PLAY ON

by Marilynn Halas

  The moment the doctor left the room Ryan whispered to Dillon, “Where is he?”

  “Who, Dad? Danny is right here. Are you okay?”

  “Michael! Stay away from him. That man is dangerous.”

  Dillon agreed and told his dad about their adventures with Rosa. Ryan wanted Marie to call her parents and get checked out by a doctor, but he backed off when he heard the rest of the story and learned she was okay.

  “So you weren’t born in 1985, it had to be the last hours of 2049?” Ryan tried to clear his head. “Man, if that doctor hears me talking like this, he’ll think I have a head injury for sure. I’m sorry for all you guys have been through. I wanted to be there with you, but I got a little sidetracked.” Ryan touched the goose egg that was forming on his head.

  Danny was glad Ryan was going to be okay, but he had another pressing matter to attend to. He had to find Michael. Even if it meant looking for him in hell, Danny was determined to deal with the man who put this whole chain of events in motion, and he had to do it fast. When Michael had followed the young Rosa and her father back in time, he'd started a race with destiny that they were all still trying to win. Michael had already proved he was willing to kill, and now he was under an intolerable threat. If his time travel was exposed, it could mean the end of everything for him. Danny knew a madman like Michael would not go gently.

  Before he could deal with that though, Danny had to do something else. Clint was in that cab and right now he and Sara were sitting in a waiting room down the hall hoping they might be able to find out if Ryan was all right. The police had reviewed the security tapes and declared the whole mess nothing more than an accident. In fact, it was Clint who pulled Ryan away from the wreckage, but Danny knew they would want to be sure Ryan was going to be all right. Rosa and Michael had disappeared into the crowd, but Clint stayed with Ryan through the whole ordeal.

  “I’ll be back in a little while,” Danny said to Dillon as he turned to go. He was stunned when Dillon reached out and caught his arm and even more surprised that he felt it.

  “From now on, we stick together. Wherever you need to go, I’ll go with you.”

  Danny didn’t know exactly what to say. He was touched, but he just couldn’t imagine telling Dillon that the guy in the cab was his dad, Clint. But while Danny couldn’t imagine it, he didn’t have to worry. Maggie came back into the room and took Ryan by the hand. “I don’t know how to tell you all this, so I’m just gonna say it. Danny’s parents are downstairs. His father was in the cab that hit you and they haven’t left the hospital yet, hoping for news of your condition. By the way, you have been upgraded to good condition now and we might even get you home in time for Christmas.” Maggie winked at Ryan. “I went down to thank the man who pulled you free of the wreck and realized it was an old friend of Joe’s, Clint Charles. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize Danny’s last name before. He told me about his son, and when his wife showed me the boy’s picture, it looked too much like Dillon not to be Danny.”

  Danny looked at his shoes, and then he got another surprise. Dillon hugged him, and he not only felt it, he could feel his brother’s energy coursing through him.

  “Please, Maggie, ask them to come up,” Ryan said. "We can’t lose the opportunity to talk with these people. I don’t believe in coincidence. There is some reason that our paths literally crossed today. We need to meet.”

  Ryan tried to ease himself off the bed and winced a little when his feet hit the floor. This was too important to him to greet Danny’s parents lying down. He reached for the bag with his shirt in it and winced again. The paramedics must have cut it off him because it was shredded.

  “Maggie? Can we just go home?” Ryan sounded exhausted. Maggie didn’t quite know what to say. She could probably convince the doctor to release him into her care, since she was a nurse and it was Christmas Eve, but did Ryan realize what he was asking? Did he know he couldn’t go home to his place alone?

  “I thought you wanted to see Danny’s family,” Maggie began.

  “I do, I really do, but not like this. I feel pathetic.” Ryan felt frustrated and dizzy too, so he backed onto the bed and sat down again. Maggie took charge. She disappeared for about fifteen minutes and came back with a triumphant smile on her face.

  “Okay, here it is. You can come back with Dillon and me tonight; there is just no way you can be alone. It’s not the Ritz, but it’s not the hospital either. Mr. and Mrs. Charles have agreed to come by tomorrow to visit. And Dillon? I believe you and Marie can still make it to her house for Christmas Eve. Now, if that is settled, Ryan, I got you a lovely sweatshirt from the gift shop. Put it on and let’s get out of here.”

  Ryan had never loved her more.

  Christmas Day

  Dillon woke up to sights and sounds he hadn’t been a part of for years. His mom and dad were in the kitchen together and they were laughing. Bacon and eggs were on the stove and Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas" echoed throughout the house. Dillon would have thought he was dreaming, but Dillon didn’t usually have dreams like this.

  When Dillon walked into the room, he saw a huge pile of presents under the tree. It was going to be quite a Christmas.

  “Man, Santa sure does like you,” Danny joked as Dillon sat down. Ryan and Maggie joined them and for a little while, they got to be a nearly normal family; no time travel, no cosmic catastrophes, just almost normal. Dillon was wiping the bacon grease from his chin when the doorbell rang. It was still too early for it to be the Clint and Sara Charles so Dillon hurried into his room to get dressed. He didn’t want to start the day feeling embarrassed to be in PJs in front of company.

  Twenty minutes later he appeared, showered and dressed, and he really thought he was ready for anything. He was wrong. When he came into the living room, Rosa was there, and Ryan was on the phone with Thomas. Danny began to pace around the room and Dillon wished someone would just tell him what was going on.

  Maggie explained to him that for the first time in about seventy-five years, Rosa couldn’t find Michael. He always spent Christmas on Long Island with his little boy, but he wasn’t there. Before he disappeared, he told Rosa that he wished he had left the twins to die when they were born. Rosa was worried that he might travel through time and make good on his threat. He had tried to kill Ryan yesterday; would he try to kill the boys today?

  An hour later they were all together again in Maggie’s living room. Thomas and Tom were there with Marie and Clint and Sara. Rosa went into another room to pray and prepare.

  Ryan smiled. “Clint, I think we owe you an explanation. Danny stood behind his parents and was surprised to find his mother’s hand unconsciously reaching for his own.

  “Our sons both came to us in unusual ways. There were unusual circumstances to say the least.” Ryan began.

  Clint started to look uncomfortable and then his eyes grew as wide as saucers. Rosa came in from the other room and sat down. She told Clint the whole story of Danny’s birth and abandonment. She told them about her own history, and then she told them the news that shook them to the core.

  “Your son, Danny, is here with us now and he has a brother.” Rosa smiled and pointed to Dillon. Maggie could see Clint and Sara struggling to understand, and she wanted to help them. Her first thought was to make another of her famous lists with all the information they had now. It could read:

  2049: twins born, abandoned by Michael and collected by Rosa.

  1985: twins brought to their families after the truck accident. Danny adopted by Clint. Dillon brought to 1996.

  1996: Maggie brings Dillon to their family after the accident.

  Then, in the midst of her imagined list-making, Maggie realized there was a much better way. “Dillon, go get the guitar.”

  Dillon returned and the look on Clint and Sara’s faces made it clear they believed.

  “I think you know this guitar.”

  Dillon was hoping they wouldn’t ask for it back. Clint reached out his hands and held it i
n his arms. He plucked the strings and Danny was mortified to discover that he had tears in his eyes. The tender way that Clint played the guitar made Danny cry. It was like he was sending Danny a message only meant for him, and Danny felt a huge piece of his broken heart heal.

  “Will the circle be unbroken . . .” Dillon smiled as he heard Clint’s rich baritone fill the room. When Clint was finished, he handed the guitar back to Dillon. “I expect this is meant to belong to you now. Especially if it keeps you in contact with Danny.”

  “Dillon?” Danny needed his help. “Dillon? I need you to tell them something for me.” Dillon nodded and listened.

  “Danny wants me to tell you two things. First, Sara, he really misses your pie, especially something called Fruits of the Forest?” Dillon got distracted and turned to Danny. “What is that?” Danny told him he would have to wait and see. Then Dillon got back to relaying.

  “Second, he wants you to know that he is so grateful and glad that you took him in as your son. He says no kid ever had better parents or more chances to be happy. He didn’t always see that then, but he knows it now.” Now it was Sara’s turn to cry. “Oh and one more thing,” Dillon continued repeating every word Danny said. “Now I want you to go ahead and adopt Dillon and his parents too.”

  Dillon said the words before he realized their meaning. Danny thought the look on their faces was hysterical. Ryan was the only one who seemed to get it.

  “I agree with Danny. We should stick together. Our boys deserve to have all of us and not just to avert disaster, but to share whatever time we can.”

  Maggie walked across the room to her photographs. She picked one up and laughed out loud. “Clint, you have been before my eyes for years and I never saw it. I knew that name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. You were a friend of my brother, Joe.” She was still laughing as she passed around the old picture.

  Rosa stood up. “Please, I’m sorry to do this, but really we must go. Michael McIntyre is on the loose and it will take all of us to stop him.”

  It didn’t take long to figure out when and where to start looking. They knew they needed to make sure that Michael didn’t make good on his threat to kill the twins. The sun was high in the sky by the time they returned to the TKTS booth in Times Square.

  “TKTS?” wondered Maggie when she realized where they were headed. Rosa nodded and lifted her arms in the air. Clint, Sara, Thomas, Tom, Ryan, Maggie, Marie, Dillon, and Danny linked arms and prepared to ride. Times Square was all but deserted and no one either noticed or cared when the breeze around them began to stir. It wasn’t long before the wind whirled around them and tightened their circle. Around and around it whipped until sparks ignited. Dillon closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable crack. In the last moments before the fall he opened his eyes again and looked for Danny. Dillon had the terrible feeling that only one of them would be coming back.

  The next thing they knew, the ground opened up and Maggie began to scream. Dillon wished he had thought to warn her about having a relaxed mind, but it was too late now. Down and down they fell as the edges of the great abyss rose around them on all sides. Dillon expected that any minute they would land with a thud on the parched ground they found on their first visit. As they fell, he realized they were falling into a mist and that lush vegetation was everywhere. He looked down and saw the canopy of a rain forest rushing up at them. Dillon was confused, but he knew he would have some answers soon.

  Timeless

  When they finally landed, there was a small hill to break their fall. They rolled down a few feet and came to a stop in front of an ancient temple. Dillon looked at Rosa for explanation, but she looked as confused as he felt. More than confused, in fact: Rosa looked afraid.

  Everyone scrambled to their feet and Marie grasped Dillon’s hand.

  “You sure know how to impress a girl,” she whispered, and then she asked the question on everyone’s mind: “Where are we?”

  “I said the right incantations,” Rosa said. “I did everything just the way I always do, but I have never been here before. Not even in my dreams.”

  Danny was busy looking over Thomas’ shoulder. As usual, Thomas had his notebook out and was writing furiously. “Dillon ask her what the incantations mean,” Danny said.

  Dillon didn’t need to translate because Rosa heard every word. They all did. And then Sara screamed.

  “I can see you! Oh Danny! You are alive!”

  Now it was Thomas’ turn. “Okay, that tells us something very important. Since we can all see and hear Danny in this place, then it stands to reason that this place is not just a different time; this must be another dimension. It also stands to reason that we can’t really drive this thing. We can only put in a request. Rosa, tell me again about the most powerful kinds of energy?”

  “Thought, faith, and love,” Rosa answered.

  “Okay, so maybe we are exactly where we should be. I wasn’t thinking about a date. Were any of you?” Thomas asked. Everyone shook their heads. But a big smile spread across Danny’s face.

  “Wait a minute, I think I get it,” Danny said. "We were all thinking about stopping Michael. That’s why we are here. This must be the best place to do it.”

  Michael was hurrying through the jungle. The whole situation didn’t seem real to him. How the hell did he let this go so far? Michael cursed himself for not being more careful, more careful with his story and more careful with the crystals. He knew where he was going and he knew he had to get there fast. Once the others discovered the crystal mines it would be over. The world would have the energy source and Michael would have nothing for his trouble.

  When he had discovered, by traveling into the future, that digital downloads would revolutionize the music industry, he thought that would be enough. For a little while he convinced himself that he could leave the rest alone. But as the war in the Middle East kept going, Michael realized that finding an alternative energy source was just too big a pie for him to miss getting a slice. Then he discovered that the crystal was going to power whole cities in the future, and he realized that a piece of the pie would never be enough: Michael planned to own the whole bakery.

  On and on he climbed through the steep hills of the jungle. When he slid down through the mud, he just dug in deeper and pulled himself along on the vines.

  “Not much farther,” he muttered to himself, and then he saw them. Over the crest of the next hill he saw Danny and Dillon and everyone with them. They looked like they had just landed there and were still getting their bearings. Michael looked again and things went from bad to worse as far as he was concerned: they were standing around the temple entrance to the mine.

  Ryan didn’t know anything about where they were, but he trusted that they were there for a reason. It didn’t make sense to him to land in front of the temple and not start there, so he walked over to it to get a better look. It wasn’t long before the others joined him, and together they entered the ruin. Clint took Sara’s hand and Danny smiled at them.

  The temple was like a big gateway to a smaller cave. The altar sparkled in the sunlight, and there was a large stone table beneath an opening in the wall on the far side. Behind the table they saw more sparkling light and realized that this must be some kind of entrance to another room. When they got closer, they saw thousands of tiny crystals lighting a small cave within. The inside of the cave was a lot like what Danny and Dillon had grown to expect: a cave that was damp and dark with some kind of slime on the walls. No one really wanted to, but they pressed on. Bad got worse, and they realized that the large anteroom gave way to a narrow tunnel. Dillon looked at Danny. He knew only too well what this meant: a long walk through tight, dark spaces.

  As the tunnel got narrower, they walked hand in hand and single file. It was so dark that Ryan had to put his hand out ahead of him to feel his way. Dillon wished he could tell his dad what to look for and when to move and when to wait, but he could offer him nothing. There was no rhyme or reason to this kind of
place. There was only darkness and instinct until you reached the light.

  On they went, and soon the entrance behind them was completely out of sight. Ryan slowed down the pace because he thought he felt a breeze up ahead. Surely that was a good sign. It must mean that soon they would emerge into a light-filled cavern, somewhere big enough for air to move around. Ryan took another step and reached out to touch the wall and steady himself. When he put out his hand, he expected the damp, moss-covered stones he had come to know. He did not expect what he got. Another hand grabbed his, and before he realized what was happening, Ryan and everyone else fell down into a deep crevasse.

  It took every ounce of self-control he had, but Dillon let go at the last moment and now found himself alone with Danny up in the tunnel. He could see nothing, but he knew that whoever pulled everyone else into the ditch was nearby. They also knew that it had to be Michael. Logic dictated that Dillon and Danny should turn back and try to find something to help, a vine or a light that they could use to help get the others out. But this wasn’t about logic, and retreat was not on their minds. Danny took the lead and together they ran around the opening in front of them.

  “We’ll be back. I swear to you. We’ll be back,” Dillon called down to the others and he and Danny moved on into the darkness. Running faster now, they covered the length of the tunnel in no time. They were sure that Michael was there and had pulled the others over the edge. They were on his turf. He knew the pitfalls, but Dillon and Danny didn’t care; they knew what had to be done.

  Danny felt like he was back in Afghanistan as they got down and crawled forward on their bellies. Danny knew the only way out was through and nothing could stop them now. This wasn’t about alternative energy or curing a disease; this was about family, and their family would not be destroyed by Michael ever again. On they crawled and Dillon felt sick as they reached across the ground through the old familiar filth. The cave was like Michael, sparkling on the outside and rotten at its core. The smell nearly overcame him, but Danny kept making jokes that somehow made it easier to bear.