It was Monday morning, May 24th, 2010.
Abby typed on her iMac at her desk back at the college.
While stopped, then glanced over at the door of Dr. Bowman's office.
Her curiosity peeked again, so she got up and walked over and stood in his doorway. "Doc, I have a strange question to ask you."
"What's that, Abby?" he replied while he graded a test paper.
She hesitated for a few seconds while she pondered if she should ask. But her curiosity won again. "Do you believe that time travel is possible?"
Dr. Bowman looked up over his glasses with a surprised look. "That's some question. Ah…" He thought for a second. "I guess it's possible. I mean I never heard of anybody actually traveling through time. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. I recall you telling me how Michael Osborne was obsessed with it. I wondered why?"
"Some of us suspected he wanted to go back in time and save his fiancé's life. But I guess time travel might not be possible since she's not alive today."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said then turned around and took a step back to her desk. She got curious again, turned back around, and went back to the doorway of Dr. Bowman's office.
"Doc, if time travel was possible. And if Michael Osborne actually did build a time machine, would you want to travel back in time?"
Dr. Bowman glanced up from his test paper. "Would I travel back in time?" he said while he thought about her question. "No. I would prefer to find the Fountain of Youth. I would benefit from that instead of going back in time. It's a shame Ponce de Leon didn't find the Fountain of Youth down in St. Augustine, Florida. It's a shame," Dr. Bowman said then returned back to his grading his test paper. "I hoped that answered your question?" he added with eyes focused on the paper.
"It did. I was just a little curious. Thanks," she replied, then turned away and headed back to her desk.
After lunch, Abby visited the Fine Arts Department to see Mindy, who managed all the costumes for the plays performed by the college.
Abby followed Mindy into a storage room where numerous aisles contained racks and racks of costumes and various outfits.
"What types of dresses are you looking for again?" Mindy asked.
"I'm looking for a dress that would be from the early sixties."
"You going to a costume party or something?"
Mindy turned left down another aisle with Abby behind her.
"Yeah. A birthday party for an old friend that grew up in the sixties. We thought this would be a nice touch."
"Someone from the university?" Mindy asked while turned right down another aisle.
"No. He lives in my neighborhood and works at the General Motors plant," Abby replied, thinking that a little white lie now would be more comfortable than explaining a potential trip in a time machine.
Mindy walked down to this aisle and stopped. "Here are some dresses from that era. Take your pick."
Abby looked at six dresses from the 1960s.
She smiled at her selection.
She picked out a blue dress with flowers.
She placed it up against her body.
"Looks like that will fit," Mindy said.
"Great, then I'll use this one."
Mindy and Abby walked away down the aisle.
Abby spotted some 1960s purses on the floor. She snatched up a small white purse.
Later that night, Abby walked into the Fancy Cuts hair salon in the Barbourville Mall wearing blue jeans, a light blue blouse, and thong sandals.
Suzie, a young hairstylist, walked up to Abby. "How may I help you?"
"I'm Abby Austin. I called earlier for an appointment."
"Ah, yes. You have an appointment with me."
Suzie walked Abby to her station, got her situated in the chair.
"What can I do for you today?" Suzie asked while she placed the hairstylist cape over the front of Abby's body.
"I want an earlier sixties style haircut. A Bouffant style."
Suzie looked a little stumped. "Bouffant? I'm not familiar with that style," she said then looked at the other young hairstylist working on customers. "Does anybody know how to do a Bouffant style?"
All the other young hairstylists nodded they did not have a clue.
Gail Abbott, now seventy-six years old, was sitting in a chair near Suzie. "I do. I did them when I was a beginning stylist back in those days."
Suzie looked relieved when Gail spoke up that she could help. But she did feel it was an odd request for a hairstyle.
A little while later after Gail was finished getting her hair done, she instructed Suzie on Abby's requested old style.
Later that evening, Abby walked out of the hair salon sporting a 1960s Bouffant hairstyle.
She got all kinds of stares from people while she walked through the mall.
An old couple in their late seventies walked past Abby. They turned around and glanced back at her.
"I remember when you had that style," the man told his wife.
"I remember too. Like it was yesterday," the lady replied while she lightly touched her white hair. "But my hair was black then," she said with a chuckle.
The man chucked then held his wife's hand while they walked away.
A little while later, Abby walked out of a shoe store with a shopping bag in hand.
She walked off down the mall.
A little while later, Abby walked out of a coin shop in the mall.
She looked determined while she walked away.
After Abby returned home, she paced back and forth in her bedroom in her bare feet. She wore blue jeans with a light blue short sleeve blouse. She had the photo of her and Rich in her right hand.
She would stop and glance at Jennifer's newspaper article on top of her sleeping bag.
She debated in her head while she glanced back and forth between the black and white photo of Jennifer and the photo of her and Rich. She glanced back at Jennifer's photo.
"Why does Jennifer seem so familiar? It's like I knew her," she said then paced around some more.
She stopped by her closet and looked like she made up her mind.
She reached inside the closet and removed her high heels.
She reached back in her closet and grabbed her backpack; she unzipped it and dropped the picture of her and Rich and the high heels into it.
She reached up and grabbed the blue dress she got from the college. She neatly folded it and tucked in into the backpack. She grabbed the small white purse and opened it up.
Inside the purse, she saw some of the money she bought at the coin store.
She rushed over to her dresser with her small white purse.
On top of her dresser was where her modern-day purse. She opened up that purse, grabbed some bills then shoved them into her white purse. "They'll never notice the dates," she said while she snapped the white purse shut then tucked it into the backpack.
She rushed back to her closet and slipped her feet into her thong sandals.
She rushed over to her sleeping bag with her backpack in hand. She reached under the sleeping bag and removed the pictures of Michael and Jennifer kissing and the one of Kenneth and Jennifer. She dropped them into her backpack, zipped it up, then headed to her bedroom door.
She left the room, leaving the lamp on the floor turned on.
Abby walked down her hallway and headed into the kitchen.
Abby walked over to the counter and opened the drawer. She removed the key to the padlock then closed the drawer.
She opened her sliding glass door and stepped out onto the porch.
She closed the sliding glass door and glanced over at Michael's garage.
She took a deep breath, then headed off through the grass to the garage with her backpack in hand.
Back at Kenneth's house in Kingsville, he sat in his lazy boy chair in his den with another whiskey and water drink. He had Michael's photo album in hand.
He opened it to the first page and glanced at the pictures.
He flipped to the second page. He took a drink of his whiskey while he glanced at the pictures.
He flipped to the third page and glanced at the pictures.
He flipped to the fourth page. He took another drink of whiskey while he glanced at the pictures. His mouth opened, and some whiskey ran down his cheek onto his shirt when he noticed two pictures were missing.
He placed his drink on the table by his chair. "Where the hell are those pictures?" he said while he frantically flipped through all the pages of the album. He slammed the album to the floor. "Who is she and what does she want?" he said then got this strange feeling.
He jumped up from his chair and rushed out of his den.
Back in Michael's garage, Abby opened the door to the time machine.
She hesitated for a few seconds while she took a peek inside the machine. She made up her mind and looked determined while she sat inside with her backpack in hand.
She closed the door.
Kenneth raced his Impala east on Interstate 76 doing ninety miles per hour. He ran by a "Barbourville – 60 Miles" road sign.
Back in Michael's garage, Abby looked unsure while she stared at the console. She stared at it for a few seconds and got a little nervous and scared.
"What am I thinking? This will never work. You can't change time. It is what it is," she said then opened the door and got out with her backpack in hand.
She closed the door of the time machine and headed to the garage door.
Outside the garage, she closed the garage door.
She shoved the lock key into the front of her jeans pocket while she moped back to her house.
Kenneth continued to race his Impala south on Interstate 76 still doing ninety miles per hour. He passed by a "Barbourville - 25 Miles" road sign.
Back in Abby's house, she entered her kitchen through her sliding glass door. She looked disappointed while she closed it.
She walked over to her refrigerator and opened the door. She reached inside and removed her bottle of red wine.
She got a wine glass out of her cabinet. She poured wine into the glass, then walked out of the kitchen with her backpack.
Kenneth continued to race his Impala south on Interstate 76 doing ninety miles per hour. He passed by a "Barbourville - 10 Miles" road sign.
Back in Abby's house, she relaxed on her sleeping bag with her back against the wall.
She sipped on her wine while she stared at the old article about Jennifer.
She stared at the Florida beach photo with her and Rich.
Kenneth continued to race his Impala south on Interstate 76 doing ninety miles per hour. He passed by a "Barbourville - 1 Mile" road sign.
He slowed his car down to seventy miles per hour.
Back in Abby's bedroom, she sipped on her wine while she glanced at the photo of Jennifer and Michael kissing. Her eyes welled up.
She glanced at the photo of Kenneth and Jennifer.
She glanced at the photo of her and Rich.
She glanced at the photo of Jennifer and Michael kissing.
"Well, I already had my hair looking that way," she said and looked determined while she shoved the three photos into her backpack.
She got up off her sleeping bag.
She grabbed her backpack and rushed out of her bedroom.
She left the newspaper on top of her sleeping bag and the lamplight on.
Kenneth drove his Impala down Shady Hill Avenue from the northern end of town.
He stopped at a red light and impatiently tapped his fingers on his steering wheel while he waited for it to change green.
Back at Abby's house, she flipped off the light switch to the kitchen.
She stepped outside to her porch through her sliding glass door with her backpack.
She stared at Michael's garage.
She took a step in the grass then hesitated.
She took a deep breath and rushed through her grass toward Michael's garage.
Abby rushed over to the garage door that she previously left unlocked. She swung the left open and stepped inside the garage. She closed the door behind her but left it cracked opened.
She flicked on the lights to the garage.
Kenneth parked his Impala in Abby's driveway.
He left his car running while he rushed out.
He rushed to her front door and rang the doorbell.
He waited for a few seconds, and Abby did not appear. He peeked through the living room window and saw it was dark inside here house.
In the garage, Abby sat in the machine with her backpack on her lap.
She stared at the console and looked at all the gauges, knob, and switches. She looked overwhelmed. "Now, what do I do?
Abby looked around the console. She spotted a small glove box type of door off to the right side of the console.
She opened it, peeked inside, and saw a rolled-up piece of paper. She removed it and saw it was a set of instructions. She was glad.
She read the instructions and noticed that the times were in 24-hour clock times.
She flipped the Power toggle switch to the "Powered Up" position.
She heard a low hum at the rear of the machine. She looked at the gauge below that toggle switch and noticed that the needle jumped a little and moved a tad upward in the white arc.
She noticed that the round green lens above that toggle switch was illuminated green.
She waited, and the humming at the rear of the machine started to get a little louder while the engine warmed up.
She dialed in May 24th, 2014, 2200 for the "Now" date. She flipped the "Now" toggle switch up. The round lens above that toggle switch was illuminated green.
She dialed in May 19th, 1961, 0300 for the "Destination" date then flipped the "Date" toggle switch up. The round green lens above that toggle switch was illuminated green.
She dialed in May 20th, 1961, 2200 for the "Pick-up" date then flipped the "Pick-up" toggle switch up. The round green lens above that toggle switch was illuminated green.
She flipped the "Door" toggle switch up. She heard the door latches click. The round green lens above that toggle switch was illuminated green.
The humming at the rear of the machine was a low constant hum and pleasant to the ears.
Abby noticed that the needle in the engine gauge was in the middle of the green arc.
She smiled, knowing that things appeared to be going smooth.
Back at Abby's house, Kenneth ran around to the rear of her home and peeked in the sliding glass door. Her kitchen was dark.
He rushed to her bedroom window and peeked through the window. His eyes widen in surprise when he saw the old newspaper about Jennifer's death on top of Abby's sleeping bag.
He looked over at Michael's garage and looked concerned when he saw the lights were on inside and the left garage door was cracked open a little.
In the garage, Abby listened to the low constant hum of the rear of the machine.
Across the top of the console, the row of small green lights was illuminated except for the Travel lens.
She debated in her mind while she stared at the "Travel" toggle switch.
She looked at the date display then remembered that Jennifer died on May 20th and she accidentally dialed in May 19th. The placed two fingers on the dial to change the date.
A loud bang on the window startled Abby. She jumped and inadvertently rolled the day button by too far while she saw Kenneth pounding on the window.
"Get out of here!" he yelled slinging spit all over the window.
Kenneth tried to open the door from the outside the second Abby flipped the "Travel" toggle switch up.
The time machine's rear-engine started to roar with a louder hum.
The row of green lens started alternately blinking, indicating the process started.
Outside the time machine, Kenneth's hand got zapped from the door handle the second the rear of the machine started to vibrate.
Kenneth fell back in pain and landed hard on his butt. He cringed in a little pain as his butt bone took the brunt of the landing.
Sparks started dancing all around the time machine.
Kenneth got scared, and he scooted away on his butt as fast as he could to the garage door.
He got to the door and looked back at the time machine. He watched while million of sparks danced all around the time machine while it hummed and vibrated a louder and harder.
Abby sat in the time machine a little afraid of what was happening.
The engine in the rear hummed louder.
The entire machine vibrated harder.
The row of green lights started alternately blinking at a faster rate.
Abby cringed in pain. "Ahhh!" she cried out.
The vibration got severe.
Abby buckled over in pain with her entire body.
Psychedelic colors filled all of the windows like a late 1960s psychedelic rock concert light show.
Abby experienced extreme pain while she attempted to sit straight up. She passed out and slouched down in the seat.
Inside the garage, Kenneth peed his pants while he watched the sparks furiously dance around the humming and vibrating time machine.
The machine disappeared with a poof sound sending a million bits of lights all over the garage like an explosion.
Kenneth covered his face with his hands fearful those lights would burn holes in him.
The garage was quiet.
Kenneth peeked through his fingers to see if it was safe. It was safe, and he saw a bare spot where that time machine once stood.
He got up and ran out of the garage scared to death with a huge wet spot in the crotch of his pants.