Stay of Execution by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

Chapter 17

 

It was back to November eighth, nineteen eighty, two-thirty in the morning.

It was quiet inside the old Linus' barn.

That ring of faint cyan color formed on the ground inside the barn.

The cyan colored ring got brighter.

There was an explosion of cyan light at the ring.

There was a counterclockwise swirl of bright cyan light emitting from that ring. The swirl suddenly broke up into green and blue beams of light in a swirling counterclockwise rotation.

There was the faint sighting of the spinning time machine within those swirling rotating beams of green and blue rays of light from the base and from the rear saucer.

The beams of light faded away, and the time machine spun counterclockwise. There was a loud, humming sound.

The spinning of the time machine slowed down, and the humming sound started to get quiet.

The spinning time machine slowed down, and the humming stopped.

The door to the time machine opened, and Linus and Kent got out.

Linus closed the door.

They saw they were back inside the room inside the barn and knew they had a successful return trip.

They walked away from the time machine then Kent stopped. "Crap, I left my suitcase back in fifty-seven."

Linus thought about what he said then suddenly a fresh memory popped in his head. "Oh yeah, I have it. It's in the closet of my den," he said then was surprised he knew that. But then again, it was him, as a younger man that found the suitcase back in fifty-seven. "Wow, that sure was bizarre feeling."

Kent looked at Linus, and it took him a few seconds to understand what Linus just said. "That is bizarre," he said then wondered if he'll have some fresh memories from the past popping into his head.

They walked to the room door, and Linus unlocked it, opened it, and they left the room

Linus relocked that door to the room on the outside.

They walked through the barn and saw that same tarp over a vehicle but didn't think anything of it.

They walked to the barn door, and Linus unlocked it. They stepped outside then Linus relocked the barn door out there.

Linus and Kent saw the small holes in the wall of the barn that was made from a shotgun twenty-one years ago.

Linus and Kent walked off and headed to the house.

Kent noticed that his Monza was not where he left it. "Someone stole my car," he said in a panic.

"It was there when I left to rescue you," said Linus while he looked the area over.

Kent spotted the rear end of a nineteen eighty-one red with red interior Chevrolet Camaro Z28, and it was parked next to Linus' green Impala. He stared at that beautiful Camaro then a sudden fresh memory popped in his head. It was a memory of him buying that Camaro at a Chevrolet Dealership in Boston. "That's my Camaro!" he said while he rushed over to the car. "That's my Camaro!"

Linus walked over to Kent.

Kent walked around, admiring his new car.

A fresh memory popped in Linus' head. "I now remember. You brought it here for your thirtieth birthday," he said then his eyes lit up with another memory. "Your car keys are in my house."

Kent smiled as he's always dreamt of having a new Camaro. He couldn't wait to get behind the wheel of that dream car. Kent yawned.

Linus yawned.

Linus and Kent went inside the house. They were totally exhausted from their long trip.

Linus retired to his bed while Kent slept on the couch in the living room.

They were both sound asleep within minutes.

Hours had passed.

Linus woke up when the sun peeked through his bedroom window. He sat up in bed and was a little dazed and confused for a few seconds. His hair was different.

More fresh memories started popping in his head.

The first memory was when he was back in fifty-seven, and he heard a strange noise from the barn in the middle of the night. He thought it was Aliens after he saw that light cyan colored ring on the ground of the barn. Linus laughed over that memory as he knew this Alien and he was actually laughing at himself.

The second fresh memory was when he heard a noise in the barn again in the middle of the night. He remembered seeing that light cyan colored ring on the ground of the barn. He thought they were Aliens coming back. He laughed at himself, but then another memory popped in his head. It was the following memory of that next morning he discovered that his Rambler was missing. He laughed then stopped laughing when he remembered he stole his own car then wrecked it. He started laughing again at himself.

Downstairs in the living room, Kent woke up, and he had changed overnight. He sat up on the couch, yawned then heard the faint sound of Linus laughing upstairs. "I wonder what's so funny with him?" he said while he got off the couch.

Linus walked down the stairs in his blue bathrobe and entered the living room.

"What was so funny?"

"Oh, I recalled back in fifty-seven how I, as a young man, thought Aliens were in my barn when the time machine was showing up and leaving."

Kent chuckled overhearing that.

"Then I remembered that on that Monday morning when I went to the barn and found my Rambler was gone. I thought it was stolen, but it was me that stole it."

"And wrecked it."

"Yes, I wrecked it," he said then another memory popped in his head. "But the police thought I was trying and insurance scam. They dropped it six months later when I never received a check from the insurance company," he said then chuckled.

Linus' eyes widened. "Kent, your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?" said Kent and ran his fingers through it. It felt longer and not in that Cary Grant style he got for the time-traveling trip.

He got up and rushed out of the living room and down the hallway.

He ran into the hallway bathroom.

He stood in front of the mirror that hung on the wall above the sink. He saw that his hair was back to dishwater blonde but styled a little longer but not as long as he originally had it back in eighty-one.

He walked out of the bathroom and went back into the living room. He looked at Linus, and his eyes widened. "Your hair."

"What about my hair?"

"It's back to the way it was before we left.

Linus felt his hair and knew it was back to snow white sticking out all over the place. "This is really bizarre."

"It sure is," said Kent.

Linus' eyes widened remembering something. "My fifty-one Rambler. It was wrecked, so what's in my barn under that tarp?"

Kent thought about what he said and recalled seeing a vehicle under that tarp. He got curious. "We'll have to go see."

"Yeah, let's go see," Linus said then he rushed up the stairs and soon rushed back down them.

Kent followed Linus out of the house and to the barn.

Linus unlocked the barn door and opened it, and they rushed inside.

There was a vehicle in that same spot with that same tarp over it.

Linus rushed up to the vehicle and removed the tarp. Underneath was a green and white nineteen fifty-seven Rambler in excellent condition.

A fresh memory popped into Linus' head. "I remember."

"What?"

"I remember the Cambridge police telling me my Rambler was found in Georgia, and it was all smashed up and stripped of the good parts. They agreed with me that it was stolen and the thieves crashed it then sold part of it."

"You sure loved green Ramblers."

"I know."

Kent's eyes widened. "We're supposed to be somewhere today."

Linus thought about what he said. "You're right, but where?"

"Maybe we'll figure that out later."

Kent's eyes lit up when another memory popped in his head. "I know where we're supposed to go today?"

"Where?"

"My mom's house for dinner."

Linus thought about what he said. "You're right," he said, then looked at his Rambler. "Well take her."

Kent looked at the Rambler. "Why not. I'd be just like old times."

Linus looked at the Rambler. "Yeah, but this time we won't have a Detective from Georgia chasing after us."

Kent chuckled. "Yeah, that part we don't need again."

"Let's go get cleaned up," said Linus.

"That sounds good."

Linus and Kent left the barn, Linus locked the barn door, and they went back inside his house.

Linus and Kent took turns using the upstairs bathroom to shower.

After they were cleaned up, they sat around the living room and chatted about their time travel trip. Of course, now they laughed with what happened even though at that time, Kent was fearful for his life.

Linus' eyes widened, and there was something he had to do. He bolted up off the couch, ran out of the living room and down the hallway.

Kent thought that maybe Linus had a bad case of the runs.

Linus returned into the living room with a book in hand that he got from his den.

He sat back down on the couch. "That history book on crimes. It originally showed your dad in here, then it showed you in here," he said while he opened it up to the Table of Contents.

Kent got nervous when Linus scanned the Table of Contents then opened up to another page.

Linus looked at that page. His eyes lit up with joy. "It worked! It worked!" he said and did a little victory dance while sitting on the couch.

Kent glanced at the page, and he saw a mug shot of Grant Bowers. He smiled.

Linus scanned through that page. "Grant was executed at Reidsville, Georgia on the morning of October eighteenth back in nineteen sixty."

Kent looked at that page and a huge grin formed on his face. "We had the real killer finally pay for his crime."

Linus and Kent high fived each other for a job well done.

Linus got a serious look on his face. "My time machine," he said and paused. "It should never, and I mean never be used to change any events in time. Look what almost happened with you. We were lucky, I mean, fortunate that this book didn't finally end with the story about you being executed."

Kent looked at the book and imagined his mug shot there instead of Grant's. "You're right."

"I should only use that machine to blend in and record history discreetly." "I will never alter it!"

"I agree."

Kent and Linus sat in silence. Kent started to wonder about his daddy. Suddenly tons of questions started flooding Kent's mind. Was he still alive? Were his parents still living in Warner Robins? Wait, I'm going to mom's house for dinner tonight. She's still here in Cambridge. Wait, does this mean daddy's dead? Did he die from other reasons? Maybe he was killed in the line of duty? Kent was scared of those answers, yet he was also curious.

Linus and Kent ate breakfast and drank a few cups of coffee.

After breakfast, they lounged around and took another nap.

It was lunchtime, and they had some ham and cheese sandwiches.

After lunch, Linus drove his old Rambler out of the barn.

He drove it to the side of his house and got out the hose, and a bucket of soapy water.

Kent offered to help, and while he was washing the old car, sudden memories popped in Kent's mind of him washing this exact Rambler when he was around eleven years old. Kent thought that maybe it was during a summer visit to Cambridge to see his grandparents.

The old Rambler was now cleaned and aired out.

An hour had passed, and Linus and Kent got inside the Rambler. It started it up, and it purred like a kitten and obvious that Linus babied this antique car.

Linus drove the Rambler down his driveway then turned right onto the street.

"Do you know where you're going?" said Kent.

Linus thought for a few seconds. "Yeah, I know your mom still lives in that same house."

Kent thought about what he said, and he suddenly knew that that was still true.

Linus drove the Rambler down the street and made a left turn.

A fresh memory suddenly popped into Kent's head. He was thirteen and remembered sitting in this Rambler in the passenger seat with a then sixty-four-year-old Linus. Linus took Kent to see the Time Travelers movie. It was October in sixty-four and Kent suddenly realized he lived in Cambridge back in that year and not Warner Robins. Did daddy die? Was he shot being a cop at Warner Robins?

While Linus drove his Rambler closer and closer to his mom's house, butterflies started fluttering in his stomach. What's in store for me there? More heartache?

Seven minutes had passed, and Linus pulled into the driveway of Brenda's house. But there was a blue nineteen eighty Chevrolet Impala also parked in the driveway. Kent didn't recognize that car. Did mom remarry? He wondered while Linus put his car in park and turned off the engine.

Kent was nervous while he and Linus got out of the Rambler.

The walked to the front door, and it felt an eternity.

Kent's finger shook when he rang the doorbell.

The few seconds of silence until his mom opened the front door also felt like an eternity.

The front door opened. Kent's mouth dropped opened. Standing inside his mom's house was his daddy. Henry was now fifty-four years old with salt and pepper hair.

Kent stared in disbelief, as did Linus. He remembered why he was eating dinner there. It was his parent's thirty-first wedding anniversary.

"Well, son, are you going to come inside or stand out on the front stoop all day?"

"Oh, yeah," said Kent and he opened up the storm door and went stepped the house along with Linus.

Henry closed the front door. "Good to see you, son," he said, then gave Kent a hug.

While they hugged, Kent had additional fresh memories pop in his head like popcorn.

The first memory was when Kent was ten years old, and it was the spring of nineteen sixty-one. He sat in the backseat of a fifty-six Chevrolet Nomad. His daddy drove, and his mom was in the passenger seat.

In the back of the Nomad were suitcases and boxes. Kent suddenly realized they were leaving Warner Robins.

The next memory was when Kent was still ten, and he moved into that house in Cambridge with his daddy and mom. The same house his mom lived before he time-traveled to nineteen fifty-seven.

The next memory was when his dad started his new job with Security at MIT. He got that job because of Brenda's dad's influence.

Lots of fresh memories of past birthdays and Christmas have flooded his mind.

The next memory was when Kent graduated high school and having his picture snapped with his daddy and mom.

The next memory was of Linus driving Kent to MIT in that Rambler, but this time he was starting engineering classes.

The next memory was when Kent graduated MIT and had his picture snapped with his daddy, mom, and Linus.

The next memory was when Kent showed up for his first day at work as a NASA engineer at the Lewis Research Center in Ohio.

Henry and Kent separated from their short hug. He couldn't believe what just happened, but it felt right. It felt like his life.

Henry shook Linus' hand, and Linus had this smile that he was so happy to see Henry alive again.

Kent walked through the living room with his daddy; he saw that high school and college graduation pictures framed on one of the walls. They were just like the memories that popped in his mind when he hugged his daddy.

Brenda walked into the living room, and she looked just like he remembered her from before he time traveled.

"There's my sweet baby," said Brenda walking up to Kent.

"Mom, I'm not a baby anymore," he said while Brenda hugged him.

"Hi Linus," she said, walking over to him and giving him a light kiss on his cheek.

"Go wash up for supper," she told Kent and Linus.

Ten minutes had passed, and Brenda made spaghetti and meatballs with a tossed salad for supper.

They sat at the dining room table and started some idle talk while eating.

"So Kent, when are we going to meet this new girl you've been talking about so much?" said Henry.

"Is this one serious?" said Brenda hoping Kent would get married soon.

"You're thirty, probably time to stop playing the field and settle down," said Henry.

Kent looked at Henry and Brenda, and he was clueless about what he was talking about. He looked at Linus, and he gave Henry I'm Also Clueless look.

More fresh memories started popping in Kent's head.

One memory was of him dating Kelly in high school, and they danced at the Senior Prom. He remembered her long silky blonde hair.

Another memory popped in his head. In this memory, he dated a girl named Amy. She was a student at MIT and had short blonde hair and wore glasses.

Another memory popped in his head. In this memory, he realized that he worked at the Lewis Research Center in the Zero Gravity Research Facility.

Another memory popped in his head. In this memory, he was dating a girl named Tiffany. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and worked with him at NASA at the Lewis Research Center, in Ohio.

"Oh, we'll come out to Ohio in the summer and meet her?" said Brenda.

"Yes, I would love that," said Kent and more loving memories of Tiffany popped in his head like popcorn. He found his soul mate – finally.

Henry's eyes lit, remembering something. "Oh, remember my old buddy Chuck Chambers?" he said.

"Oh yeah," said Brenda.

Linus and Kent looked at each other as they remembered him all too well.

"What about him?" said Kent.

"Well, he retired from the Warner Police Department three months ago. He was the Chief of Police for the past eight years. Well, he's coming up here to Boston next month to visit," said Henry with a smile looking forward to seeing his old friend.

"It'll be nice to see him again," said Brenda with a smile, as she always liked Chuck.

"Yeah, I do miss working with good ole Chuck," said Henry. "And we won't talk about you know who."

"You better not," said Brenda.

Kent and Linus glanced at each other, and they knew precisely the scumbag Henry was referring to.

They continued to talk during supper, but it was about other stuff.

They finished dinner.

"Let's head off to the den," said Henry.

Kent followed his daddy out of the dining room and into the den. Linus stayed and helped Brenda clear the table.

Once they got inside the den, Henry opened up a guitar case and removed that nineteen fifty-five Gibson J-45 sunburst acoustic guitar. It was the same one from the photo album.

He removed the guitar from the case and sat down in one of the chairs in the den. "Grab the other guitar, we haven't jammed in a while," said Henry then he strummed out a D chord on the guitar.

Kent grabbed the other guitar case. I can't play. He said and wondered how he could get out of embarrassing himself.

He opened up the case and saw a nineteen sixty-two Gibson LG-1 sunburst acoustic guitar. The second he stared at that guitar a memory popped in his head.

It was Christmas in nineteen sixty-two, and this Gibson was a present from Henry. He picked up the guitar, and it suddenly felt outstanding in his hands.

Thousands of memories of him playing that acoustic guitar popped in his head. I can play it! He cried out for joy in his head.

Kent sat down with that acoustic guitar, and he and his daddy played guitars, and it was bittersweet.

Kent smiled while he was strumming out a G chord, knowing he gave his father a stay of execution.

They played guitars for an hour, and then Kent left with Linus to stay at his house for the night.

Kent left Linus' house early Tuesday morning and drove his sweet new Camaro down the Interstate and headed off to the west for Ohio.

Life was so sweet.