Chapter 24
It was back to 2014.
The basement of Dr. Youngblood's house was quiet except for the low hum from the bank of computers.
Then the whirling sound from the booth filled the air of the basement.
A bright light filled the booth like fireworks.
The booth vibrated.
Psychedelic color 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 around at supersonic speeds.
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 and Cindy appear in the booth in pain with her still on top of him with him hugging her tight.
Danny and Cindy cringed in a little pain. They gazed into each other's eyes.
"Thank you for getting Roger off me," Danny said while he continued to gaze into her eyes.
"You're welcome," Cindy replied.
Then Danny could not resist. He leaned a little forward and let his lips lightly touch her lips. Cindy did not pull back. They kissed. The kiss turned passionate.
They stopped kissing, and Cindy got off Danny's body.
They stood up and looked out the booth and saw the empty basement.
He opened up the door of the glass booth, and they stepped out.
Danny and Cindy walked over to the computer console and saw the 'iTravel 2 Mission Compete' message flashing on the screen. He also noticed that the time remaining message for the mission with the iTravel 1 device was gone. He got concerned. "This doesn't look good," he said while he placed the iTravel 2 device on the computer console.
"What doesn't look good?" asked Cindy while she looked at Danny's concerned look.
"The time remaining for Doctor Youngblood's mission is gone," he said while he sat down at the console. He stared at the monitor while he tried to figure out what happened. "I hope nothing happened and Dr. Youngblood isn't stuck in nineteen twenty-eight," he said while he grabbed the operations manual and started flipping through the pages.
Then the sound of the wooden floor above their heads creaked while someone walked across the floor.
Danny looked concerned while he stared at the ceiling.
"What's wrong?"
"Someone's in the house," Danny replied then he glanced back at the computer monitor.
Then they heard the sound of footsteps walking down the creaky wooden stairs.
Danny and Cindy looked at the stairs and saw Dr. Youngblood walk to the bottom of the stairs.
Dr. Youngblood stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He looked mad while he stared at Danny and Cindy. "Danny, where were you?"
"Ah, I, ah," Danny replied and wondered if he could bullshit Dr. Youngblood.
Dr. Youngblood walked over to Danny and saw the iTravel 2 device on the computer console. Then he looked back at the computer monitor. "Why?"
"There was something I really had to do. I couldn't let it go," Danny replied.
"You can't alter time, Danny. I told you about that. You can only go back to observe and record history."
"I had to try. I don't know if it worked. But I had to try."
"Let's hope you didn't alter time for the worst," Dr. Youngblood said while he walked over and picked up the iTravel 2 device. He shoved it into his pants pocket.
"I'm going to install a new password for these devices and my program," Dr. Youngblood said while he shoved the device in his pants pocket then he looked at Cindy. "You're Miss Adamson, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"You cannot tell anybody about this time machine," he said then he chuckled. "But if you did, they might think you're nuts anyway. Now go you two."
Dr. Youngblood sat down at the console. He started typing on the keyboard. He was going to change the password.
Then the floor above them creaked again indicating someone else was in the house.
"Is someone else upstairs?" Danny asked Dr. Youngblood.
Dr. Youngblood looked caught. "Ah, I ah, I decided," he stuttered.
Then the wooden stairs creaked while someone walked down the stairs.
Dr. Youngblood looked a little nervous.
Then Danny's eyes widened with a little shock when he saw this individual standing at the bottom of the stairs. "I thought you warned me about altering time?" he asked Dr. Youngblood.
Cindy looked, and she had to do a double-take. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Thomas Edison, meet two friends and fellow time travelers," Dr. Youngblood said while Thomas Edison stood at the bottom of the stairs wearing his suit from 1928.
"He's just here to observe and see how mankind advanced," Dr. Youngblood.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, and don't worry, I won't alter my life at all. My curiosity got the best of me," Thomas Edison said while he shook hand with Danny and Cindy.
"Well, we're off to see some more interesting historical sights," Dr. Youngblood told Danny and Cindy.
"Well, it's nice meeting you Mister Edison, but we should on our way," Danny said then he grabbed Cindy's hand.
Danny and Cindy smiled and rushed off to the stairs.
Thomas Edison watched while Danny and Cindy ran up the stairs.
"Where do you want to go next?" Dr. Youngblood asked Thomas Edison.
Thomas Edison thought for a few more seconds for something interesting to witness. "I know, Milan, Ohio on February eleventh, nineteen eighty-seven. I want to witness my birth," he replied with a smile.
While Danny and Cindy rushed out of the house, Dr. Youngblood sat at his computer console and started configuring the time machine for his next trip back to 1847.
Danny and Cindy drove in his Corolla through the streets of Cambridge.
"Ah, listen, about Sig," said Cindy.
Danny glanced over at her. "No, it was none of my business. What ever happened between you two is your business. Not mine," he said.
"About Sig. He's gay," she said.
It took a few seconds for it to sink in his head. "Did you say gay?"
"Yeah, he couldn't tell anybody. You know, the early sixties were not very compassionate toward gays."
"I, ah, I, ah, wow," he said.
He drove his car down Massachusetts Avenue and had a grin knowing that Cindy and Sig did not have sex.
He drove his car through the MIT campus.
Meanwhile, Dr. Youngblood and Thomas Edison arrived in Milan, Ohio, on February eleventh, 1847. They immediately headed off to the red brick birthplace of Thomas Edison.
Back in 2014, Danny and Cindy walked down a sidewalk amongst other students. They still received stares and snide comments about the way they were dressed. But Danny and Cindy could care less, as they had a wild trip to 1964.
"Do you think it worked?" Cindy asked while they walked toward the front entrance of his dorm building.
"I sure hope so. I don't want to try this again," he said while he opened up one of the front entrance doors for Cindy.
Danny and Cindy went inside the dorm building and went up the flight of stairs to the second floor.
Danny and Cindy rushed down the second-floor hallway.
They rushed inside his room. Bobby was not there, as he had another date with another girl.
Danny and Cindy headed over to his bed. He sat down and immediately grabbed his laptop off his bedside table.
He opened up his laptop and powered it up.
Cindy sat down next to him.
It appeared to take forever for his MacBook Pro laptop to power up.
"I swear that these computers can sense when you're in a hurry and they intentionally slow down," he said.
Cindy got a light chuckle out of his comment because she felt the same way at times.
Then his laptop powered up, and he immediately opened up the Safari program.
He typed in "The Rocking Tones Bus Explosion" in the search block.
He clicked on The Rocking Tones website. He looked at the site. Then his eyes widen with joy.
"On September twenty-eighth nineteen sixty-four, The Rocking Tones received minor injuries when their bus exploded on Interstate eighty in Pennsylvania. The members of the band stated that they stopped for a quick bathroom break off the shoulder of the highway. Then the bus just exploded into a huge fireball," Danny read the website.
Danny jumped up for joy and did a little dorky victory dance around his room.
Cindy chuckled at that sight.
He victory danced his way back to his bed and sat down next to Cindy. They went back to looking at his laptop.
Cindy looked at the site. "An investigation by the FBI in Philadelphia revealed that they received an anonymous letter that was mailed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The letter claimed the manager of The Rocking Tones, Roger Beaumont, was involved in the placement of a bomb on the bus. The letter also claimed that the manager was involved with mobster Victor Burrows. After an intense interrogation by the FBI, Roger Beaumont finally caved and confessed to his involvement with the placement of the bomb," Cindy read from the website.
"Click on that link," Danny told Cindy.
She clicked on that link, and a scanned in copy of the anonymous letter that Danny and Cindy wrote in Cindy's handwriting appeared.
"Wow, there it is," she said while they both stated at the letter they wrote just the other day.
Cindy closed out that letter, and they went back to reading the website.
"It was discovered that Mister Beaumont had a gambling addiction that started when he was in college. So to get The Rocking Tones gigs, he hooked up with Galvin Hopper a known bookie and loan shark with strong connections to the NYC mob," Danny read from the website.
"Galvin Hopper would use his mob connections to get the gigs for Roger and charged twenty percent of the profits. Roger was able to keep this fact hidden from the guys of the band since they just wanted to play music," Cindy read from the website.
"A lot of those rockers back then got taken by their managers," Danny said.
"Yeah, I read they were only interested in playing music and placed to much trust into guys like Roger," Cindy added.
They both returned to reading the website.
"Once the guys of the band learned of Mister Beaumont's gambling debts, his failure to may them their profits, and the fact that he was not providing them with large concerts venues, they had plans to terminate his managerial services. They hooked up with Kent Sommers and planned to terminate Roger after their concert in Chicago on October fifth, nineteen sixty-four," Danny read from the website.
"Then, after Roger noticed Elmer Watson protesting at their concerts, he started scheming. So he schemed with Galvin Hopper to get a life insurance policy on the band members through a mob connected insurance agency. They then schemed to install a bomb on the bus. Roger Beaumont and Galvin Hopper both received a thirty-year prison sentence for attempted murder," Cindy read off the website.
"It was also discovered that Walter Sampson, the owner of Walter's Diner, was the cousin of Victor Burrows. After intense interrogation, it would not be determined of Walter was aware of Victor and Roger's plans on placing the bomb on the bus," Danny read off the website.
"Victor Burrows and his two associates Bruno Lorenzo and Arnold Galion, were arrested for installing the bomb. They were associates with Galvin Hopper. Roger also bought a nineteen sixty-four Corvette from Galvin's brother's Chevrolet dealership in Albany, New York the week before the bomb was placed on the bus. Mister Lorenzo, Mister Galion, and Mister Burrows were tried, convicted, and sent to thirty years in prison for attempted murder," Cindy read off the website.
"The Rocking Tones still played their concert in Chicago on October fifth, nineteen sixty-four with Kent Sommers being their new manager. The music lived on with greater success," Danny read off the website.
He continued to navigate through the website and looked at the individual pages for the members of the band. Then he eyes widened the second he read Sig's page.
"Sig announced in nineteen seventy-eight that he was gay. The other members of the band suspected that all along since they could never determine if Sig actually had sex with the women he took into his hotel rooms or kissed a girl on the lips," Danny read the website.
"I wonder if Roger's alive and out of prison by now?" asked Cindy then she typed in Roger Beaumont manager of The Rocking Tones in the search block.
Some results appeared, and one of them was a Wikipedia article about Roger's life. She immediately clicked on that link.
Roger's Wikipedia article appeared, and Danny and Cindy started checking it out.
They noticed that Roger died on June second, 1972 while in the Graterford Prison in Pennsylvania. They looked down at the end of that article.
"Roger Beaumont was stabbed to death by a fellow prisoner who was a huge fan of The Rocking Tones. It was also speculated, but could not be proven that that prisoner might have killed Mister Beaumont per the direction of Galvin Hopper. Galvin was furious that Roger told the FBI about his involvement," Danny read the article.
"I can't feel sorry for him," said Cindy.
"I know what you mean. He got what he deserved," Danny replied then he closed out all the websites. Then he felt outstanding about their time-traveling mission. He jumped off the bed. He grabbed Cindy by her hand, pulled her off his bed.
He then danced her around the room to celebrate. "We did it! We saved their lives!" he sang out and danced her around the room.
They stopped in the middle of the room. They gazed into each other's eyes. They kissed, and Danny was surprised; she accepted his lips again. He was in heaven.
The room door opened, and Bobby entered with three textbooks in hand. He saw Danny and Cindy's kissing in the middle of the room.
Danny and Cindy separated their lips the second they saw Bobby and looked caught.
"The next time, remember the code and put a sock on the door handle," Bobby said then he dropped his books on his bed. He winked at Danny and Cindy then headed off to the door. "I'll leave you, two lovers, alone," he said then opened the door and left the room.
"Lovers?" Danny and Cindy said in unison while they looked at each other.
Danny's cell phone rang from his bedside table.
He walked over and looked at the caller. "Hi, grandma," he answered the call.
"You're late," Diane replied from his cell phone.
"Late for what?" Danny asked and was lost.
"You and Cindy were planning on coming over for dinner. Everybody will be here," Diane replied."
Danny still looked a little lost. "Ah, we got involved in studies. We're on our way," he replied then he disconnected his end of the call.
"We're apparently late for dinner at my grandmothers," he told her.
"We're late? For dinner?" Cindy replied and looked lost.
"That's what she said. We're late for dinner," Danny said, and he was trying to figure out what is going on. Then he remembered his trip back to the past. "I forgot grandma's a slut," Danny added.
"Now now, be nice, Danny. She was a young woman once and had urges just like you," she said.
Danny thought about what Cindy said for a few seconds. "You're right, again."
Then something got Cindy curious. "What did Bobby mean when he said we're lovers?" asked Cindy.
Danny and Cindy looked at each other, and then the past few months of their altered life started to flood their minds.
"We're really lovers," Danny replied then he did not hesitate, and he kissed Cindy on her lips.
Cindy accepted his lips then it dawned on her that they have been lovers for a month now.
Then after their lips separated, Danny noticed a paperback book on his bedside table. It was a paperback book that he was not familiar with buying. He got curious and walked over and grabbed the book. He opened it up and saw the "This book is dedicated to a lost couple named Chris and Sally. We lost them back in nineteen sixty-four."
Danny showed Cindy the dedication written in that book.
"Is that us?" she curiously asked.
"The book was written by Mickey Hanson and published in nineteen sixty-seven. Remember Mickey and Maureen," Danny read, then it took a few seconds for him to recall buying that book two years ago.
"Wow. I can't believe it. That was the author. We met him back in sixty-four when he was young like us," she said while he pointed at Mickey's picture on the back of the book. "We did alter time. Now I hope we didn't alter time for the worst for us," Cindy replied and looked concerned.
Danny also nodded in agreement that she hopes they did not screw up their present day.