Wednesday morning arrived, and Clark woke up his usual time of five-thirty in the morning.
He shaved, showered then headed off to the kitchen for his standard breakfast of coffee and a bowl of cereal. He loved his Cocoa Krispies to start his day off with working on the cars.
Clark arrived at Chamberlain Cadillac at the six forty-five in the morning, which was the standard starting time for the mechanics.
He got to his toolbox, unlocked it, and was ready to begin keeping other Cadillac's purring like a kitten.
Roger walked up to Clark's toolbox with coffee in a Styrofoam cup in hand.
"Hey buddy, you didn't miss much last night at the club. The pickings were slim, really slim, and the ones there weren't under the sheets worthy. I guess the hot chicks were too busy doing homework or getting fucked in their dorm rooms.
So, how was your night of watching movies?" he asked then took a sip of his coffee.
"It was good and relaxing."
"Thirties outlaw movies I can imagine."
"Yeah," Clark replied but wanted to keep it a secret that he chatted with his neighbor the son of a famous outlaw.
Clark's first assignment of the day arrived, and it was a brake job on a silver 2005 STS.
But while he worked on the brakes of that Cadillac, all he could think about was his discussion with Dudley last night.
So during the rest of the day, Clark couldn't get Dirk Beaumont's life and time travel out of his mind. He was so preoccupied with those thoughts that he scrapped his knuckles a few times in the close quarters of the engine compartments.
The workday at the service department of Chamberlain Cadillac was wrapping up.
All the mechanics were finishing with their jobs on the customer's cars.
Clark just finished replacing a water pump on a 1983 Cadillac Deville.
He stood at his Craftsman toolbox and wiped his wrenches clean.
"Hey buddy, want to head out to the club for a few drinks tonight?" asked Roger the second he walked up to Clark.
Clark closed and locked his toolbox then looked at Roger. "Nah, there's something I need to do."
"What's more important than chasing after some hot college pootang?"
"The hot college professor that lives next to me."
It took a few seconds for that to register in Roger's head. He smiled. "Look at you chasing after some teacher snatch. I hope she gives your performance an A-plus."
Clark smiled, thinking about Kristy. "Yeah. Me too."
"Well, good luck. I'll see you tomorrow," Roger said.
"You too," replied Clark while Roger walked away.
Then Roger turned around and looked back at Clark. "Hey, if she doesn't put out tonight, I guess you'll have to resort to an orgy with Rosie Palm and her five sisters," he said then he closed his eyes, got a satisfied smile on his face and motioned he was jerking off with his right hand and chuckled.
Betty walked through the service bay. She rolled her eyes the second she saw Roger being Roger again.
Creep! She said in her head then headed out to the customer waiting area.
Clark waited until Betty was not in sight then he flipped Roger off, as they both did to each other in a jokingly manner.
Roger walked off with a chuckle while Clark walked off in another direction.
Clark drove home in his hot rod, and his thoughts flipped back and forth between Kristy, Dudley's last night's discussion and his uncle's notebook on time travel.
It was seven that night, and Clark gulped down a microwavable Salisbury steak dinner with mashed potatoes and corn.
He rushed out of his front door and headed over to Dudley's home.
There was something he forgot to tell him last night about his family.
He knocked on Dudley's front door the second he arrived on the front stoop.
After a few seconds of waiting, the front door opened and Kristy appeared at the front door. She slightly rolled her eyes at the sight of Clark outside on the stoop.
Clark smiled at the sight of Kristy, and his heart pounded a little.
"What do you want?" asked Kristy, and she looked a little perturbed that she was interrupted.
"Ah, I was wondering," he stuttered as he had this sudden urge to ask Kristy out but asking her scared him to death.
Kristy raised her eyebrows and looked impatient for Clark to spit out why he was at her door.
"I ah, I would like to chat with your daddy."
"He's not feeling well tonight and taking a nap, so if you don't mind, I have some papers to grade," said Kristy then she closed the front door relieved he didn't ask her out.
Clark stared at the closed door then heard it being locked.
He looked disappointed while he moped away and headed back to his house.
Once Clark went back inside his home, he headed off to the kitchen. He went to the refrigerator. He opened it and removed a bottle of Lone Star beer.
He opened the bottle then headed off to his den.
Once Clark went into his den, he grabbed his The Life and Times of Dirk Beaumont by Dudley Cooper book out of the bookcase.
He headed over to his Lazy Boy chair and sat down. He started to read that book over again for the tenth time while he drank his beer. Then his eyes widened up with an idea. It was a great idea.
He jumped up out of his chair and rushed out of his den.
Clark had backed his hot rod out of his garage, down his driveway and roared down Hampton Avenue.
Clark drove east of the city limits of Austin on the two-lane road called Maple Road.
During the drive, he drove past a Mexican restaurant called "Hugo's" that was in an old one-story building built during 1928. Jimmy Purcell originally built this building for his place of business called "Jimmy's Country Cooking."
He turned left into the dirt driveway of an old farmhouse. It was Uncle Wallace's farmhouse or the old family home.
This farmhouse and barn had been in his family ever since his great-great-grandfather built during 1908. He had the help of his great grandfather Victor, then twelve years old, and his much older brothers Wally and Herbert. The home was a two-story wood-framed home with four bedrooms and one bath. It had a lovely front porch where Wallace would often sit in a wooden rocking chair while he read his books on physics or jotted down notes and thoughts about time travel. The barn was your typical barn and wasn't fancy.
His Uncle Wallace never moved out of the house and inherited it after his parents passed away. In fact, Wallace never left Austin during his entire life. He went to the University of Texas in Austin straight out of high school. Since his parents weren't wealthy, he worked two part-time jobs to pay for his Bachelor of Science in Physics with a minor in history, then his Masters of Science in Physics.
He then accepted a teaching position with the University of Texas so he could stay in Austin. While he taught the introductory physics course, he worked on his Doctorate in Physics.
Clark drove down the dirt driveway then he parked his hot rod pickup next to Wallace's Cadillac. He shut off his engine and got out of the hot rod. He stared at the farmhouse and wondered how he was going to approach the topic of time travel with his uncle.
He walked to the front porch rehearsing his tactic in his head to discreetly bring up time travel.
He walked up the steps to the front porch, then headed over to the front door.
He stared at it and got a little nervous.
He chickened out and turned around.
He walked off the front porch.
He walked half-way down the steps and stopped. His curiosity went into high gear, and he couldn't resist.
He turned around and rushed back up the steps, across the porch and back to the front door.
He took a deep breath of courage the second he got back to the front door.
He quickly knocked before he chickened out again.
He could hear footsteps inside the living room, walking to the door.
"I'm coming," called out Wallace.
The front door was heard being unlocked, and it opened. "Clark, what a nice surprise," said Wallace the second he saw his nephew. "What brings you here?"
Clark looked at his uncle and ran his rehearsed lines in his head. "Is time travel really possible, Uncle Wallace?" he blurted out, blowing his attempt to carefully bring up that topic.
Wallace was taken back by Clark's sudden question out of the blue. He wasn't sure how to answer that question.
"Ah," he said, then hesitated.
Then it dawned on him about his car being worked on by Clark recently. "I left my notebook in the car. I take it you took a peek?"
Clark knew he had to be honest. "Yes, I couldn't resist."
"You're just like your mother, she was always curious about everything.
Please come inside," said Wallace then he moved aside.
Once Clark stepped inside the living room, he looked at the furniture that had been there since Wallace was a kid. Looking around the room made Clark feel like he stepped back into the 1930s. He saw the old framed black and white photos of his great grandfather, great grandmother, grandfather, grandmother, young pictures of Wallace and his parents.
Clark then eyed the old furniture probably bought by his great grandmother.
Wallace didn't want to waste money on replacing perfectly good furniture. He tried to save money for his physics experiments.
Clark saw the old wooden Zenith console radio. He wondered if these pieces of antique furniture would look good in his house one day.
He glanced over at Wallace. "I hope you don't mind me taking a peek at your notebook?"
"No. Actually, I was trying to figure out a way to tell you about my invention. So I kinda left it out there knowing you would take a peek," said Wallace.
"You wanted me to look at your notebook?"
Wallace nodded in agreement with a little smile.
Then it dawned on Clark something his uncle said. "Invention. What invention?" he asked but had a strong hunch where his uncle was going with these questions.
"I built a time machine."
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Clark. "A time machine? You built a time machine?"
Wallace nodded with a proud grin while he thought about his achievement.
"Want to go see it?"
Clark's eyes widened over that offer.
"Let's go," said Wallace then he opened the front door.
Clark and Wallace walked out of the house and across the porch.
"I'm still amazed by how you changed granddaddy's pickup truck. I actually think he would have loved to drive it all hopped up," said Wallace while he and Clark walked down the porch steps.
Clark gleamed again over with what was probably his thousandth compliment over his hot rod.
Wallace and Clark turned left and walked through the side yard and headed off to the barn.
They got to the doors of the barn and Wallace unlocked it and then went inside.
It had been years since Clark was inside this barn. He believed the last time was when he was seven years old, and his mom drove him down to Austin to spend a few days with Wallace and his grandparents.
He looked around and remembered those two tables that looked like a chemistry lab. He recalled Wallace's strict orders not to play in the barn. It's too dangerous here. He recalled his uncle warned him so many years ago. And his mom agreed with Wallace's strict orders. But if Wallace knew the truth, Clark had managed to sneak in the barn late at night to satisfy his curiosity cravings.
Clark and Wallace walked over to that locked room. Clark never saw that room before, as it wasn't there when he snuck in the barn as a kid.
Clark looked anxious while Wallace unlocked the door and swung it opened.
"Here's my masterpiece," he said then motioned for Clark to step inside the room.
Clark stepped inside the room. His eyes widened at the sight of the time machine. "It looks like a nineteen fifties style flying saucer."
"I know. For some reason, I was drawn to that style of design. Maybe it was from all those sci-fi movies I watched from the early fifties when I was a kid."
Clark walked around the time machine, check it out. "What powers it?" he asked peeking in the bubble canopy.
"Oh, that's my secret. Maybe I'll will it to you after I'm gone."
Clark glanced at his uncle then back at the time machine.
He looked back at Wallace.
He saw the seriousness in his eyes.
He chuckled. "You had me fooled for a few seconds," he said while he chuckled looking back at the time machine then tapping on the body and heard a metallic sound.
"She's built solid."
"Because she actually works."
Clark looked at his uncle's earnest eyes. For a split second, he believed him, then his common sense took over. "Yeah right," he said, then chuckled.
"No, I have proof. I can show you," said Wallace then motioned for Clark to leave the room with him.
Clark decided to play along and followed Wallace out of the room.
After Wallace locked up the door to the room, they headed out of the barn.
Wallace locked the side door of the barn, and they headed back to his house.
Clark and Wallace went inside the house and headed into his study.
Once they got in his study, Wallace rushed over to his iMac computer and sat down at the desk.
He powered up his iMac and waited with a grin. He couldn't wait to share with someone his accomplishment.
He had a hard time keeping this a secret all to himself.
Once his iMac was powered up and ready, Wallace opened up a "Test Run" folder.
Clark saw a movie clip file titled "Test Run 1" then saw another movie clip file titled "D741 Test 2."
Wallace double-clicked on the "Test Run 1" movie clip file.
The Windows Media Player opened, and the movie showed Wallace's time machine in that room in the barn. The movie then showed Wallace leaning into the time machine where the canopy was flipped up, and the small doors on the sides of the machine were opened.
The movie showed Wallace doing some configuring on the console inside the time machine.
Wallace pushed the canopy down, and it closed the same time the small doors on the sides closed.
Wallace walked out of view of the camera.
Clark watched the movie clip where the engine of the time machine started to hum.
The humming got louder and was ear-piercing even on the movie clip.
The time machine started to slowly spin, but half of the bottom that connected to the landing legs stayed stationary.
The spinning started to get faster.
Then the time machine started to spin at hypersonic speed.
Clark stared in awe while psychedelic colors filled the glass of the time machine.
The time machine rose up off the ground by three inches. The landing legs retracted into the bottom of the machine.
The time machine whirled around at hypersonic speed three feet off the ground.
Clark saw the time machine disappeared in a poof raining a million pieces of red, white, blue, green, and yellow lights all over the place. The colored lights dissolved into thin air.
"It works!" Wallace cried out in joy on the movie clip out of view of the camera.
Then Clark saw Wallace come into view doing a dorky victory dance. He danced to the spot where his time machine once stood.
Clark lightly chucked over the sight of his uncle dancing.
Then on the video, a humming sound came out of nowhere.
Wallace rushed out of the camera view.
That humming sound got louder and ear-piercing, but nobody was around to be in pain.
Millions of tiny pieces of red, white, blue, green, and yellow lights appeared racing all over the place.
The colored lights converged into one spot in the air. The time machine reappeared in a poof.
It whirled at a hypersonic speed three feet above the ground.
The spinning of the time machine slowed down.
The bottom part of the machine locked into a stationary position. The four landing legs extended out of the machine and it settled down to the ground.
The humming sound started to get softer.
The spinning of the machine slowed down and stopped.
The time machine was again quiet.
The movie clip ended, and the Window Media Play went black.
Clark glanced over at Wallace with his mouth opened. "I don't believe it."
"Here's a test run to make you really believe," said Wallace then he double-clicked that "D741 Test 2" movie clip file.
The Windows Media Player opened and the movie Wallace secretly recorded a week ago started to play.
Clark watched in awe when the clip showed his grandfather Ernie, his great grandfather Victor, sitting in wooden rocking chairs in front of that brown wooden Zenith console radio. The same radio that was in Wallace's living room.
On the couch sat his great grandmother Alice who sat next to his grandmother Kim holding a four-month-old Wallace in her arms.
Clark saw that baby Wallace was sound asleep while the CBS news was telling everybody about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. Ernie and Victor looked pissed overhearing the horrible news.
Clark continued to watch the movie clip in awe. "I don't believe it. I really don't believe it," he said glancing at Wallace.
Wallace's eyes welled up. "It's true. That's me as a baby," he said, then wiped away some tears while they rolled down his cheeks.
Clark looked back at the movie clip. It ended. He grabbed the mouse and clicked on the play button on the Window Media Player window. He watched the clip again and knew those were the same relatives in the pictures that hung on the wall of Wallace's living room. "Unbelievable. The living room looks exactly the same as today."
"Yep."
Clark replayed the movie clip again and watched in awe. The clip ended. "So, what are you going to use the time machine for? To change time? To stop wars? To solve mysteries?" he asked while he glanced at Wallace.
"No. You must never go back and change the course of time. It is what it is," replied Wallace and Clark could see the seriousness in his eyes.
"Then why build it?" replied Clark and thought that his uncle wasted his time and money to build this machine just to go back and see himself as a baby.
"I want to use it to record history as it actually happened."
Clark looked at Wallace. "Record history?"
"Yes. You know, go back and take a picture of George Washington. See if he really looked like that guy on the dollar bill.
Maybe record some of his daily activities. Maybe record an actual battle of the Revolutionary War. I could video George Washington c