43
“That was the best meal I have had in a long time. Frank, you sure were not lying to me! Both your mother and Linda are amazing cooks. Thanks for having me.” William was sincere. Not only was the food delicious but it was the first complete meal he’d had in days.
“Well, thank you for the compliment, Bill. I must say that both Mother and I were surprised to learn we had a guest for lunch today, but it was our pleasure to have cooked for you. We certainly hope you will join us again, you are welcome any time,” Linda replied.
In William’s eyes Linda Porter was a saint. She spoke with such a sincere voice. William certainly believed Frank had found a very rare person, and he could see why he did not want to leave her. She was the type of person who could make any stranger feel completely at home, and she genuinely cared about people. William could tell she really loved her husband. Linda seemed like Kate in many ways.
Frank’s mother spoke less than Linda but she, too, seemed to be a good lady who also loved her son very much.
“Well, ladies, Bill and I will do the dishes and then we need to go for a drive…”
“No, Frank you go right ahead… spend some time with Bill. We will take care of the cleanup. Can you believe my son? Sometimes I am convinced he is from another planet, he is the only man in Glasgow that actually cleans the dinner dishes and enjoys doing it!”
William and Frank exchanged an eyebrow-raised look, both relating to a different time.
“Actually I must be from the same planet.” William looked at Frank as he said it and smiled. “I am also the one who does the dishes at my house. I don’t mind helping out if you let me.”
It was no use; the ladies insisted the men go out for their drive.
William and Frank had driven in silence for nearly five minutes when Frank decided to speak. “You know you are right. It seems that referring to you as Bill can only be done by someone who grew up listening to the Beatles! Did you notice my mother had a problem with calling you Bill? As soon as you told her your formal name was William she had to use it.”
“I am a big Who fan.”
“Really?”
“Seen them seven times live. They are actually on tour now. The tour was almost canceled.”
“Oh? How come?”
“It was strange, on the eve of their tour that started in Vegas, John Entwistle the bass player…”
“I know who he is,” interjected Frank, “And?”
“Don’t tell me! You like The Who as well?”
“I meant to say that growing up, listening to the Beatles was unavoidable but I preferred The Doors, Moody Blues and The Who. Anyway, what happened to John Entwistle?”
“He died!”
“Died?”
“Up and died on the eve of the tour, he was 57.”
“And?” Frank was noticeably interested in knowing more.
“He had a heart attack, they canceled the first two concerts in Vegas and Los Angeles and went on to do the rest of the tour with a replacement bassist, an Italian guy, forget his name just now, anyway I have tickets at home to see them in Cleveland September 27th. Care to join me?”
The sound of a car horn interrupted their conversation. William looked behind him and he could see a young kid speeding along, trying to catch up to them. Frank did a shoulder check and smiled.
“Bill, if we had seat belts in this car now is the time I would say: You might want to fasten your seat belt, but since we don’t make sure you hold tight.”
With that said, Frank floored the accelerator and William’s head jerked back. For some reason, William did not expect this antique car to go so fast.
By now the kid had caught up to them and was riding Frank’s rear bumper. William kept looking back. He could hardly see the face of the kid behind them even though he was so close. Frank’s car was kicking up a huge cloud of dust, and the car behind them was for the most part lost in it. Ahead of them a wider road crossed their path. As Frank approached the dirt road intersection, he looked over to William and yelled out to him to hold on tight and indicated he was going to turn a sharp right. William barely held on as they made the turn. He could see the kid behind them speed through the crossing and then immediately stop. Frank stopped his car at the same time the kid did.
“Do you know that kid?” William asked Frank breathing a bit hard from the scare he had at the last turn.
“Yeah, I know him, this is our Sunday ritual, he was waiting for me to drive down this road.” By now the kid had turned back and was turning left toward them onto the same road. He pulled up directly beside Frank’s car and came to a sliding stop about three feet ahead of Frank and William.
“I see you got yourself a co-pilot, Frank. Today I am going to beat you. I modified the carburetor like you said, and this baby is faster than ever, not to mention you have some extra weight. I guess that finally puts us at par.”
As the kid finished his last word, he put the car in gear and gave it all the gas his foot could deliver. Frank saw the kid’s hand move, and immediately put his car in gear and was quickly in front of the kid’s car by about ten feet. This time the road was wide enough for the two cars. They were racing side by side. The kid glared at the road in front of him and then at Frank’s car evenly back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. William could see the determination on the kid’s face. This was serious competition for him. Frank remained cool and collected. He was focused on the road. It was clear for miles ahead. The kid’s car started to pull away. William looked over to Frank’s foot on the accelerator and he could see that Frank was letting up.
“You are going to let this kid beat you?”
“I just want to play with him. Watch this.”
Frank steered his car behind the kid. William wasn’t prepared for the blast of dust that hit them. He quickly covered his eyes and pulled his cotton shirt over his mouth. Frank slowed the car down and then all of a sudden, William felt it jerk to the left. In a few seconds the dust cloud they were in trailed off. William could see the kid still racing as fast as ever, thinking they were in his dust. Frank sped the car up through what seemed like a potato field and William struggled to hold on and avoid bouncing out of his seat.
“Hold on tight!” Frank steered the car behind some trees and found a narrow dirt road that followed the tree line. The road consisted of two tracks and a ribbon of tall grass in the middle. William figured it must have been some type of wagon trail used by the farmers. The tall grass under the car was creating a new sound and for some reason the car actually sounded quieter than before.
“This is how the muffler was invented. Look!” Frank had pointed at the trees at William’s right. They could see the kid almost parallel to them on the road they left behind. Now the kid’s car seemed to be drifting into the distance and getting left behind. The bigger road was curving while the path Frank found was straight. William figured that Frank knew about this path and had planned this diversion. He could also see that the trail they were on eventually merged with the main road.
Now the kid’s car seemed to be gaining speed as the road started to curve back in the direction they were traveling. Clearly the kid was going faster than they were. William could now see the point where the road and the trail merged. At this point, the tree line between them was gone and there was a clear view of the kid’s car. William could see the kid looking behind him to see if Frank’s car was still there. The only thing visible behind the kid’s car was a cloud of dust large enough to hide a two-story house. It seemed to William that the kid was so focused on the road that he was blind to the fact the Frank was on the path beside him. As the kid looked behind him one more time he stopped his turn mid-way.
Now he had seen them! They were so close William could see the kid’s surprised look on his face. Frank realized the kid had “made” them. The trail was about to merge with the road ahead.
Frank sped up the car, mindful of the closeness of the road ahead and the condition of the trail they were on. William held on to his seat with all his might. As much as he was concerned for his safety, he was enjoying the race and the challenge. The two cars were coming closer together. The trail had now become smoother and wider, as it got closer to the main road. The narrow strip of grass in the middle was gone and Frank pushed his car’s speed to its limit.
The kid was not slowing down. William gathered that there was no way both cars could merge on the main road at the same time. One of them would have to slow down. Frank was not letting go. If anything, his car was finding more speed and now Frank was a few feet ahead of the kid.
As the two cars reached the merge in the roads, William was certain Frank was going to collide with the kid’s car. He pulled his body away from the passenger door anticipating a collision. At the last possible moment, the kid put on his brakes and Frank sped onto the main road, missing the front of the kid’s car by only inches. The kid came to a full stop and once again found himself in a cloud of dust.
Frank turned the car right at the next crossing just ahead, let out a long yell and held his hand up for William to give him a high five. William looked back to the main road and as the dust cloud around the kid’s car settled, he could see the kid hit his steering wheel hard with his hand and turned the car around, accepting defeat.
By now Frank had slowed the car down to a more comfortable driving speed. No more dust.
“Young Tommy has not yet beaten me. I had to resort to sidetracking him as his car was actually faster today. It probably was your extra weight.”
“You can blame your wife’s cooking for the extra weight. But for some reason I do feel lighter than when we finished lunch, and I may need to change my pants. I thought for sure you were going to hit his car when we merged into the road. Good thing he stopped when he did!”
“For some reason I do not think that scared you much. I know that once you have experienced the physical transformation during the time travel there isn’t much else that can frighten you.”
“Speaking of which Frank, we’re only a few miles from the bridge. Can we go there? I still desperately need to see it with you.”
“I am one step ahead of you. I was already heading in the direction of the bridge, we should be there in five minutes.”
William was elated to hear that Frank was willing to visit the bridge with him and to get directly to the business at hand. In a few minutes Frank’s car arrived at the field where the carnival was set up. He turned the car down the road leading to the bridge. Within a minute of following the winding road, they arrived at the end and came to a stop. At least a dozen other cars were parked in the area. William was surprised that so many people were there.
“On Sunday is crowded, many people travel from miles around to visit this place. None of these people know the true powers that this bridge holds. That is, except you and me, Bill.” They remained sitting in the car. It was quiet now, and this was a good time for William to find out just how much Frank knew about this phenomenon.
“Frank, this is the perfect place for you to tell me what you know. I respect the fact that you want to stay here, and I think the world of your wife. She is a saint, you are very fortunate to have her and you should do everything possible to keep her. Your mother treasures you and the best thing is that I get the impression she and Linda are the best of friends. How ever did you manage that?”
“I am lucky William. I believe I was brought back here for a reason. First of all, it is where I belong and it is where I should have been.”
“Your mother, she is… old enough to be your mother? I need to tell you that I, too, found my mother in my travels and when I found her we were about the same age. I found my father, too. At my age, he and I look like twins. It was the strangest yet most important thing that has ever happened to me. How did you manage to find your mother at her present age?”
“Well, I thought it would be more natural for us if I was with her at our normal age gap. When I first found her, my dad was alive. They did not know I was their son and I had very little contact with her.
I did not look like my dad much, but I knew he was my father. I spent most of my time with my dad when I first found them at my own age than I did with my mother. I only saw her once, and that was from a distance. I realize now that was a good thing. My dad passed away ten years ago and when I found my mother two years ago he was gone. I could try to go back and see him again, but that would not be natural and then what would I say to him? I really do not have any unfinished business with him. I left him at peace and I will always remember him as the kind and loving person he was.”
“Tell me more, how did you arrive, what made you come here? How did you first find your father and, most of all, how did you figure out a way to get to this time, I mean how did you get to the time you wanted to be at?”
“Well, at first I did not have this time in mind. I wanted to travel throughout time. I bounced around for a couple of years. I have not found any other place, other than this one, that will allow for this to happen so I have not ventured too far from here. Though a few times I did get to the bigger cities. I went to New York and worked with a crew erecting the Statue of Liberty for a week. I went to Detroit and met Henry Ford and helped him out a bit, but not as much as I could have. He was amazing, definitely the highlight of my many trips. I was at the Ed Sullivan theater when the Beatles came to America for the first time, but the worst part was going to Dallas in ‘63 and witnessing Kennedy getting shot. I just stood there and watched it happen. I do not know what would have happened if I stopped it. Nowhere did I mess with history. Not even with Henry Ford, everything he did he knew to do it naturally. I am positive that if we mess with history, we could erase people we care about who are part of our future. All I could think about was my son, and that if I stopped Kennedy from getting killed my son might not be born. When you are at another time and you know the outcome of what is about to happen you don’t dare mess with it. It is like standing at the top of a twenty-story building and looking over the edge. You appreciate the ground below and you respect it. You don’t dare take a step forward for you know it will kill you. It is like that. If you find yourself at a point where you know you could change history, you don’t dare mess with it.”
“Wow. I never looked at it that way, but then again I never gave a single thought to exploring time. All I have been thinking about is getting back to my wife. I guess we are very different that way. I really do not have any ambition to go back to the past and I really am not interested in going to the future. I am only interested in getting back to my life. But I do see how somebody could get addicted to moving around in time at will.”
William stopped and took a deep breath. “And that is the million dollar question: How did you do it, Frank? How did you travel to those times? How did you know where you were going?”
William held his breath in anticipation of Frank’s answer.
“I guess I need to start at the beginning.” Frank gave William a teasing glance as if to indicate he would hold back the knowledge William was so anxious to learn.
“Well that would be a good place to start, I guess. Tell me, how did it happen to you? How did you first discover this place?” William sensed that Frank was open to telling him anything he needed to know.
“It was a strange day to begin with. My wife and I had a stupid argument that morning. On my way to work I was thinking that I wanted to do something different with my life. My route to work took me on the main road to this place. When I got to that large intersection surrounded by wonderfully tacky roadside Americana, I did not see the light change and this poor lady with a car full of kids ran right into me. It was definitely my fault. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but my car was toast. While waiting for a tow truck to show up, I strolled into that incredibly large souvenir shop below the hotel.”
“Yeah, I remember that shop. My girls were so caught up with the huge selection of merchandise that they almost kept us from visiting the bridge! But I guess if that had happened I would not be here right now,” William interjected but quickly added, “so let me guess, something compelled you to buy a ticket and come see this 900 ton rock span for yourself?”
“You guessed right. I am not sure why, but it was like fate. I know I was meant to come here. First the move to these parts, then landing some part-time work at a garage near the Natural Bridge Speedway and Drag Strip, and then finally crashing my car where I did; all that to get me here. When I arrived at the bridge, I was in a trance. I remember thinking that I must have been shaken up by the accident, but I did not stop walking until I was directly under the bridge.”
“Wow! That is exactly what happened to me! What happened next?”
“Well, you know what happened next! The same thing that happened to you. The next thing I remember is that I was lying on the ground still under the bridge but everything around me had changed. As I got up I could see a man sitting alone on a rock near the edge of the stream right over there.” Frank pointed to a large boulder forty feet or so from where they were standing.
“What exactly went through your mind? Was anybody else around?” William asked, anxious for Frank to get on with his story.
“No. It was just me and this man who appeared to be crying.”
“For a time I did not know what to do or where I was and what was going on. Then I found the nerve to approach him. I scared the shit out of him, he jumped in the water and nearly drowned in six inches of it.”
“The first thing he asked me was, ‘have you seen my child?’ He was begging me to help him find his son. I had no idea what he was talking about.”
“Did he accuse you of kidnapping his son?”
“No, not at all”
“Well, then I take it you didn’t get shot at.”
“Shot at?” Frank wanted to make sure he heard William correctly. “Did you say shot at? Like with guns.”
“My story might take too long. Tell me about what happened between you and your father and how you came to realize that he was your father.”
“Well it’s funny actually, he told me, how the day before, his son had disappeared from under the bridge. He told me that he was there by himself and he had his son with him in a bassinet. He had wanted to give my mother a break, and he came here to rest. He said he was lying just under the bridge over there with the bassinet at his side. He was resting with his eyes shut, opening them every so often to check on his sleeping son. He said at one point his son let out a cry and, as he jolted to see what was wrong, he saw that the bassinet was flooded with water and his son was gone. He had no idea what happened. He did not know how to explain it to anyone, let alone his wife. He frantically searched the area for the baby, and he returned with an army of people who searched well into the night, but nothing! I was not found!” Frank said the last statement with a smile. He wanted to let William know he was aware of what had happened.
“You were not found? So you know that baby was you? When did you know?”
“Well, I did not know it at the time my father told his story. I mostly felt sorry for him and offered to help him look for his baby. In time, I realized I felt a strange closeness to him and one day it all hit me like a ton of bricks! It was me that had traveled forward in time. I was his son who had disappeared. I didn’t figure it out while my father was alive. I never told him. He died stricken with grief, convinced he was somehow responsible for the disappearance of his only son. When I realized I was the son my mother lost, I returned to her at the time in her life when we were at a natural age gap. I wanted to let her know I was the son she lost. That was two years ago.”
“Did she believe you? I mean how did she react?” William was hanging on every word Frank was telling him. He was so amazed that he found another person who had a similar experience to his and that he was there with him at the Natural Bridge.
“When I first met her, I was not sure how I would approach her. I was worried she wouldn’t believe me. I felt I had to give her some type of proof. But the weirdest thing happened. When she greeted me on her porch, she looked into my eyes and started crying. She knew it was me before I said a word. All she had to do was look at me and she knew I was her son. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. As it turned out she gave me the proof I thought I had to give her. Until that moment I was not one hundred percent sure. But I can tell you for certain that after that reunion there was no doubt in my mind! The lady you had lunch with today is my natural mother. She really did not care where I had been or how I disappeared. She could only thank the Lord that I was returned to her. She told me about my father and how much he loved me and that he never stopped looking for me.” Frank stopped talking, his eyes telling William that he had completed his story.
“That is amazing! I mean our stories are so similar! We were both taken away from our natural parents as infants; we traveled forward in time to a similar modern world; and for some reason we returned as adults back to the place we came from. Have you found anyone else like us?”
“No! Until I met you I thought I was the only one that this had happened to. I do wonder now how many other people have experienced this. But I would have to say that there must not be that many. It may be just you and me, kid.”
“Why do you say that?” William really wanted to hear what else Frank knew that he had not already told him.
“The reason I say that is: If it can only happen when an infant is under the bridge in a certain position at a certain time of the day, then how many people do you think actually would have taken a baby in a bassinet and placed it under that bridge at the right time and place to cause the baby to be transported in time the way we were?” Frank extended his right hand in the direction of the bridge as he made his point.
William could not help reacting to what Frank had said. “A certain time? What do you mean by a certain time?”
“You have not figured that out yet?”
“Figured what out?”
“The time of day makes a difference. In order to control your travel forward or backward in time, you need to be under the bridge at a particular time of day.”
William was finally hearing what he had been waiting to get from Frank from the minute he found him, and that was specific information regarding controlling his movement in time. “You mean you know how to control the direction you travel in and the time you arrive at? Frank, you have to tell me: What is it? How did you find out? Is it accurate?” William could not ask his many questions fast enough.
“As I told you, I traveled in time for more than two years, it was a matter of trial and error. Before long I was able to calculate the pattern and I got to a point where I could travel to a time I chose to go.”
“You mean you can tell me how to get back to my family?” William had not allowed Frank to finish speaking. Visibly excited, he wanted Frank to get to the point as fast as possible. “Well, tell me! Frank, how exactly do you do it? I really need to know. As a matter of fact it is all I want to know!”
“You see it is all in the sun. It is very simple actually. If you are under the bridge in the morning, you travel backward in time and if you are under the bridge in the afternoon you travel forward in time.”
“But the direction you face? Does that have anything to do with it?”
“Not that I have noticed. Why?”
“It was the only thing I could think of. I did travel forward to this time, and now that I think of it, it was in the afternoon. When I traveled back in time it was morning, including the first time when I left my family behind. But how do you control the amount of time you travel?”
“What I found is that you can only travel back in time from 9:00 AM ‘til noon and you can only travel forward in time from noon ‘til 3:00 PM. In the morning for the first hour you travel back 110 years; the next hour you travel back double or 220 years; and the last hour you travel back 330 years. For some reason, traveling forward in time only happens in ten-year increments. There is one exception and that is if you travel during the last half hour, or between 2:30 and 3:00 PM, it is like a wild card into the future. I did this three times and believe me it is the last thing you want to do.”
William was listening to every word Frank was saying as closely as he could. He also managed to find a small pencil and piece of paper and was writing down small symbols reflecting what Frank had said so far.
“Tell me about traveling forward in that last half hour, how many years was it for you?”
“Well, that’s just it! It was irrational. Three times I traveled forward in time during the last half hour and in each of those occurrences I ended up at an odd time in the future. The first time it happened I went from 1520 to 1936. From there I went back to 1826. From 1826 I had hoped to travel forward 10 years so that I could see the Alamo before it was taken by the Mexicans. For some reason I waited till late in the day and again I traveled forward in time over 150 years. As I experimented more it became apparent that as long as I traveled in the afternoon prior to 2:30 the movement forward was always in increments of 10 years. On one other occasion I wanted to test this and sure enough traveling at shortly after 2:30 PM took me to a very ugly future. When I arrived I had no idea what year it was. I did not stick around too long to find out. The next morning I traveled as late as I could. I wanted to make sure that if I was very far in the future I would go back 330 years. That took me to the year 2001.”
“You mean you were in the year 2331?I can’t imagine what kind of world awaits us that far into the future!”
“That was the last time I traveled that late in the day. For the most part I stayed out of the future beyond my time. I figured why risk it? You never know; you could end up at a time when the bridge is no longer here and then what? The only other thing to remember is that when you arrive, it is the next day on the calendar from the day you left.”
“Wow. So how many times have you traveled in time overall?” William turned towards the bridge as he spoke to Frank.
“I sort of kept track, I would say I moved around about twenty times. The only other thing I need to warn you about is that you should not travel forwardor backwards for that matter, in the same day. Whenever I did that I became disoriented and even ill. I think it is too much for the body to take. If you rest at least three days or so between trips you will be okay.”
“That’s it? No other dangers, no other unexplained phenomenon that I need to know about? It is that easy? I just need to wait a few days between moving forward in time? Wow!” William looked at his borrowed pocket watch. “It is 2:45. I could walk up to the bridge right now and travel forward to a year most likely close to my family!”
“Look, Bill, I was not kidding. If you move forward too fast you can risk getting lost or getting killed. It is not a good thing when you get to the next stop and you have no idea where you are in time! I really think you need to keep your wits clear, travel forward in ten-year increments every three days and you will see that things will go smooth. Also, try not to travel while so many people are around you like today; this place is deserted on weekdays. Don’t forget that for either back in time or forward, you arrive the next day from the day you leave: if you leave on Monday you arrive on a Tuesday and so on. I am also convinced that only those who have traveled forward originally as infants like you and I, can travel back and forth. I have experimented with others, like one friend I met along the way – without him knowing it of course. When we were here together under the bridge, I asked him to look up. I wanted to see if the droplets did anything for him, like they do to us. I planned to stop him from going anywhere if I saw any sign that he might, but nothing happened. The droplets had no affect on him. I am convinced that only infants like us who came forward in time can experience this. I am also convinced that the first time you travel back, you end up where you came from. That would explain why you and I both returned to the time we left, even though we both traveled back at a different age. I guess you can say we are gifted with this!”
“Well, Frank, you really have impressed me, you know that? I think you are one hell of a smart guy, and I am sure glad I found you. What do you say we take a walk and have a closer look at the bridge? Please tell me anything else I should know.”
William and Frank walked toward the bridge. People were still walking under the bridge admiring the natural wonder. Many children were playing in the area. William passed a photographer and his assistant who were setting up a wooden tripod with a very large camera that was aimed toward the bridge. Frank continued recounting some of the visits he experienced over his time travel. When the photographer took the photograph that became his choice for the day’s best take, William and Frank were almost directly under the bridge. They were careful not to get directly under the path of the droplets. Frank had his back to the camera and William was looking u