Later that night, James was in bed and read one of his World War two books he bought earlier. By his side was Diana's family album.
Teri entered in her nightgown with her Girl Of My Dreams book in hand.
She got in bed and eyed the photo album and the book in James' hand.
"Why the sudden interest in your real grandfather and World War two?" she said while she slipped under the covers.
"I don't know. That old man at the airshow sparked my interest for some reason," James said while he picked up Carl's military papers and scanned over them.
"He seemed like a nice old man," she replied.
"He said all the men really respected my Grandfather Ben."
"It's too bad we never got the chance to know him," Teri said.
"It appears that since he was shot down, that derailed his chances on getting the Medal of Honor and being classified as an ace pilot," James told her.
"That's a shame," Teri responded while she started reading her book.
James opened up Diana's family album and looked at the picture of Carl and Ben by the Corsair in the South Pacific.
James flipped through some pages of this World War II book and found a picture of Engebi.
"That airstrip Grandpa Ben and Carl were stationed at didn't look like paradise," he said then leaned over and showed Teri the picture.
She looked at the picture. "War wasn't supposed to be paradise. War was supposed to be hell," she commented then returned to her book.
James looked back at the picture of Ben and Carl in front of the Corsair on Engebi, and he seemed determined.
It was Tuesday morning, and James was back at work. He had tons of stuff to complete before Carl returned home, but he was too busy reading his World War II books.
His phone on his desk rang. "James Eastman," he answered while he read a page.
"James, it me grandpa," Carl said from the phone.
"How's the conference going?" James asked then flipped the page of his book.
"It's going good. I was wondering if they started tearing down the Bannister house?" Carl asked.
James thought for a few seconds to come up with a viable excuse. "No, they're having some equipment problems and should get started in a couple of days," James lied.
"A couple of days. I guess I can live with that," Carl said.
"I'll stay on top of it," James promised.
"Sounds good," Carl replied, then there was a moment of silence. "Oh yeah, your grandmother told me you came over, and she showed you some pictures of Ben, and then you borrowed my old uniform. Why?" Carl asked a little bothered.
"I thought I would wear it to our office Halloween party since Henry got me curious about him," James replied.
"Okay. Now, don't forget to keep an eye on the Bannister demolition. We need to move on that apartment building," Carl ordered.
"I will," James replied, then hung up the phone.
He went back to reading his books and jotted down some notes while he scanned through Carl's military papers.
He opened up his book on the United States Marines Corps and looked at some pages about El Toro.
Later that day, James left his office and got in his Mustang.
He drove his car over to Teri's office. He parked and went inside her shop.
James saw Teri while she worked at her computer.
"Ready to go home?" James asked while he walked up to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"Give me a few minutes," she replied while she finished with the graphic design for a website for an attorney's office. "Oh, that envelope on my desk is for you," she added.
James walked over and picked up the envelope. He opened it up and removed a military ID card for a 1st Lieutenant Trevor Walker with a black and white photo of James. The ID card stated he was born on June 28, 1919. It looked real, and that made him very happy. Then he removed to rest of the items and saw orders to El Toro for 1st Lieutenant Trevor Walker.
"Great job, baby! They look so real," James said.
He walked over and gave her a kiss while she turned off her computer.
"You're the best!" he said while he offered his hand to assist her out of her chair.
"I know," she said with a smile while she got up from her chair.
James felt his plan was falling into place while he walked Teri to the door, and they left her office.
It was a quiet ride home as James ran his plan through his mind over and over again. Teri closed her eyes and enjoyed the quiet as she had a busy day working on her computer.
After dinner, Teri wanted to soak in the tub for a little while.
James went inside his bedroom and removed all the insignia off Ben's uniform. He shoved them in his pants pocket.
He left the bedroom with the uniform, cap, and the envelope.
He walked to the bathroom where Teri soaked in the tub and continued to read her book.
"I'm taking the uniform to the cleaners and then I'm going to stop by the hangar for a few seconds. I'll be right back," James said.
"Okay," Teri said from the tub.
James left the house with the uniform, cap, and envelope.
After dropping the uniform off at the 1-Hour cleaners, he then drove to the hangar at the Santa Barbara airport.
He went into the hangar and looked at the Corsair.
"It was May 11 nineteen forty-one, and we were sent on a mission to escort some B twenty-fives," Henry's voice replayed in James' head while he walked around the Corsair.
James climbed up inside the plane and sat down in the front seat. He looked the console over and ran the flight procedures through his mind.
He reached down and grabbed the checklist.
He studied and tried to memorize the checklist.
He spent the next ten minutes and ran through the checklist in a pretend mode that he was flying.
He grabbed the checklist and got out of the plane.
He climbed down the plane and walked out of the hangar.
Later that night, James and Teri relaxed in bed. She read her Girl Of My Dreams book while James stared at the ceiling.
Should I go to this? James thought to himself. Am I nuts?
James tossed and turned all night while he tried to sleep.
It was Wednesday morning, and James reported to his office. He sipped on his morning coffee at his desk while he looked at his fake USMC Marine ID card that Teri made for him. Then he looked at this fraudulent orders for El Toro.
He placed them back in the envelope and dropped it in his desk drawer. He got up and walked over to the window with his cup of coffee.
While he stared out the window, and he wondered if he should continue with his plan.
No. He thought to himself, then walked back to his desk.
Fifteen minutes passed, and James couldn't stop thinking about Ben. He opened up his desk drawer and removed the items, including the checklist for the Corsair.
James then opened up a Word file and looked at the checklist. He started typing the checklist into the Word file to help him become proficient with the plane.
An hour later, he printed out the checklist and reviewed it.
Perfect! He said to himself while he folded it and shoved it in his pants pocket.
He got up and walked to his desk. Then his cell phone rang from his belt. He looked at the viewfinder and saw Teri was the caller. "Hey, honey," he answered.
"Listen, can you leave work early and pick me up at two-thirty?" Teri asked from his cell phone.
"Sure," he replied.
"Good, I have an appointment with Gail for my hair, and she said she can squeeze you in also," Teri said.
"Okay, I'll be there," he said, then disconnected his call.
He rushed out of his office before he changed his mind.
James rushed through the office area.
He walked by Carl's office where Mindy worked at her desk.
"I'm going out to run some errands," he told Mindy while he rushed away.
She looked up from her work and could care less.
Five minutes later, her desk phone rang. "Eastman Construction, how may I help you," she answered.
"Mindy, this is Carl, I tried calling James' office, and he didn't answer," he said from her phone.
"James just stepped out to run some errands," she told him.
"Oh, then leave him a message. Tell him that I called Stan from the demolition company and they agreed to start tearing down the Bannister house later this afternoon," Carl told her over the phone.
"Got it," Mindy said while she wrote down his instructions.
"I'll call to get the power turned off," Carl added.
"I'll leave the message on his desk," Mindy said.
"Thanks. And I should be back in the office tomorrow," Carl replied.
"Have a safe flight home," she said, then hung up.
She got up from her desk and walked down to James' office.
James picked up his uniform from the cleaners, and it looked great.
Then he drove to a coin shop and purchased some cash from the 1930s and 1940s. He hoped this was enough to achieve his objective with Bud Sewickley. But then he also had 300 dollars of present-day money and figure by the time Bud discovered it, he would have been long gone.
He drove to Memphis Avenue and parked his car out in front of the Bannister house. He removed Ben's insignia from his glove box and placed them on the uniform. He grabbed the uniform, cap, and envelope. He removed his wallet and put it in the glove box.
He got out of his car and made sure it was locked.
He rushed, with all the items, across the front yard to the front door.
He went inside the house and rushed through the living room and went into the kitchen. He opened the basement door and went down the stairs to the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, James quickly undressed and got dressed in the uniform. He opened up the envelope and removed the ID card and shoved it in his shirt pocket.
He removed his orders and shoved them in his other shirt pocket.
He removed his Corsair checklist and shoved them in his shirt pocket with his ID card.
He removed that small flashlight from his pants pocket.
He left his clothes in a pile at the base of the stairs and grabbed his hat. He ran to the hole in the drywall. He turned on the flashlight.
He went through the hole and entered the small room.
He plugged the electrical cord of the time machine to the wall outlet.
He rushed over to the door of the time machine and opened it up and went inside.
He sat down in the seat and illuminated the console with his flashlight.
He presses the "Power" button. The console lit up. On the counter, James dialed in "April 12, 1944, 7:00 a.m.," and nothing happened. James pressed some buttons, and nothing happened. James looked around the console for then he saw an ignition without a key.
James thought for a second, then his eyes widened with an idea.
He rushed out of the time machine.
He went back out the hole and ran over to the stairs.
He ran up the stairs.
He ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the den.
The floor creaked while he ran into the den.
He ran over to one of the bookcases where all the time travel books were kept.
He removed a time travel book and scanned through the pages and found nothing. He dropped the book to the floor.
He removed another book and scanned through the pages and found nothing. He dropped the book to the floor.
He removed another book and scanned through the pages. Then he saw something of interest and went back to a page. Written in pencil at the top of the page was "1-9-16-20-25."
"Must be the combination to a safe," James said then he looked around the room and didn't find a safe.
James looked curious at the shelf. He slid the rest of the books off the shelf, and they dropped to the floor. He was nothing of interest on that shelf.
He then slid all the books on the shelf below, and they dropped to the floor. He saw a safe built in the wall.
He dialed in the numbers from the book and the safe opened. James peeked inside the safe and saw a small old leather attaché. He removed the attaché and open it up, and inside, he saw a folded piece of paper.
He opened up the paper and saw it was handwritten instructions for operating the time machine. He shoved the paper in his pants pocket.
He reached back in the attaché and removed four bundles of cash. The first bundle was marked with the years "1850 – 1870." The second bundle was marked with the years "1880 – 1900." The third bundle was marked with the years "1900 – 1920, and the fourth bundle was marked with the years "1930 – 1940."
"This will ensure my plan will work," James said while he kissed the bundle. He shoved the bundle marked with the years "1930 – 1940" in his pants pocket. He dropped the other bundles on the floor and figured he come back for them later.
He reached back in the attaché and removed numerous pictures. One was of Lloyd, twenty-five years old, in a Civil War battle at Gettysburg. There was another picture of Lloyd, thirty years old, while he stood in Tombstone during 1881. James looked and swore Wyatt Earp stood in the background twenty feet behind Lloyd. He scanned through the other pictures that showed Lloyd at different ages and different periods he time traveled.
He reached in the attaché and removed a "What Really Happened in History by Lloyd Bannister" manuscript. He flipped through some of the six hundred-page manuscript and realized the reason Lloyd built the time machine.
He reached back in the attaché and removed two keys on a key chain. He smiled and removed one of the keys and shoved it in his pants pocket. He dropped the other key back into the attaché. He dropped the manuscript and attaché to the floor and ran out of the den.
He ran down the hallway to the kitchen.
Then he ran down the stairs to the basement.
He ran to the hole and went inside the small room.
He ran to the time machine and got inside. He slammed the door shut.
The console was still illuminated. James removed the instructions from his pocket along with the key.
He read the instructions and turned knobs, pushed buttons, flipped switches. He stuck the key into the ignition and turned the key.
He heard a whine and the machine shook a little. He tucked the time machine instructions under the seat. The whining got louder, and the machine shook a little more violently. This spinning sensation filled his entire body.
Then beautiful psychedelic colors illuminated from the windows. James loved the sight, but then he got a strange sensation. He experienced extreme pain throughout his body. He screamed and passed out. The psychedelic lights dissipated, and the shaking stopped.