[2014] Wildwood Shadows

by Scott McElhaney

  “There are certain sounds made by each period in time. Each moment in time has a different pitch that varies only slightly each and every day. If you listen to them enough, you can determine what you’re listening to,” he said, watching us as he held one earpiece to his right ear, “My father taught me how to hear these epochs in history and then how to refine the sound so perfectly that you can literally hear people talking. It was how he discovered that the Shawnee truly did live in our part of Ohio in the 1500s when all the history books recorded otherwise.”

  “But how can you hear people? Don’t radios pick up radio transmissions that are intentionally sent? Doesn’t there have to be microphones involved?” I asked.

  “We use radio telescopes to listen to outer space, and yet there are no microphones or manufactured transmitters up there. And as I’ve said before, this really isn’t a radio,” he said, holding out the headphones for me, “Come listen to this. We’re zeroing in on your day.”

  I crawled out of the bed and took the proffered headset. I placed it on my head and was startled to hear the sound of children laughing. A man’s voice rose, telling the kids to gather up their stuff because they were going to walk over to McDonalds in a bit.

  “McDonalds… are they talking about the one in Munroe Falls near the river?” I asked.

  “He mentioned McDonalds? Perfect! Yes, that would be the very same one they just built a year before I left,” he replied, “I told you I was getting close. You see, we are listening to people in this very spot, but at a different time.”

  “I just… wow, I don’t understand how,” I said, handing the headset, “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I wasn’t having any luck with this device once we got the power running. Then I realized that it had something to do with my location. So I built this hut where that park was located so I could search for the sound of kids playing or their parents talking. That park gave me something to listen for,” he said.

  He turned back to his radios and put the headset back on. As he silently fiddled with the dials, my mind drifted to his family – his new Shawnee family. I hadn’t so much as seen him ever associate with his children. I didn't even notice any real intimacy between him and his wife. I had to wonder if the man really even knew how to love someone. Did he even care about anyone in the world besides himself?

  I then turned to Wildwood who was lying down next to me leafing through a People magazine that my father must have brought back from the house. I noticed that the Scientific American was also lying nearby, so he must have grabbed everything from the living room. While I knew that Wildwood couldn’t read, I could see that she was focusing a lot of attention on every picture. It seemed that she was very interested in the various styles and colors of clothing the people wore – both male and female.

  Watching her as she slowly flipped the pages, I thought of how she’d look in some of the clothing the women wore in those pages. Wildwood had a beautiful body and her modesty wouldn’t permit some of the styles on those pages, but just to see her in some of those dresses would be amazing. The longer she stared at some of them, I had to believe she was thinking the same thing.

  “Are you scared to go to my world?” I asked her.

  She turned to me and noticed just then how close I was. A smile formed on her lips.

  “I’m the one who told you I’d love to explore new places. I’ve never been one to settle down,” she said, “To me, this would be an adventure. And if there are more adventures available in your world, I’d like to continue onward.”

  “Oh, there are plenty of places to explore in my world, but you’d have to be willing to try something new. Like flying for instance. Maybe going on a large boat. Or maybe-”

  “Flying? Like a bird?” she interrupted.

  “Yes, but inside a vehicle that flies. Almost like being inside this hut, but it would fly to other places far away,” I said.

  She looked at me for a moment and then returned to the magazine suddenly. She flipped through the pages rapidly, going back to the ones she’d already seen. Then she stopped on an advertisement for Southwest Airlines and pointed to the picture of a jet flying above the clouds.

  “Like this?” she asked.

  “Yes, exactly like that,” I replied.

  “I wondered what that was,” she said, “It reminded me of your house, but in the sky. Is it safe?”

  “Yes, very safe actually. In my world, we’ve been flying through the skies since long before my grandfather was a child, so we have a lot of experience,” I said.

  “Do you learn to fly these when you are a child?” she asked, still staring at the picture.

  “No, only certain people learn these things. I don’t know how to fly one of those, but I’ve flown inside one. Someone else takes care of the rest.”

  “Then I want to fly as well. When we go there, will you take me here?” she asked, pointing again to the jet.

  “Yes, but let’s wait until the doctors make sure you are doing better,” I said, “We’ll have plenty of time for our adventures.”

  “How long do you think?” she whispered, nodding toward my father.

  “I really don’t know,” I replied, “I don’t understand the stuff he works with at all.”

  She drew the blanket up and covered both of us. Then she rested her head against my arm. She lay there for a moment, looking up at the ceiling before she started to drift off. I was also feeling a bit sleepy, so when I closed my eyes, I lost consciousness in a matter of seconds.

  Kitsilawi

  My dad woke us at an indeterminate time. Since we were inside his hut and the lamp was still on, there was no way to determine the time. I was however woken from a sound sleep and felt in need of several more hours.

  “I got it and it’s probably just a day or two after you left! You have to go before it changes,” he said, still tapping my shoulder, “Seriously, you two… get up!”

  I sat up and Wildwood slowly followed. She was rubbing her eyes which told me that indeed, we hadn’t been asleep long. Wildwood usually didn’t have a problem waking up early in the morning.

  “Now listen up,” he said, handing me an envelope, “Are you two listening to me?”

  I nodded and Wildwood replied in the affirmative.

  “This envelope goes to a Doctor Anthony Rosetti at the Physicians Group where I used to work. It’s important that he gets this. If he’s still the man I know him to be, he will give you something to send to me. I will need you to send whatever it is that he gives you to me,” he said.

  “Send? Everyone who has used this thing has sent themselves along into the past!” I croaked, “I’m not willing to touch this thing ever again!”

  “You must! It’s the price I demand for saving you two… you three! Anyway, I rigged the radio so that when you put the box from Dr. Rosetti underneath it and tape them together, they will come back here as one unit. They will return here with no human being attached. I promise,” he said, “I gave the switch a five second delay now, so when you flip the switch and remove your hand, you are no longer ‘attached’ to the radio. You simply tape the box to the radio, set the dial to the coordinates carved into the top right here, and then flip the switch and step away.”

  “But won’t it appear in a different location? What if I do it at home, assuming there’s even a house there anymore? What if I do it from somewhere else?” I asked.

  “Do it in the same park where you will show up at when I send you back. There are picnic pavilions with electrical outlets. Just use a few extension cords so you can get it close to me,” he said.

  “What is the package anyway? What are we going to be sending you?” Wildwood asked.

  “It won’t mean anything to you, but it’s a medication we’re all going to need soon. We got word from the tribe up the river that several people are dying of a disease that covers the flesh with pustules that seep and turn to scabs. The disease is called smallpox and it’s very deadly and will most certainly be h
eaded this way,” he said, “Assuming it’s not already here. There’s a twelve-day incubation period and we just met with the member of that tribe three days ago.”

  “What if it’s already here? Isn’t it too late then for a vaccine?” I asked.

  “The smallpox vaccine is used not only to prevent the disease, but the vaccine itself significantly reduces the symptoms for those who already have it. Even if we are infected, the vaccine should prove to be a lifesaver,” he said, “And don’t worry about Dr. Rosetti. The letter is all he needs and I know he will come through.”

  “What if we also-”

  “Don’t worry about that. He is going to come visit you and see to it that you are both healthy,” he said, “Now I need you both to come over here and sit together. I want flesh-on-flesh, whether that means holding hands or stripping down nude. I don’t recommend the nude part though since you will be showing up in a park.”

  “Will all this equipment be coming with us?” I asked, “Or the hut?”

  “No, I altered it so all you will need is this single device. It only needs to work one more time anyway,” he said, then paused for a moment as he thought of something, “Oh, and take this with you as a wedding present.”

  He sifted through some of his belongings nearby and brought out a leather pouch. He opened it and let the rocks fall into his hands. Several of the small stones looked like hazy whitish pebbles and the others were obviously gold.

  “Is that real gold?” I asked.

  He dumped them back into the pouch, smiling as he handed it to me.

  “Just a few things I’d stumbled across over all the years that I’d been here. Diamonds and gold won’t serve me any purpose here. As a matter of fact, it might cause some greed and trouble if the Europeans ever found out that the river has something to offer,” he said.

  “Diamonds?” I asked.

  “There’s a couple big ones in there too,” he said, “And if you want to share some of that with your mother, maybe she’ll find it in her heart to forgive me for stealing her house.”

  I nodded and gave him a hug. Wildwood hugged him as well. We sat in front of the radio just like he insisted. I had Wildwood sit in my lap so that I could press my cheek to hers as well as hold her hand. If the radio took me to the future, it would most certainly have to take her.

  My father nodded toward the switch and then reminded me of the new five-second delay. I reached out and flipped the switch. I realized just then that I was unarmed. I’d left the knife, the shotgun, and the Glock on the bed. Then, I suddenly realized that those wouldn’t be needed anymore if it worked out as planned.

  Wiikano

  It had been two weeks since the day I left my father to live out the rest of his days in the past. Two weeks since the day we showed up in the park near the river on that nice mid-June day. Two weeks since that jogger let me borrow his cell phone to call my mother. He didn’t even seem the slightest bit fazed to discover two smelly people dressed in Native American clothing. I’m not sure what I would have done if the roles had been reversed.

  My mother was more than happy to come get us and to bring Wildwood to the emergency room. Wildwood and I told my mother the whole truth of what had happened for the past three months, though to her, we’d only been gone for two days. I think she might not have believed us had she not come home that crazy night to discover that her house had been replaced by two tall oaks and a white willow. She still had part of the garage, but otherwise, every bit of her house was gone. I guess it also helped that my hair now had been extended by three month’s growth.

  Wildwood had to stay in the hospital for three days and then when she was released, she was sentenced to a week of bed rest which she interpreted to mean “very light duty” rather than spending every moment in bed. She was assigned a doctor that would take care of her prenatal needs and for the time being, my mother would pay for it all.

  My mother, much to my surprise, was quick to claim Wildwood as the daughter-in-law that she technically was. While we were “married” according to the world of the past, we wouldn’t be defined as such in this world. A priest would set the record straight in four more weeks – the very day after I turned eighteen.

  I had dropped off the envelope at Dr. Rosetti’s office the day after we arrived here. Wildwood was still in the hospital at the time and she had seemed to be acclimating very well to her environment. She had been enjoying the daytime sitcoms so much that she encouraged us to leave to take care of the promise to Dad. To her, everything around her was educational and she couldn’t soak it all in fast enough.

  The next day, Dr. Rosetti showed up at the hospital and ordered a smallpox vaccine to be given to Wildwood even though she was pregnant. He had to argue a bit with the nurses over that one, but they didn’t comprehend the real possibility that Wildwood might have seriously been at risk. He also snuck a needle into my arm as well. I asked him what all the letter had said, but he wasn’t sharing anything with me. Before he left the room, he handed my mother a manila folder which contained a birth certificate and a social security card for one “Wildwood Shadows”. I was glad to see that they used her real name instead of Americanizing it. Although as a true Native American, my previous statement made no sense. Her name was already Americanized.

  On the day that Wildwood was released from the hospital, we took a trip to the jeweler in Hartville. When we dumped the pouch of gold and diamonds on the counter, the jeweler’s eyes went wide with excitement. The gold was immediately weighed and it netted us $14,500. The diamonds however required another set of eyes. Two jewelers examined the diamonds and offered us an initial payment of $50,000 with a document promising a secondary payment if the diamonds ultimately value at more than $200,000. While I don’t yet know how that situation turned out, I do know that we left there with a check for $64,500 and a three-page legal document promising us 25% of the value once the diamonds were properly assessed in New York.

  My mother let us keep the money even after we told her what Dad had said. She explained that the house was going to be covered by insurance especially now that it was the most popular story on the internet at the moment. There was absolutely no logical explanation for a house disappearing and then being replaced by old trees with deep roots. So the people of the news and of the internet ran with stories of aliens and government conspiracies. Since no one ever envisioned the idea of a time traveling house; that was the one theory that had never been raised.

  For now, we would be living with my mother’s sister, Aunt Susan. She had two extra bedrooms now that my cousins had gone off to college and the other just got married. It would be a weird start to our new life, but Wildwood and I were both ready for the adventure.

  Now, Wildwood and I knelt on the grass of the park with the radio before us. Three extension cords were linked together, running back to the pavilion my father had mentioned. We taped the box to the bottom as my father requested. Wildwood had encouraged me to peek inside the box when we initially received it. Inside the box, we discovered a thick envelope from Dr. Rosetti resting atop more than a hundred vials of smallpox vaccine. There were also three large prescription bottles which I imagine held some important secondary medications. The names printed on these medications were completely foreign to me. There were also more than a hundred syringes in there as well as six tubes of prescription ointments or lotions. I wanted to open the envelope, but thought it best to leave it alone. If my father’s letter was private, then I’m sure this one was as well.

  We set the dial to the exact coordinates carved into the radio. I reached for the lever, but wondered for a moment if it could mess up yet again. History suggested that this thing had a better chance of ruining a life than it did actually working as expected. Then again, my little journey into the past didn’t ruin my life as I’d initially believed that first day. The experience that began with an evening thunderstorm gave me the best gift I could have ever received. I would now be spending the rest of my life with Wildwood Shad
ows and our upcoming child. And most of those days would be spent traveling the world.

  I reached out and flipped the switch. Wildwood and I rose from the ground and took two steps back. Then suddenly, the radio, the box, and part of the extension cord disappeared completely. I turned to Wildwood and kissed her tenderly. My mother waited in the jeep, watching us from the parking lot. I decided in that moment to ask if we could stop by the library on the way home. I wanted to grab a book on the history of the Shawnee in Ohio. I had a funny feeling that things might have suddenly been rearranged in the history books.

  THE END

  Check out these other affordable books available

  for your Kindle by Scott McElhaney:

  Indentured (Mystic 1)

  Legacy (Mystic 2)

  Violation (Mystic 3)

  Judgment (Mystic 4)

  Convergence (Mystic 5)

  The Mystic Saga Omnibus (all 5 books)

  Dominion

  Vestige

  Erinyes

  Ghosts of Ophidian

  Alastair (Ghosts of Ophidian)

  Daylight in Blossom

  Beyond the Event Horizon

  Mommy’s Choice

  Elusive December

  One Crazy Summer

  Talking to the Moon

  Saving Brooksie

  The Wisconsin Samurai