Chapter 6
Kent was sick to his stomach and fought hard not to vomit inside Linus’ time machine while he spun around at hyper speed. Plus the psychedelic light show outside the canopy and that ear-piercing humming sound didn’t help soothe his stomach. Kent got the dry heaves and prayed not to spew all over the machine.
The machine started slowing down, and the ear-piercing humming got quieter. Kent’s dry heaves began to subside.
The psychedelic light show outside the canopy dissipated in sync with the machine slowing down along with the machine getting quieter.
The machine stopped spinning, and it was quiet except for that low hum.
Kent’s stomach felt better, with no threat of vomiting. He glanced out the canopy and saw that that room in Linus’ barn was gone and he only saw the inside of the barn. The barn door was at the far end of the barn.
He also saw Linus’ green nineteen fifty-four Rambler parked in the barn. It was shiny and not under that green tarp. “I arrived,” he said while he reached in his right suit coat pocket and removed the instructions.
He unbuckled his harness then unbuckled the harness around his suitcase and Fedora. He opened the door and got out with his suitcase and hat in hand.
He stood outside the time machine and closed the door. He stood there for a few seconds then remembered the timer.
There was a cyan-blue glow from the time machine, and it provided some light for the dark barn.
Kent ran away to the barn door with his suitcase in hand.
Kent glanced back at the time machine.
It started to hum louder.
Hundreds of beams of bright blue lights shot out horizontally from the rear of the machine. These beams of bright blue light started to rotate counterclockwise in a swirling motion while the rear saucer started spinning.
Beams of bright green lights shot up horizontally from the base. These beams of green lights start spinning while the bottom began to rotate the machine clockwise.
The machine spun faster and faster with the blue and green lights starting to swirl together and turned to a soothing cyan color.
The cyan light exploded, and a soft white light filled the entire room for a split second then dissipated. Nothing but a cyan-colored circle remained on the dirt floor of the barn.
Kent opened the barn door, slipped outside then closed the barn door with his suitcase and Fedora hat in hand.
Kent stood outside the barn for a few seconds and glanced around the area. It looked a little different then he saw the bottom lights of the house turn on. “Linus,” he said and put his Fedora hat on his head and slipped away into the darkness.
After Kent was safely away from the house, a fifty-year-old Linus stepped out on the front porch in his pajamas with a Remington double-barrel shotgun in hand. Linus still had his uncombed hair that shot out all over the place, but it was more salt and pepper than snow white.
He cautiously inched off the front porch then gingerly headed to his barn with his shotgun in hand.
He stopped at the barn door and hesitated a little afraid of what he might encounter inside the barn.
He ever so slowly opened the barn door and peeked inside. It was dark and quiet inside.
Linus cautiously slipped inside the barn reached over to the left of the door opening and flicked on the four overhead lights.
He had his shotgun ready to protect him as soon as the light came on. Nothing. The barn was quiet, and nobody was inside.
Linus spotted the cyan glowing circle in the dirt at the other end of the barn. He glanced around the inside of the barn again and saw nobody.
He cautiously inched his way over to that circular glow with his shotgun ready to fire.
Once he got to the cyan-colored circular glow, he bent down. He touched the glow, and it was lukewarm. “What just happened?” he said while he pondered the possibilities. Then he recalled that movie Not of This Earth sci-fi movie he saw six months ago at the theater. “Aliens!” he said and started to shake in a little fear. The circular cyan-colored glow vanished. Linus touched that spot again, and it was cool.
He sprang up and rushed out of the barn leaving on the lights.
He closed the barn door and glanced around his property for any signs of Aliens. He glanced up at the sky for any signs of an Alien spaceship. He saw nothing but stars then rushed away.
“I need to keep my barn locked from now on,” he said while he walked backward in his yard keeping an eye and his shotgun on the barn. You just never know if an Alien might jump out of the barn and eat or kill him.
Linus was ten feet from the barn when he tripped over his feet from walking backward.
He fell backwards to the ground with his shotgun going off at the sky when he landed on his back.
Linus jumped back to his feet and ran back to his porch.
Once he got back to his front porch, Linus sat in his rocking chair with his shotgun across his lap. He planned to stay awake all night to protect his property and his life.
Down the street from his house, some of the lights from his neighbor’s homes turned on. Some of his neighbors stepped outside their homes to check out the sound of that shotgun.
Two neighbors Gus and Malcolm stood in their driveways looking in the direction of that sound.
“What do you think that was Malcolm?” said Gus while he walked over.
“I don’t know. Probably a car backfiring,” said Gus when the neighborhood was again quiet.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
They both headed back inside their home, as did the other neighbors that came outside.
Meanwhile, Kent was a half-a-mile away down the street from Linus’ house. He knew he was back in fifty-seven by all the cars in the driveways. He saw fifties model Chevys, Fords, Studebakers, Dodges, Plymouths, Hudsons, and Cadillacs. All were in pristine condition.
A couple of hours had passed, and it was five in the morning. Kent had finally walked to the Greyhound bus station in Boston. He was exhausted and starving.
Kent went inside the station and up to the ticket counter. “I need round trip tickets heading to Savannah, Georgia. Leaving Boston on the next available bus and leaving Savannah on August twelfth heading back to Boson,” he said.
The ticket clerk nodded that he understood Kent’s order. He printed out two tickets. “That’ll be fifteen dollars,” said the clerk.
Kent removed his wallet from his suit pants pocket and withdrew a twenty-dollar bill. He handed it to the clerk.
The clerk took the money and gave Kent his change with the tickets. “Bus leaves at ten-thirty this morning.”
Kent took the tickets then walked away.
He saw that the bus station was pretty much empty with very few travelers. He also spotted a small restaurant that was closed.
“What time does that restaurant open?” he asked the clerk.
“It opens at seven,” said the clerk.
Kent’s stomach growled. He was starving but knew he would have to tough it out. “I should have brought some food,” he said while he walked over and sat down on a wooden bench. He sat and waited. After a few minutes, he was bored to death.
Seven that morning arrived, and the bus station started to fill up with travelers.
Kent also noticed the restaurant opened its doors and the lights were on inside it. “Finally,” he said and got up off the bench with his stomach growling louder. “I haven’t eaten in twenty-one years,” he jokingly said while he walked to the restaurant.
A woman in her fifties on a nearby bench heard Kent and thought he was a little odd for making that comment.
Kent went into the bus station restaurant and enjoyed an eighty-five cent breakfast that consisted of two fried eggs, four slices of bacon, two slices of buttered toast and all the coffee he wanted.
After he was finished with breakfast, Kent walked across the station to a book stand. There he bought the July twenty-ninth issue of Life Magazine and a pack of Dentyne chewing gum, three packs of Beer Nuts, and four Rocky Road candy bars.
“I have a long trip to Georgia,” he told the clerk while he paid his bill.
The old man clerk just smiled and didn’t care since he was making a small profit.
Kent walked away from the bookstand and sat back down on another wooden bench. He sat and watched the station fill up with travelers. All dressed in suits, hats, and lovely dresses. He loved how people got dressed up back in the fifties when they traveled. Unlike the eighties where some people dressed like slobs.
It was now ten-fifteen, and Kent’s bus to Savannah was being boarded.
Kent found a window seat near the rear of the bus and was looking forward to seeing nineteen fifty-seven America while he headed down south.
The bus left the station promptly at ten-thirty.
It navigated through the streets of Boston and eventually headed south on U.S. 1. Kent loved the view of nineteen fifty-seven Boston.
A couple of hours had passed, and the Greyhound bus pulled into the station in Philadelphia.
There was an hour stop to allow some passengers to get off and the other ones to grab a quick lunch before heading back south.
After a quick hot dog and Cocoa Cola lunch, Kent got back on the bus. It departed the station and headed south.
During the drive, Kent read his Life magazine to help kill time.
It was now early evening, and the bus stopped at the Greyhound station in Washington D.C. for dinner, and for other passenger’s destination and to pick up new passengers. It also offered time for the bus to refuel.
Two hours had passed, and Kent was back on the bus, and it headed back down south on U.S. 1. Five of the new passengers were U.S. Army soldiers heading to their next assignment.
Hours had passed, and the sun went below the horizon while the bus headed south.
Kent fell fast asleep.
He had a dream…
In Kent’s dream, he was in Warner Robins, Georgia.
He was in the woods and heard a woman screaming. He ran in that direction.
The screams got louder the father he ran through the woods.
He ran to a clearing and saw a man strangling a teenage girl.
“STOP!” screamed out Kent.
The man looked at Kent. It was his dad. “NO!” Kent yelled out.
Back to reality…
Kent jumped up in his seat in a sweaty panic.
He looked around and saw he was on a dark bus going down U.S. 1. He was relieved. But that dream made him wonder if he might, in fact, learn the truth that his dad was a real murderer. He closed his eyes but couldn’t go back to sleep.
It was eight that morning, and the Greyhound bus pulled into the Greyhound station in Fayetteville in North Carolina at eight that morning. The five Army soldiers got off the bus and were met by an Army Sergeant ready to take them to Fort Bragg.
Kent had a ninety-minute layover, and he went into the station for some breakfast, lots of hot coffee used the restroom and bought four more Rocky Road candy bars. He started to get a little nervous, knowing he was getting closer to Macon, Georgia.
The ninety minutes had passed, and Kent was back on the bus. It headed back south.
Kent reread his Life magazine and was now tired of this long bus ride.
It was now five that evening, and the Greyhound bus pulled into the Savannah, Georgia bus station.
Kent got off the bus grabbed his suitcase and Fedora hat. He went inside the station.
He went to the ticket office and bought round trip tickets for Macon and Savannah for August thirteenth. He was told that the bus to Macon was leaving in two hours. This gave him enough time for some dinner and another bathroom break.
Two hours had passed.
Kent boarded another Greyhound bus, and it headed west on Highway 80.
Kent tried to sleep, but knowing he was getting closer and closer to Macon by the minute kept him awake.
Three hours had passed, and the Greyhound bus pulled into the Greyhound station in Macon.
Kent got off the bus, grabbed his suitcase, Fedora hat, and headed into the station.
He walked out of the front door of the station and saw two nineteen fifty-four Chevrolet Yellow Cab taxis waiting for new fares.
He walked up to the driver’s door of one of the cabs. “I need to go to Warner Robins.”
The cab driver got out of his cab, grabbed Kent’s suitcase and put it in his trunk.
He got back behind the wheel while Kent got in the back seat.
“Where in Warner Robins?” said the driver while he started up his cab.
“I need a motel on the northeastern side of town.”
“Okay, no problem,” said the drive then put the cab in gear and drove away.
Thirty minutes had passed, and the Yellow Cab dropped Kent off at the Peach Tree Motor Court located on the northeastern side of Warner Robins right off Route 12.
While the cab pulled into the Peach Tree Motor Court gravel parking lot, Kent suddenly recalled this place when he was a kid.
The cab drove up to the motor court office and stopped.
He paid the cab driver the five-dollar fare, grabbed his suitcase and got out of the cab.
While the cab drove away, Kent heard the sound of an airplane he looked and saw the lights of C-130 landing at the runway of Robins Air Force Base.
He went to the front door and stepped inside the Peach Tree Motor Court’s office.
Ernie worked the night shift and glanced up from his August issue of Hot Rod magazine from behind the counter. “Howdy,” he said the second he spotted Kent enter the office.
“I would like a room for five nights, please,” said Kent while he walked up to the counter.
“I can do that,” said Ernie then he reached under the counter and placed a small registration form in front of Kent along with a pencil. “Please fill this out.”
Kent took the pencil and filled out the registration form and used his Cambridge apartment address.
Ernie took the form and glanced over it. “Look good, that’ll be twenty dollars.”
Kent paid Ernie twenty dollars, and Ernie gave him a key for Room 15.
Ernie returned to his Hot Rod magazine while Kent left the office.
He went inside his room, took off his gray suit, and hung it and the Fedora hat in the closet.
He unpacked his suitcase and put the toiletry bag in the bathroom and his other clothes in one of the small dresser drawers. He also placed the Bell and Howell movie camera case in that drawer.
He got on the bed under the covers and fell fast asleep. He was totally exhausted from being on the Greyhound bus and being in Linus’ time machine.