Chapter 11
Friday morning had arrived.
Darin and Tiffany woke up, and they started their usual concert of hacking up crud from his lungs along with Tiffany.
While Darin made Tiffany her stack of pancakes, he discreetly spat into her batter while he thought about yesterday.
Tiffany got dressed in her A&P uniform immediately after breakfast.
After Tiffany left for work, Darin rushed off into the bathroom and took a shower.
After his shower, Darin got dressed in a pair of Keds Converse sneakers, Levi blue jeans, and a black tee-shirt.
He rushed out of his trailer, got into his Impala, and drove away.
Darin drove over to ATM of the First National Bank of Burkeville and withdrew three hundred dollars leaving only fifty dollars left in his checking account. He figured if things didn't work out, he might just stay in 1971 and be rid of Tiffany forever. He figured he could easily get a janitor's job somewhere back in 1971. He thought he could land a job at the university again or even at the plant. But he shuttered at the thought of working near his dad.
Darin rushed back home to his trailer.
He rushed into the bedroom, opened up the closet, and removed a small suitcase.
Darin proceeded to pack some jeans, underwear, socks, and tee shirts.
Darin rushed out of the house with his suitcase in hand.
He got in his Impala and started it up. He looked at the trailer and smiled then placed the car in reverse and backed away.
During the drive to the university, Darin practiced a little speech for his jerk of a boss.
After he parked his car in the parking lot, he grabbed his suitcase and rushed off into campus to the Engineering and Science building.
He went inside and headed straight to the freight elevator.
Darin rushed out of the freight elevator the second it stopped at the basement.
He rushed over to his office and went inside.
After he placed his suitcase by his desk, he grabbed the plunger off his cleaning cart.
He ran out of his office and headed to the elevator.
Darin took the freight elevator to the fourth floor.
Once he got to the fourth floor, he rushed into the Ladies Room.
Darin spent ten minutes cramming wads of paper towels into the toilets. He smiled after he flushed the toilets a few times and flooded the floors.
He ran out of the Ladies room and ran into the Men's Room.
Ten minutes had passed, and he had that floor flooded.
Darin went down to the third, second, and first floor and completed his tasks.
Darin rolled his cleaning cart into his office with a huge smirk.
He walked over to his desk and picked up the phone. He punched in a number.
"Johnson," Elmer said, answering the call.
"Hey boss, it's Archer."
"What do you want?" said Elmer while he was too busy looking at a Hustler magazine and really didn't want to be bothered.
"What I want. Well," said Darin and a smirk grew on his face. "We have a problem over here."
"What problem?"
"All the toilets in all the ladies rooms in this building are clogged and overflowing," he said and waited with a smile. "Must be Kotex season," he said with a broader smile.
"Well, do your job and unclog the toilets and mop the floor, you dumbass. That's what you're paid to fucking do," said Elmer irritated that Darin called him to tell him that bit of news.
Darin paused for a few seconds while he recalled what he rehearsed a couple of speeches during the drive to work. A smile grew on his face while he decided on his second speech. "Naw, I really don't feel like cleaning up the bathrooms tonight," he said and waited for Elmer to blow up.
"What the fuck do you mean you don't fucking feel like cleaning up the bathrooms? It's your fucking job! Do it, or you're fired," yelled Elmer from the phone.
"No, you get your fucking fat ass over here, and you clean it. I fucking quit," said Darin then he slammed down the phone.
Darin grabbed his suitcase by the desk and walked out of his office with a huge grin. Saying that to Elmer felt so good, as he's wanted to do that for the past ten years.
While he strutted to the door of the laboratory, he heard his phone ringing on his desk. He knew Elmer was in his office blowing a gasket.
Darin chuckled while he reached in his right jeans pocket and removed the door key. He unlocked the door and stepped inside the laboratory. His office phone kept on ringing while he closed the laboratory door behind him and locked it.
Darin ran through the laboratory and over to the time machine room. He opened the door to the time machine room and closed the door behind him.
Once he got in the room, he rushed over to the Studebaker time machine.
He opened the door and sat down in the seat.
He closed the door.
He removed the ignition key from his left pants pocket, shoved the key in the ignition and turned it to the "Start" position.
He buckled himself in the seat with the harness.
He secured his suitcase in the other harness the best way he could so the suitcase wouldn't fly around whacking him in the head.
After he took a few deep breaths, he was finally ready to go on his new adventure.
Darin flipped up the "1 - Power" switch. The light above the power switch illuminated green. All the left lights above the other switches were not lit up. There was a low electrical hum while the electronics of machine fired up.
He flipped up the "2 - Doors" toggle switch. A loud click sound was heard that indicated both doors were locked. The light above that toggle switch illuminated green.
He looked at the "Travel From Time" panel.
He glanced down at his watch then dialed in June 16, 1995, 1730.
He looked at the "Travel to Time" panel. He thought about where he could go for a few seconds. His eyes lit up with an idea, and he dialed in June 10, 1971, 0430 in the "New Time" panel. "Why not?" he said, as he figured he should spend a couple of days reliving his life back in 1971 before he tried to undo a life of misery.
He flipped up the "3 – Time Set" toggle switch. The light above that toggle switch illuminated green.
He flipped up the "4 - Engine" toggle switch and noticed that the lens above it illuminated the green side of that lens.
The engine in the front of the Studebaker started up with a whine. The engine hummed.
Darin hesitated while the humming sound stayed a constant hum. He closed his eyes and debated if he should continue.
He silently prayed he wouldn't be vaporized into a million pieces. But then he thought about his life with Tiffany and thought that that would be an excellent way to end it.
He flipped up the "6 - Travel" toggle switch quickly before he changed his mind. He noticed that the lens above it illuminated the green side.
The flipping of this switch activated the time travel process and the humming got louder and was ear piercing. Darin covered his ears with his hands and cringed in extreme pain.
Darin glanced at a speedometer and saw the needle jump off the peg at the "0" MPH marking.
The Studebaker started to slowly spin in a counterclockwise motion on the round base.
Darin could see the speedometer need move up the MPH readings. It was now at the 10 MPH mark.
The spinning of the machine started to get faster.
Darin got dizzy inside the time machine while he spun around faster.
The time machine started to spin at hypersonic speed.
He glanced at the speedometer, and it was pegged vibrating at the 160 mph mark.
Darin saw millions of twinkling psychedelic balls of red, white, blue, green, and yellow lights that raced around in all directions outside the windows of the Studebaker. He thought it was cool and looked like a 1960's rock show.
He passed out and slumped down in his seat while the machine spun around at hypersonic speeds.
Ten minutes had passed, and Darin stirred in the machine after it stopped spinning. The engine was now a low hum with a few hissing sounds.
He opened up his eyes and was dazed and confused for a few seconds. He didn't have a clue where he was or what happened. His head started to throb. It was a severe headache, and he wanted to scream.
His hands shook while he flipped all the toggle switches down. The machine was quiet after a few seconds. Then Darin's eyes widened when he remembered why he was inside that time machine.
Darin's hands shook while he unbuckled his harness. It took a few failed attempts with his shaking hands, but he finally got it unbuckled.
He reached over and unbuckled the other harness that kept his suitcase in place. He was finally able to get it unbuckled after a few failed attempts with his shaking hands.
He grabbed his suitcase off the seat and opened up the door.
He stepped out of the time machine with wobbly knees.
He closed the door and soon noticed that that secret laboratory and time machine rooms of Dr. Bowman were gone. All he saw was the basement full of old junk. Junk he never saw before.
His 1995 janitor's office was also gone.
He saw a cleaning cart that was stored by four shelves hung on the walls. Those shelves contained cleaning supplies.
Darin smiled as he knew he time-traveled back to 1971. He could feel it in his bones.
He looked back at the time machine and knew he had to cover it or risk being stuck again in 1971.
Darin walked ten feet from the machine when he got a weird feeling in his stomach. He knew what was going to happen next and couldn't stop it. He bent over and vomited on the concrete floor.
After he was done emptying his stomach, he started to move junk around to hide the time machine. He even found a tarp to cover the top.
He looked proud of what he did then headed off to the freight elevator. He took it to the first floor.
He stepped out in the hallway of the first floor. It hadn't changed that much, as what he figured.
He gingerly walked down the hallway to the main doors of the building.
Once Darin got to the main double doors, he paused and glanced outside. "Should I?" he asked himself a little unsure he could make this mission a success. "What the fuck. I have nothing to lose," he said then pushed down on the push bar, and the door opened.
Darin stepped outside then this was unplanned. Alarms rang inside the building to indicate it was being broken into.
"Fuck!" yelled out Darin and realized that his time travel trip was off to a bad start.
He ran off into the darkness of the campus with his suitcase in hand.
Darin was able to slip out of the university campus without being detected.
He headed north on Brightwood Avenue.
Once he got away from the university property, he glanced to his left and saw Papa Joe's Drug Store. He smiled as he knew that place from 1971. Papa Joe's Drug Store was torn down in 1982, and a CVS Pharmacy was built on the property.
While he walked down the sidewalk Brightwood, he saw a red flashing light from the top of a squad car racing down the street. He scanned the area for a place to hide. Perfect! He thought the second he spotted a row of hedges in front of a dentist's office. It was his dentist from when he was a kid.
He ran over and hid behind the hedge with his suitcase.
He waited crouched down behind the hedge out of breath, as that short-run was too much for his nicotine filled lungs.
He heard the sound of a car racing down the road coming at his direction.
He coughed.
He saw the flashing red light reflecting off the street. Darin peeked between the branches of the hedge.
He coughed again and cringed thinking that sound would have him caught.
He continued to peek between the branches of the hedge.
He felt another cough building up. He fought hard to suppress it. He held his breath. He didn't know if he could last and his face started to turn red. He saw a black and white 1970 Plymouth Fury Burkeville squad car with its flashing red bubble gum light on the roof race by him.
After a few seconds, it was dark and quiet again on the street, and Darin felt it was safe. He exhaled and coughed again.
He got up and walked back over to the sidewalk.
He rushed down the street and made a left turn down another street.
Darin rushed off down that street with a constant glance over his shoulder for signs of another Burkeville squad car.
While Darin slipped into the darkness of Burkeville, two police officers from the Burkeville police department started searching all the offices, bathrooms, and classrooms of the Engineering and Science building.