Karen D. Badger - Yesterday Once More

by Karen D. Badger

  “Your grandmother was a brilliant woman. Too bad she didn’t teach you how to—”

  “Comb my hair. Yeah, I know,” Kale interrupted with mock severity. “You’re never going to stop reminding me of that, are you?”

  “Not a chance. And by the way, you look cute with that napkin tucked into the front of your shirt.”

  Kale stuck his tongue out.

  “Be careful what you do with that tongue. Andi might get jealous.”

  “In your dreams.” Kale laughed.

  Andi chuckled.

  “I can’t remember the last time we actually sat at the kitchen table to eat,” Jordan said.

  “You don’t eat in the kitchen?” Andi asked.

  “We eat most of our meals in the living room in front of the holovision,” Kale said.

  “Sometimes,” Jordan added, “we don’t eat at the same time. It depends on our schedules. There have been times when I haven’t seen Kale for two days.”

  Andi scoffed. “My mother would never allow that. She was pretty strict about meal times and eating family dinners at the table. Heaven help us if we didn’t make it home in time.”

  “Well, we run a pretty informal ship around here. With our busy lives, we need to be independent and flexible,” Jordan said.

  Kale pulled the napkin out of his collar and placed it on the table beside his plate. “Speaking of busy lives, we need to get out to the lab and test the machine.”

  “The machine is that far along?” Jordan asked.

  Kale grew animated. “You bet it is! I installed the second set of rings before you went into the hospital, and with Andi’s help last night, we modified the algorithm so that they’re configured to rotate in the opposite direction with a reverse charge polarization. Our plan tonight is to verify the absence of gravity in the center of the sphere. If we’re lucky, maybe we can even give it a test run with an inanimate object.”

  An unexpected wave of dizziness washed over Jordan. She sat back in her chair and clutched at her chest as it became difficult for her to breathe. She closed her eyes. A vision of creamy white skin framed by a mane of wild red curls filled her mind. Emotion and longing gripped her heart.

  Andi was immediately by her side. “Are you all right?”

  Jordan shook her head. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little dizzy. I’ll be fine.” She inhaled deeply. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about me. I guess the thought of that piece of junk out there actually working is a reality check for me. Why don’t you go work on the project while I clean up the dishes? Really, I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Kale said. “You’re supposed to be resting. We’re breaking the rules as it is by letting you out of bed for dinner.”

  “Actually, I thought I’d relax on the couch with the diaries.”

  Kale stood and walked behind Jordan’s chair. He leaned down to talk to her. “Come on, I’ll help you onto the couch then come back to help Andi with the dishes. You should relax and enjoy us waiting on you hand and foot because when your hiatus is over, you’re pulling your own damn weight around here again. You got that, girlfriend?”

  “Nag, nag, nag,” Jordan said.

  Kale transferred Jordan to the couch and wrapped her legs in a fleece throw. He sat down beside her. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t realize you had made so much progress on the machine. The whole possibility is becoming real to me now.”

  “Getting cold feet?”

  Jordan’s eyes opened wide. “Not a chance. I want this more than I could ever explain. I’ll admit I’m nervous, but I’m excited as well.”

  “Well, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. This may not work, you know.”

  Jordan smiled. “You’re one of the most brilliant scientists I know. I have faith in you... and in Andi.”

  “Thank you for the vote of confidence, but there are no guarantees. Even if it does work, we have a long road ahead of us. We’ll need to do a ton of testing before I’ll be willing to risk your life. You need to understand that.”

  “Maggie has waited nearly one hundred years for me. I’m sure she’ll wait a while longer. I’m more worried about my own lack of patience.”

  “You and me too, Jord! You and me too.”

  * * *

  Kale and Andi stood by the control console watching a small trail of smoke emerge from the bucket in the center of the sphere. Soon, the amount of smoke increased substantially.

  “Okay, I think we’re ready to begin. Here we go.”

  Kale initiated the outer sphere program, slowly turning the speed control dial. He and Andi watched the centrifugal motion of the inner rings pull the trail of smoke into the sphere. Once the rings reached maximum velocity, they carefully examined the space inside the sphere.

  Andi had to raise her voice to be heard over the loud hum of the rotating rings. “It’s really faint, but I can still see smoke in the center of the sphere. The minute traces of gravity still remaining there should be counteracted by the rotation of the inner rings. Go ahead and start.”

  “All right. I’m setting them in motion right now.”

  They held their breath as the velocity of the inner spheres increased. The traces of smoke in the center of the sphere gently migrated to the inner circumference of the rotating rings. Then, an amazing thing happened. The bucket containing the smoking paper began to slowly drift up.

  Andi grasped Kale’s arm. “Kale, it’s happening. The bucket is becoming weightless. You did it! You actually did it!”

  Kale held his breath and hoped the anti-gravity state could be sustained and controlled. “We’re not there yet. We need to be able to control this before we can claim victory.”

  Kale slowly reduced the speed of the inner rings. As gravity returned to the center of the sphere, the bucket slowly dropped and resettled on the platform. When Kale increased the speed of the rings, the bucket levitated once more. Kale repeated the process two more times until he was convinced it was consistent and repeatable.

  For several minutes, Kale and Andi stared at the bucket on the platform. They approached the machine. Kale tentatively touched the bucket, only to pull his hand back quickly.

  “Damn,” he exclaimed, shaking his hand sharply.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s hot. Look.” Small red blisters were already erupting on Kale’s fingertips.

  “Damn. Why would that happen?”

  “It must be molecular excitement. To generate this much heat, the molecules in the bucket had to have been moving at an enormous speed.” Kale walked a few feet away and then turned to face Andi. “Do you realize what this would do to living tissue?”

  Andi frowned. “I’m not sure I agree with you. Maybe it has something to do with the material as well. The bucket is metal, and metal is an excellent conductor.”

  Kale nodded. “Fair enough. Let’s repeat the experiment with a non-metallic object.” Kale looked around the room and located the boot he had used in his original experiment. “Here—this is the perfect test subject. If you’re right, the leather in this boot should remain cool and only the metal rings around the shoelace holes should become hot. Let’s give it a shot.”

  Kale placed the boot in the center of the sphere and once more initiated ring rotation. Again, Andi and Kale held their breath as they watched the boot rise from the platform and hover in the center of the rings.

  Kale powered down the system and then gingerly reached for the boot. His brow furrowed as he touched the leather. He removed the boot from the center of the rings. He measured the temperature of each of the materials comprising the boot. “Leather, slightly warm. Rubber soles, hot, but not scorching. Metal grommets, burning hot.” He glanced at Andi. “Okay, I’m ready to accept that heat generation has something to do with the conductive nature of the material. The question is, how much heat is too much for living tissue? And how do we dissipate it?”

  “That’s easy.”

&
nbsp; Kale stopped pacing and looked at Andi.

  “Electricity 101. How do you get rid of a charge? By grounding the object.”

  Kale thought for a moment then shook his head. “The boot was grounded to the platform. It has rubber soles.”

  Andi nodded. “That would be true in an equilibrated environment. However, what we have here is an anti-gravity environment. When the object is floating, it’s not grounded to anything. We may need to ground both the machine and the object.”

  “That makes sense. You might be onto something.”

  Andi looked around the room. “Where did the workmen put the leftover filament from when they wired the lab?”

  “It’s out in the shed behind the barn. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

  Kale quickly pulled on his jacket and raced out of the lab. He came back with a large coil of electrical filament. “This should do the trick,” he said, shrugging out of his coat. He attached a length of filament to both the boot and the metal table. “We’ll have to remove one of the floor tiles to gain access to the ground. What to use, what to use?” Kale paused for a moment. “Got it! Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

  Kale returned with a long metal spike. “This should do the trick.”

  “All right. I think that’s long enough. Power it down and we’ll see if it works.”

  Andi watched the boot drop slowly onto the platform. She and Kale stared at it.

  Kale glanced at Andi before reaching into the center of the sphere. “Here goes nothing.” He touched the boot. Andi held her breath.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Kale exclaimed. He retrieved the boot and unwound the grounding filament. “Here... think quick!” Kale tossed the boot to Andi, who trapped it against her chest in an awkward football catch.

  Her eyes opened wide. Every part of the boot, leather, sole and metal loopholes included, was at ambient temperature. She smiled brightly and threw herself into Kale’s arms. “We did it!”

  Kale squeezed her tight then held her at arm’s length. “Yes, we did. I could use a beer to celebrate. What do you say we go share the good news with Jordan?”

  Chapter 17

  Tuesday, August 29, 2017

  I am in love. There, I’ve finally admitted it to myself. I never thought it would happen, but it has. It surprises me that I could be attracted to Jan. She’s very boyish and she reminds me in some ways of Jess. After Jess tried to force herself on me, I vowed never again to become involved with someone who could overpower me, but Jan is different. She’s gentle and kind, despite the fact that she can throw a bale of hay a country mile. Her strength surprises me, considering she’s shorter and slimmer than I am. She is so good with the animals, and has voluntarily taken on the role of horse trainer. Jan has a knack for showing horses, and even managed to earn a couple of blue ribbons at last month’s horse show. That’s so important to the farm’s financial stability. After all, we’re in business to raise, breed, and sell Mustangs. She has been a godsend.

  Anyway, I digress. I am in love. It’s not something I was looking for. It kind of found me. All I wanted when I invited Jan to move from the bunkhouse into the main residence was companionship. It didn’t make sense for her to sleep out there all alone while I lived a solitary life in this big farmhouse. I admit that I found her attractive right from the start. She’s pretty cute. I find myself staring at the cleft in her chin and wondering what it would be like to trace it with the tip of my finger. Yes, I found her attractive, but I wasn’t looking for someone to share my life with when she came to work for me.

  When she moved into the main house, she pretty much kept to herself... cooking her own meals and spending her free time in her room. But after a few weeks she began to loosen up and finally accepted one of the many invitations to join me for dinner. I will never forget that dinner. Don’t ask me what we ate... for the life of me, I can’t remember the food, but I certainly remember spending the entire meal trying not to be too obvious about staring at her. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. Anyway, by the time the evening was over, we managed to consume an entire bottle of wine, but very little else. I couldn’t take my eyes off her long enough to eat. I felt quite giddy... like a schoolgirl experiencing her first crush. I’m not sure if it was the wine or her presence that caused the heated flush to color my cheeks.

  That was three months ago. Since then, we’ve spent more and more time together and I have felt myself falling deeper and deeper in love. She walks into the room and my insides turn all warm and mushy. She’s on my mind all day long. Earlier this week, in the middle of a meeting of the Shelburne Board of Trustees, I was called upon to voice my opinion and became quite red-faced when I realized I hadn’t even heard the question through my preoccupation with her.

  There is something about her, something that draws me in. She has an effect on me like no one else I’ve ever met. We attended the Champlain Valley Fair together last week and in the process of leading me through the crowds surrounding the exhibits in the crafts barn she placed her hand on the small of my back. That simple act took my breath away. I felt as though her hand penetrated my body and grasped deep within my core to the very center of my desire. I was nearly paralyzed by the rush of heat and longing that filled my being. I knew then that I wanted her. I knew then that I had to have her. I knew then that I needed her in my life.

  This morning, I am at peace with my soul. I sit here on my bed with pen in hand, recording my most secret thoughts while she sleeps beside me, her arm thrown over the pillow, her blonde hair tussled into a windblown disarray from a night of lovemaking, her cleft chin calling to me, begging me to invade it with my tongue.

  “No! Goddamn it!”

  * * *

  Kale and Andi entered the house in time to hear a loud thud in the living room.

  “Jordan?” Kale called. “Are you all right?”

  “Damn it,” came the loud reply.

  Kale gently pushed open the living room door. “Jord?” He half expected to find Jordan lying on the floor. “Are you okay?”

  The door was stuck. There was something behind it, dragging along as the door opened. Kale peered behind it and saw one of Maggie’s diaries. He glanced at Jordan, who was still lying on the sofa. He stepped completely into the room, followed by Andi, who immediately went to Jordan’s side and sat down beside her.

  Kale picked up the diary and turned to face Jordan. She was crying. Andi held her, providing what comfort she could. Diary in hand, Kale sat on the coffee table, facing Jordan, waiting for her to compose herself. Finally, the crying subsided.

  “Want to tell us what this is all about?” Kale asked.

  “I wish I’d never found those damn diaries.”

  “Jordan, you can’t mean that,” Andi said.

  Jordan lifted her head from Andi’s shoulder and looked her in the face. “Yes, I do mean it. My life has been nothing but hell since I found them. I feel like I’m losing my mind. She’s all I can think about, all I can dream about. It’s impossible—can’t you see that? She’s dead! She’s nothing but a name in the town’s historic register. Leave it to me to fall in love with a dead woman. I’m so fricking pathetic.”

  Kale’s heart broke for Jordan. She put her head back on Andi’s shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably.

  Andi’s eyes met Kale’s. “Shh, Jordan. It will be all right. I know it will. Don’t lose hope.” She arched an eyebrow at Kale, who added his assurance.

  “Andi’s right. There’s reason to hope.”

  Jordan lifted her head from Andi’s shoulder. “How can you say that?”

  Kale tipped his head back, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. As he released his breath, he looked at Jordan. “We had a breakthrough. Andi and I have figured out how to reach zero-gravity in the center of the spheres.”

  Jordan was suddenly animated. “It works? Are you telling me the machine works?” she asked excitedly, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

  “Whoa, slow down. No, I’m not saying it works�
��at least not yet. What I am saying is that we’ve accomplished the first step toward making it work.” Kale watched as the hope on Jordan’s face faded, and she physically shrank back into the fold of Andi’s arms.

  He reached for her hand. “This is a huge breakthrough. Without this step, we would never be able to accomplish what we’re trying to do. Don’t give up on us yet. Okay?”

  * * *

  Andi stood at the kitchen stove the next morning, turning the eggs in the frying pan. “I’m worried about Jordan’s emotional state.”

  Kale leaned back against the cupboard, holding a coffee cup in one hand while the other ran through his hair. “I know. So am I. If she isn’t able to hold it together, she risks losing the candidacy for the implant. There’s no way Peter will allow her to participate in the study if she’s emotionally unstable.”

  Kale looked at Andi. “I won’t risk the time travel experiment without the implant. There is no way I’ll attempt to send her through time without her being able to take care of herself. She needs to realize that.”

  Andi nodded in agreement. “Well then, I guess one of us will have to kick her ass and break her out of the funk she’s in.”

  “Are you volunteering for that job?” Kale asked.

  “Volunteering for what job?”

  Kale and Andi turned to see Jordan approaching them in her hover-chair.

  “Damn it, Jordan. You aren’t supposed to be dragging yourself in and out of that chair yet. Do you want to end up back in the hospital?” Kale scolded.

  “Don’t get your panties in a wad. I’m fine,” Jordan responded. “I’m tired of being in a funk. I’m sick of being helpless. I want to help with the machine.”

  Kale glanced at Andi, then back at Jordan. “I’m not sure you should be spending that much time in your chair. We tend to lose track of time out there, especially if we’re making progress.”

  “Which is exactly why I want in on the action. Do you have any idea what it’s like sitting idle day after day unable to participate in life? You wonder why I’m in a funk? Try it for a while.”