OMG, A CUL8R Time Travel Mystery

by Kat, Bob

  “They call it new, not mint,” Scott reminded him.

  “Oh, right. Good point.”

  They walked another couple of blocks and came upon a Super 8 Motel. It had a flashing “VACANCY” sign as well as one advertising rooms for $8 a night.

  “Okay, Kelly, you go check in like we planned,” Scott directed. “We’ll wait out here, out of sight.”

  Kelly tried to shake as much sand out of her ponytail as she could and gave her face another wipe before going to the office. A sleepy-eyed clerk looked up from the crossword puzzle he was working on.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, our car broke down, and my parents wanted me to rent two rooms. They’ll be along shortly.” Kelly had never been very good at lying. Actually, she had very little practice, but right now, she felt so disoriented that it didn’t feel like lying at all. She gave him a sad smile. “We got caught in a dust storm, and me and my brothers . . . and sister are exhausted.”

  He looked at her suspiciously, raking her from the top of her matted hair to the tip of her flip-flopped feet. She certainly looked like she had been in an accident.

  She tried looking even more pitiful by drooping her shoulders and looking up at him with pleading eyes.

  He shrugged and reached around to the board behind him. “You said you needed two rooms?”

  “Yes, please. Two double beds in each, if possible.”

  He looked back at her sharply. “Your parents want two double beds?”

  “Uh . . . we’re going to split up with Mom sleeping with Zoey and me and Dad sleeping with the boys.”

  “Oh, okay.” The man plucked two keys off the board. He shoved a small clipboard with a stack of registration forms on it toward her. “Fill this out. That’ll be $16.48 per night . . . in advance.”

  Kelly filled out the form putting her old address from Texas and made up a make and model for their imaginary car, along with a random license plate number. She pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket and pushed it and the clipboard toward the man.

  He glanced over it. “From Texas, huh?”

  “Yup,” she answered.

  “I thought I heard a little drawl. I used to live near Dallas. Too darn hot.”

  She nodded, anxious to get this over with.

  “Okay, two rooms on the lower level, down that way.” He jerked his head to the right toward a two-story wing of rooms.

  She took the keys he held out. “Thanks.”

  “Get your parents to drop by the office some time tomorrow if you’re going to stay another night.”

  “Will do.” She would have agreed to almost anything to get out of that office before the lies choked in her throat. She looked down at the keys that were numbered 14 and 15. She headed toward them, knowing the guys were watching and would follow her there. She had barely opened the door to 15 when the others arrived. Zoey looked like she was about to object, but Scott pushed her inside, then he and Austin entered and shut the door behind them.

  “Okay, Zoey sit down. You need to listen to the whole story before you can understand what’s going on,” he told her.

  She sat with a loud sigh. “Can we hurry? I’m filthy, and I’m tired. I want to get home.”

  “Well, that’s going to take a few days.”

  “What?”

  Scott tried to keep it simple as he explained to her how they had found the Spirit Radio and talked to Wendy, all the way through to how he had downloaded his CUL8R app on Austin’s and Kelly’s phones Sunday night. He told her about Violet and their plans for travelling to 1966 to find out what had caused Wendy to die.

  To her credit, Zoey sat quietly through the whole explanation. But as the other three looked at her expectantly, she laughed. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Now let me out of here so I can go home.”

  “You don’t have a home in 1966,” Kelly pointed out gently.

  Zoey looked stricken. “I’m homeless? Like that crazy old man under the pier?”

  “No, we’re going to stay in this nice motel for a few days,” Austin tried to placate her.

  “You’re all cray-cray,” she declared.

  Kelly punched Austin in the ribs. “What’s cray-cray?”

  “It means crazy in Zoey speak,” he whispered back.

  “You heard the guy on the beach,” Scott told her. “You saw the buildings have changed. How do you think we did that? This is real. The year is 1966.”

  Zoey considered that for a few seconds, then jumped to her feet. “Listen here, nerd. I just came to the beach tonight because I forgot my favorite flip-flops. It’s all your fault that I got caught up in your stupid tornado.”

  “Actually, I tried to get you to leave,” Austin gently reminded her.

  “Whatever! This is a big mistake, and you’ve got to fix it.”

  “We didn’t want you along either, but now that you’re here, we’ve all got to make the best of it,” Scott informed her bluntly.

  Zoey frowned. “Okay, if your crazy story is true and we’ve somehow travelled through time, then you’ve got to send me back. Right now.” She waved her hands in the air. “Make that dust thing happen, and I’ll jump in and go back without you.”

  “It’s not that easy,” Scott explained, growing weary with this whole conversation. “We’ve all got to travel together. One of us can’t go alone. And we can’t go back until we accomplish our mission. We’ve come here to right a wrong, and we’re not going to leave until we do.”

  “Oh my God, you think you’re the three Musketeers.”

  “We’re just trying to help Wendy,” Kelly spoke up. “She begged us. If you’d have heard her, you wouldn’t want to leave without at least trying to help.”

  “Well, I didn’t hear her.” Zoey flopped back down on the bed. “If I’m going to be stuck in the freaking 60s, then I’m not leaving this room until it’s time for us to jump back into the dust devil.”

  “You’re going to need something to wear.” Kelly glanced toward Zoey’s bikini top and short shorts.

  “Tomorrow we’ll get you some clothes from the Salvation Army . . .” Scott’s words were cut off in mid sentence.

  “Salvation Army? No way. I’m going to the mall and buy something new. Edison Mall is here, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes. It should be brand new. But your credit cards aren’t going to work. They don’t even have VISA or MasterCard yet.”

  Zoey was horrified. “How do these people survive?”

  “They pay cash,” Scott said.

  That was clearly a foreign concept to her. “I don’t carry cash,” she said.

  “That’s just as well. We can’t use any money that has a date after 1966.”

  Zoey looked around. “I’ll just stay here and watch TV. Where’s the remote?”

  “No remotes,” Scott informed her.

  “These people are savages,” she muttered.

  “We should all get to bed,” Scott reminded them. “We need to get up early tomorrow and get registered at school. By then, Wednesday will be half over.”

  “Hold on, nerd . . . why are you going to school?” Zoey asked.

  “Because Wendy’s going to be at school. We’ve got to find a way to get to know her before Friday night. That’s when she dies.”

  Austin added, “Wendy’s a lot like you . . . popular, pretty, on the cheer squad.”

  She tilted her head and gave him a flirty wink. “You think I’m pretty.”

  Scott had lost all patience with everyone. “It’s got to be close to midnight. I’m going to bed.”

  Kelly held out the other key, and he took it. He and Austin left the two girls and Kelly jumped up to lock the door behind them. A minute later, they heard the door to the room next to them open and shut.

  Kelly and Zoey exchanged uneasy glances. Neither had any desire to carry on a conversation, and both were dirty and tired.

  “I might have something you can use,” Kelly offered. She took her duffle bag off and d
ug through it until she pulled out a t-shirt. “I have some toothpaste, but you’ll have to use your finger for a toothbrush.”

  “At this point, I’d settle for a Tic-tac and a shower.”

  “Why don’t you go first,” Kelly offered. “I’ll take my shower after you get through.”

  Zoey didn’t hesitate. She flounced off the bed, grabbed the t-shirt, went into the bathroom and slammed the door. A few minutes later, the shower turned on.

  Kelly got up and turned on the TV. It didn’t take long to flip through the three channels that were offered. All the shows were being broadcast in color, but the motel hadn’t updated its TV sets, so they were all still black and white. Kelly was torn between actually lying on top of the bedspread that probably hadn’t been washed in no telling how long or pulling it off and lying on the sheets. But she didn’t want to spend the night sleeping in the sand pile that would fall off her body, so she pulled up the spindly wooden desk chair and sat on that.

  She watched the end of a silly, but funny old movie and was starting on another one when Zoey finally emerged from the bathroom with her hair wrapped in a towel and wearing Kelly’s t-shirt.

  “There were only two bath towels, so I guess you’ll have to use a hand towel,” Zoey informed her as she wrinkled her nose and pulled back the bedspread using just the tips of her index finger and thumb.

  “Great,” Kelly muttered, taking her duffle bag with her into the bathroom. Luckily, the motel’s water heater system must have been working overtime because she had plenty of hot water for a thorough shower. She had brought small travel-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner since she knew what a mess it would be, and she felt a certain degree of satisfaction knowing Zoey had no such luxury. Apparently, in 1966, motels didn’t provide little bottles for their guests.

  Feeling much cleaner, she toweled off with the hand towel and dried her hair the best she could. She pulled on the oversized t-shirt and shorts she usually wore to bed, brushed her teeth and combed the tangles out of her hair. She let it fall loose to dry naturally and returned to the bedroom.

  Zoey barely glanced her way as Kelly carefully folded back the bedspread and climbed into bed.

  “Aren’t you going to turn the TV off?” Zoey asked.

  Kelly rolled her eyes and counted to ten before throwing back the sheet, getting out of bed and turning off the TV and the overhead light. She climbed back into bed and snuggled under the sheets.

  The room was quiet for several minutes. Kelly was almost asleep when Zoey spoke up.

  “Did we really time travel to 1966? Is there really a Wendy?”

  “Yes and yes,” Kelly answered.

  “Oh my God!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1966

  A knock on the door at 7 a.m. woke Kelly from a deep sleep. She sat up and looked around, completely disoriented. She had barely gotten used to waking up in her new bedroom at her aunt’s house, but this definitely wasn’t it. Her eyes focused on the bed next to her and the lump under the covers.

  Oh, yeah, that was Zoey, and they were staying in a cheap motel in 1966 Fort Myers. Right.

  She had halfway believed it had all been a dream and she would wake up in her own bed in 2013 Texas. That would have been no more difficult to believe than being here more than thirty years before she was even born.

  The knock sounded again. “Kelly, Zoey, wake up. We’re going to breakfast,” Scott called through the door.

  “I’ll be out in a minute,” Kelly called back, reminded by her growling tummy that regardless of the decade, she was still hungry.

  The lump in the next bed moved and Zoey sat up. Kelly could tell by her bewildered expression that Zoey was going through the same basic reality check that Kelly had.

  “So it wasn’t a nightmare?” Zoey muttered.

  “No, it’s real, and it’s time we got started. Are you staying here or going with us?”

  Zoey heaved a dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll go along. It would be tragically boring here.”

  Kelly threw back the covers and practically ran to the bathroom, determined to beat Zoey. She was willing to bet that her prep time was much shorter than her grumpy roommate’s.

  Five minutes later, Kelly emerged, wearing one of her grandmother’s dresses and a pair of flats. She left her hair hanging long and straight around her shoulders and brushed a coat of mascara on her eyelashes.

  “The bathroom’s all yours. I left the toothpaste in there,” she told Zoey.

  “Can I borrow your flatiron?” Zoey asked.

  “I don’t have a flatiron.”

  Zoey stared at her as if she had grown two heads. “Your hair looks like that naturally?”

  “Yeah, I’ve always wished I had a little curl.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. I’d give up my favorite Fendi bag to have hair that straight and shiny.” Zoey tried to drag her fingers through her tangled blond curls. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without my flatiron. Do you have a brush I could borrow?” Her tone revealed how much she hated asking, but her desperation won out.

  “Sure.” Kelly dug it out of her bag and handed it to Zoey.

  “How about a rubber band or a clip?”

  Kelly took an elastic band out of one of the bag’s pockets and held it out. “I have an extra dress if you’d like to borrow it.”

  With an expression of distaste almost as extreme as when she pulled back the bedspread last night, Zoey accepted the dress Kelly held out to her.

  “I’ll wait outside with the boys while you get ready.” Kelly looped her duffle bag over her head and zipped the key in the outside pocket and left the room.

  Scott and Austin were outside, talking about their plans for the day. “Kudos to you Scott,” Kelly said. “I’ll have to admit that I had my doubts.”

  He lifted his hand in a Spock salute. “Nerd power.”

  Kelly sensed that he didn’t like being called a nerd. He didn’t mind geek or Einstein. But nerd was somehow derogatory the way Zoey had said it. She reached out and touched his arm. “Ignore Zoey. She’s just a hater.”

  “Yeah, dude,” Austin agreed. “Don’t let her get to you.”

  Scott tried not to show it, but it clearly bothered him. “I just wish she wasn’t here.”

  “We all do.” Kelly nodded.

  The door to their room opened and Zoey walked out, looking better than anyone would have thought in the old dress. She had tamed her hair into a fashionable French braid. “So, what new hell do you have planned for today?”

  “Breakfast first,” Austin said, trying to be the peacemaker. “I think we’ll all feel better after a good meal.”

  They found a coffee shop on the corner and the waitress led them to a booth. Several minutes later Austin was digging into his bacon and eggs, Scott had a large bowl of Cheerios, Kelly had pancakes and Zoey nibbled on a piece of dry toast. They didn’t talk much until everyone had cleaned their plates. Scott pulled a legal pad out of his backpack.

  “Okay, here’s what we need to do today. Our first priority is to get Austin and Kelly registered at school. I’ve decided to stay on the outside so I can do reconnaissance on the ground while you guys are trying to connect with Wendy.”

  “Why does she get to go to school and meet Wendy?” Zoey asked. “Shouldn’t I be the one to do it since she and I have the most in common? I mean, how is Kelly going to bump into someone on the cheer squad? They don’t even travel in the same hemisphere.”

  Kelly tried not to let her implications sting because actually, Zoey had a good point. Reluctantly, she agreed, “Zoey’s right. I don’t know how to act in a school, much less to infiltrate the popular group.”

  Scott tried to think of a reason to argue against it, since it was not consistent with his plan. “Zoey, my only concern is that you won’t take this seriously enough. This is Wendy’s reputation we’re dealing with. We’re trying to take away the stigma of her suicide and try to find out what really happened.�
�

  “I get it, dork. I’m not popular just because of the way I look. People like me.” When she saw all three of her companions’ skeptical looks, she retorted, “Well, they do. I promise you that by the end of the day, Wendy will be my new BFF.”

  “We don’t want forever. We just need you to stick with her until Saturday.”

  “Whatever.” Zoey sat back with confidence.

  “Okay, then Austin, you’ll be her back-up. Maybe you can get Wendy to crush on you or something,” Scott said. “Be creative. Just try to find out if she has a boyfriend that’s about to dump her or something that would cause her to be depressed.”

  “What about me?” Kelly asked, suddenly feeling like a fifth wheel.

  “You’ll hang with me. We can find out about her family. Are we ready to head out?”

  Everyone nodded and slid out of the booth. Scott paid the bill and got directions to the Salvation Army. Along the way, they stopped at a drugstore so Zoey could pick up a few essentials. She was at first upset that she couldn’t find her favorite products, and even more so when Scott refused to give her more than five dollars to buy everything she needed.

  “Minimum wage is $1.25 an hour. I’m not going to give you the equivalent of a day’s work for your vanity,” Scott informed her, empowered by having control of the purse strings.

  She ended up with a toothbrush, lip gloss and mascara. She looked everywhere for a flatiron, but no such product existed in the 60s. Shopping at the Salvation Army thrift store proved an even greater challenge. Nothing even came close to her standards, but when threatened with having to wear the same dress every day for the next three days, she found three dresses and a school-approved gym suit, along with a pair of low heels that would go with every outfit. Austin found a couple of button-down shirts and some gym shorts. Zoey whined until they made one more stop at a five-and-dime store to get her a package of clean underwear.

  The next stop was the school. Scott went over their agreed-to story that Austin and Zoey were siblings. Their mother was dead and their father had just been transferred to Fort Myers Beach, but he couldn’t come with them today because he had to go to work. Kelly gave them her address from Friendswood to use. Without the benefit of computers, it would take the school days to request transcripts, and by then, they would have accomplished their mission and be gone.