The sun rose on Tuesday, May 21, 1935, for the start of another day again.
Lizzie woke up before the sun peeked above the horizon.
She immediately went inside her kitchen and started sizzling bacon on a skillet on the potbelly stove. They had plenty of bacon since they owned a couple of pigs, and eggs were also plentiful since they also had a chicken coup.
The living room of their cabin had Dirk and his gang scattered all over the floor.
Dirk made sure Clark slept with arms reach of him as insurance.
The smell of bacon sizzling in the skillet on the potbelly stove filled the air of the living room.
Everybody started to wake up due to the smell of bacon, filling the air.
“Good morning,” said Lizzie from the potbelly stove when she saw the gang rising from their sleep.
The kitchen door opened and Bo entered with a basket filled with fresh eggs in hand.
“About time, you woke up. The day’s almost half over with,” he jokingly said as it was seven that morning.
“Sure smells good, Lizzie,” said Dirk while he walked into the kitchen.
Clark walked into the kitchen. “Where’s your bathroom?” he asked Bo while he placed the basket of eggs on the counter.
Bo looked at Clark. “Bathroom? You mean outhouse.
It’s outback,” he said and pointed to the kitchen door.
Clark headed to the kitchen door and went outside.
Dirk walked over to the door.
Lizzie started to crack open some eggs into the skillet.
Once Clark was out in the backyard, he spotted the old wooden outhouse. He forgot that so many people back in the 1930s didn’t have indoor plumbing or electricity in the south.
Clark walked to the outhouse and opened the door. The stench was awful! But he had to go so bad he tried to hold his breath while he stepped inside.
Dirk stood by the kitchen door and kept a watchful eye on Clark’s every move.
Inside the outhouse, Clark sat down on the wooden seat and fought off a few dry heaves. He pinched off his nose and held his breath.
After he finished his business, he noticed there was no toilet paper.
How gross! He said to himself while he hurriedly pulled up his pants.
He rushed out of the outhouse with an occasional dry heave. He removed his fingers off his nose and sucked in some fresh air.
He didn’t notice Dirk while he stood by the kitchen door, keeping an eye on Clark.
Dirk walked away from the door when Clark headed back to the cabin.
When Clark got back inside the kitchen, he noticed everybody was crowded around the table, eating their eggs and bacon.
“Come eat, Jake. We have another busy day,” said Dirk while he patted the empty chair by his chair.
Clark walked over and squeezed in next to Dirk.
Dirk glanced over at Clark. “I have some plans for you today.”
Clark glanced over at Dirk and wondered what he meant. Is he going to kill me? He thought in his head. Is he going to kill me to shut me up for last night’s murder? He wondered.
Clark picked up his coffee cup and took a drink of strong coffee.
While he drank, his eyes scanned the other guys around the table for signs he was in danger. They all looked healthy and were more interested in eating Lizzie’s great home-cooked breakfast.
There was a loud thunderclap outside, and that caused Clark to jump startled inside his body. He thought he was shot for a split second. He was relieved when he realized it was a thunder cloud.
“Getting some rain,” said Elmer while he slowly walked out of his bedroom and headed into the kitchen.
Clark looked and saw Elmer in his dingy long johns where the fly was unbuttoned.
He noticed that Elmer’s old and shriveled member poked its head out for some morning air.
“Hey, Elmer. Close the barn door.
The old cow is poking his head outside,” said Dirk.
“What?” replied Elmer.
“Daddy, your dick is sticking out,” said Lizzie.
“My dick? What about my dick?” replied Elmer a little confused.
“Put your pecker back in your underwear, daddy,” said Bo while Elmer walked closer to the table.
It suddenly dawned on Elmer. He stopped and glanced down at this crotch. “Oh, my pecker,” he said, then chuckled while he shoved his dick back inside his long johns and buttoned them up.
“Here’s your breakfast, daddy,” said Lizzie and handed Elmer a plate with one egg and one piece of bacon.
Carl got up from the table and gave his seat to Elmer.
Elmer sat down and slowly ate his breakfast with their outlaw guests.
After breakfast, everybody went outside on the porch to relax.
Bo broke out a box of cigars he had for when his special paying guests arrived.
He handed one out to everybody except for Elmer, who was back in bed, taking a nap.
They all lit their cigars and puffed while relaxing on the front porch.
It was peaceful. The birds were making music from the trees, and cigar smoke rose from the front porch.
Clark doesn’t smoke cigarettes let alone cigars, but he figured he better role-play today.
It was quiet while they relaxed on the front porch, listened to the birds singing from the trees, and puffed their cigars.
Dirk was done with his cigar and tossed the little remaining part into the grass.
He glanced over at Clark.
“Jake, let’s take a walk,” he said and looked serious.
Clark looked at Dirk while he stood up. He got up a little nervous.
Dirk walked away from the porch and headed to the side yard.
Clark rushed over and walked along Dirk’s right side.
“Jake, you’ve been with my gang for a few days now.”
“Since Thursday.”
“Yep,” Dirk said while he headed toward the chicken coop.
“Marge has a good feeling for knowing when you can trust someone.”
“That’s good.”
“Now, Marge’s a sexy dame, so I hope that by having you, as a member of my gang, you won’t let your dick think for you.”
Clark looked a little confused. “I’m not following you.”
Dirk placed his right arm around Clark’s shoulder.
Clark wanted to shoo Dirk’s arm off his body but refrained.
“What I’m doing is giving you a friendly warning. Marge’s pussy is off-limits. I don’t want to hear that you fucked my broad. Do you understand?”
Clark started to sweat and got nervous. He wondered if Marge told Dirk that Clark fucked her on Sunday night. “Yes, sir. I fully understand,” said Clark and then he silently prayed Dirk wasn’t taking him out to the woods to kill him.
“Good. Now, enough of that.
Later today we’re going on a little job. Just you and me.
This will be another test.
Cause if you pass, you’re going with us on Wednesday’s heist. Then you’ll start getting a more significant share. How does that sound?”
“Ah, that sounds great,” Clark lied through his teeth. He would have loved that a couple days ago.
“Good, now go check up on the cars. I want to ensure they’re both in good running order for tomorrow,” said Dirk then he patted Clark on his back.
Dirk turned around and headed back to the cabin.
Clark turned around and headed back to the Cadillac and Buick parked in front of the cabin.
Back down in Austin, Wallace finished teaching that Introductory to Physics class.
He met with Dr. Evans in the university lunchroom for lunch.
After they got their meals, they sat down at a table.
“So Doctor Evans, I heard you met with Albert Einstein a couple of years ago?” asked Wallace and silently prayed that Dr. Evans would respond.
“Yes, I did. It was in February nineteen thirty-three. Albert was half-way through a two-month stay at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. I was there during research for a project,” replied Dr. Evans.
Wallace smiled, knowing he will achieve his goal on this time travel mission.
“What did you talk about?”
“Well, I had dinner with Albert and his wife Elsa one night.”
“You met his wife, that’s nice.”
“Yes, so during that dinner, Elsa told me how Albert came up with his Theory of Relativity. She said that it started one morning during breakfast at their flat in Berlin, Germany. She said he appeared lost in his thoughts and ignored his breakfast. What’s bothering you she asked him. He got up and walked over to their piano. He sat down. He started playing and writing notes on the piano for about thirty minutes.
Then he went to his study that was upstairs. She said he stayed up there for about two weeks with her bringing him some food. Then after two weeks, he came back downstairs with sheets of paper where he wrote down his theory.”
“That’s extremely interesting,” replied Wallace but he already heard that piece of news that it also came from Charlie Chaplin. But hearing it from someone that also heard it from Einstein’s wife was great.
“What was he like in person?”
“I found that he was a calm and gentleman. But he also concealed a highly emotional temperament.
Maybe that’s why he had so much intellectual energy,” replied Dr. Evans.
“Could be,” replied Wallace.
It was quiet for a little few minutes while they ate their lunch.
Wallace couldn’t resist. “So Doctor Evans, do you believe that time travel is possible?”
Dr. Evans glanced at Wallace while he thought about the question. “Is time travel possible?” he repeated the question while he pondered his belief. “Nice concept, but no, there is no way someone could travel through time. If it were possible, Albert Einstein would have already invented the time machine,” he said, then took a drink of his coffee.
Wallace had a smirk on his face. He wanted so bad to tell Dr. Evans that time travel was possible because he invented and built the time machine. But Wallace decided to leave it his little secret. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
During the rest of their lunch, Wallace and Dr. Evans chatted about the research projects Dr. Evans had worked on during his career.
Back at the cabin in the woods of Arkansas, Clark just finished checking out the two cars while Dirk watched from a rocking chair on the front porch.
“Let’s pack up and hit the road,” Dirk said then got up off the rocking chair and headed back inside the house.
Clark walked away from the cars and headed into the house.
A little while later, the gang was ready to go back on the run. They waited in the living room.
Lizzie walked out of the kitchen with a small covered pot in her hands.
“Here’s some supper for later tonight,” she said then handed the pot to Jerome.
“It’s goulash like what you had the other night,” she added while she handed the pot to Marge.
Bo walked out of the kitchen with a small basket in hand. “Here are some eggs for breakfast in the morning,” he said, then handed the basket to Carl.
“That was some tasty meat inside it the other night,” said Clark and he loved her cooking.
Lizzie smiled at Clark. “I used possum meat from the three possum’s Bo killed the other day,” she replied.
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Clark. I ate a possum?
He started to get the dry heaves the more he thought about possum meat. He ran out the front door.
Bo, Lizzie, Dirk, Marge, Jerome, Peter and Carl all chuckled while they heard Clark vomit out off the porch.
“Such a sissy,” said Elmer while he walked out of his bedroom hearing the conservation in the living room.
“Yep. I’ll make a man out of him yet,” said Dirk then he reached inside his suit coat pocket. He removed some cash and counted out five hundred dollars.
“Here you go,” he said while he handed Bo the cash.
“Much obliged,” said Bo then he handed Lizzie the cash so she could put it in the cookie jar in the kitchen.
Dirk, Jerome, Carl, and Peter all placed their Fedora hats on their heads then headed out to the front door.
“Get off your knees, Jake,” said Dirk when he saw Clark on his hands and knees in the grass having dry heaves.
Dirk and the gang walked off the porch and headed to the cars.
Clark got off his hands and knees. He wiped his mouth and rushed over to the cars.
A few minutes had passed. Marge drove the Cadillac away from the cabin in Arkansas. Jerome sat n the front seat with Peter and Carl in the backseat.
Clark drove the Buick away from the cabin with Dirk in the front seat.
It was the early evening, and Clark drove the Buick close to Hope, Arkansas.
The town was quiet where a few street lights lit the main street.
Clark drove down the main street of Hope, and they passed by an ESSO gas station to the right. The station was still opened for the night.
Clark drove a little farther down the street when Dirk glanced over at him with an idea.
“Stop the car,” he said.
“What?” asked Clark, not sure he heard correctly.
“I said, stop the car,” said Dirk.
Clark stopped the car thinking Dirk had to take a piss in the street.
“Okay, I want you to remove all of your cash from your pockets,” said Dirk.
“What?”
“Are your ears clogged boy? I want you to remove all of your cash from your pockets,” said Dirk.
Dirk opened up his suit coat jacket and made sure Clark saw the Colt 45 stuffed in the holster.
Clark figured Dirk was throwing him out of the gang and taking back all of his money. He reached inside his suit coat jacket and removed all of his cash. This also included the money he brought with him from 2014.
He placed them in the middle of the front seat.
“Good. Now, this is a test of trust,” said Dirk while he reached inside his suit coat jacket and reached for his Colt 45.
Clark almost pissed his pants thinking Dirk was going to end Clark’s life at this second. But to Clark’s surprise, Dirk handed him his Colt 45.
“I want you to walk back and rob that gas station,” he said.
“Rob that station?”
“What is the fuck wrong with your ears? Yes, I said rob that fucking gas station,” said Dirk and he started to get pissed with Clark.
Clark took the Colt 45 then he looked at Dirk. He went into a daydream.
In his dream, Clark aimed the Colt 45 and fired off a shot at Dirk. The bullet went through Dirk’s forehead and out the back of his head splattering blood all over the passenger door window.
Then Clark snapped out of his quick daydream then looked at Dirk who looked impatient.
Clark opened the driver’s door and set his left foot onto the street.
“I want you to kill the attendant,” said Dirk.
Clark glanced back in the car while he placed his right foot on the street.
“Yes, kill the attendant or I’ll come back and kill him. Understand?”
Clark nodded that he understood while he shoved the Colt 45 into his right suit coat pocket.
He closed the driver’s door and watched while Dirk slid across the seat and got behind the steering wheel.
He walked away and headed off down the street.
Dirk waited in the Buick while Clark walked down the street toward the gas station. “I’m starting to wonder about that boy,” he said while he watched Clark from his rearview mirror.
It was a nervous walk down the street for Clark. His heart started to beat faster and faster, the closer he got to the station.
When he got to the entrance of the ESSO station, he glanced back and could still see the small taillights of the Buick and saw the shadowy figure of Dirk behind the driver’s wheel.
“Fuck,” he said when he turned back and saw the gas station with a lone attendant inside the office.
Clark nervously walked through the gas station lot and headed to the office.
Clark opened the creaky door to the office of the gas station.
Inside worked eighteen-year-old Roy Gilbert.
Roy glanced at the window at the pumps outside, as he didn’t hear a car pull up wanting gas. “Can I help you?” he asked Clark.
Clark just looked at Roy shaking in his shoes.
Roy looked at Clark, waiting for an answer.
“Ah, I need, ah,” said Clark, extremely nervous.
“You need what?” asked Roy.
“I need all of your money,” said Clark while he removed the Colt 45 out from his suit coat pocket.
Roy’s eyes widened in complete shock the second he saw the barrel of Clark’s Colt 45 aimed at him. He swallowed hard and fought from peeing his pants.
“Give me your money,” said Clark while he inched the Colt 45 closer at Roy to let him know that he meant business.
Roy cautiously walked over the cash register while he kept a watchful eye on Clark’s Colt 45.
Roy opened up the cash register and removed out all the cash. Six dollars was all the station earned today.
He walked out from behind the cash register and over to Clark.
“This is all we have,” said Roy then he handed Clark the money.
“This job was done by Dirk Beaumont’s gang,” said Clark while he took the money from Roy’s hand then shoved it in his left suit coat pocket.
Roy inched backward. “Please don’t kill me. I have a young wife and a kid on the way,” said Roy and pleaded for mercy with his eyes.
Back at the Buick, Dirk opened his driver’s door and stepped outside.
He glanced back at the gas station, ready to go there and finish the job. He heard gunfire. He was satisfied then got back behind the wheel of the Buick.
Back at inside the gas station, Clark stood and glanced at Roy who lay on the floor. Clark’s legs started shaking in fear.
Roy passed out after the bullet zinged over his head. Clark didn’t have what it takes to kill the innocent kid.