Chapter 2
It was Sunday morning, and this was a day Brenda and Kent never celebrated. Today marked Henry's execution twenty-one years ago.
Kent woke up when the aroma of bacon and eggs being cooked filled his bedroom. He loved his mom's bacon and scrambled eggs in the morning.
"Good morning, mom," he said when he entered the kitchen.
He walked over and gave his mom a kiss on her cheek while she got two plates of scrambled eggs and bacon ready.
"Good morning, sweetie, she said while Kent walked over, grabbed a coffee cup out of the cupboard, poured some coffee from the Mr. Coffee.
He sat down at the kitchen table.
"What's your plans for today?" said his mom while she walked over to the table with the two breakfast plates in hand.
"Oh, Linus wants me over at his place this morning. Said he has some extremely unique project he has to show me," said Kent while she placed his place in front of him.
"He's a nice guy, but I've always thought he was a bit of a kook," she said while she sat down at the table with her plate.
"Yeah, but boy is he smart. So I'm curious what kind of project he's been working on," said Kent then he started eating a slice of bacon.
Brenda didn't care what Linus worked on, so she didn't ask any questions.
It was quiet while Brenda and Kent ate their breakfast.
An hour has passed, and Kent left his mom's house in his red with red interior nineteen seventy-six Chevrolet Monza. He drove out of Cambridge and headed off to the Belmont area.
He arrived at Linus' two-story farmhouse that had a wrap-around porch located on two acres.
Kent parked his Monza by the side of the house next to Linus' green nineteen seventy-eight Chevrolet Impala.
Kent looked at the house while he turned off the engine. He remembered spending some of his summer days at Linus' home and recalled the old tire swing that hung off the big branch of an old Oak tree. It was taken down twelve years ago.
Kent got out of his Monza and headed to the front porch.
He walked up the small wooden porch steps, went across the porch. He opened the screened door and knocked on the front door.
After a few seconds, the front door opened and appeared Linus. "Good morning, Kent," said Linus while he stepped out on the front porch.
"So, where's this extremely unique project?"
"It's inside my barn," Linus in a low voice and acted like he was a spy. He motioned Kent to follow him.
Kent followed Linus off the front porch steps, and they headed off to the barn with Linus glancing over his shoulders.
They got to the barn door where Kent noticed it was locked with an old Master lock.
Linus removed a set of keys from his pants pocket. "I started locking this barn back in fifty-seven," he said while he stuck a key in the bottom of the lock. "Back in those days, I was paranoid Aliens would come in and steal my experiments," he said unlocking the lock then slid the barn door opened.
He looked at Kent and chuckled. "Aliens, boy was I a goof back then," he said and chuckled again.
They stepped inside, and he slid the barn door closed and locked it with the lock from the inside.
Linus flicked on the overhead barn lights from a switch by the door.
Kent glanced around the barn and saw some tables on one side of the barn that housed numerous electronic boxes and other old technology gadgets. Why would Aliens want that old stuff? He thought with a discrete chuckle.
On the other side was a car under a green Army type of tarp.
"What car is under that tarp?"
"Why it's my old Rambler," said Linus while he walked over to the car. "I bought it when I first started teaching at MIT."
When Kent got at the car, Linus removed the tarp to show off his green nineteen fifty-four Rambler. It was in pretty good condition.
"I remember that Rambler."
"She still runs, and I take her out on Sundays for old times' sake," said Linus while he reinstalled the tarp back over the car. "Come," he said and motioned for Kent to follow him.
Kent followed Linus to the other side of the barn where there was a room without any windows and a door.
Linus unlocked the door of that room and motioned for step inside while he flipped on the overhead light switch.
Kent stepped inside the small room and saw something substantial hidden under a green Army type of tarp in the middle of the room.
Off to the right corner was a Bell & Howell 8mm projector on a stand with wheels.
Linus rushed over and quickly removed the tarp. He stood by a contraption with a proud smile. "Ta-dah," he said with a sparkle in his eyes.
Kent wasn't sure what to make of this contraption he saw. It resembled the time machine from the H.G. Wells story but modernized.
It sat on a round six-foot diameter silver metal base, and the body of the contraption was enclosed with sheet metal.
Near the front of the body was a door that led into a cockpit area covered by a bubble canopy. It looked like the H.G. Wells time machine was married with a nineteen fifties Air Force jet.
Kent walked to the rear of this contraption with Linus by his side. He saw that the back had a silver concave six-foot in diameter saucer at the backend.
The saucer was in the vertical position and had a drive shaft connected to the rear section of the body.
Hundreds of wires ran from the center of the saucer to the outer edge where there were hundreds of small ports. These small ports ran all along the diameter of the saucer.
"It rotates," said Linus while Kent checked out the rear saucer. "Counterclockwise."
"Ah, counterclockwise, okay," said Kent while he at the rear of the body where the shaft exited. "What's in here?"
"The special engine," said Linus.
"Special engine? What kind of special engine?"
"Ah, let's just say it's sorta nuclear."
"Nuclear?" said Kent and unsure he heard correctly.
"Yep, nuclear," said Linus with a proud smile and a puffed-out chest.
Kent walked away from the rear and looked at the right side of the contraption. He eyed the round base and saw the same small ports that were on saucer were all around the diameter of the base.
He eyed the bubble canopy and could see inside was a small bench seat and two harnesses. "It seats two," said Linus.
"Ah, seats two," said Kent while he peeked through the canopy.
Kent walked around to the front of the contraption and saw the bullet-shaped nose. He walked back over to Linus.
Linus lifted up a lever on the door, and it opened with a whishing sound. "Please sit inside."
Kent's curiosity couldn't resist, so he sat down inside this contraption. He sat down on something that hurt his bottom. He lifted his butt up and removed the buckle to a harness.
"One needs to be strapped in when this machine is running. Too risky for bodily injury," said Linus while he leaned inside. "I got those two harnesses out of an old PT Stearman down at the airport."
Kent looked at Linus and thought that comment about the potential bodily injury was a little odd. He turned his eyes to the console of the contraption. There were toggle switches, small round lights, a gauge, two small numbered dials, and digital panels with small dials.
"What is this thing?" said Kent while he looked at Linus who still leaned inside. Kent suspected what it was but decided to play clueless.
"Why," said Linus while he motioned for Kent to scoot across the seat.
Kent scooted over while Linus sat inside.
Linus looked at Kent. "This is my time machine I've been working on since nineteen sixty-six."
Kent looked at Linus. "Time machine? This is a time machine?"
"Why, yes. I started on its design after being inspired by that Time Tunnel TV show we watched in the mid-sixties," said Linus. "I finally finished it two months ago."
Kent glanced over at Linus. "You sure spent a long time on this time machine prop. Are you using it in some movie you want to make? Maybe a science fiction movie?"
"No movie, it's a real-time machine," said Linus with serious eyes.
"A real-time machine?" said Kent then he looked at Linus then back at the machine. "No way." Kent glanced back at the rectangular sheet metal dashboard.
Everything on the dashboard was labeled using a Dymo label maker with red tape.
He started looking at the dashboard, starting from the left side of the dashboard going across the top.
The first toggle switch and associated light were labeled "Power" above that switch. Below the switch was a circular light.
The second toggle switch and associated light were labeled "Door" above that switch. Below that switch was a circular light.
In the center of the panel was the third toggle switch and associated light was labeled "Travel Dates" above the switch. Below the switch was a circular light.
In the center of the dashboard below the "Travel Dates" switch were three large panels.
Each of these three panels had four small digital readout panels with associated dials below them. The four smaller panels were each labeled "Month, Day, Year, and Time."
Also at the lower right corner of those panels was a small button to disable that panel.
The digital panel to the left was labeled "Now."
The large panel in the middle was labeled "Travel To."
The digital panel to the right was labeled "Pick-Up."
The fourth toggle switch and associated light were labeled "Instant Return" and below that switch was a circular light. Below that light was a circular dial with numbers starting from zero on the bottom left to ten on the counterclockwise at the bottom right.
The fifth toggle switch and associated light were labeled. "Repeated Pick-Ups" and below that switch was a circular light. Below that light was a circular dial with the zero, twelve, twenty-four, and forty-eight numbers.
The sixth toggle switch and associated light were labeled "Engine." Below that switch was a circular gauge for the engine. Inside the gauge, it was divided into three pies. One was white, one was green, and one was red with a needle that sat on a small peg at the bottom of the white pie.
The seventh toggle switch and associated light were labeled "Adventure in Time" with a circular light below that switch.
Kent saw a small door at the bottom left corner of the dashboard. It looked like a glove box.
"There's no way this is a real-time machine," said Kent while he glanced back over the switches, lights, panels, and dials on the dashboard.
"I'm serious! It's a real functioning time machine, and I have proof," said Linus.
Kent chuckled while he looked at Linus and sensed he was dead serious. "Proof?"
"Yeah, come watch," said Linus, then he got out of the machine.
Kent got out of the machine and followed Linus to the projector in the corner of the room.
"I filmed my test trip," said Linus while he moved the projector stood away from the corner and aimed it at a wall. "Turn off the lights," said Linus while he plugged in the projector.
Kent rushed over to the door of the room and flicked off the lights.
"Get ready to be amazed," Linus said while he turned on the projector.
Kent walked up to Linus.
He saw the inside of the machine on the 8mm film projected on the other wall of the room. "What did you film this with?"
"My Bell and Howell eight-millimeter movie camera."
On the film, Linus reached over and flipped the first "Power" toggle switch and the circular light illuminated green.
"That turns on the power," Linus said to Kent.
On the film, Linus reached over and flipped the second "Door" toggle switch. The circular light illuminated green.
"That locks the door. Don't want to fly out of this machine," Linus said to Kent.
Kent looked at him like he was kidding and wanted to chuckle. But he didn't know when he saw Linus was dead serious.
On the film, Linus reached over and flipped the third "Travel Dates" toggle switch. From the film, you could see the three circular lights illuminated green. The three large digital panels light up, and all the digital readouts were zeroes in orange.
On the film, Linus reached over to the "Now" panel and dialed in 10, 10, 1981, and 1400.
"You did this last Saturday?"
"Yep."
"You use military time?"
"Yep."
On the film, Linus reached over to the "Travel To" panel and dialed in 7, 4, 1901, and 1400.
"This is the date you want to time travel to."
"Why that day and year?"
"This house and barn were built in nineteen oh two."
"Ah."
On the film, Linus reached over to the "Instant Return" switch and flipped it up. The circular light below it turned green. He reached over to the dial and set it to the first mark off near the zero.
"This is how long the machine will stay in that year then it will automatically return to the "Now" date. I set it for one minute." "I'll only use the Pick-up one when I want the machine to come back and get me at a much later date." "Like a week later."
"Okay," said Kent trying to hold back his chuckle while he wondered when Linus would finally tell him this was all a joke.
On the film, Linus reached over and flipped the "Engine" toggle switch. The circular light below that switch illuminated green.
On the film, Linus reached over and flipped the "Adventure in Time" toggle switch.
Linus turned to Kent and gave him a Wait For This look and smiled.
On the film, the engine started whining, and it soon got louder.
Kent looked at Linus and saw he had a smile on his face.
On the film, visible from outside the canopy were hundreds of beams of bright blue lights that shot out horizontally from the rear. These beams started to rotate counterclockwise while the rear saucer started spinning.
Also visible from outside the canopy were beams of bright green lights shot up horizontally from the base. The rays of green lights started spinning while the bottom began to rotate the machine clockwise.
On the film, the needle in the gauge with the green, yellow, and red pies moved off the peg. The needle and moved to the middle of the green pie. It moved to the center of the red pie.
The machine spun faster and faster with the blue and green lights starting to merge and soon turned to a soothing cyan color.
On the film, the cyan light exploded, and it was pure white for a split second and vanished. Nothing but woods was instantly visible outside the canopy.
"We're back in nineteen oh one. Nothing but woods was here back then."
On the film, the whining of the engine slowed down to a whisper.
A minute passed on the film, and the engine started whining loud. It soon got louder.
On the film, there were hundreds of beams of bright blue lights that shot out horizontally from the rear. These beams started to rotate counterclockwise while the rear saucer started spinning.
Beams of bright green lights shot up horizontally from the base. The rays of green lights started spinning while the bottom began to rotate the machine clockwise.
The needle in the gauge with the green, yellow, and red pies moved off the peg and was soon in the middle of the green pie then moved to the center of the red pie.
The machine spun faster and faster with the blue and green lights starting to mix together and turned to a soothing cyan color.
The cyan light exploded, and it was pure white for a split second and vanished. The inside of the barn room was visible again on the film.
"See, I told you that it's a real functioning time machine," said Linus with a huge proud smile.
Kent stood in awe while the film ended.
Linus turned off the projector.
Linus rushed over and flicked on the room lights.
He rushed back over to Kent who stood there speechless.
Kent looked at Linus. "What are you going to do with this time machine?"
Linus thought about his question for a few seconds. "I actually never gave it much thought. I was too wrapped up in making an actual time machine that I, I, ah, never thought what I would do with it," he said and paced back in forth in deep thought.
After a few seconds of pacing, Linus' eyes lit up. "I could use it to go back into time to record actual historical events," he said and smiled at that idea. "Yeah, like go back to Dallas in November sixty-three. Use my camera and secretly record if there was a shooter at behind that fence at the grassy knoll. Get the film developed and in the hands of some trustworthy reporters." "And I could go back and secretly film George Washington crossing the Delaware. It would be so cool to see actual footage of him fighting the Revolutionary War. And see if those painted portraits were accurate with the way he really looked," he said, and the more he thought about it, the more other areas of America's history he could record. "Film the gunfight at the okay Corral."
Kent thought Linus' suggestion for a few seconds. "I like that idea. I would also love to go back and record history. You could solve some of these conspiracy theories that have been hanging around for years."
"That's a wonderful idea. I could also target conspiracy theories and put them to bed," said Linus, and the more he thought about it, the more he likes it.
"And out of business," said Kent.
Linus nodded with that comment.
"Now, you can't tell a soul about my time machine."
"I won't."
"Promise?"
"I promise," said Kent and he looked serious.
"Good."
Linus and Kent spent the next few minutes having Linus explain to Kent the operating procedure for operating the time machine.
It was now three in the afternoon, and Kent left Linus' and drove back to his mom's house.
It was now seven that night, and Kent sat with his mom in the living room watching 60 Minutes.
Halfway into the show came a story about Air Force Major General Grant Bowers of the Pentagon. It was about General Bowers being accused by a seventeen-year-old girl of him sexually assaulting her.
"I'm innocent," said fifty-four-year-old General Grant with a headful of white hair. He was on the TV while being interviewed by the 60 Minutes reporter. "She's making up this story for financial gain," he said and looked dead serious.
Brenda's eyes widen a little. "I know that guy," she said.
"That Air Force general?"
"Yeah. I know him from somewhere," she said and tried to recall where she met him. "But where?"
"Maybe you saw him around MIT?"
"No, not there," she said, then thought for a few seconds. Her eyes lit up, and she got up off the couch and rushed out of the living room.
Kent didn't think anything of it and continued watching the story about General Bowers.
Brenda returned into the living room a few seconds later with that family photo album in hand.
She sat back down on the couch and opened up the album. She flipped through the pages and stopped. "That's him," she said, pointing to a picture.
Kent leaned over and saw she pointed at the nineteen forty-nine picture of Henry, Brenda, and his best buddy Grant Bowers with the young ladies by his side.
He looked at General Bowers on the TV then back at the photo. "You're right. It's him."
Brenda got a bit of a chill. "I never liked that guy. He was kinda creepy." "Made my skin crawl, but your daddy really liked him."
"Creepy? How?"
"I never told your daddy this, but back in forty-nine, he tried his hardest to date me before I started dating your father. He was persistent even when your father and I dated. Then when we got married, I think he was a little jealous of your father," she said and paused for a few seconds.
"When he was in the Air Force and transferred to Robins Air Force Base, Grant again made a couple of passes at me. He wanted me in the worst way. After your daddy was arrested and sent to prison, Grant tried to say he was there for me giving me a hug. I knew he wanted romance, so I told him to leave me alone. Then after your daddy's trial was over, Grant was transferred to another Air Force Base six months later." "He called me a few times from South Carolina, and I told him again to leave me alone, or I'll file a complaint with the Air Force."
"Did he call again?"
"No, I ever heard from him again. And believe me, I was glad."
"I remembered how I would find Mister Bowers in our garage on occasions on a Saturday evening when daddy was out target practicing in the woods," said Kent.
"Your daddy said Grant was always borrowing his fishing pole for fishing on Sundays. Apparently, Grant didn't have a pole since he was always moving from one base to another," said Brenda.
Kent thought that was a plausible excuse as he remembered seeing Grant place his daddy's fishing pole back in the garage one Sunday afternoon. Kent looked at General Bowers on the TV again, professing his innocence.
"He's probably guilty," said Brenda while glancing over at Kent. "Well, enough of this creepy guy. I'm going to bed," said Brenda, and she wanted to put Grant out of her mind. "Goodnight," she added while she got up off the couch.
Kent watched the rest of the show, and after it was over, Kent went to bed, as he had to get up really early in the morning.
Kent tried to sleep that night, but all he could think about was Linus' time machine.