Chapter 4
Saturday morning arrived, and the MIT students were so excited about having a weekend to study, or some of them would party a little or a lot.
Danny got up, showered, and got dressed.
Bobby was still in his bed, sound asleep from his Friday night date.
Danny headed out of his with his paperback book in hand.
Danny walked out of his dorm and headed over to the Subway on campus for a quick breakfast.
A little while later, Danny walked down Massachusetts Avenue and headed into the Stratton Student Center that housed numerous restaurants including a Subway.
While he walked up to the entrance of the building at the south end, he glanced the Kresge Auditorium to the southwest. He thought nothing of that auditorium while he went inside the student center.
A little while later, Danny sat outside that student center on a concrete bench just to the north of the Kresge Auditorium.
He started to eat his Black Forest, Ham, Egg and Cheese sandwich and a large coffee. While he ate, he glanced at the auditorium and for some strange reason, he became interested in the place. He could not figure out why, because he had yet to attend a concert held there. He shrugged off that feeling and continued to read his "The Day They Died Mystery" book while he enjoyed his breakfast.
While he read his book, he could not get the Facts or Lies episode out of his mind. His curiosity was starting to nag at him again. And this time it was a strong nag.
After Danny was finished with his Subway breakfast, he walked back to his dorm.
During the entire walk down the sidewalks, he read his book. A few times, he found himself stepping off the sidewalk and into the grass.
He eventually made it back to his dorm room where Bobby was out and about somewhere on campus or Cambridge.
Danny looked at his room and felt the day would be another bore. He wondered what he could do to kill time until he went to his grand mother's house for dinner. He looked at his book, and an idea flashed in his head. Why not? He thought to himself while he sat down on his bed.
He opened up his book and started looking for pages with pictures of particular interest. When he found them, he placed a bookmark for that page.
A little while later, he had seven bookmarks in that book.
Danny then grabbed his iPhone and opened up the Internet. He opened up Google map and started his search.
Ten minutes later, Danny had left his dorm and rushed down the sidewalk like he was on a mission.
Twenty minutes had passed, and Danny drove his Corolla north on Interstate 93. That paperback book "The Day They Died Mystery" sat in the passenger seat. The seven bookmarks were still scattered throughout the book.
An hour and a half had passed, and Danny continued his drive north Interstate 93. He just entered the city limits for Manchester, New Hampshire.
Danny glanced his iPhone in hand while he drove down Interstate 93.
Then when he got close to the northern end of Manchester, he got off exit 9S then turned left and headed down Hooksett Road.
Then Danny turned left onto an older residential neighborhood.
After navigating through some streets, Danny eventually drove down Hillside Avenue.
He drove his car down Hillside then stopped and parked along the curb when he got to 1804 Hillside Avenue. He opened up his book at the first bookmark.
He looked at the page where he saw an old black and white photo of that house at 1804 Hillside. He looked out his door window and out across the street. He looked back at the photo that had the "Home of Jackie Brooks" caption under it.
"The place looks the about the same," he said while he looked at Jackie's old home. It was a white wood-framed house and seemed to only have two bedrooms. He wondered if Jackie's parents still lived there while he put his car back in drive.
Danny slowly drove his car down the street, and then he stopped three houses down from Jackie's house.
He opened the book to the second bookmark and looked at the page and saw another black and white picture of another house. Under the picture was the "Home of Delmar Lee" caption.
He looked out through his passenger door window and looked at Delmar's house. It was a larger two-story home.
He wondered if Delmar's parents still lived there while he put his car back in drive.
Danny slowly drove his car down the street, and then he stopped six houses down from Delmar's home.
He opened up the book to the third bookmark. He looked at the page and saw a black and white picture of a single-story wood-framed house. Under that picture was the "Home of Burt Clark - First Concert Location" caption.
He looked to his left and checked out Burt's home. He stared at the garage door.
"Just think, that's where they had their first concerts for the local kids," he said then turned to the fourth bookmark.
He looked at a black and white picture that showed The Rocking Tones giving a concert. The picture was taken by one of the kids in the neighborhood.
Danny held up the book with that picture so he can look at both it and the actual garage. His mind started to visualize The Rocking Tone playing in that garage for the neighbor kids over forty years ago. It was surreal.
He wondered if Burt's parents still lived there while he put his car back in drive.
Danny slowly drove his car down the street while he followed the directions of his iPhone.
He made a left turn down York Avenue.
He drove down York then stopped halfway down the street.
He opened the book to the fifth bookmark and looked at the page where he saw a black and white picture of another one-story brick house. Under that picture was the "Home of Sigmund "Sig" Ward" caption.
Danny looked to his right and saw Sig's home. He wondered if his parents still lived there while he drove away down the street.
He drove away down the street then stopped three houses down the street.
He opened up the book to the sixth bookmark where he looked at the page where he saw a black and white picture of another one-story wooden house. Under that picture was the "Home of Carter Collins" caption.
While Danny looked to his right at the house, someone knocked on his car window. That startled him and he saw an old man standing out by his driver's door. He looked irritated. Danny rolled his window down.
"What are you doing here?" the old man said to Danny being suspicious of his activity.
"Oh, sorry, I was just checking out a bit of history," Danny replied then he showed the old man his book.
The old man looked at the book. "Oh, yeah those kids," the old man said then paused for a few seconds while he reflected. "Nice kids but lousy music. Too bad, they died. So please move on. We're getting tired of everybody coming down our streets rubbernecking," the old man added.
"Yes sir," said Danny, then he placed his car in drive and drove off down the street.
The old man watched while Danny's Corolla drove down the street.
He then headed back to his house that was next store to Carter's house. What Danny did not know was that this old man was Carter's neighbor when Carter lived there.
The old man went back inside his house once he felt that Danny's Corolla was long gone.
After some more navigating, Danny drove to the southern area of Manchester.
He eventually found South Willow Street and drove down it.
He pulled into 716 South Willow Street and looked a little confused when he saw that it was a Pizza Hut.
He parked in an available parking spot. He opened up his book and looked at this last bookmark. That page showed a black and white picture for Bernie's Lounge at 716 South Willow Street. Under the caption was "The Rocking Tones First Paying Gig Location" caption.
"They must have torn the place down," he said while looked at the picture and then the Pizza Hut. His stomach growled a little. "Why not," he said then turned off his car engine.
He got out of his car and figure he might as well eat lunch at the spot where The Rocking Tones had their first paying gig.
He went inside.
An hour later, Danny was back on Interstate 93 and headed south back to the Boston area.
Later that evening, Danny pulled into the driveway of his grandmother's house.
He got out of his car and rushed to the front door.
He rang the doorbell.
After a few seconds, the door opened, and Diane appeared.
"Danny, you're a little late. I was getting worried something happened to you."
"Sorry, I made a little road trip and traffic got thick when I got back to Cambridge," he told her when he stepped inside her house.
"Do tell," she said while she closed her front door.
While Danny walked with Diane to the dining room table where two plates, two glasses of red wine, a bowl of spaghetti, and a plate of garlic bread waited.
They sat down and started to eat their spaghetti, and he arrived in time, as it was still hot.
"Tell me about this road trip you took today," Diane asked then took a drink of her wine.
"I took a ride over up to Manchester."
"Manchester, why there?"
"After watching that episode of Facts or Lies the other night. I got inquisitive," he told her then ate some spaghetti.
"It was a good show, and I'm starting to wonder that maybe this Elmer Watson might have actually been innocent all along," she replied then ate some spaghetti.
"I bought this book called The Day They Died Mystery by Mickey Hanson. It goes into more detail on the stuff that was mentioned in that TV show," he said then took a bite out of his garlic bread.
"Sounds interesting. I'll have to buy it soon," she said then took another drink of wine.
"What did you think of that mobster guy that claims he planted the bomb on the bus?" he asked Diane then took another bite of his spaghetti.
Diane thought about his question for a few seconds. "I guess that's possible. I mean, the FBI did find a similar detonating device in that preacher's garage in Alabama. And they could not place him in Pennsylvania at the time the bus exploded. Maybe he paid that mobster guy to plant the bomb. Maybe that's what's happened."
Danny thought about her comment for a few seconds. "That sounds plausible. That mobster guy died before he told who paid him to plant the bomb. So maybe this case is closed," he said then took a drink of wine.
"Maybe," Diane said then she ate some more spaghetti.
Diane went into deep thought.
"I wonder what would have happened if that bomb was never placed on the bus? How would their lives turned out?"
Diane pondered his question for a few seconds. "Many people thought they would have been as huge as The Beatles or the Dave Clark Five."
Danny pondered her reply for a few seconds. "Do you think they could have gotten to be that huge?"
"I do," Diane replied, then took another bite of her garlic bread.
"If you could only go back and change time."
Diane thought about his response for a few seconds. She chuckled. "Your father would tell me how Richard Youngblood believed that time travel was possible," she said then took another drink of wine.
Danny thought about her response for a few seconds while he munched on some spaghetti. "Time travel would be cool. But it only exists in the movies," he said then took a bite of his garlic bread.
"Like you father said, Richard actually believed it was possible and wanted to build a functional time machine," she said then chuckled. "What a kook."
"If it were possible, he would have done it by now," Danny replied then poured some more wine into his and Diane's glasses.
"You're probably right," she said, then took a drink of wine.
"But if it was possible, where would you go? What would you do?" he asked her.
Diane thought about his question for a few seconds. "I would go back to sixty-four and prevent The Rocking Tones from getting killed on that bus," she said then thought about her own response for a few seconds. "It would have been nice to hear the songs they would have created over the years. Just imagine," she said then started to look really saddened.
"Yeah, just imagine," Danny replied and thought about time travel and how cool that would be if it were possible.
Danny and Diane continued eating their spaghetti and had a lovely evening together.
Hours later had passed, and Danny was back in his dorm room asleep in his bed.
He had another dream.
In Danny's dream, he played a Les Paul guitar and sang into a microphone. He sang in front of a large and cheering audience.
In the front row of the audience, Cindy admired Danny. She blew him kisses.
Danny smiled at the sight of Cindy blowing him kisses.
Danny turned around, and he played with The Rocking Tones.
He turned back to singing in the microphone.
Back to reality, Danny was still sound sleep in his bed. His mouth moved like he was silently singing.