by Arby Robbins
She took a seat across from him. “How were you injured, Will?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“I was in my own bed when an intruder came into my room and attacked me. He stabbed me with a sword.”
“Who would do this to you? Did you recognize him?”
“It was…Wally.”
“Wally? Conroe’s Wally—her father, the husband of the queen?”
“I couldn’t believe it either.”
“No, that’s just not possible. Wally wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“He told me that I must not marry Conroe. He was determined that I break off the engagement.”
“I’m in shock. This doesn’t make any sense,” Geneva said. “We will go have a talk with Wally in the morning, but I can assure you that he was not the one who attacked you. I think I know who did, though.”
33
It was nearly two o’clock in the morning, and Conroe was walking along Interstate 45 South, toward Galveston. Since she was now outside the perimeter, Geneva could no longer help her or even see her. She calculated that it would take her fifteen hours to walk it, which would get her there at five o’clock in the afternoon. The wedding was at six, so obviously she needed a faster way to get there. Conroe was familiar with the concept of hitchhiking, but she knew it could be dangerous.
A pickup pulled off the road just in front of her.
She ran up to the open passenger window.
“Need a lift, honey?” His speech was slurred and his breath smelled flammable. She knew it would be risky to accept a ride from him—but she was desperate to get to Crane as quickly as possible.
“Sure, thanks.” She got in.
He drove back onto the road. “Where are you headed?”
“Galveston.”
“Galveston? That’s a good hour from here.”
“I know.”
“And that’s a lot of gas. You got any cash, sweetie?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what—maybe we can work something out. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Know what I mean?”
“Look, I really don’t have time for any back scratching. I just need to get to Galveston.”
Neither of them spoke for several minutes.
“I need to stop for a minute, honey.” He took the next exit and pulled into a motel. “I’ll be right back.” He turned off the engine, took the keys, and went into the office.
Conroe considered getting out of the truck and going on by foot. Maybe she’d be lucky and catch a ride with someone less creepy. But what if she couldn’t? Crane was in danger, and besides, the time travel computer battery might die soon.
The man came out of the office and got into the truck. “Now we’re set.”
Conroe hoped that meant there would be no more stops along the way.
He drove around to the back side of the motel and parked in front of a room. “I’ll just be a minute.” He took the keys and went into the room.
Conroe decided to bail. She grabbed the door handle.
He stuck his head out the motel room door. “I’m sorry, honey, but this is gonna take longer than I thought. I cut my hand.” His hand was covered with blood.
She jumped out of the truck. “Let me help you with that.” She went inside with him.
He closed the door behind her. “Now this won’t take long, honey, and then we’ll be on our way to Galveston.” He unbuckled his belt.
“What are you doing? Don’t we need to bandage your hand?”
“Oh, this?” He licked his hand. “I was just joking around.” He pointed to the empty ketchup packets on the TV stand and then unzipped his pants and let them drop to the floor. “Now come over here and give me some ‘scratching.’” He grinned.
She walked over to him. “I really thought you might be a decent guy, just wanting to help out a girl in distress.” She gently stroked his cheek with her hand.
“Nope. I’m a bad, bad boy,” he said with a smirk, “and I need to be punished.”
“Then I will happily fulfill your needs.” She pinched his ear between two fingers, Gomwei style.
He dropped to his knees and cried in agony when they hit the thinly carpeted concrete floor. “I can’t move my arms. I’m paralyzed.” He began to whimper. “What have you done to me?”
“I’ve given you exactly what you deserve. But don’t worry—you’ll be as good as new in four or five hours. Oh—I hope you didn’t need to go to the bathroom.”
“I think…I just did,” he said, sobbing.
She laid him down on his side and placed a pillow under his head. “Thanks for the use of your truck. I’ll try to take good care of it. And don’t bother to come looking for me. By the time you’re able to walk again, I’ll be long gone.”
“I will come after you, and when I catch you, you’re gonna be sorry you messed with this cowboy.”
“That’s big talk, coming from a guy who just wet his pants.” She picked up his keys from the TV stand.
“Now, do I need to gag you so that you can’t scream for help? Hmm, probably not. Because if you call for help, they will take you to the hospital in this condition. That would be embarrassing. The nurses might even be laughing behind your back. No, better to just sleep it off, don’t you think?”
“I’ll track you down, no matter where you go.”
Draping a blanket over his half-naked body, she said, “Sweet dreams,” and walked out and shut the door.
Conroe got into the truck and started the engine. She had never driven before, but after watching a drunk do it, she figured it couldn’t be that difficult. Leaving the parking lot, she flattened a stop sign and narrowly avoided a ditch. After that, she drove as well as any first-day driver’s ed student.
Crane could be walking along the highway, or he might have caught a ride with someone, she thought. What if he had gone into a convenience store somewhere along the way and she drove right past him? Or what if she was wrong about him going to Galveston?
She had been driving for twenty minutes when she saw a guy who looked like Crane walking along the highway. She pulled over and stopped in front of him, just as the creepy drunk guy had stopped for her. But as he approached the truck and she got a better look at him in the rearview mirror, she realized that he was not Crane. She floored the accelerator and spun the tires, burning rubber as she returned to the highway.
Conroe reasoned that her chances of finding Crane, convincing him to come back with her in time for the wedding, and doing it all before the time travel computer battery died were slim indeed. She could turn around right now, drive north to get within the perimeter, and then have Geneva bring her back home. That would be the smart, safe thing to do. But she didn’t care about being smart or safe—she just wanted Crane, and her instincts told her to keep driving toward Galveston.
34
Conroe woke up at 6:00 a.m. to the alarm on her time travel watch. She had fallen asleep across the seat of the pickup in the parking lot of Dave’s Diner. She sat up and saw two customers walk inside. It was twelve hours until her wedding.
She got out of the truck, went into the restaurant, and stopped the first waitress she saw. “Where’s the owner?”
“He’s in his office, but you can’t—”
“Thanks.” Conroe ran to the back and located the office. She knocked on the door and opened it.
The man behind the desk was apparently the owner, Dave. Crane sat in a chair at the front of the desk.
“Crane!” she shouted as she ran to him. “I’ve been waiting for you all night. I slept in the parking lot.”
Dave said, “This must be the crazy girl you’ve been telling me about.”
Conroe put her hands on her hips. “He said I was crazy?”
“What are you doing here?” Crane asked.
“I guess you know he’s in love with you,” Dave said.
Conroe smiled. “Is that true, Crane? Are you in love with me?”
Dave cocked his head to the side. “You didn’t have to. It’s obvious.”
“Well, I came here to get a job, Conroe, and Dave just hired me. Why are you here?”
“Because I love you, and because I want you to marry me tonight.”
“You want me to marry you—tonight? Hey, just because you think I’m in love with you, it doesn’t mean I’m gonna run out and marry you.”
“She is kind of crazy,” Dave said.
“But, Crane—,” she began.
“Oh, that’s right—you’ve known me for years,” Crane said. “You watched me grow up. Hey, did you see all the dumb stuff I did as a kid? And I meant to ask you—were you watching me everywhere? Did I have any privacy whatsoever?”
“I didn’t watch you everywhere. But I watched you playing your guitar every night and writing songs. That’s mostly what made me fall in love with you. Your sad songs made me cry, and the funny ones made me laugh. But the love songs made me want to hold you in my arms and never let you go.”
“Well, I’m glad you liked my songs. But I didn’t get a chance to watch you grow up. I really don’t know that much about you—especially since you lied to me.”
“You know more about me than you think you do. Remember the story I told you about the king who had twin daughters, and how his firstborn became queen, and how the queen’s daughter will assume the throne if she’s married before her eighteenth birthday?”
“I suppose you’re gonna tell me that the story is real, and that you’re the daughter who’s gonna become queen?”
Conroe smiled and nodded.
“And that’s why you need to get married tonight?” Crane asked.
“Yes.”
“Whoa,” Dave interjected.
“Look,” Conroe said, “I know I’m asking a lot—expecting you to trust me to know what’s best for you. But I really do know what’s best for you—from listening to your songs. I know what kind of girl you want, and I’m that girl.”
“Well, I do love you, Conroe, but this is just too much, too fast.”
“I understand. But why don’t you come with me, and you can decide on the way.”
Crane shook his head. “You are so bullheaded.”
“We have to get back within the perimeter.”
“The perimeter? What’s that?” asked Crane.
“It’s roughly a twenty-mile radius around the city of Conroe. If we’re outside that area, the time travel computer can’t transport us to the future.”
Crane looked at Dave. “What would you do, Dave?”
“Hey, when you love a woman, and when she’s this crazy in love with you, you’ve got to do whatever she says, man. Just go—get out of here.”
Crane stood up and shook Dave’s hand. “Thanks, man. I hope you’re right.”
“Good luck, y’all,” Dave said.
“Thanks,” Conroe replied as they ran out the door.
When they got outside, Conroe pointed to the truck. “I’m in the red pickup.”
“You want me to drive?”
“No, thanks. I stole it, so I’ll drive it.”
“You stole it?”
35
Conroe was driving the pickup truck north on I-45 to get back within the perimeter so that she and Crane could be transported.
“There are no cars in your world,” Crane said, “so when did you learn to drive?”
“Last night,” she answered.
“Maybe you should slow down a little. The speed limit is sixty-five, and you’re doing eighty. The last thing we need right now is—” Before he could finish, he heard the siren and looked back. “Great—now we’ve got a cop after us, and this is a stolen vehicle, and you don’t even have a driver’s license!”
“How far are we from the city of Conroe—the center of town, like city hall?”
“Probably twenty-five miles,” he said.
Conroe floored the accelerator.
“What are you doing? You really think you can outrun a police car in this thing?”
“We’ll see.”
“I guess you know we’re both going to jail,” he said.
“Not if I can get us inside the perimeter.” She checked her time travel watch.
“Why are you looking at your watch?”
“It’s a time travel watch. It’s red because we’re outside the perimeter. Once it turns green, Geneva will be able to see us and transport us out of here.”
“But don’t we have to be sleeping before we can time travel? How are we gonna fall asleep while we’re being arrested?”
“No, we don’t have to be sleeping. I told you that to make you comfortable with the process.”
Crane shook his head. “And who is Geneva?”
“My best friend. She’s great—you’ll love her.”
“Well, we can’t just zap out of here while we’re flying down the highway,” he said. “It might cause a wreck and hurt somebody.”
“Don’t worry—I’ll pull over and stop first.”
Crane checked the speedometer. “You’re doing ninety. We don’t need to go this fast. All he’s gonna do is keep chasing us anyway.” He looked back. “Or I could be wrong about that.”
The cruiser zipped up beside the truck, and the officer waved for Conroe to pull over. Even though his hat and sunglasses concealed half of his face, it was easy to see that he was angry.
“We’re toast,” Crane said. “Better just pull over.”
Conroe eased off the pedal and pulled over to the shoulder.
The cop parked in front of them.
“Quick—change places with me,” Crane said. “I have a license.”
“But he already saw me driving.”
“Just do it!”
They swapped sides.
The cop got out of his car and walked toward the truck.
“Just let me do the talking,” Crane said, rolling down the window. “I’m sorry, Officer. I know I was going a little over the speed limit, but—”
“You think I’m stupid, son? You think I don’t know that it was Conroe who was driving?” He took off his sunglasses.
Conroe recognized him. “Frederick?”
He grinned.
“What are you doing here?” Conroe asked.
He smirked. “I might ask you the same thing, Cousin.”
“Huh?”
He repeated it in a higher-pitched voice. “I might ask you the same thing, Cousin.”
Conroe and Crane responded in unison. “Tonya?”
He laughed at them. “You can call me Tonya, or you can call me Frederick, but pretty soon you’ll be calling me king.”
“How did you get here?” Conroe asked.
“The same way you did,” Frederick replied, “using my time travel computer.”
“Your time travel computer? I thought there was only one,” Conroe said. “Where did you get it?”
“The same place you got yours. In the cellar of the castle.”
“You haven’t been to the castle in years, until last night.”
“That’s true. But I had been paying one of your servants to spy on you, and a few months ago, he followed you into the cellar and saw you open a box and take out an interesting-looking object. He had no idea what it was, of course, but he thought it might be valuable. So, after you left, he rummaged around and discovered a second one and brought it to me. I paid him handsomely for it.”
“I don’t believe you,” Conroe protested.
“Then how do you think I got here?” Frederick held up his left arm and pulled back the sleeve, revealing a time travel watch. “Oh, would you look at the time?”
“At the mall,” Conroe said, “you tried to get into a fight with me. You knew that the police were likely to send us both to Philly, just like I did.”
“Actually, I didn’t know that,” Frederick replied. “I just wanted to get you in trouble to keep you away from your sweetheart.” He winked at
Crane. “I knew that he was the reason you came.”
“How could you possibly have known exactly when I was coming and why I was here?” Conroe asked.
“You still haven’t figured out how to do that?” He laughed. “The time travel computers can see each other’s activities. They’re networked together. Didn’t you read the instruction manual?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter because your plan didn’t work. Crane and I are gonna get married tonight, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”
“You can get married here if you like.” Frederick smiled. “Hey, I could even be your best man. Or your maid of honor.” He laughed. “But you’ll never get back to Ampla, so you’ll never be queen—because you’re still outside the perimeter and your battery is almost dead. Yes, that’s right—I’m able to check your battery strength as well. I, on the other hand, have plenty of battery power.”
“Well,” Crane said, lowering his head, “then I guess it’s over.”
Frederick nodded in satisfaction, noting the distress in Conroe’s eyes.
Crane popped the gearshift into reverse and slammed the accelerator to the floor. The tires squealed and smoked as the truck lurched backward, running over Frederick’s toes.
Crane stomped the brakes, dropped the gearshift into drive and hit the gas, swerving around Frederick, who was now hopping on one foot and screaming in pain.
“Go, go, go, go, go!” Conroe yelled.
Crane maneuvered past cars and trucks, weaving left and right, accelerating all the way.
“You really do love me,” Conroe said.
“If we want to get married in Ampla tonight, then that’s exactly what we’re gonna do, and that creep is not gonna stop us!”
“You realize you’re driving over one hundred miles per hour, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, and that’s not fast enough,” Crane replied. “He may still catch up with us.”
They heard the siren coming up behind them.
“How did he get here so fast?” she asked.
“Cop cars can go a lot faster than regular cars. We should be getting close, though.”
Conroe checked her watch. “Yes! It turned green—we’re inside the perimeter. Pull over.”