Chapter 7
Later that night, Danny relaxed in deep thought in his bed.
He had his "The Day They Died Mystery" book opened. He flipped through all the pages concentrating on the old photos.
He set that book down then grabbed Dr. Youngblood's operations manual for his time machine. He opened it up to the first page and started studying the instructions.
An hour had passed, and Danny went through every page of Dr. Youngblood's operating manual for his time machine. He felt confident.
He got up off his bed and rushed out of his dorm room.
A little while later after rushing through the sidewalks on MIT's campus, Danny entered the Department of Physics building.
Danny walked down the hallway then stopped at the "Dr, Phillip Youngblood, Professor" office. He knocked on the door.
"Enter," Dr. Youngblood called out from inside his office.
Danny opened the door and stepped inside the professor's office.
Dr. Youngblood sat behind his desk, staring at test papers.
But he was not concentrating on the papers, as his mind was off in another world. He had his time machine on his mind. He wondered if he would get take it on a test run.
Dr. Youngblood glanced up and saw Danny by the door. He opened his mouth to say his greetings to Danny.
"I'm ready to monitor your travels to see Thomas Edison," Danny blurted out before he changed his mind.
Dr. Youngblood had a gleam in his eyes.
"Great. I wanted to go tonight, so be at my house at seven."
"Seven, I'll be there," Danny replied then turned around and headed out of the office.
Dr. Youngblood performed a little goofy victory dance in his chair. "I'm going to meet Thomas Edison. I'm going to meet Thomas Edison," he cried out along with his goofy victory dance in his chair.
A little while later, Danny walked down on of the numerous sidewalks on campus.
He was close to his dorm building when he spotted Cindy and Bobby walking hand in hand on another sidewalk. That sight did not bother him since he decided to move on with his life.
He headed back to his dorm room with Dr. Youngblood's time machine on his mind.
After relaxing in his dorm room and studying the time machine's operating manual, Danny headed out of his dorm room. Bobby was not there, and Danny figured he was out with Cindy.
A little while later, Danny parked his Corolla in Dr. Youngblood's driveway. He still felt a bit nervous about this but was still curious.
Danny walked up to the front door with a sleeping bag and backpack in hand. He rang the doorbell.
The front door opened, and Dr. Youngblood appeared.
Danny had to do a double-take, as he thought for a split second, he went to the wrong house. In the doorway stood Dr. Youngblood. A different Dr. Youngblood. He was dressed in a 1920s style suit and had a haircut, and his hair was actually combed. Danny wondered how many combs had to be broken to comb his hair. Besides, Dr. Youngblood's scraggly beard was gone, and he sported a trim goatee.
"You're looking sharp for the trip. I almost didn't recognize you."
"I have to admit that I do look snazzy for my trip," Dr. Youngblood replied while he made a little modeling move in the doorway. Then Dr. Youngblood saw Danny's backpack and sleeping bag. "I see you're prepared. Let's go get started," he added then stepped aside.
Danny entered Dr. Youngblood's home.
They both immediately headed down the stairs to the basement.
While they walked over to the computer console, Danny noticed the 1920s light brown style suitcase with leather handle by the door of the glass booth.
"There's an air mattress. This concrete floor would be extremely hard for sleeping."
Danny looked at the side of the computer console and saw the blue air mattress all pumped up. He dropped his sleeping bag and backpack on top of the mattress.
Dr. Youngblood looked at Danny. "I'm a bit nervous," he said and for a second thought about backing out of the mission.
"I wonder if it hurts?"
Dr. Youngblood looked at Danny. "It shouldn't," he replied then he looked at the glass booth and his suitcase. He took a deep breath of courage. "I'm ready," he said then he sat down at the console.
Danny watched Dr. Youngblood while he clicked on the Earth icon.
He watched while Dr. Youngblood typed in the password. "I'll have to change this periodically," he said while the 'Travel Times, Destination and Sync iTravel' buttons appeared on the monitor.
After Dr. Youngblood clicked on the Travel Times button, he typed in May 5, 1928, 0200 for the start date and time and then he typed in May 26, 1928, 0200 for the return date and time and pressed enter.
Dr. Youngblood clicked on the 'Destination' button, and after the Google map appeared, he typed in '2350 McGregor Blvd, Fort Meyers, FL' in the search block.
After the map showed the Edison Winter Estates, he locked his destination in the middle of McGregor Blvd.
Then after he connected the USB cable to the iTravel 1 device and the computer, he clicked on the 'Sync iTravel' button. It started downloading.
Then it was finished and the 'Time Travel Ready to Commence' button. He disconnected the iTravel 1 device from the USB cable.
Dr. Youngblood stood up with the iTravel 1 device in his right hand. He looked at Danny, then placed his right hand on Danny's shoulder. "Thanks for keeping an eye on things."
"My pleasure."
Dr. Youngblood looked at the glass booth and looked a little nervous. "Well, it's time to exchange ideas with good ole Thomas Edison."
Dr. Youngblood took a deep breath then walked over to the glass booth.
He remembered something, then walked back to Danny.
He reached in his pants pocket and removed his house keys. "My keys to the house," he said while he handed Danny his keys.
Danny shoved the keys in his pants pocket while he watched Dr. Youngblood walk over to the glass booth.
Danny sat in the chair at the console and watched while Dr. Youngblood grabbed the handle of his suitcase then stepped inside the booth with his iTravel 1 device.
Dr. Youngblood gave Danny a little wave. Then he pressed the required button on his iTravel 1 device then the button on the pad by the glass booth door.
Then Danny heard a whirling sound from the booth.
Bright lights filled the booth like fireworks.
The booth vibrated.
Psychedelic colors illuminated the glass booth. There were blue, red, orange, yellow, lime green, and blue that appeared in abstract shapes.
The colors slowly started twirling around.
Then they started twirling around at supersonic speed.
The booth spun. Dr. Youngblood was a blur inside the booth.
Then Dr. Youngblood disappeared in a poof.
The booth stopped spinning.
The psychedelic colors dissipated in a flash.
The booth stopped vibrating.
The bright lights fireworks dissipated.
The whirling sound whined down.
Danny stared in awe of the empty booth. "He did it. He actually went back to nineteen twenty-eight."
The basement was quiet except for the hum from the banks of computers.
Danny looks at the computer monitor and saw the '21 days, 24 hours, 00 minutes' time Remaining on iTravel 1 Mission' message above the 'Override' button.
Danny walked over to his sleeping bag. He unrolled it on the air mattress. He opened up his backpack and removed his "The Day They Died Mystery" book. He had three chapters left to read.
He walked back over to the console, sat in the chair, kicked up his feet up on the console and started reading his book.
Hours had passed, and the light from the computer monitor and the twinkling lights from the banks of computers provided a night-light for the dark basement.
The computer monitor on the console had the '21 days, 16 hours, 25 minutes' time Remaining on iTravel 1 Mission' message.
Danny was fast asleep in his sleeping bag on top of the air mattress. His book about The Rocking Tones fell to the floor.
Danny started tossing and turning in his sleeping bag. He began with another dream.
It's nighttime in Danny's dream. He sat on an old GMC Coach bus while it drove down a lonely countryside road.
Danny looked, and the members of The Rocking Tones are asleep in their seats. Danny looked worried.
"The bus is going to blow!" Danny cried out in a panic.
The Rocking Tones ignored him while they stay asleep.
"The bus is going to blow!" Danny cried out again in a panic.
They all ignored him.
He heard a girl giggling.
He got up and saw Cindy sitting on Sig's lap. Their lips are locked in passionate kissing.
"No!" Danny cried out.
Then the bus exploded into a huge fireball with intense heat.
Back to reality in Dr. Youngblood's basement, Danny woke up in a panic. He looked around, scared and confused, as he thought he was actually involved in an explosion. It took a few seconds for the humming of the bank of computers for him to come back to reality.
He lay back down and tried to go back to sleep.
It was now two o'clock in the morning on February 25, 1928 in Fort Meyers, Florida.
It was quiet and dark on McGregor Blvd out in front of the house with the street address of 2350. This was the home that belonged to Thomas Edison.
Then all of a sudden, a huge spot of psychedelic colors appeared in the middle of McGregor Blvd.
There were blue, red, orange, yellow, lime green, and blue that appeared in abstract shapes.
The colors slowly started twirling around.
Then they started twirling around at supersonic speed.
The colors slowly started spinning.
Then they started spinning at supersonic speed.
Then the colors were gone in a flash.
Dr. Youngblood appeared in the middle of the street. He had his suitcase handle in his left hand and his iTravel 1 device in his right hand. He cringed in pain that felt like needles jabbing his entire body. He wanted to scream but decided to keep it a silent scream.
Then a few seconds later, the pain simply vanished. He felt so much better while he scanned the area over.
Then he turned around and saw Thomas Edison's winter home. It was dark inside the house, as the inventor was sound asleep.
"I made it. I actually time-traveled back to nineteen twenty-eight," Dr. Youngblood said and looked proud while he stared at Edison's home.
Then some headlights suddenly shone on Dr. Youngblood from the northern end of the street. He turned to the direction of the lights and heard the sound of a Model A Ford car approaching. Then the ahooga sound of the horn-filled the air.
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Dr. Youngblood that he was about to get run over by a car.
He ran over to the side of the road while the Model A drove past him still blaring out that ahooga horn sound. He saw a man that appeared to be in his mid-sixties driving the Model A.
The street started to get quiet while Dr. Youngblood watched while that Model A Ford pulled into the driveway of the house to the left of Thomas Edison's home.
Dr. Youngblood looked up and down the street. "I forgot about lodgings," he said while he suddenly felt lonely.
He walked off down the street.