by Zoe Matthews
She inspected a small closet that she assumed was to hang clothes in. Then she saw a small room with a large tub, sink, and toilet. She was familiar with these things because the fancier houses and hotels in her time had a bathroom. She tried each knob to the faucets and loved the idea of water coming out of the top of the tub to shower in.
The more she explored her new world, the more she liked what she saw and learned. She was eager to see and learn more, but right then she was hungry. She opened her backpack to see what food she had left. There were a few pieces of jerky and dried fruit, along with a meat sandwich that didn’t look appetizing because it had gotten smashed against one of her dresses she had insisted on taking, along with a few of her personal belongings; a journal, pen, a few colored pencils that Kimberly had given her for Christmas one year, and a sketch pad she used to draw designs with ideas for her blankets. The pencils were from a set that Kimberly had brought with her from the future.
Remembering that Noreen had told her there was a place to buy food in the hotel, she decided to go see what was available. She took some of the money from her backpack and started to leave the room. Just as she was going to shut the door, she remembered the key, and went back in to get it. After making sure the door was locked, she was able to find the gift shop. A young man was the only person in the room.
“Can I help you find anything?” the young man asked.
Colleen smiled at him. He looked to be about her age. His blonde hair was cut short close to his neck, and grew longer the closer it got to his ears. He had a colorful shirt on that buttoned up into a collar at his neck. She wasn’t used to the way modern people dressed, but she could tell that this man was dressed well.
“I’m just wondering what you have in the way of food,” Colleen said, trying to act confident instead of shy like she felt inside.
The young man showed her the options. There were several prepared foods like thick sandwiches wrapped in some type of see-through blanket, and apples and oranges, and other fruit that she didn’t recognize. In a see-through container, there were lettuce and vegetables. In small packages there were other foods she didn’t recognize. She didn’t want to take a chance trying something new only to find out she didn’t like it, so she picked out a sandwich and an apple. In a large see-through ice box, there were a number of drink choices. Seeing a bottle of milk, she took one of those. After purchasing the food and trying to hide her shock about how expensive the food was, she returned to her room. Setting the food down on a table, she quickly counted how much money she had left, and her heart dropped. Kimberly had warned her that things were much more expensive in the future, but she had no idea how much. She only had about twenty dollars left. She knew it wasn’t going to be enough for a taxi.
“I’m going to have to ask Noreen how I can call Keegan,” she said out loud.
The sandwich was good, although the bread was a bit dry. She only ate half of it, saving the rest of it for the next day, along with half of the milk. She had discovered a small icebox in the room so she put her left over food in there, along with the apple.
Exhaustion swept over her, and she pulled off the uncomfortable pants and climbed right into the comfortable bed. She was asleep within seconds.
Chapter 8
Early the next morning, she took advantage of the free breakfast, enjoying bacon, eggs, and a muffin. When she was ready to leave, she swallowed her pride and approached the front desk. Noreen was sitting behind it, and she looked up with a smile.
“Are you leaving us already? I hope you enjoyed your stay,” Noreen said.
“Yes. I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Colleen asked hesitantly.
“Of course.”
Colleen pulled out the paper that had Keegan’s phone number on it. “I was wondering if you could help me call this number.”
Noreen looked at her, confusion in her eyes, but she was too much a professional to ask questions. Colleen knew Noreen was wondering why Colleen didn’t know how to do that and sighed inwardly with relief when the woman nodded her head.
“Sure. You can use my phone right here.”
Colleen tried to watch carefully while Noreen picked up the phone and touched a bunch of numbers. She wanted to be able to do this herself next time, but Noreen did it too fast, and she couldn’t follow the steps. Noreen handed her part of the phone, and Collen instinctively held it to her ear, hoping she did it right.
“Hello,” Colleen suddenly heard in her ear.
“Hi. Is this Keegan?”
“Yes, it is. May I help you?”
Colleen sighed with relief, trying to keep her tears at bay. “Uncle Keegan, this is Colleen.”
There was a long pause. “What? Is this Shaun’s daughter? Did you just come from the ranch?”
“Yes. I’m here to try to find Garrett.”
“Well, it sure is good to hear your voice. Where are you?”
Colleen had no idea what to tell him. She tried to be careful of what she said, because she knew Noreen was next to her and would notice if she mentioned time travel. “I arrived yesterday. I was supposed to hire a taxi to go to your house, but that didn’t work out. I’m at a hotel right now.”
“Which one?”
“I…I’m not sure. Let me ask.” Colleen looked at Noreen who gave her an address to which Colleen repeated to Keegan.
“Okay. I know which hotel you are talking about. It will take me awhile to get there. I am at our store right now, and I will need to wait until Megan gets here. It will probably be at least two hours.”
“That’s fine,” Colleen said with relief. She was so happy to hear her uncle’s voice; she had a hard time keeping tears from her voice.
“I want you to stay there until I get there. Don’t go anywhere. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I will wait for you here,” Colleen agreed.
After saying goodbye and thanking Noreen for her help, she wondered where the best place would be to wait. Noreen seemed to sense her question.
“You can wait in the lobby until your ride comes,” the woman offered.
“Thanks so much,” Colleen told her with relief.
Picking up her backpack, she walked over to a comfortable couch to wait. There was a TV on in the corner of the room, so she started to watch it. There was a beautiful woman who talked, and then sometimes a man talked. There were also words that were printed on the bottom of the screen that moved, saying different things. After listening to it for a few minutes, she realized they were talking about various events that were happening around the world. Some of what they talked about was interesting, and other things sounded really scary to her. Events like a robbery and someone was killed in it, a bomb that had gone off and killed ten people in a country she had never heard of, and a man gave a large amount of money to some homeless people. Sometimes the woman and man stopped talking and other people talked, trying to get people to buy things like soap that was supposed to clean your clothes really well and a cereal for breakfast that looked awful to her.
One story caught her attention. There was an angry mob of people with black skin. They felt they weren’t being treated fairly due to their skin color and were protesting in front of a large building. The woman explaining the situation listed problems the people had been facing, and Colleen almost froze with fear. She wasn’t treated well in her time because she was part Indian and looked different. It didn’t seem any better for the people on the screen. Is this the way she would be treated as well? After that story had ended, Colleen stopped watching the T.V. and stared at her hands.
She was equally fascinated with this new world, and at the same time appalled. Life was very different in the future and she wondered if she would ever get used to the differences. And did she even want to? As soon as she found Garrett, she was planning on talking him into coming back with her. Would he really want to stay here with so many scary things happening? It was starting to sound like the future wasn’t a very safe place to live in at
all.
****
Keegan seemed very happy to see her when he finally arrived, and Colleen was so glad to see someone she knew. She threw her arms around his shoulders, and they stood in an embrace for a while. Colleen couldn’t help the tears that fell down her cheeks. Keegan finally pulled away and held her at arm's length.
“Are you okay?” he asked with concern. He was always very aware of what the people around him were feeling and was quick to offer solutions to any problems.
“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed,” Colleen answered honestly, tears threatening to fall again at the earnest look he gave her.
“Well, let’s get you home.” He quickly ushered her out of the hotel and into a waiting black car. Colleen felt a thrill of excitement for her first ride in an automobile.
“You seem to be doing well in the future,” Colleen commented after Keegan had pulled away from the hotel and turned down a street. He seemed to operate the car with ease.
“It was a big adjustment, but I like it here,” Keegan comment with a smile. “So, you came to look for Garrett?”
“Yes. Justin is very worried about him, that we haven’t seen or heard from him. He was going to come, but I could tell Bridget didn’t like the idea at all. I found myself volunteering.”
“I’m a bit surprised that you came, to be honest.”
The car turned onto another larger road and sped up. Colleen clutched the sides of the seat in fear, but she relaxed when she saw that Keegan was in total control of the car. She tried not to think about how fast they were going. She noticed some of the other vehicles around them were going even faster as they passed.
“I just felt like I needed to come. Garrett and I have been close, and if I can find him, I can bring him home.”
Keegan glanced at her for a split second before looking at the road again. “Would you like to know my opinion?” he asked after a few minutes.
“Yes, of course. Do you have an idea where he is?” Colleen asked eagerly.
“Garrett is a smart man. He’s been here in the future long enough that if he wanted to find me, he would have by now.”
Colleen’s heart fell. It never occurred to her that Garrett hadn’t contacted Keegan by choice. She didn’t say anything, but continued to watch the scenery whiz past her.
“But what if something is wrong? What if something happened to him?” Colleen finally asked.
Keegan shrugged his shoulders and maneuvered the car onto another road. Soon they were pulling in front of a large home that Colleen immediately recognized as Victoria’s house in her time. Victoria had deeded the house to Keegan, so he now owned it. It looked pretty much the same as it did in her time. The grounds and yard around it were different though. For one thing, there were other homes that had been built close by. Part of the grounds had been made into a small parking lot and a few cars were sitting in it.
“Do you still live here?” Colleen asked.
“No. Megan and I did for a while, but since we found out we are going to have a baby, we purchased a home for ourselves. Most of the house is now the Healing Herbs and Gifts shop Megan’s mother, Barbara, started.”
Keegan parked the car and led Colleen inside. She was greeted with a hug from a very pregnant Megan. She had only met Megan once, but she felt instantly at home with her.
Megan gave her a quick tour of the store which took up the entire bottom floor of the house. There was a main room where a register, some decorations, and some bagged tea and natural oil products were displayed. Off to the right was a kitchen that was set up as a small cafe. It smelled strongly of coffee and had a few customers munching on baked goods at tables. Next, Megan took her to the library. There were a few comfortable sitting chairs with a table in the middle. Tall bookcases lined the walls and were filled with different books and more herbs. The atmosphere was comforting and homely; Colleen felt she could sit in that room with a book all day.
Colleen spent the rest of the afternoon with Megan, sitting on a chair watching Megan work in the shop. She enjoyed listening to Megan talk with her customers. She wanted to explore the shop some more and the Victorian house in general, but she decided it would be best to stay put. When Megan finally closed the store at around six in the evening, Keegan drove both of them to a smaller home a few blocks away that they had purchased. Colleen liked it immediately. Megan had decorated it with bright colors, and she recognized some of the styles that had been used in the shop. There was a kitchen with what looked like marble countertops, a large fancy stove and refrigerator. There was a small living room next to the kitchen followed by three large bedrooms. One of them Megan and Keegan used, and another was being converted into the baby’s new room. When Megan opened the door to the third room, she guided Colleen inside.
“You can use this room while you are here,” Megan said. Colleen was surprised at the size of the room. She stayed with Bridget and Justin, and she was grateful for their help, but her room was cramped. This room was at least three times bigger, with a large bed topped with a flowered blanket, a dresser, and a chair in front of a small desk. “Please feel free to use anything you wish in this house, and if you need anything at all, you only have to ask.”
“Thank you,” Colleen said, as she placed her backpack on the floor by the bed.
“Are you hungry?”
Colleen shook her head. She had eaten quite a bit at the free breakfast the hotel had provided just in case she wouldn’t be able to eat again for a long time. She had also finished the sandwich and apple she from the evening before.
“Kimberly gave me these clothes to wear,” Coleen said, pointing to the t-shirt and jeans. “Do you think I could change into one of my dresses?”
Megan hesitated before shaking her head. “If you want to fit in and not invite questions from others, you need to dress like we do. In fact, we look to be the same size. I can lend you some of my clothes to wear while you are here.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Colleen protested.
“It’s fine, I promise. I can’t wear them right now anyway,” Megan said, as she pointed to her very pregnant stomach.
Colleen tried not to blush in embarrassment. In her time, women didn’t talk about their pregnancies openly like Megan was doing, though she never understood why. After all, having a baby was a perfectly natural process.
“I can give you some dresses that you might be comfortable in. You don’t have to wear pants all the time.”
“That would be great.” Colleen looked around the room and then decided to ask, “I assume you know I’m here to try to find Garrett. Do you have any idea where to start? Denver has gotten so big. It probably would be a waste of time to drive all over to find him.”
Megan shook her head. “No. That wouldn’t work. He might not even be in Denver anyway.”
That thought hadn’t even occurred to her. The possibility of not being able to find him started to seem possible. What would she do if she couldn’t find him?
“I suggest you take a few days to get used to things. Then I can take you to the library and show you how to search in old newspapers. We can also hire a detective if we need to, but I would rather have that be the last resort. The detective will ask questions that we really can’t answer about time travel.”
Colleen nodded her understanding. The fewer people that knew about time travel, the better. Part of her wanted to go to the library right then, but she also wanted to take Megan’s advice to take a few days. In the end, she agreed to wait.
****
Two days after Colleen had arrived in the future, she woke up that morning and decided it was time for her to do what she came to do - find Garrett. She was actually surprised that neither Keegan or Megan seemed too concerned about him, and she wondered why. Did they know something and they weren’t telling her?
She had met Barbara, Megan’s mother, and her new husband, Daniel. Barbara had a new baby. She was thrilled to have had a baby at her age since she was over 40 years old. T
hey had a boy and had named him Edward after Daniel’s brother in England. Colleen heard about their story; how Barbara had accidentally traveled back to 1810 through an old locket that she had found in Keegan’s attic. She met Daniel there, and they had fallen in love. He had traveled back to her time, 2016. They had brought Daniel’s sister, Laura, with them, because she had gotten very sick, and Barbara knew the only way that her life could be saved was to bring her to her time. Laura had been diagnosed with pneumonia, and antibiotics quickly made her well again. Laura didn’t want to stay in the future, but Daniel had wanted to. So, Laura went back to 1810, and Daniel had stayed in the future and married Barbara.