The Talisman - Crisscross

by Shaunna Gonzales

  *

  "Are you ready?" Rhea asked from the bedroom door.

  "Almost."

  "How does it fit?"

  "Perfect. I just hope it fits the time era. You're a wonder, Mom. And the fact that the tops both go with the skirt is a nice touch. Now I won't have to borrow a costume from Zelda."

  "Costume?" Rhea asked, coming to straighten the hem of the skirt she'd spent the previous days sewing.

  "You know, her saloon get-up."

  "That's right. Okay, now these buttons are invisible to the untrained eye, but if you button the skirt here and here." Rhea did two buttons, one on either side of the skirt front. "It hikes the hem up so you should look quite fashionable. I just hope the black is in vogue."

  "It better be. I can only take a limited wardrobe with me. I'll have to wear the jacket over the corset top for the saloon, just to get it there." Trish covered her face with her left hand. Albert's face still haunted her, but she hadn't had a nightmare recently. She must be insane to try and do this. If she'd had any experience, it would still be difficult.

  "What's the matter?" Rhea sounded immediately worried.

  "I just have this sinking feeling that I'm forgetting something."

  Rhea patted her arm, soothing the worry away. "We've spent most of the past week getting you ready for this. You've studied and read everything you possibly could—history, newsprint and legal journals. And I have scoured the Internet for clothing of the time period and taken into account the history tidbits you have shared. Together we've merged everything we can think of. I've done the absolute best sewing job on the planet to make one dress work as two with this jacket. We can't do any better than this."

  "I know," Trish answered, still trying to push her anxiety away. "Thank you so much, Mom. I couldn't do this without you and your support. It means so much to me that you haven't told me I'm crazy and that you believed me right from the start."

  Rhea pulled Trish onto the bed to sit beside her. "It's the least I can do. I owe it to Grammy. She sacrificed so much to live out her last years here rather than with the man she loved. It's a shame, really. I only believed her near the end and then she was just too dependent on her medications. I didn't dare let her try to go again. I was frightened at what might happen to her in the process."

  Trish couldn't hide the alarm she suddenly felt.

  Rhea noticed and patted her hand. "It's not the trip with the talisman that scares me as much as what she would find at her destination. What if she managed to land in some situation that in her failing health, she couldn't manage?"

  "I think I'll be sure to have a good long walk on the other end. That sounds better than misjudging and landing in the privy, or worse."

  Rhea sighed, "I'll never forget the day Grammy pulled the talisman out from under her blouse, her hands shaking violently. I grabbed it from her and hid it."

  "Mom," Trish exclaimed. "Do you remember whether she held it upright or upside down?"

  Rhea shook her head. "I don't think I really noticed. Why?"

  "She may have been trying to go forward in time-- To when they have a cure for what she had."

  Rhea stared at Trish. "She never told stories of the future."

  "She may have had a reason," Trish answered. They fell silent. Trish felt tears well up in her eyes. Grammy, though over ninety when she died, had the health of a woman half her age, except for the strange disease the doctors could never diagnose. She even looked younger.

  "What if she went forward in time and found a fountain of youth or an elixir that kept her young? What if it was time travel that eventually killed her?"

  Trish's head whipped around to face her mother, her breath coming in short shallow gulps. "Mom, what are you saying?"

  "Maybe it's just the cautious soul of motherhood. I just remember that every doctor we took her to, every specialist could never agree on what was wrong with her."

  Trish felt some of the color drain out of her cheeks. "Do you think traveling back and forth in time will kill me?"

  "Twice, we know you're here and okay. But time after time might not be so wise."

  "There's another possibility that we haven't thought of."

  "What?" Rhea looked like she had when Grammy had died.

  "What if she went forward in time, caught whatever disease it was that killed her and came back in time, hoping the earth's atmosphere was safe enough that it wouldn't ever find her to kill her." Rhea's expression lacked any clue to the answer. "Mom, how do we know for sure?"

  "We don't."

 

  Chapter 39