Christmas in Time

by Zoe Matthews

  Colleen loved watching the older couple together with their new son. He seemed healthy since he had had a heart operation only a few months previously, and Colleen marveled that medicine had advanced so much that they could fix such problems. She could tell that Barbara and Daniel were very happy together. Megan seemed to get along with her step-father and loved holding her new baby brother.

  “I need all the practice I can get,” Megan had said to Colleen.

  “Do you know when you are due?” Colleen had asked since it seemed like women were much more open about their pregnancies in this time.

  “I’m due the end of January. I’m having a girl,” Megan had said proudly as she cuddled her brother.

  Colleen’s eyes had widened. “You know what you’re having? How can that happen?”

  “We have a machine called an ultrasound. When I was about 20 weeks along, the doctor used it to make sure everything was okay with the baby. He was also able to see that it was a girl.”

  Colleen couldn’t even imagine such a thing. The future seemed like a wondrous place to her. She realized she was starting to like it very much and knew that it was going to be hard to go back to her time after she found Garrett. She was starting to understand why it was so hard for Garrett to adjust to her time. How did Kimberly, Nicky, Justin, and his parents do it? There were so many advantages to living in the future. Why were they so willing to give it all up? It was a question she hoped to find an answer to while she was here.

  After breakfast, Colleen announced to Megan and Keegan, “I want to go to the library you talked about. I want to search Denver’s newspapers and see if anything has been written about him.”

  Keegan and Megan looked at each other in concern.

  “What if Garrett doesn’t want to be found?” Keegan asked bluntly. “Have you thought of that?”

  “If Garrett could have found the house your shop is in, couldn’t you have found him just as easily?” Colleen asked, ignoring Keegan’s question.

  “I did look for him, but it’s not as easy as you might think. This time period might seem wondrous and miraculous to you, but there are still limitations. If someone doesn’t want to be found, they can hide themselves easily enough, just like they could in your time. I don’t have access to any of Garrett’s identification, his address where he used to live, or where he could be living now. Unless he did something that warranted an article to be written about him, I can almost guarantee that you will not find anything in any newspapers. He would be smart enough to not draw attention to himself.”

  Colleen looked at Megan to see if she agreed with Keegan. She slowly nodded her head.

  “I want to try,” Colleen said stubbornly. They might be right that she wouldn’t find anything, but it was a good place to start. In her time, everything that was even remotely important was written in the newspaper. Surely things were still the same in the future.

  After breakfast, Megan wrote down directions to the library. It was close enough that Colleen could walk to it, which she was grateful for. She didn’t want Megan or Keegan to feel they had to take her there, especially when they felt she was wasting her time. Megan had also explained to her how to find the librarian who could help her.

  “Tell her that you will need help using the computer,” Megan advised.

  “Won’t she think it strange that I don’t even know how to turn one on?” Colleen asked with apprehension. It hadn’t occurred to her that she would need to use a computer.

  Megan shrugged. “Maybe, but it will be her job. She’ll help you. The librarian helped Keegan many times when he first arrived. Just don’t let on that you are from the early 1900s.”

  It only took twenty minutes to get to the library. The day was cold, but the sky was clear with no threatening clouds. Megan had lent her a heavy coat that Colleen thoroughly loved. It was long and grey and ended about mid-thigh. The material was thick but very soft. Colleen knew it was different from what she would wear during her time, but it somehow made her feel stylish and gave her confidence. Part of her wanted to ask if she could take one back to her time when she left, but she knew she couldn’t. It looked nothing like the coats she wore. It had what Megan called a zipper, for one thing, and once Colleen learned how to use it, she absolutely loved this invention.

  When she arrived at the library, she meant to go right to the librarian, but instead she spent a full hour slowly walking around. There were two floors of books and she knew she could spend the rest of her life in this building, just reading anything she wanted. She loved the children’s section. There was a small play area where some young toddlers were playing with a wooden train set on a table just for that purpose. Their mothers sat on some benches nearby and chatted with each other.

  When she reached the nonfiction section, she pulled various books off the shelves just to see what they were. She loved the animal section, and she was amazed at the beautiful pictures in some travel books of places around the world. What she especially found interesting was the history section. The books had been placed on the shelves by year. She quickly found a book about the early 1900s and opened it. It was fun to read about her time like it had already come and gone. She started to read about inventions that she hadn’t heard of yet. She was shocked at how soon some of the inventions would be made. When she moved onto the section that talked about wars, something made her close the book and put it back on the shelf. She wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know information about future wars.

  “I should go find the librarian,” Colleen decided. She also remembered something Patrick had said many times while she grew up, and Keegan would ask questions about history. “Time travel can change history. I don’t think it’s a good idea to know what is going to happen when it hasn’t happened yet, in this time.”

  When Colleen finally approached the librarian, the woman smiled at her. “Can I help you find something?”

  “Yes,” Colleen said, trying to sound confident. “I am looking for someone and would like to see if he’s in any of the Denver newspapers.”

  “We have a number of Newspapers in Denver,” the librarian said. “Do you know which one you’d like to start with?”

  Colleen shook her head and tried not to look overwhelmed.

  “We can start with the Denver Tribune and go on from there,” the librarian decided for her. “Follow me.”

  The librarian led Colleen into a room where a number of computers were. “All of our old newspapers are put on these computers, at least the last 20 years or so. Do you need to look further back than that?”

  “No, this should be fine.”

  “Do you have a library card?”

  Colleen pulled out a small blue and white card Megan had given her just before she left, explaining that Colleen might need it.

  The librarian inserted it in a slot by the computer.

  “Would you show me how it works?” Colleen asked apprehensively. She was just waiting for the look she would constantly get back in her time, the look that said, “I don’t want to waste my time on you.”

  “Of course.” The look never came.

  The librarian had Colleen sit down in a chair in front of one of the computers and quickly showed her how to search for a name. Multiple articles came up, and the name she was searching for was highlighted so she could see it. Colleen was so amazed at how it worked. She wanted to ask more questions. How could such a small box hold so much information? But she didn’t dare ask. She could tell the librarian assumed she had some knowledge of how to use a computer. Colleen wished she had asked Megan or Keegan to give her a crash course on how to use a computer, but it was too late now.

  “I need to go help another patron,” the librarian said, “But I’ll be back in a while to see if you need anything else.”

  “Thank you,” Colleen called out as the woman left the room.

  For a full five minutes, Colleen just sat there. She didn’t dare touch anything. What if it stopped working or she broke something? She loo
ked around the room, noticing two older men and a young girl were also in the room, each sitting in front of a computer. She couldn’t see what the older men were doing, but she could see that their fingers were rapidly moving over what the librarian had called the keyboard. The young girl was looking intently at the screen as colorful images rapidly showed up across the screen. Her fingers were also on the keyboard, but she was just touching part of it. Colleen wanted to ask her what she was doing, but she refrained.

  Looking at her own keyboard, she finally typed in the name “Garrett Foster” and then hit the enter button like the librarian had instructed. At first nothing seemed to happen, and then the words “search not found” appeared on the screen.

  Colleen frowned. Maybe she hadn’t done it properly? She tried again, but had the same results. Obviously, Garrett’s name wasn’t in the newspaper. Then she had the thought: What if she typed in Justin’s name?

  “It’s worth a try,” Colleen thought as she did so. This time she was successful. A few articles appeared on the screen.

  “Local Family Disappears!” she read.

  At first Colleen wondered what this article had to do with anything before she realized that it must have been written when Justin went back to her time with his family; they had disappeared. She could imagine how confusing that would have been to people who had known them.

  Colleen wondered how she could read the entire article. She didn’t dare type anything; what if it disappeared? She reached out and touched the screen and the entire article opened up.

  “This is so amazing,” Colleen breathed. She leaned forward in her chair and read:

  Local Family Disappears

  Recently, the Denver Police Department discovered Justin Foster and his young son missing. Justin owns a successful game-writing business and had just sold his latest game for a very profitable amount. Police are baffled at not being able to contact any of Justin’s emergency contacts. Upon further inspection, his parents, Douglas and Michelle, haven’t been seen for quite some time as well. His sister, Nicole Foster, had been reported missing the year before, but there was nothing suspicious about her circumstances, so her case was dropped. Now police are wondering if they should have done a more thorough investigation. No other family members have heard from the family for several months.

  Investigators state they didn’t find anything missing from the apartment, and the fridge and pantry were fully stocked.

  Late Thursday evening, Justin’s car was found in a parking lot close to Mt. Sanita’s hiking trail. Police are speculating the family must have gone on a hike and gotten lost. Search and rescue parties will begin early Friday to search for the family. Any volunteers are welcome and can contact the local search and rescue office for details.

  Colleen wondered if there was any way she could get a copy of the article to show Keegan. She had seen one of the older men walk over to another machine and pick up paper from it, and she figured whatever he had been looking at on the computer was now on the paper. But how could she do that?

  She sat in her chair for a long time, rereading the article over and over again, committing it to memory if she wasn’t going to be able to get a copy of it. Then the librarian appeared at her side.

  “Have you found what you were looking for?” she asked.

  Colleen nodded. “I did. I was wondering if I could get a copy of this.”

  The librarian did something on the computer and then nodded her head. “This card has a few dollars on it. I’ll print the article for you.”

  Colleen had no idea how the card could have money on it, but she quietly watched as the librarian hit a few keys and then touched the computer screen.

  “There you go, sweetie. It’s over there on the printer. Can I help you with anything else?”

  Colleen shook her head. “You have been very helpful. Thank you.”

  She walked over to the printer and found three pages had printed out of the article, along with a picture of a house. She carefully folded the papers and tucked them inside one of the roomy pockets of her coat and headed back to Keegan’s house.

  Chapter 9

  Garrett drove away from the bank after depositing his most recent paycheck. He now had enough to enroll in college full time. He was already taking two online classes, a math and English class, the first type of education he had had since he had arrived in his time. Garrett planned to go home to his apartment and immediately sign up for more classes through the local community college. He already knew what he wanted to take; he just needed to make sure he had enough money to cover the costs. He was going to work on a computer science degree. He knew it was going to take many years before he graduated, but he figured he had all the time in the world. He wanted to be a software programmer.

  His boss had agreed to allow him to take the time off he needed to attend his classes during the week, as long as he worked a twelve-hour day Saturday and four hours each weekday. Garrett wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to handle going to school full time and work almost full time. He did have a few coins left from the early 1900s that he knew he could sell to coin collectors if he needed to, but he wanted to hold onto those as long as possible just in case of an emergency.

  He felt really good about what he had accomplished since he had arrived in his time. He had worked hard, harder than he had ever worked before. He knew the difference was he was doing what he wanted to do, not what everyone wanted him to do. He also felt some regret in how he had handled things. He knew he could have let his family know that he wanted to return to the future before he left. He wondered if they were worried about him, and he only hoped that they might have reached some conclusion that he had wanted to be in the future for years and was finally here.

  About six months after he arrived, he was able to find Keegan’s home. He had sat in his truck just outside the home late one night wondering if he should go inside. In the end he had driven away. He didn’t want anything or anyone to make it so he would need to return to the past. He also wanted, no, he needed, to prove to himself that he could take care of himself, and he didn’t need his family to give him food or money. It had been a huge adjustment getting used to things again, but he had remembered quite a bit from his childhood of how things worked, and the rest he figured out on his own and by research.

  As the months passed, he started to think about things differently. He understood why his father hadn’t wanted him to know about the portal. Parents liked having their children close by. He knew that in his father’s eyes, it wasn’t safe or smart to use the portal just because he wasn’t happy where he was.

  “I guess I’ve grown up,” Garrett muttered to himself wryly. He was able to recognize that the reasons he had stayed away from his family no longer applied. He had built a life for himself, and no one could argue that he should return to the past. Besides, it would be nice to have family here in this time, and he knew that while Keegan might be upset on how he had handled things, he would still be welcomed with open arms. Garrett looked forward to meeting Megan and her family.

  He wondered if Keegan would know of a way to let his father know he was alright. Most likely there was too much snow on the path to the portal, since it was the end of November, but he knew even if the path was clear, it wouldn’t make a difference. He didn’t want to use the portal ever again. He didn’t want anything to happen that would make it so he would have to stay in the past again. He belonged in the time he was born in.

  ****

  When Colleen arrived at Megan’s house, she hung up the coat on a rack and got a drink of water before looking for Megan. She found her sitting on a couch in her living room holding a small, thin, rectangular shaped box. Megan was looking at it intently. A thin string was attached to the thin box on one end, and the other end was in Megan’s ear. Megan looked up as Colleen walked closer.

  Megan smiled and pulled the thin string out of her ear and then touched the box. “I didn’t hear you come in. How was your day?”

 
“It was good. What is that?”

  Megan patted the couch beside her. “Sit down, and I’ll show you.”

  Megan proceeded to show Colleen what she called a tablet. Megan showed her how she could store many books on it, as well as movies, games, and what she called photographs. Colleen enjoyed the short lesson and loved to see the pictures of Megan’s family.

  “So, did you find anything at the library about Garrett?” Megan finally asked.

  Colleen shook her head and started to tell Megan about the newspaper article about Justin, but Megan touched her hand.