Sonder Village

by Taylor Hobbs

  “What did I do?” she yelled at the sky. Open palmed, she slapped the painting. “Let me back through! Don’t take him from me now.”

  With all of the variables surrounding the time shifts, there were no guarantees when she would return to him. If her past luck was any indication, it might be too late already. If anything happened to Lino, it would destroy Bieito, and any semblance of a future with him would be gone as well. He would never recover or open his heart again.

  Remy knew she had a role to play in all of this; she just couldn’t figure out exactly was it was. As she clawed at her painting, trying to rip her way back through to Bieito, she replayed the last few moments with him.

  I assumed my role was to tell them about the revolution, but as soon as I tried, I got yanked out. But if she wasn’t supposed to be there to help, why had she traveled back in the first place? Is it some grand ‘spoiler alert’? I can’t just be expected to witness and not say anything. Remy held valuable knowledge about the future, and about the direction in which Galicia itself was taking. It was powerful, to be all-knowing. She could save lives. She could transform the future.

  It hit her like a truck. That’s the problem. Remy had been allowed to stay with Bieito until she opened her mouth and threatened to reveal too much. She thought back to all the other times she had been yanked out—asking for Bieito’s phone number, talking about photography…

  I need to play by the rules, she realized. The game was so obvious it about smacked her in the face. I can be with Bieito, as long as I don’t upset his time period. The minute she broke the rules, she would be pulled into her own time again, as punishment until the powers-that-be let her in again.

  Remy couldn’t control her trips, not really, but she could control her actions in order not to get pulled out again. “All right,” she announced. “I will do it your way. I won’t tell him.” At the same time, she also made a promise to herself. I won’t do anything to change too much, unless it comes down to life and death.

  Playing puppet master would be difficult, especially because Remy only had the most rudimentary knowledge of actual events from a small excerpt in an old history book. If she had time, Remy could have thrown herself into studying everything she could about the uprising—names, dates, places, and more. Instead, she only knew that some colonel organized a failed coup, there were lots of sympathizers in Ortigueira, and ultimately all of his followers were executed.

  And Lino might be one of them. Being armed with the minimal knowledge that the revolution would fail would have to be enough. There was no time to become an expert on some obscure little rebellion in a tiny former kingdom of Spain. It had barely made a blip in the history books.

  But Lino was real, not a piece of history. Dealing with flesh and blood altered the stakes. Remy had to get back and help any way she could, and subtly nudge and cajole Bieito’s family to safety. The only rule was that she couldn’t reveal too much.

  Remy started to sweat, her heavy dress now dried in the sun but stiff from her sailing adventure. The essence of the sea mingled with the salt on her skin, and the stinging sensation brought Remy back to her body. It forced her to remember that, no matter how much she plotted, there was currently no way to get back right now.

  “Argh!” I have a plan, I understand the rules, and the more time I spend here, the greater the chances that something disastrous is happening on the other side! Nothing in her own world mattered at the moment—the crumbling buildings, the time she had spent away, the messes she had to clean up, her worried friends, her angry ex-best friend and ex-husband…An event that happened more than a hundred years ago was the most pressing matter in her life. If she could help Bieito and his family, then she would be able once again to focus on the village in the present, but until she knew that the danger had passed, every waking moment of hers would be devoted to finding her way back to him as quickly as possible.

  If anything happens to them while I’m gone, I will never again be able to live in the village. “You know that?” she challenged. “I swear to God, if anything bad happens to them while I’m stuck here, I’m selling this crap heap and leaving for good!”

  She slapped the main house for emphasis, and as soon as her hand hit worn stone, the earth lurched from underneath her once again. Thank God.

  As an experiment, Remy tried to hold onto consciousness for as long as she could, to find out exactly what happened when she “disappeared,” but her efforts proved futile. She caught a glimpse of a flash of light and felt a tingling sensation throughout her limbs. As the tingle moved up her spine and into her head, she blacked out. There was no fear or apprehension this time around. Remy felt more in control than she had been on her previous trips and felt confident she could stay longer this time by playing by the rules.

  The forces of the universe severely underestimated her need to be in control. It was only a matter of time before Remy would be calling the shots. She just had to learn a little bit more and bide her time. The uncertain aspect now was where she would end up and how much time had passed. Oh, and who I will scare the bejeezus out of by randomly appearing.

  ****

  Save Lino from being an idiot. That was her first thought when she could open her eyes again. Remy’s brain wasn’t as scrambled, probably because she had been anticipating the jump. It’s nice not being so confused. But she wondered if her first thought also influenced who discovered her first, because María was the person who tripped over her.

  The newlywed stumbled, throwing her basket of freshly baked bread into the dirt in one spectacular arc. “Ayyyyy!” she shouted, hands coming to hit the ground.

  “I’m sorry!” Remy said, coming from her butt to her knees to help the poor girl.

  “Remy! What? How? Why are you in the middle of the street?” María took a shaky breath and held a scraped hand to her heart. “You gave me a fright! I did not mean to stumble over you as if you weren’t there. My head has been in the clouds lately, I apologize.”

  “It was completely my fault. You couldn’t have seen me.”

  María looked apprehensive, and Remy reminded herself to be more cautious with her words. Any slip could send her away.

  “How are the brothers?” Remy asked, knowing full well that was what had María so distracted. The other woman’s face went from apologetic to closed-off in an instant, like a mask had slipped over her face. Is she mad at me? After the day she’d had, Remy was in no mood to play games. She needed information, quickly. Namely, what day it was and what she’d already missed.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Remy asked.

  María’s face flushed, obviously not used to any sort of confrontation. “My brother-in-law has been very concerned about you.”

  “I know you are loyal to them, so you feel like you have to be short with me. I haven’t been the most reliable of late, and I know you have a lot to worry about without adding me and my drama into the mix. But I would really appreciate it if you would give me one more chance. I had a wonderful time at your wedding; it was absolutely beautiful. You treated me like a sister, and then I disappeared without a word. I’m so sorry.”

  María’s big brown eyes filled with tears, and she looked away, trying to brush them off. “I know you don’t mean harm. There is so much happening, and no one will speak frankly with me…Your honesty is refreshing. No one here is speaking honestly anymore, and it is driving me crazy!”

  Her outburst turned a few heads across the street, the other villagers noticing the two women sprawled on the ground for the first time. A young boy rushed over to them. “Señoras! Are you hurt?”

  María waved him off. “We are fine, thank you.”

  “Yeah,” Remy chimed in. “You’ve never seen two people having a conversation in the dirt?”

  The boy pointed a little way up the road, where a cart and horse were approaching.

  Remy sighed. “I guess we’d better get up unless we want to get run over. María, can we go to the cottage?”

 
; Remy witnessed as the other woman held an internal battle with herself, longing to have another female to talk to, but worried for the safety of her family. “I need to go to the bakery again, first,” she compromised. “Would you like to come with me?”

  “I would love to.”

  They picked up the scattered loaves of bread. “Food for the chickens and pigs now,” María said, brushing off the clumps of mud and what Remy suspected was a little bit of horse manure. She offered to carry the dirty bread, which María handed over without much protest. I deserve it, Remy conceded. She would have to earn her way back into the woman’s good graces, after what she put Bieito through. María was fiercely protective of her family and her new brother-in-law, and from what Remy had heard from their father on the beach, her disappearance from the wedding had put Bieito into a tailspin.

  During their walk over to the bakery, however, María’s frosty exterior began to crack. By the time they stood inside the oven-warmed building, María was happily chatting with Remy as though no time had passed.

  “Isabella was furious with me after the wedding.” She giggled. “She wouldn’t speak to me for days! It was this past Sunday that she finally spoke to me in church. Informed me that I had ruined my own wedding and cursed my marriage by including ‘the American.’ That’s what she called you.”

  “What a charming woman. What did you say to her? I hope it was ‘thanks for the best wishes’!”

  María gave a small, scandalized shriek. “I could do no such thing! I wish I could, though. I was speechless in the moment. Lino pulled me away and told me not to give her any more thought.”

  “Does she hate me because of Bieito?”

  “Yes, and now she hates me because I allowed you two to be together.”

  “Well, she was probably ecstatic when I left.” As soon as she said it, Remy regretted it. The last thing she wanted to do was bring attention to her weird behavior in public. María, thankfully, seemed to have the same aversion to speaking about Remy’s disappearances in front of others, because the two lapsed into an awkward silence while the baker handed her the fresh loaves.

  “So, um, back to the cottage?” Remy suggested.

  The wall was back up between them, but common sense and courtesy still ruled María, and she couldn’t turn Remy away. “Yes. We have much to discuss.”

  Remy wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, but she would have to pay the price and listen to the lecture in order to get back into Bieito’s family’s good graces. They needed to trust her if she was going to have any chance of getting Lino out of the danger he was unknowingly dragging himself, his family, and his village into.

  Remy was not surprised that the cottage was empty when María opened the door. The men were still at work down at the port. It would be at least a few hours before she would see Bieito again.

  “So,” Remy said, but María interrupted her before Remy could step inside. “You can take the bread out to the chicken coop.”

  “Got it,” Remy said, and did as she was asked. Walking back to the cottage, she wiped her hands on her near-unrecognizable dress and gathered her thoughts for the imminent conversation. Cringing, she marveled at María’s manners not to say anything about her attire, even though she was probably dying to ask. There was no way she didn’t recognize the dress from the wedding. What sane person would still be wearing the same dress, possibly weeks later?

  That’s my first order of business. Find out what day it is.

  Full of purpose, Remy opened the door and let herself in. María jumped in surprise at the unexpected entrance.

  “Can I help you prepare dinner?” Remy asked. This would be easier if they both had something to do with their hands.

  María gestured over to the freshly washed carrots that sat on the counter. “You could chop these, if you want.”

  Once they were both at work with their task, the silence between them transformed from strained to comfortable, but neither of them appeared to know where to start. Remy thought maybe she should let María lead the conversation, considering she was the wronged party, but the young woman seemed unwilling to begin.

  “Like what I’ve done with my dress?” Remy asked.

  María’s eyebrows flew up and her knife stopped moving. “I—ah—”

  “Totally kidding. I’m a freaking mess. No need to be so polite about it.”

  María gave a nervous giggle. “I didn’t know how to ask—”

  “Ask how I got to be so fashionable? Easy, I spend a lot of time in the dirt.”

  Now María’s face broke into a full-blown smile. “I think it is still salvageable.”

  “Only with your help. I think I’ll make it worse.”

  “Tonight,” she promised.

  “Just exactly what day is ‘tonight’?” Remy ventured.

  “Thursday, of course. You mean to say you don’t know the date?”

  “Ah, yeah. That too.”

  “April fourth.”

  “Shit,” Remy said. “Bieito is going to kill me. If he even wants to talk to me, after last time.”

  “He has been rather occupied with my husband, so I doubt he has room in his heart for anger,” María said, with a sting of bitterness.

  “Is Lino still being a dick?”

  María’s jaw dropped open. “A what?”

  Remy tried to backtrack. “I mean, is he treating you okay? Now that you’re newlyweds and all?”

  The other woman’s brain still seemed to be stuck on the fact that Remy called her husband a dick. “A dick,” María repeated, trying the word out on her tongue. “Yes,” she decided. “That’s exactly what he has been!”

  Seeing the sweet, conservative girl say the word “dick” had Remy doing all she could not to burst out laughing. “María,” Remy said. “You are adorable.”

  The young woman flushed, pleased with the compliment. “Now if only you could remind my husband of that.”

  Remy set the knife she had been using on the counter and reached across for María’s arm. “I don’t think his behavior has anything to do with you.”

  María shook herself free and slammed a pot down on the stove. “That is exactly what Bieito told me. And my father-in-law. But they don’t understand. Lino is not the same man that I married. When he is here, he is not really here. Like he would rather be somewhere else, far away from me. I speak, and he doesn’t listen. He agrees with whatever I say, gives me whatever I want, but it doesn’t feel real. I tell him what I want is for his old self to return, but he denies anything is different. Then he disappears for hours on end! I never thought…it is simply that…Remy, has he grown tired of me already? Is there someone else?”

  Remy wanted to punch Lino for putting his wife in this position. It wasn’t fair to her, but Remy didn’t know what to say in order to prove to María that it wasn’t about a lack of happiness in the home. After watching Bieito and Afonso discuss the revolutionaries’ ideas in such a hushed, fearful way, Remy decided to keep her mouth shut. Telling María anything could put her in danger.

  If I tell her, though, maybe it would force Lino to reconsider his involvement. Maybe he would extract himself without us having to intervene any more. That would be the ideal situation—Lino would decide on his own that this failed coup wasn’t worth the risk. It would force him to evaluate what he would be giving up if he decided to rebel against the Spanish crown. If anyone could talk him out of it, it was María.

  Remy took a deep breath and was about to reveal what she knew to her friend when the cottage door slammed open.

  “Lino? Lino!” Bieito yelled. He stopped short when he saw Remy there, standing in his home without apology. “You’re here?” he said, more question than statement.

  “Ta-daaaa.”

  Bieito crossed the threshold in three great strides and swooped Remy up in his arms. He clutched her tightly and whispered, “I’m sorry, my love.”

  Guess I’m forgiven. The warmth that spread from Remy’s chest threatened to ignite them.
“I’m sorry too. I don’t like fighting with you. And I’m especially sorry that I left again in the middle of it. It wasn’t planned.”

  Bieito set her feet back down on the ground. He gave her a meaningful look. “You were right,” he told her.

  Remy’s heart sank, even though she knew the news was coming. Lino was heavily involved in the coup, no doubts about it now if Bieito was admitting this to her. María, however, had no idea what they were talking about. “Remy was right about what?” she asked. “Why isn’t Lino with you? What happened to my husband?” She looked at both of them with wide, fearful eyes.

  “It isn’t what you think, María.” Remy rushed to console her.

  “Why do you know more than I do?” she asked, betrayed. “Bieito, why didn’t Lino come home with you? Where is your father?”

  “Lino didn’t come to work today,” Bieito said. “He said he had some business to do in the port, and that Father and I should walk on ahead without him and get the nets ready.”

  “And you let him go alone?” Remy asked. The subtext of, I told you he was up to something was clear in her tone, and Bieito hung his head.

  “I trusted him. He’s my brother,” he said, by way of explanation. “I watched him carefully all week at the port, and there was nothing suspicious. I thought that whatever his involvement may have been, he was through.”

  “María told me that Lino had been disappearing for hours on end!” Remy said.

  “What.” Bieito rounded on his sister-in-law.

  “He was having trouble sleeping. He left to go for walks to clear his head, often in the middle of the night.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” Bieito demanded.

  “I was ashamed! My husband was leaving our bed in the middle of the night. Why should I let that be known?” María burst into tears. “I knew something was wrong,” she said, through her sobs. “But everyone—Lino, you, Afonso—kept saying everything was fine. Well, everything is obviously not fine!”