. I apologize for my clumsiness. I’ll just go home now if you’ll show me where the door is.”
“Please try to understand, the door is time. I must somehow find a way to fix the nozz and re-do the focuser and find a new door. You must leave, move away. I need to think.” With those words, he shooed me away from him. He said again, “Go.”
So I went. I went looking for the pretty girl, Mareena. I walked to where I saw her enter an opening in the side of the huge cavern, and followed. It was dark but not black dark. A number of people were inside doing odd activities. A big whisper went around as I entered. Looking for Mareena, I checked the dimness for blue skin, but found every color but blue. A man with big muscles came up to me and began to speak. I didn’t know what he was saying. Finally, he motioned that I should join his group.
I shrugged and stood next to him. The group was standing around a large bowl sitting on the floor. It looked like it had been carved out of the rock. It was filled with black liquid. As I stood there looking at the liquid with the other people, Mareena came and stood next to me. She smiled and I smiled back. She pointed to the liquid, so I looked.
She said, “Water.”
I nodded that I understood. It sort of looked like water. Then picture formed in the water. It wasn’t a happy picture. I saw buildings broken, some person in rags was running, fire was glowing in different areas, and a freeway looked twisted into the sky at odd angles. Was this the world they came from, I wondered, broken and horrible.
“No, Mareena told me when I asked. “It is your world.
"That's impossible." I said, after I caught my breath, "I just came from there."
"That is what must be explained. It is one reason why you can't go back."
"Well, I intend to go back." I said with force, “If I can figure out a way.” I didn’t believe her for a minute.
"Come sit, I will teach you."
"And how come you can speak such good English?"
"Shareen speaks through me, but I am learning quick."
When I put my hands up as if to give in, she added, "He thinks you look at me nice. It will be better if I speak."
She led me to another seat carved out of stone or salt. I was ready to go home, but I admit I wanted an explanation first. These people were strange and I wanted to know what they were doing here beneath Belle Isle.
So the story came out like this: These people were from a later time on earth than I was. My world was almost destroyed in 1998. I guess it was destroyed in 1998 as far as civilization goes. Nuclear bombs went everywhere and then sickness and then riots and rot. It was very bad. These people were the survivors of that disaster we put on the world. They were dying out so badly that they thought the human race would be gone soon.
Then some genius mind discovered a way to see into the past. The person could focus on any point. Then the person taught other people. Then the people figured out how to do this as a group. They wanted to do this to escape the horrors of their own time. Then one day, they learned that if they focused peaceful thoughts, it changed the world of the past a little.
Then someone got a bright idea that they could change what happened if the tried hard enough. So that is what they did. They used a crystal nozz and set it into a focuser that helped their minds become more powerful.
So far, they had moved the dial up from 1998 to the present time, ten plus years later. Their hope was to keep moving the dial of peacefulness up to their own time. Their people, above this cavern were starving and almost gone. The cream of the best people were sent here to make this experiment work. They were saving the world when I fell and broke their plans. So I messed up the nozz and the focuser and killed the whole world.
What a bummer. I mean, I didn't want the death of the whole world sitting on my shoulders. I felt like crying, and might have, but men don't cry.
"I don't understand exactly," I said finally. "I was around in 1998. Everything was ok and still is."
"It is we who make it so. We must continue, but we don't know how."
"So my parents are really gone and my house and my school and everything?"
"Yes." Mareena who had been sitting next to me began to cry. As her shoulders shook, I saw that she was too thin and now looked tired. I put my arms around her to comfort her. Actually, if I'd have gotten past the shock, I'd have cried too. But right then, I was still riding high on adrenalin and the feeling that these people might be wrong, must be wrong. As the truth sank in deeper, I think the shock of what happened forced me to grow up and finally become a man. A scared one.
We sat there for a while and then we joined the others who were sitting back in the main cavern. A fire was blazing and everyone was eating. I had no choice but to join them, but I kept thinking all the time about how I could escape this madness.
Old Shareen sat apart from the fire, thinking alone, while the others and I ate more of the green stuff. I guess he wanted me gone as much as I wanted to go because he finally jumped up and shouted.
"You, my boy, must fix it. And I have figured out how."
Shareen said, "We must put you back before you fell and broke the nozz and focuser. Are you willing?"
"Well, sure." I said quickly.
"But we can only do it for a moment. One little moment. We don't have the power to do any thing more."
I didn't know what he meant by a little moment and asked. "You mean I can only go back for a minute? And not forever?"
"Sit, sit sit. I must explain."
I walked to the ledge where he sat and was pleased that Mareen followed and sat next to me.
Old Shareen, his eyes bright with hope now, stood up and began to wave his arms as he spoke, "Oh, yes. Mareen will go with you."
I think I smiled by this time. The idea pleased me.
"No, no, not as a real person,” the old man said, as if he’d read my mind. “Her mind, her mind will go with you."
Well, I felt flamboozled by then and just waited for an explanation. What else could I do?"
"You must tell me everything you did before you came here."
Well that was easy, so I began and told how I got angry at my dad and why I wanted to skip school and all the stuff about getting my bike.
By the end of my story, Shareen, was twirling his long white hair again and again and nodding his head up and down.
"Yes, yes. What must be done is turn back your emotions. We will try the easiest route first."
I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but I asked anyway, "What is this easiest route?"
"We will attempt to put you back to the surface with happy thoughts so you will not need that drink of water. Then you will not fall into the crevice."
"I guess." I shrugged. “Just show me where to climb up.”
"It all must be acted out perfectly by Haakel who was adjusting the focuser and by you until the moment you will change your mind."
"I mean, isn't that kind of easy? I don’t mean putting me back, but me changing my mind?"
"No, you won't remember. How can you remember something that hasn't happened yet?"
"That made sense, sort of."
"Come," Shareen motioned to me and Mareena to follow. He also called another person out of the group. I figured it was the first person I saw when I fell in. Shareen whispered to the person who nodded.
"Mareena, you have a young, agile mind and body, mine isn't so capable any more, so it must by you who goes with young Dan."
"I thought just her mind was going?"
"Yes, only her mind will be with you unless you need her. She may be able to offer more help you if you get into trouble."
"Why would I get into trouble?"
"It is a different world out there than you are used to. It will change back if we can undo your fall."
"Hey, man, I am willing to give it a try."
A large group of them came and circled me and Mareena. Then suddenly I was back. Back someplace that didn't make any sense at all. My throat was choking and I began coughing as soon as I tried to stand up. The air was black as if something had been burning where I was standing. I began screaming because I thought I was on fire. I fell to my knees in agony. Someone was speaking to me in my head. A female. She was telling me to get up, but I didn't want to get up.
Finally, I was able to crawl on my hands and knees to a small stream. I reached down to get a drink of water to sooth out my burnt throat and fell right into a hole or something.
There I was back again, sitting in the antenna dish staring at the same person as before. I knew this now because I remembered being here before, now that I was back. Hey, how is that for crazy.
Shareen came to me after I climbed out of the dish shaking his head.
"Guess it didn't work. Oh, man, that was some scene up there. I thought I was gonna get cooked."
Old Shareen looked over at Mareena and asked her for an explanation.
"There was a fire at the spot where Daniel was put back. He was standing on it until he moved to the water."
"Then I am not sure what else to do. Unless we do it the hard way."
"Wait a minute, you mean that was the easy way?"
"I am afraid so."
"Tell me, how did you feel while up there?'
"Scared I was gonna cook."
"Emotions, young man, what did you have in your emotions?"
"I just told you. Fear."
"What about anger?"
"Oh, yah, I was feeling real angry."
"That is what I thought. Rest, we must take the other course of action, now. Rest up."
Mareena and I went over to the circle near the fire. One beautiful pink person, and I mean candy pink, was singing a soft song that seemed to make the flames rise and fall. It swayed with the fire. I was mesmerized by the song and glow. So when Shareen came to get me and Mareena, I was startled out of my daydream of chasing Gloria around in gym class.
"Come we are ready. This time you will begin much earlier in your day. There is one huge problem though."
"Sure, there is always a problem."
"We don't have the power to protect you for such a long period."
"I am not sure you protected me for a short one."
"We did. You did not get burned."
"Yah, guess I didn't."
"Next time you just might. Here is what must happen."
Shareen explained that they would send me back to the morning before I left for school. Mareena would speak to me and try to prevent my anger. It was my anger that caused me to skip school and then go to Belle Isle. That is what they hoped to prevent. But they had to send me back as the world was now, not as it was before. The thing I must do is get into the same position as I was in when I left the house. Maybe in bed, but they were afraid there won't be any bed for me to find or get into. Most of all, I had to get into the same spot as before I left for school. Then I needed to change my mind about skipping, or change my mind about going to Belle Isle.
It didn't seem too hard to do except I won't remember anything once they switch back time. They can only do it for a short time. Then it will revert back into hell again unless I don't fall into their antenna.
"It
will be very hard to get back home." Shareen
said.
"I only live fifteen
minutes from here."
"Not this time."
I wasn't sure what he meant until later. It was the longest fifteen minutes getting somewhere I'd ever spent in my life.
At least this time, when I stood back on the surface in my own time, I wasn’t standing in fire. But it was almost as bad. The sky was dark gray and the trees were burnt across the island. My bike was still there but burnt up real bad. I wondered if I could use it, it didn’t have any tires. They must have burnt in a fire. It looked like everything had, as far as I could see. The water looked ok though but I didn’t have a boat. That brought to mind the bridge I rode over to get to the island. What if it was gone too?
I shuddered as I looked around. I picked up my burnt and blistered bike and saw that the chain was still there. I sat on it and it moved. Should I take it or walk. I didn’t know so I decided to take the bike back with me. Right then, a voice in my head said, “It might be a good idea. It might help you go faster.” Why do I need to go faster? I asked the voice. Then I saw a ghostly image of Mareena standing next to me. “Because someone is coming.”
I looked and there were two ragged men coming towards me. They didn’t look like my kind of people, they were rough looking and one was carrying a huge stick. Without checking their intent further, I took off riding on that old tin bike. The chain really needed to be oiled but the bike went. I was surprised. It helped me out run those two men. One of them was swinging the huge stick at me and it hit the back of the bike but not me. I rode like heck, I can tell you.
I mean, here I am a normal, average boy, used to all the good stuff, except the new computer I wanted and didn’t get, and I need to out run some ruffians that I might read about in Treasure Island or something. This is crazy. But by now, with Mareena running by my side, and the world turned up-side-down, I couldn’t help but believe the truth. The world had turned into hell, and it was up to me to un-hell it.
Determined I kept riding through the island through and around burnt trees until I came to the bridge. To my relief, it was still standing. But it was also wide open to the sky and anyone who looked in that direction. I would be a sitting duck as I crossed that bridge. But I had no choice. I ran for it, riding that clanging, tin-can bike as fast as my legs would pump.
I made it to the other side with a sigh of relief and dove, bike and all, behind the empty building that used to be Big Boy. The steel fence was still up and I felt comforted by it for a minute. The whole scene was dead, burnt, or decaying. I’ve seen pictures of war zones, but this seemed more dirty and broken. Could it be worse?
I got off the bike and sat down on a curb to take a quick rest. Mareen stood guard and watched for stray people. It turned out that what she needed to watch out for wasn’t people.
As I sat there, a dog popped its head out of the building. I didn’t think too much about this. I like dogs. My own dog died a year ago. This one was black with white spots. The next dog was an ugly brown pit bull, and the next was a short mongrel. I didn’t wait to see what the others looked like.
As they ran
for me, they growled and barked. One, the leader, got hold of my jeans pocket
and tore it right off the jeans. Hard to do with thick
I hoped back on that bike so fast no one would believe it and started pumping. Without tires, the bike wasn’t as fast as it should have been, but I pumped iron and pulled away from that pack of wild dogs. Even back when the world was still normal, a pack of loose wild dogs were dangerous, but they couldn’t outrun a bike.
I rode far
and fast down Jefferson, or what used to be
Finally, I had to stop and take a breath. The dogs had given up way back when I biked my way out of their territory. Now all I had to do was find my way home. I wasn’t sure if I could. It all looked too crazy. Instead of street signs, all I could see were only naked poles.
Finally, I
came to where I thought
From what I could see from where I stood, that wouldn't be a problem as to direction. The big problem was there weren’t enough trees or standing buildings to hide in if I saw trouble coming. I felt like I was in some kind of wide open territory out west or something. A west without mountains.
I mean, what happened here to level so many buildings and houses. Would my house still be standing? I had no idea. A lot of houses were gone as far as my eye could see and I could see pretty far, scary.
[need to figure out what season he is in? spring ok, so trees are still bare]
I got back on the bike and began peddling again, more slow this time. I crossed Vernor and Kerchieval with out incident. No people were around. It was like dead man's land. In my circumstances, that was fine by me. So I kept going until I got to Mack.
Here were buildings, burnt but still standing, and I got off the bike and walked very slow around them. Some were broken and the bricks fallen into the street. I remembered one was once a city recreation center. Now it had fallen into a half block of rubble. I kept walking past burnt out houses until I came to Gratiot, a wide street I would need to cross. So I slowed down but even here there was so much rubble scattered across the street that there were a few hiding places.
One place was a tall stand of bricks higher than I was in the middle of the street. Strange. I was moving slowly around the stand when I heard someone whisper my name in a hissing voice. I turned quickly and saw a young boy of about five. He was crouched amid the rubble and looked like he was ready to sprint away in a fast run, but I recognized him and called his name just in time. "Terrence?" Terrence is young boy about five years old who lives down the street from me. Well, that other street in another time that is nice. His friends call him Terry, so that's what I called him as he stood up.
"Terry, is that you?"
"Shush. Black Bird is near by. If he sees me, I am dead."
"Oh," is all I said as I crouched down next to him. By now I was ready to believe anything, even that a black bird could kill. "A bird is out to get you?"
"Stupid. Black Bird, you know. He has a gun."
I finally understood and wondered how bullets could still work after so long. That tells you what I know about guns and bullets and time. Nothing.
Terry
looked to be starved. He was certainly dirty. His hair looked like it had never
been washed in his life. I gave him the hunk of bread I had in my pocket. His
hands shook as he grabbed the bread, hesitated then broke off a third put the
largest piece into his pocket. His eyes almost popped out when he looked at
that bread. I have never seen anyone so hungry in my life and I watched the
news show the draught in
All I said was, "Yes, put some in your pocket for later."
"It ain't for later," he said, "It's for mom and Julie. Julie is real sick."
Then stupid me said, "Sick with what? What did the doctor say?"
Terry looked at me like I was crazy or something. I guess I felt crazy about then. I wanted to get home and make that change, real quick so Julie wouldn't be sick and Terry could take a shower. Never thought how privileged I was to be able to take a shower every morning and even at night if I wanted. I looked hard at Terry. What was he doing alive then, if things were so bad. He's just a little kid.
"I got
to go." I told him. I began to walk away to continue my way down
"Where's your gang? Why you going alone?" he asked.
This stopped me. A good question. What if I was to meet up with some gang. I'd never make it home. I didn't even know what gang he thought I belonged to. Maybe I need this kid.
So I said, "Hey, I got something I need to do. If you help me, I can get you a lot of food."
"Aw, where you going to get lots of food."
"I have a whole cupboard full. Promise. But I need you to help me keep a look out."
He agreed
so we continued together down
At Mareen's sudden appearance, Terry jumped back and ran for a short distance. Then she was gone once more so he stood looking at me. But I motioned for him to hide. Someplace. I didn’t see many places to hide right at this spot. Terry went down on his knees and slid a metal lid off a sewer hole, then went in. I knelt above it, but cringed. I didn't know if I could go down into that dirty hole. Finally, Terry called up. Hurry. So I did hurry.
I think I jumped down just in time. We heard voices talking and laughing. But I heard squeaking from out of the dark recess that was even closer. When the voices moved on, the squeaking didn’t.
I stood knee deep in slime and rigid with fright. Fear caught me up so badly, I was shaking. I opened my mouth to scream, but at the thought of all the nasty germs that would go into my throat, I shut it again. Besides that, Terry put his dirty hand over my mouth and I couldn’t scream if I wanted to.
We stood for a long time. When I opened my eyes again I saw the rats swimming around our legs in the swirling water and closed them too. Finally, Mareen whispered into my ear that the road was clear. I opened my eyes and saw Terry begin to climb up the ladder before me. I felt so frightened I almost pushed him away so I could go first. But I didn’t. I grit my teeth together and stood behind him. Just as my foot was on the first rung of the ladder, a huge black rat bumped into me and looked up, as if noticing the company for the first time. I scrambled up those rungs so fast my head spun.
When we got into the breathable air again, Terry said to me in a loud whisper, “What’s the matter with you? You ain’t never seen a rat before?”
What could I say? The truth. No I have never seen a rat before, not out of a picture book and especially not swimming around my legs. But he didn’t know I came from a better time. A place and time where people didn’t go into sewers and hide with rats. A place without danger, at least in my old simple, boring neighborhood. Man, how I wished for some of that boredom right how.
It was then that Mareen appeared and spoke to me again. “You must get home as soon as possible.”
I couldn’t agree with her more. “Yah, lets go.”
“Where you going?” Terry asked.
“Home. I got something very important to do.
“Where’s home? You found something new?”
“Yes,” was all I told him as I hurried forward.
He followed at a fast pace but kept turning around all the time as to keep a good watch out for Black Bird.
Finally, we got to Farnsworth. I might not have known if the sign hadn’t been still hanging on the pole, crooked. When I looked at Terry, he didn’t think anything of it, as if he’d never lived around here. That was scary and I was determined to change that as soon as possible.
I began to run, but it wasn’t easy. Half of the homes that used to line the street and most of the tall trees was gone. I hoped the big fat tree near my house was still there because how else was I to know if I was at the right spot. It all looked changed. All that was left was what looked like temporary shacks and piles of debris.
I ran harder. I thought I could see the tree up ahead. It was the wrong thing to do, run, in this age of suspicion and want.
I felt myself grabbed from behind by a huge hand and then I was smashed to the ground so close to my tree I could smell its new leaves. Even with the heavy foot on my back I began to crawl as if I could squeeze from beneath it. Then I got kicked in the side real hard before someone grabbed my hair and pulled me up to a standing positon.
I was so close to where I needed to go my anger flared up into a bomb and I started kicking and screaming and thrashing my arms. I think I began to look like a madman to this rough, skinny man. He had one eye covered with a red rag and his hand were black as coal.
I saw Terry lifted up off the ground by another hand. He was kicking.
The man holding Terry said with a smirk, “What we gonna do with these bugs, Black Bird? Eat them?”
I saw Terry go quiet at the man’s words.
“Maybe shoot the little feffers. After we find out what they think they have to run to. Maybe a stash somewhere?”
He pulled out a shinny black gun and twirled it around his finger. I saw the sunlight twinkle on its metal skin where notches looked to be cut in exes, a long line of them down the barrel of the gun. Right this minute, it looked like I was going to become one of those exes.
At this point, Mareen showed herself. She went up to Black Bird who dropped me like a sack of potatoes and twitched his nose. I thought he was gonna pee his pants he looked so scared. Oh, she took his gun out of his hand, too. He turned and ran with his friend right behind him. I guess his toughness wasn’t big enough for a ghost who could do things. I would have laughed, but right then, it was time to get home.
I grabbed Terry and pulled him up the broken sidewalk, past the pile of boards that used to me my house. Surprisingly, half the garage was still standing. Figure that one out. The cement was there where my bike would have been.
I let go of Terry and stood on that cement slab and felt sick in my stomach as if I were back home, but I wasn’t yet. Not yet.
While Terry stood and watched, I pretended to pick up my bike just like this morning, was it only this morning, when I came back to sneak away. Only this time my dad didn’t come out of the house to yell at me. I sure wish I would have. A little yelling would feel good right now.
Mareen stood next to me.
“Tell me when you are at the exact spot. I will call Shareen. Everyone will join their minds together to bring you back to the exact time.”
“Hope this works.”
Mareen nodded with a worried look on her face. She wasn’t sure either.
Terry watched her fascinated. I guess in his strange young world it was just one more odd event to shrug off. But he said in a quiet voice as if he didn’t want to be over heard, “Hey, where’s that stash you told me about? You know, that food.”
“Coming right up,” I said. And walked my bike to the cement path that used to lead from the house to the garage. I stopped and stood for a short moment, double checking my position.
“Here, I think I was standing right here.” I added real quick, “Good by, I think. Thank you”
Mareen smiled this time and closed her eyes.
Suddenly my dad was standing next to me and my bike and made a grab for it. I looked at his old hung over face and could have kissed his unshaven beard right then. I let my bike go and did just that. He was surprised, that’s for sure.
Just then Terry walked up to where I stood next to my dad and said, “Hey, dude. What’s up?”
“Why aren’t you both in school?” My dad said. His arm was still around my shoulders and I felt proud.
“No school today. Tests remember. Mine aren’t scheduled till tomorrow. Yours too?”
I laughed and laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
I just shook my head because I couldn’t stop laughing.
Finally, dad said, “Well looks like we have a threesome for fishing. Danny you and Terry grab the poles out of the garage. I’ll go pack us a lunch.
“Wow, great.” Terry yelled.
I nodded, “Yah, great, but…” I called out to my dad as he walked back into the house. “…let's not go to Belle Isle today. Can we go someplace different for a change?”
“Sure son. How
about
“Yeah, sounds great.” And it did.