Chapter 20
It was now seven on Monday morning, June14th 1971.
Darin woke up in his jail cell. It took a few seconds for it to dawn on him that he was in jail. He wanted to cry knowing that there would be no way he could safe Sheryl’s life later that night.
An hour has passed and Officer Eastwood brought Darin some eggs and bacon breakfast.
After breakfast it was more extreme boredom sitting on the bunk in that small cell. The seconds felt like hours and the hours felt like days. Darin wanted to die, as he couldn’t bear the thought of continuing with his life again without Sheryl.
It was eleven thirty that morning and Sheryl worked at the diner.
Officer Eastwood entered and waited by the cash register.
Sheryl walked over to him. “Want a take out order?”
“Yes I do,” he said and hesitated while he looked at her.
“What would you like for lunch?”
“I’ll take one of your bacon cheese burgers with fries and for our prisoner, I’ll get him a plain hamburger with fries.”
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Sheryl. “Did you say prisoner?”
“Yeah, some old hippy that rolled into town the other day. He apparently assaulted Robbie Hanson down at the lake last night. Claims that Robbie wanted to perform sex on him,” said Officer Eastwood then he cringed that he said too much.
“Robbie wanted to perform sex on that old guy?”
Officer Eastwood nodded to answer her question.
“That’s not Robbie Hanson,” she said.
“That’s why the Chief is furious with that old hippy. He doesn’t believe his cockamamie story.”
“Yeah, Robbie has always pursued the girls at school,” she said.
Officer Eastwood looked at Sheryl and hesitated with telling her something else. “The hippy also claimed that Robbie tried to attack you on Friday night down at the lake.”
Sheryl looked at Officer Eastwood and fidgeted. “Oh no,” she said fearful that telling the truth would cause young Darin to get his ass beaten by Robbie. She felt it was best to forget what happened on Friday night.
“That’s what I and the Chief thought.”
“Well, I better place your order,” said Sheryl and she walked away.
Officer Eastwood waited by the cash register.
While Sheryl walked over to the kitchen, all she could think about was that old hippy that reminded her so much of Darin. I figured him wrong. He seemed so nice. She thought while she placed Officer Eastwood’s order in the kitchen.
She returned to the dining area and decided to forget about that old hippy. Her thoughts were on young Darin returning from Ocean City, New Jersey on Saturday.
It was four that Monday afternoon.
At the university, Dr. Bowman heard some of the students talking about some old hippy being arrested for assaulting Robbie Hanson. He rushed over to his office.
Once he sat down behind his desk, he picked up the phone and made a call.
“Jimmy, I heard Darin was arrested last night for assaulting Robbie Hanson down at Lake Willow,” he said into the phone.
“Assaulting Robbie Hanson? Why would he do that?” said Jimmy and there was a brief moment of silence. “Is that why he came back to seventy-one? To assault Robbie Hanson?” he added.
Dr. Bowman thought about Jimmy’s theory. “That doesn’t make sense. He could have done that in his future time. No. There has to be a more important reason why he would come back to this time,” he said.
“I guess you’re right. But what ever it is, he obviously can’t do that while in jail,” said Jimmy.
“You’re right,” said Dr. Bowman.
“So what can we do to help?”
Dr. Bowman thought about Jimmy’s question for a few seconds. His eyes lit up with an idea. “We’ll have to pay his bond and get him out of jail. That should buy us time for him to complete his mission.”
“That sounds like a great plan.”
“The bank is already closed, so we’ll have to take care of this first thing in the morning.”
“You’re right. First thing in the morning.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow morning and we’ll head to the police station and get the details on his bond,” said Dr. Bowman.
“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Jimmy and he hung up his phone.
Dr. Bowman hung up his phone and was curious on the reason Darin time traveled from the future back to 1971.
Over at Chief Hanson’s house, Robbie got changed into a fresh tee shirt and pair of blue jeans.
He walked into the living room where Chief Hanson sat drinking Scotch while he read the newspaper.
“Where you going tonight?”
“I’m going into Philly to catch the Phillies game,” said Robbie.
“Should be a good one, as they’re playing the Giants tonight,” said Chief Hanson. He reached in his back pocket and removed his wallet. He opened it up and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. “Here’s some extra spending money,” he said and handed Robbie the bill.
“Thanks pop,” he said and shoved the twenty into his pants pocket. “Don’t wait up for me,” he said then walked off to the front door.
“I won’t,” said Chief Hanson while he returned to his Scotch on the rocks and Burkesville Times newspaper.
Robbie got into his Camaro parked in the driveway, started it up, and backed down the street.
He raced off down the street.
A little while later, Robbie drove his Camaro of town and headed south on Route 62.
It was five that evening, and Darin sat in his jail cell and ate some meat loaf dinner from Jakes Diner.
He started to get nervous, as he knew it was hours away from this being Sheryl’s last day alive. While he ate his meatloaf, he pondered how could he save her life.
Once Robbie arrived in northern Philly, he drove straight to a bar located in a seedy part of town. The name of the bar was Gladiators and it was known for a place where men could have discreet encounters with other men. Robbie started to occasionally frequent this place once he got his driver’s license.
Robbie parked in Camaro in the lot where there were eight other cars parked.
He got out of his car and strutted to the front door of the bar.
The jukebox inside Gladiators played the song Knock Three Times by Dawn.
Once Robbie set foot in the bar, he saw four guys dancing in the center of the bar to the juke box song.
He scanned the bar over and spotted a kid around his age drinking alone. Robbie liked what he saw with that kid and strutted over to the bar.
He sat down next to the kid’s right. “Budweiser, please,” Robbie told the bartender once he walked up to Robbie. Even though the drinking age was twenty-one in the State of Pennslyvania, the bartenders didn’t check for age at this bar.
Robbie glanced over at the kid sitting to his left. The kid glanced over at Robbie. They both smiled at each other once they made eye contact.
“Sal,” said the kid while he extended out his hand.
“Robbie,” he said and he shook Sal’s hand.
They started chatting once Robbie got his can of Budweiser beer. They got along great once they both revealed that they played high school football.