42
Kate was alone in bed for yet another night and wishing that she had given into the girls’ desire to sleep with her. Earlier that night, Kate had very affectionately convinced Nicole and Tara that they would be better off in their own beds where the good dream fairy could easily find them. But now, Kate wanted their company. She missed feeling the warmth of another human body beside her in bed. She wanted to be close to her daughters now more than ever, but she felt inviting them to sleep with her was too much an indicator of acceptance, acceptance that William was gone and perhaps was not coming back.
Kate’s mixed feelings kept her awake. It was late and she was not about to go to their room to wake them so that she could selfishly have them close. They belonged in their own room, which was their place after all. William belonged with her in their matrimonial bed and the girls needed to be in their Powder Puff-theme room. Kate was so proud of her girls and her husband. She had achieved her longest-held dream: the perfect family.
As tears flowed down her face Kate was very careful not to let her grieving moans be heard and so, muffling her sobs, as she had done the last four nights, she cried herself to sleep.
“Wake up, Kate!” The intrusion of Helen’s voice into Kate’s brain was far worse than the light that had flooded the room by now. “Kate, are you going to sleep all day? You know, it is already 10:30. The girls have eaten. They are watching TV. C’mon get up, I need to show you something.” Helen pulled the covers off her sister, revealing a comfortably-dressed body curled and moving slowly toward the edge of the bed.
“You know, Helen, you are very lucky I like you as my sister, ‘cause sometimes you can be really annoying. I was actually sleeping deeply for the first time since I went to bed.” Kate was talking with a soft and slow voice, still groggy from her sleep. She was not as annoyed as her words might indicate. She did want to get up. She wanted to hug her daughters this morning more than any other morning.
“I need to wash up and then have a coffee. Can I wash up in peace or would you like to spoil that too?” Kate smiled at Helen and stood up directly in front of her. She leaned forward and gave Helen the longest, strongest hug she could muster. “Thanks for being here, I do love you! I am so glad Dad told us when we were small over and over that it was good for us to be close because…”
“When you guys are big you must take care of each other!” Both Kate and Helen shouted out in a perfectly matched pace as if reciting a sorority slogan.
“Mommy, Tara won’t let me watch Sesame Street!” Nicole had burst into the room and was already in her mother’s arms.
“Come with Aunt Helen, Nicky, and let Mommy get ready.” Helen pulled Nicole from Kate and started to walk toward the bedroom door. “Oh, yeah, I was saying I have something I want to show you so hurry up.”
“Okay, I will be out in a minute, can you put on some coffee?”
Helen gave her sister a military salute and marched out of the room with Nicole in tow.
It wasn’t long before Kate walked into the living room with a towel wrapped around her head. She had dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top and was feeling much better after having taken a shower. “Tara, are you being nice to Nicole? Can you come here and give Mommy a big good morning kiss? Helen, what is it that you have to show me this morning? Why are you so anxious about it?” Kate had turned away from Tara while she held her tight in her arms and was speaking louder toward her sister in the kitchen. “Let me see what your aunt wants to show Mommy. Do you guys want to go out today?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
“Kate, let me get something I have here and let’s sit at the kitchen table so you can have your breakfast and I can show it to you.” Helen had walked out of the kitchen and was retrieving a hard-cover novel she had been reading. She had purposely left it on the entranceway closet shelf pushed back so Kate would not easily find it.
“What is it, Helen?” Kate was behind her sister and, as Helen turned, she had to stop to avoid bumping into her. “What is that you have to show me? Did Paul find anything out about William?” Kate was focused on the white piece of photocopy paper in the closed pages of the book now in Helen’s hands.
“Paul did not think it was a good idea to show you this, but I know you better than he does, and I also know… William better than he does.” Helen said William’s name with a noticeable hesitation.
“You do not have to hesitate when you say his name. William will come back. I know he will. Paul has to help us. What is it, Helen? What did he find? Please let me see.” Kate pulled the paper out of the book and turned to study the photocopy of the old black and white photograph.
“It’s a copy of an old black and white photo of the Natural Bridge, so…?”
“William! Helen this is William, where did you find this, 1922?” Kate had found the image of the person who appeared to them to be William and scanned the sheet to see the date captioned below the photograph.
“You think it is William, too? I was convinced yesterday, but I had to see your reaction to be sure.” Helen had finished her sentence and Kate was trembling and rifling off a series of questions, one after the other.
“Helen, what does this mean? What did Paul make of it? How did William get in this photo? Tell me is this for real or is it some kind of joke?”
“Kate, slow down. Come on, let’s go into the kitchen and sit down, have some coffee.” The girls were still watching television, unaware that their mother was becoming very emotional. Helen held Kate’s elbow and led her into the kitchen like a nurse does when she assists an elderly person to the bathroom.
They sat down at the kitchen table, but Kate was up and darting away almost immediately.
“Now where are you going?” Helen stood up and then decided to sit down again.
Kate was gone for less than a minute. She returned from the bedroom with a magnifying glass extended over the photograph directly over the figure of two men standing under the Natural Bridge.
“Helen, I am scared.” She looked up from the magnifying glass. “Helen, this is William, what is he doing in the photograph? Please tell me how you or Paul found it and what it means.”
“Listen, take a deep breath, come and sit here with me and I will explain.” Helen stood up again and helped Kate over to the table as she had done before. Kate was still staring at the photograph with the magnifying glass. She moved it over each figure to see if she recognized anybody else. “Paul has been researching the Natural Bridge at James Madison University. He’s spent hours in the library there and really did not find anything particular beyond historical facts and other geographic references. We had lunch yesterday…”
“Lunch! Helen you had this from lunchtime yesterday and you show it to me now? Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?”
“Well, actually I did want to show it to you yesterday. But Paul asked me to at least wait until this morning. He called me just before I came to wake you. You didn’t even hear the phone, did you? I came to wake you because I couldn’t wait any longer to show you this. Paul needed to check out the age of the book and the authenticity of the publisher. He found out that a famous turn-of-the-century photographer who photographed many American natural wonders and American cities took the original photograph. The original does exist, and it is larger than this copy. We should go and see it today. It is at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton.
“I do not need to see the original, I can see this is my husband. Helen, do you think this is William or do you think I am crazy?”
“Kate, how can I say that I do not think it is William?I am the one who almost had a coronary yesterday when I saw it. Paul does not know what William looks like. He was interested in why the two men were here, I mean why William and this other man are staring at the underside of the bridge.”
“Oh my God, Paul is so smart! They are staring at the underside of the bridge. This is what William was doing when he vanished! You mean to tell me Paul found this photo odd because he saw these two men stare at the bridge the way I told him William had? Exactly the way he is doing it here? Helen please tell me what Paul thinks. Has William traveled back in time, has he vanished to another era and is this his way to let us know he is alive?”
“Kate, if William knew we would find a photograph taken of him he would be standing front and center smiling at you with a sheet of quad paper on his chest with his construction printing reading GONE TO 1922 FOR A LITTLE WHILE, WILL BE HOME SOON.”
Helen had lifted both her hands at the side of her chest as if holding an invisible sheet of paper and was rocking her head from left to right.
“No, Kate, I think William has somehow traveled back in time and he happened to be there the day this photograph was taken, probably trying to find a way to get back to us. This guy with him is probably trying to help him. Both you and I know that if William is back in history somewhere and if there is a way for him to return he will figure it out. I know he will get back to you. And when he does I want to be here, I would not miss his story for all the tea in China.” Helen had said her last sentence with a smile. Kate was staring at her sister and finally she too had to smile.
“Helen, I am so happy you found this. This proves to me that I am not crazy. I did see William vanish into a downpour of water. The Natural Bridge is a gateway for time travel. I know it. What does Paul think? Can we… can he bring William back? What can he do now that we know this?”
“Yes, Kate, Paul believes that time travel is possible. He also thinks that we want this person to be William and yet it could just be somebody who happened to look like him…”
“Helen, how could he say that!” Kate picked up the magnifying glass again and hovered it over the photograph. “This is William! I know it just as sure as I know you are here now. Did you convince Paul this is William?”
“Kate, I tried to, but I do not think I was as convincing as you are right now! Based on your reaction, I have no doubt it is William. Yesterday was a different story. I did not know what to believe. Besides if the photo was taken in 1922, how can it be William?” Before Kate could reply, Helen placed her hand up to stop her sister from speaking. “That was yesterday. Today I am sure this is William, and I do believe he must have traveled to another time. It is the only thing that explains your story, this photograph and the fact that he is not back. Only being temporarily trapped in another time could keep William from returning to you. Like you do Kate, I also believe William will find a way to get back to us.”
“Thank you, Helen, I needed to hear you say that.”