A Shortcut in Time (Jerry eBooks) by Charles Dickinson

Author:Charles Dickinson [Dickinson, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2018-01-21T05:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

We were home before Constance spoke.

“Does that mean I die in that house?”

Three cars were parked in Flo’s lot and Penny’s bike was propped against the wall of the garage. Short of an actual sighting, this was sufficiently tangible evidence of her safe return.

“When he saw you—if he saw you—on the stairs, you hadn’t gone into the future yet,” I said. “So at the time he saw you—you had died in the past. But that’s changed now.”

“I’m older than he is,” she said. “Can you believe it?”

“Maybe it was better that you came into the future,” I said. “Maybe you did die in that house.”

“No doubt I married Dash and died peacefully of old age in the bed we shared for fifty years,” she said defiantly.

“No doubt,” I said.

“But do people who die happy leave behind a ghost?”

I had to laugh. “I don’t know the ground rules for becoming a ghost. I don’t even believe in ghosts.”

“But he saw me.”

“He says he saw you. Maybe he did. I am totally without explanations. You should talk to Flo. She can give you a million reasons why none of this is happening.” I remembered something from earlier. “When you were at your mother’s grave—was your grave there, too?” She was quiet a minute. Then she said, “My parents’ were. Mine wasn’t. It hadn’t occurred to me until just now.”

“I think that’s good news,” I said. “For your return, I mean. If you stayed vanished—your parents would bury you or their memory of you with them.”

“My parents are alive.”

“In 1908. Not now. The fact you aren’t with them means—to me—that you got back, grew up, married, and are buried somewhere with your family.”

“Or else haunting that old house,” she said. “What am I going to do about money?”

“Can you travel through time carrying money?” I laughed. “Can you take it with you?”

“Why is that funny?”

“An old expression: You can’t take it with you. Money to heaven.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I think that you should have faith that you’re going back—and so you don’t need money in this life.”

“I tried to go back,” she said sheepishly.

I was shocked. “When?”

“Last night. During the storm.”

“What happened?”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Nothing,” she said. “I got wet.”

I began to pace. “How did I miss this storm?”

“The air felt like it did when Dash and I were in the orchard,” she said. “Like something was about to happen. So I hurried over there—to the place where I arrived. I ran myself ragged. And here I am. Still.” She wiped her face with the heel of her hands.

“Did you see anyone else?”

Constance shook her head.

“Kids are on the perp walk day and night trying to travel through time,” I said. “The girl who disappeared last night—she was trying, too.”

“Maybe she’s with Dash now,” Constance said. She grasped the perp walk fence with both hands. “Where exactly was she? The missing girl?”

“West of here.”

“Maybe they are very precise locations,” she said. “And if you miss them by even a little—you miss them entirely.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.