by J. C. Allen
“Riiight… that’s why you can’t commit to a relationship,” he smirked.
She bowed her head but maintained a sly grin, “OK, you got me there, but I can handle the end of the world… and I think they can too, if you let them. You don’t give them enough credit for their maturity.”
Rick pondered a moment as he watched another race begin, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He leveled a gaze and wicked grin at her, “Maybe there’s hope for you being a mother yet!”
She ignored the implication, “You know, you let them watch some rated R movies...”
“Yeah, some, I admit, but only after I’ve watched them and made sure there’s nothing I find harmful. I believe movie censors are a bit extreme sometimes and there are some really important messages in the ones I allow them to see—”
“Maybe you should do that with the videos — watch them first?” she suggested.
“I like that idea.” He thought a moment, then reached into his pocket and grabbed the phone, dialed Alex and put it to his ear. “Time to go,” he said as soon as she answered.
“OK Dad, we’re coming,” she easily agreed.
He watched them get out and walk to where he sat with Abby and Jessica.
“Where is she?” Alex asked after several minutes.
“High jump,” Jessica answered.
“I thought her last event was the 100,” Kaylie stated.
“It is,” Rick replied, “but I thought you girls should do something besides sit in the van all day.”
“Dad! We were just starting to learn about the Romans and Gauls and stuff!”
“Yeah, but it was mostly the stuffy upper class,” Christy said. “All they did was plot and scheme against each other, just like the rich today. We need to see how the real people lived.”
“It was still cool! We got to see a real gladiator fight in the arena and a chariot race,” Kaylie recalled excitedly.
“Gladiators? That’s what I’m worried about, girls! Some things like that may be a bit too gory or violent for you,” Rick worried.
“Oh please, Dad. The chariot race was more violent than the gladiators!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really! They actually tried to kill each other, unlike the warriors!” Kaylie explained.
“Kaylie found some peasants being killed for stealing, but we skipped that before it happened. We didn’t want to see that, but the races were really exciting and cool!” Christy told him.
“The dinosaurs and cavemen were really the coolest though. You should see how huge some of those things were! And Dr. Taylor almost got squashed by this one — its toe was like the size of my whole body! That’s when we learned about the necklaces, they can tell if you’re in danger! His started to beep and flash and Taylor explained as he was moving that it was a ten-second warning. Once he moved out of the way, it stopped and that huge foot slammed down right where he had been standing. We also found that it will automatically return you if it senses you are about to be killed within two seconds, but he said it isn’t one hundred percent foolproof. Like if you get shot, it can only tell if you will be killed instantly from that wound. You can also talk to each other — it took a while to figure it out. It looked like he was talking to himself because it transmits the sound directly to your brain or something. He kept saying ‘Red, where are you?’ and stuff, then we found a recording of the same time with someone using the red necklace and he was answering by saying ‘gold’ first for the gold necklace. The instructions said nothing about these features. I wonder what else they do?” Alex finally paused long enough to take a breath and see Rick’s reaction.
“I intend to find out everything we can about that; just be patient honey. I don’t want you getting too worked up over all this stuff.”
“It will be so cool going back in time though…”
“Shh!” He quickly silenced her with a hand over her mouth. “Remember what I said about keeping it a secret.”
“Sorry, Dad, I just—”
“And what makes you think I would let you go back in time?”
“Daaaad!” she protested.
Kaylie leaned over and whispered with concern, “Us too? You won’t let any of us?”
“I don’t know yet, honey. We’re not talking about a circus or amusement park here; we’re talking about something closer to running with the bulls. I want to know everything about it before I even consider it… and we don’t even know if it actually exists.”
“Then you best be studying fast!” Christy demanded hotly.
Rick raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know she didn’t make the rules. She sunk back down a bit.
“We will find it, today,” Kaylie confidently promised.
“We’ll talk about it later, when we know what we’re talking about,” Rick ended the conversation. They knew not to push any further.
The extended family focused on Anna, who was starting the high jump. She and another girl each had to go early because they were entered in other events. Anna easily won with only one jump at 5’4”, and then went to prepare for her final event, the 100 meter dash. She was visibly nervous and kept looking up at her supporters for confidence. She eventually settled in at the starting line and stretched her long legs out before fitting them snugly into the starting blocks, as everyone held their breath for her.
The gun went off and Anna seemed to hesitate for an eternity, coming up at least a full tenth of a second later than the other girls. Rick’s breath caught in his throat; he knew how much this race meant to her — it was definitely her favorite.
Anna quickly recovered and turned on her speed, pulling up to fourth place after just forty meters and passing third place just ten meters later. As she gained top speed, she cruised by second and first, and lunged to the finish a full stride ahead of her competition, stomping to a halt fifteen meters later.
Overwhelmed with her own accomplishment, Anna instantly turned and fled the track, leaping the fence at full speed — making the coach consider her for the 110 meter hurdles race — and two-stepped the stairs up the bleachers, diving into the waiting arms of Rick.
“I did it, Dad! I did it!” she shouted, oblivious to all the eyes on her, tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t you mean Uncle Ricky?” he teased her, squeezing her tightly.
She backed up enough to look him in the face and give him a silly look, then buried her face in his shoulder and bawled some more.
“Dad,” she said again, defiantly.
“I hate to break up all the drama,” Jessica said sarcastically, “but it was only a meet, Anna, not the Olympics!”
“Yeah, but it’s high school and I’m just a freshman,” Anna spat back.
“Let her celebrate, brat!” Alex said.
“We’re all proud of you, honey,” Rick said, kicking Jessica in the back of the leg.
She grunted, “Fine! I’ll go get the Gatorade bucket!” she teased.
“Does this mean we win?” Christy asked, confused.
Anna wiped her face all over Rick’s shirt and cleared her throat, “Well, that puts us up by three points and there are only two events left. One is long jump and we should win all three places in that, so we basically can’t lose now.”
“Cool!” Christy was now excited for some strange reason.
“Then let’s go to the soccer field,” Kaylie decided suddenly, “since it’s over now.”
“We have to wait until the meet is over and someone…” he squeezed Anna, “wins the most valuable athlete trophy.”
“Omigosh! I could win that?”
“Did anyone else win five events today?” he asked.
“Umm, I think I’m the only one entered in five events. Wow!”
“The game starts in an hour; I have to be there in thirty minutes…” Kaylie notified him.
“If we’re not done in twenty minutes, we’ll talk Abby into taking you—”
“Yeah, I can take you. No problem,” Abby offered.
/> “Why can’t I just go by myself? Or even with Alex or Christy?”
“Because I’m responsible for you.”
“That’s not fair — it’s just across the street!” Kaylie argued.
“You know my rules.”
“Yeah, but why can’t I walk across the street alone?”
“It’s not just a street — it’s a major highway—”
“You’re paranoid,” she accused.
Rick grinned, “If you were hit by a car you’d wish I’d been paranoid.”
“I’m thirteen!”
He feigned shock and realization, “Wow! You’re a grown woman then, huh? You could easily dodge a speeding vehicle. I must be stupid!”
“No,” she sighed, “you’re not stupid, just over-protective.”
“I care, that’s all.”
“You should be glad,” Abby commented.
She lowered her head, “Sorry, I am glad you care. Thank you!”
They stood to watch the last two events end. Anna’s team won both of them and the coach motioned for the team to join him at the finish line. Anna reunited with the team as Abby took Kaylie and Christy to the soccer field.
The trophy presentation lasted longer than anticipated. At 4:30, Anna was called for the sixth and final time, to receive the ‘Most Valuable’ trophy. She hoisted it proudly over her head as Rick snapped several pictures to go along with the ones Jessica had taken during the meet.
Rick and the girls finally arrived at the field close to 5:00; the game was already at half-time so they stayed in the van a few minutes so Anna could change clothes. Alex insisted he watch the video of the missile launch. Anna was watching over the back seat when she suddenly piped up, “What is old man Anderson doing there?”
“Old man who?” Rick asked.
She leaned over the back of the seat to point, “There!”
Rick backed up the video and paused it; Anna had finished changing and came out from behind the seat. “That guy,” she indicated by touching his big nose, “Mr. Anderson, seventh grade history teacher. You all know him.”
“This guy is a lot younger though — I don’t know. Alex?” he opened the door and showed her.
“That does look like him! Kaylie said he looked familiar earlier, but he’s got to be like eighty or something now. We always joke that he’s been around since the beginning of time.”
“Well, I have a hard time believing that’s him. This guy’s name is Ferdinand Bergamiser, and he was trapped in 1756 with Taylor. He’d be over 250 years old now, it’s gotta be a coincidence,” Rick decided.
“Yeah, it could be his descendant or something,” Anna said
“Ancestor, you mean,” he corrected.
“Yeah, it’s weird seeing a younger person who could be older than old man Anderson.”
“OK, girls, let’s go find Abby and Christy. They’re probably wondering where we are.”
They found Abby and Christy sitting on the sidelines on a blanket and joined them. Rick asked how the game was going.
“They’re winning four to two! Kay has two goals,” Christy cheerfully announced.
“Who’s hungry?” an anxious Abby asked. “I’ve been waiting forever for you guys to show up so I could go get something to eat.”
After taking orders, she sped off to the concession stand with Christy and Jessica trailing behind.
The second half was underway when they returned with refreshments. “Kay scored another goal, her third. It’s five to two now!” Alex updated them as they reclaimed their spots on the blanket.
“The coach moved her to defense so some of the other girls could get some experience up front,” Anna said.
Just then, Kaylie stepped in and stole the ball, running halfway up the field with it until she found a teammate ahead and lobbed the ball out in front of the girl, who caught up and quickly poked it between the opposing goalie’s legs — six to two.
“She could score if she was the goalie!” Rick proclaimed in amazement.
The other team didn’t even get a shot at the goal for the remainder of the game. Kaylie’s team put in two more past a dejected and frustrated goalkeeper and went on to win eight to two.
“Go see what Kaylie would like to eat,” Rick instructed Anna so she could get it before the concession stand closed.
She shortly returned with two hot dogs, a bag of chips, two orders of fries, a candy bar, and a large drink.
Alex laughed as she pulled out the fries, “I guess she was hungry?”
“Well, one of the fries is for me, but she asked for four hot dogs and two fries — this is all they had left. She’s going to be mad!”
“What a pig!” Alex commented.
Kaylie finally joined them after shaking hands with the other team. She griped all the way to the van about only having two hot dogs.
Chapter 10 — Some Things Aren’t So Easy
“You stink!” Jessica rudely announced, indicating Kaylie.
“Jess!” Rick admonished, “You know she’s been running for almost two hours. What do you expect? Kaylie, do you want to stop at the house and take a quick shower before we go?”
“She’s not that bad,” Anna offered.
“That’s because you stink, too!” Jessica blurted, with two fingers tightly clasped on her nose.
“That’s enough Jess!” Rick scolded. “She’s been running too.”
“Sorry,” Jessica apologized, “but they do stink.”
“Whatever,” Kaylie finally answered with a mouth full of fries. “I’ll just change back into my clothes before we get there. No use taking a shower when we could be getting really dirty again anyway. Besides, I want to get there as soon as possible, don’t you all?”
Everyone agreed, including Jessica.
“OK. Just hold your nose then, Jessie; I’ll roll a window down, too,” Rick joked. The girls giggled.
“I can’t wait to go back in time. I’m going to pet a dinosaur, first thing!” Alex remarked, excitedly.
“I’m going straight to the Roman Empire!” Christy firmly proclaimed.
A muffled affirmation came from Kaylie’s mouth, “Me too!”
“I’m going to the future!” Anna decided.
“I’m with Anna, the past already happened! If we wanted to know about it, we could read a stupid book,” Jessica sided with her cousin.
“Girls, even if we do find a time machine, nobody is going anywhere unless I’ve checked it out. Thoroughly!”
“Party pooper!” Abby stuck her tongue out at him.
“Oh no, not you too?”
“Well, I want to go as much as they do; heck, probably more! I’d love to visit all the sites I’ve dug, especially the Mayan and Incan ones. There are so many mysteries we could solve so easily…”
“Then you’d be out of a job,” Rick countered.
“Hmmm… Never thought of it that way.”
“Let me make this perfectly clear; we are exploring a cave tonight. We are not exploring time. We don’t even know what we will find or what we are looking for.”
“I’m finished!” Kaylie announced, after stuffing the last couple fries in her mouth. “How long till we get there?”
“It’s just a couple minutes, believe it or not. It’s less than a mile from our house… well, the path is at least.”
“OK,” she said, pulling her clothes out of her bag, “I’m going to the back to change.”
Kaylie emerged just as Rick pulled to a stop at a dead-end street, carrying her sweaty uniform like it was radioactive waste and threw it at Jessica. “Ewww!” Jessica shrieked, flailing her hands to brush herself off as if bees were attacking. Kaylie just laughed, satisfied.
Rick popped the back hatch and he pulled out a bag of old clothes, jeans and long-sleeved shirts, and began passing them out.
“What’s this for?” Christy asked as he handed her an outfit that was way too big.
“Just put them on, honey,” he told her.
She looked at hi
m weird, “But I already have clothes on, you want us to change?”
“No, put them on over your shorts and t-shirt; we’re going through dense brush and your legs and arms will be shredded if you don’t.”
“Oh! OK.”
“Besides, it may be cold in the cave. Rick handed out small flashlights to everyone and stuffed a package of batteries in his backpack and added rope, a medical kit, chalk, matches, handfuls of snacks, a few bottled drinks, and a hatchet. He pulled out a kerosene lamp and checked to make sure it was full. He also stuck a distress transmitter into his pants pocket, not sure if it would even work underground.
Abby loaded the leftover snacks into her pack, which already held all her standard survival gear, climbing gear, and archeological tools and implements.
The girls each carried their own water bottle, a pack of matches and at least one flashlight, but were otherwise unencumbered.
Abby rubbed some insect repellent on everyone’s exposed skin. “I think we’re all ready,” she declared.
“Just about,” Rick fumbled through the remaining mess, making sure they had it all. He tugged on a thick pair of work gloves and unsheathed an eighteen-inch machete he had tied to his belt. “Now we’re ready,” he posed comically, holding the oversized knife out like a sword.
Abby fiddled with her GPS device and turned around to get her bearings. This caused Rick to instantly think of the maps, which were in the front of the van, and he ran back to get them.
They all checked and rechecked everything, then locked the minivan and headed toward the woods.
“OK, everyone stays five feet behind me, no exceptions! I’ll be swinging this around at weeds and briars and whatever else gets in our way.” He dramatically sliced the air in front of them with the machete for effect. “If you get hit by it, our trip is certainly over!” he made a pained face for emphasis.
All the girls nodded with respect at the half-rusted blade.
He motioned to Abby, “OK, show me which direction we need to go.”
“That way,” she pointed straight forward, “is due north, and we need to head ten degrees east of north — that way,” she pivoted slightly to the right.
“OK, how far?”