46
As William drove through town, he looked closely at the facades of the wooden buildings he was leaving behind. He wondered what they would look like over the increments of time that would pass between his returns here. He smiled at the thought that he would witness the growth of the town in ten-year increments, all over the next couple of weeks.
A thought came to William that scared him. What if along the way of his journey something happened to him and he did not make it back to Kate and the girls? What if Kate by now was in a deep depression grieving him? What if she was convinced he was dead?
According to his calculations it would take him over a month to travel forward in time in two-day increments. But he knew his wife well enough, she would not give up hope, she would be searching for him every day, looking for him in every possible place he could have gone. William knew Kate would know he had not abandoned her intentionally.
William realized this was the first time he was considering what Kate might be doing to find him. He wondered if she knew that he had traveled in time. But then how would she know? There was nothing that could indicate to Kate where he had gone. William remembered how, the day before, the photographer at the Natural Bridge was taking photographs of the bridge and the people under it. He remembered how he was directly in front of the camera lens and that he was certain he would be in one of the photographs clearly. What if Kate saw an old photograph with William in it? Would she figure it out? But then why would she be looking for old photographs of the bridge?
Just as William asked himself that question, he felt a strong urge to send Kate a message somehow that would give her hope and that would tell her that he was, in fact, on his way back to her. He was certain the timing of his visit to the bridge yesterday and that of the photographer being there was not a coincidence but had occurred for a reason.
If Kate had certainly somehow seen the photograph, she would now be searching for him in past records, trying to figure a way to bring him back. William knew the modern world would not be kind to anyone suggesting a loved one was stuck in the fabric of time. How could he assure Kate he was on his way back to her?
As William drove through the center of town he could see the time on the town hall clock was half past eight in the morning. He was glad to see the day was still young. His stare on the clock remained there for a good few minutes.
William was thinking how the time the clock displayed did not matter to him. After all, he had traveled in time without regard to the laws of physics. In his mind, William imagined the clock spinning at the speed of a fan and the clouds overhead moving as fast as speeding automobiles on a busy highway. In his mind, he could see the days fly by him and cycles of darkness and light spinning by him like the frames in a super eight movie projector. William eased off the brake and moved forward while he continued to stare at the clock. His speed was slow, but the thump of the car hitting something was loud and he felt his passenger wheel run over whatever it was.
“Hey mister!” A young voice yelled out loudly.
William stomped on the brake and looked toward the dirt road ahead of him. As he did, he could see the figure of a person rolling on the ground directly in front of the car.
“Oh my God! What have I done?” William opened the car door and quickly darted to the side of the young boy he had hit with his car. A bicycle lay on its side with a bent front wheel, and a boy with his newspaper sack still over his shoulder was attempting to sit up.
“Hold on, let me help you. Are you alright? I am so sorry. I did not see you. Are you hurt? Can you stand up? I know I was not going fast. I am so sorry. Do you need a doctor?”
The newspaper boy jumped to his feet and took his hat off and dusted his pants with it. “Look what your automobile did to my bike, mister! My mum is going to whip me! She said I should deliver the papers on foot.”
William’s car had run over the front tire of the bike. The bicycle wheel clearly seemed destroyed, even worse, the forks of the bike were badly twisted.
“I am sorry kid, I will pay for your bike Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay, it is my fault. I was not looking when I crossed the street. Did I damage your car, mister?”
“Here kid, take this.” William pulled the ten-dollar bill Stan had given him out of his shirt pocket.
The kid looked at the ten-dollar bill and then at William. “No, mister, a new front wheel and forks will cost about two dollars, heck the whole bike was only eight dollars and forty cents.”
“Listen, I need to get to somewhere in a hurry today. I have just realized I want to place an ad in the classifieds of your paper. Can you do that for me? Is there enough here for that and to repair your bike?”
“I think a small ad in the classified runs twenty-five cents a day so I would need to bring you some change. Where do I find you?”
“Listen kid…”
“My name is Lester!”
“Okay, Lester, nice to make your acquaintance. Sorry it was under these circumstances. Are you sure you are okay?”
“Will you stop asking me that? I am fine, I tell you.” Lester picked up his bike and turned the handle-bars so that it stood perfectly upright on the bent front wheel.
William was writing something on a piece of paper on the hood of the car. Lester tried to stand on his toes to see what he was writing.
“If you write down your address I will bring you the change.”
“Lester, here is what I need placed in the personal section of the classifieds in tomorrow’s paper. Can you do that for me? As far as the change goes, please keep it. You deserve it. I have given you enough trouble.”
Lester took the paper from William and read the writing out loud:
“Kate I am not lost. I will return to you. It is only a matter of time now. Ten years from this date I will post a message to you, and every ten years afterwards until I know I am only hours away from being with you, with Nicole and with Tara. Love William.”
Lester looked up from reading the note with a look on his face like he had just read a secret message and had no idea what it meant.
“Lester, can I trust you to place the ad for me? And I may need to place another ad in the future. Can you tell me where the newspaper office is?”
“It is just around the corner, we can walk there together. I am finished delivering my papers. I was just going there anyway. Do you want to come with me and you can pay for it and they can give you change for this ten-dollar bill. Mr. Roberts’s bike shop is two doors further down. We can go over there next and he can tell you how much the repair to the bike will be. I hate to take this much money from you. It is far too much.”
“Look, Lester, I need to go now. Please see that the ad is placed. Get your bike fixed, buy yourself an ice cream, put the balance in your piggy bank, save it for the next time your bike needs repair. But please promise you will be careful on the streets.”
William shook the kid’s hand and climbed into the car and drove off waving at Lester. The kid remained there staring at William, holding the ten-dollar bill and the note William had given him.
“Hey kid, get off the road!” A man in a small delivery truck honked his horn and yelled out at Lester to move out of his way. He braked just in time. If he had stopped a few feet farther ahead, he would have demolished the remainder of the bike.