by Alex Myers
“Underwear? And they would wear this out of the house?”
“Fashions will take a giant step backward in the future. In the shop, they carry all your books, sound recordings, key chains, stationery, hundreds of items. One you would especially enjoy is the Mark Twain bobblehead. It’s a small doll, like a small figurine with your white suit, cigar, and oversized head on a spring.” Jack laughed and so did Robbie, but Sam stayed serious.
“This bubblehead does not sound like a compliment?”
“It’s bobblehead and no, on the contrary, all the famous people, all the well-liked people have their own bobbleheads.”
“Does Nathaniel Hawthorne or Jules Vern have their own bobbleheads?”
“They were nowhere near as famous as you are.”
“Thanks to you and all the help you gave me.”
“Sam, please, one last time, and I can say this to you because I remember you just months ago as a twenty-two-year-old, not as a man ten years my senior. You were the most famous person in America without me. And what I mean by that is, in the timeline where I didn’t come back in time, where you did everything on your own, you were nearly this famous. Now you have reached a godlike status that I hope to take advantage of, but what you did was all you, not me. The only way I really helped you was by inventing the typewriter with you. I kept you from going bankrupt on an inferior model that you’re backing in the other timeline.”
“Okay, enough about me, I have some questions for you starting with: didn’t I see you die?” Sam asked.
“Yes, you did, but all that did was send me back to my original time. The pain was incredible, but I was no worse for the wear. I would love to know how this whole thing works, but the people running it don’t even know how it works themselves.”
“Did your actions in the past have an effect on the future?”
“I’ll say they did and that’s why I chose to come back,” Jack said. He told about the genocide of all the different peoples, his mom and dad being alive and his father time traveling back, and that his father looked like Abner Adkins.
“I’ve met your father,” Sam said. “You say he looks like Adkins, the man who shot you? I didn’t see the resemblance.”
“I thought he looked exactly like him.”
“I only thought the resemblance was eerie when he said his name was Riggs and that he resembled you. I was at a conference in Washington. That’s where I was when you called. President Arthur and I share a common view on equal rights for the Negro and the red man. The get together was to tell us that President Arthur was going to appoint a vice president.”
“Wait a minute,” Jack said. “That never happened in any version of my past.”
“That’s not even the sensational aspect. He’s going to appoint Frederick Douglass. That’ll set the bigots on their ears. The civil rights agenda will move ahead by leaps and bounds.”
“I’ll say. It’ll move the dial by over hundred years. My father, you said he was here?”
“I believe President Arthur appointed him Speaker of the House, and Garrett Fairbanks was appointed president pro tempore of the Senate.”
“I think he could do the Douglass thing, but I’m almost sure that he couldn’t do the other appointments. It’s separation of the executive branch and legislative branch.”
“Well, he didn’t really appoint because that’d be illegal, but he did heavily suggest, not for political reasons but for presidential secession reasons.”
“How in the hell did my father become the Speaker of the House?”
“He was appointed by Alonzo Cornell, Governor of New York after Representative John K. Bollard was killed in an automobile accident,” Sam said.
“It still sounds like a fairytale to me, that’s just too fast.”
“It’s no secret that your father was backed by J.P. Morgan and Nelson Rockefeller.”
“And we already know that he was traveling with William Vanderbilt at UVA. Together those are the three richest men in America,” Robbie said.
“Where do you fall on that list?” Sam asked, looking at Robbie.
“Number five, right after my dad.”
“None of this was in the history books. That means this is all playing out in real time, none of this has happened before,” Jack said.
“If this is all in your past, how can you not know about it?” Sam asked.
“An interesting paradox.” Jack shook his head and smiled at Sam. “I don’t know. I did so well last time I was here because I had a roadmap, but this time for the most part I’m flying blind.”
“What can I do to help you?” Sam asked.
Before Jack could answer, Livy entered the parlor and announced that dinner was ready. “Sam put that cigar out. You know what I said about smoking in the dining room.”
They moved into the dining room and Sam’s girls, nine-year-old Susie and seven-year-old Clara, were seated at the table. Jean, the year-and-a-half old baby was in sight in a sitting room with her nurse. The two girls giggled and tittered to themselves, stealing looks now and then at Robbie and Jack.
Olivia sat at the head of the table and directed the help in distributing the food. “I finally had to ban Samuel from smoking in this room. It used to be that by the time dessert came, it was so thick with smoke we couldn’t see each other.”
“How many cigars do you smoke?” Robbie asked.
“I am forty-six years old and I have smoked in moderation during thirty-eight of those years. During the first eight, I had no health, then I began to smoke at age eight, and since then I have hardly known what sickness is. I began with one hundred cigars a month, but by the time I was twenty, I increased my allotment to two hundred. By the time I reached thirty, I increased it to three hundred a month. I think I do not smoke more than that now; I am quite sure, though, that I never smoke less. I find cigar smoking to be the best of all inspirations for the pen and in my case no detriment to the health.”
“I wish I could say the same for the girls’ and my health,” Olivia said. “Did Sam tell you he purchased a new airplane?”
“Robbie will tell you more about it. I have not even seen it yet. Paid for it, yes. Flown it, no.”
“We replaced the fabric-skinned biplane with an all metal stressed-skin monoplane. The main areas of improvement are speed, range, and engine power,” Robbie said.
“How many airplanes does your company sell?” Jack asked.
“Only about thirty-five hundred a year,” Robbie said.
“That’s more than I would’ve thought.” Jack turned back to Sam. “And you really like flying?”
“Yes, I do. I feel connected to the forces of nature behind the control wheel of a plane.”
“He has a natural proclivity for it. He may be the best natural pilot I know. He was one of our first test pilots down at the complex,” Robbie said.
“Yes, that’s me. I would fly by day and write by night. Why do you seem so surprised?”
“There was nothing that would have indicated that you had an affinity for it. In your previous timeline you were a riverboat pilot.”
“Riverboat pilot? That seems rather mundane compared to flying airplanes.”
“Remember, that’s where I said you got your pen name, ‘Mark Twain’. That’s a riverboat term for the measured river depth of two fathoms—just enough water to float a big riverboat.”
“And why do you know all about these riverboats?”
“That’s what I’m saying, because of you.”
Sam gave Jack a big bushy eyebrow look. “Whenever I fly, I feel like I’ve shaken my mortal coil and have joined the angels in heaven.”
“Jack,” Olivia said, looking up from wiping Clara’s face with a napkin, “did Sam tell you about the two men that stopped by yesterday asking about you?”
Jack’s heart nearly stopped in his chest. He looked at Sam.
Olivia continued while still taking care of the girls. “Not the most savory of gentlemen. The big brutish man with the scar, what was hi
s name, Sam?”
“I wasn’t here, remember dear, but I recall you said his name was Savoy,” Sam said.
“Dale Savoy, that’s it. Doesn’t look like anyone I would want to get on the wrong side of.” Livy went back to talking with the girls.
The three men looked at each other. Sam said, “I forgot to mention it, because of the excitement of the day.”
“She told me that he said your father sent them.”
“And that’s all? They didn’t say anything else?” Jack asked.
“Just that they figured they knew where you were and would catch up with you.”
“Do you think they followed us?” Robbie asked.
“On the boat never, the truck possibly though.”
“I don’t recall your wife mentioning you had a father,” Livy said.
“Frances?”
“Do you have another wife?”
“No, ma'am.”
“We are very close to her and Emily. I specifically asked if you have any relatives and she said no. What does your wife think about you being back?” Livy asked.
“Being back?” Jack played innocent.
“Oh good Lord, do you think I’m daft? I said I’m good friends with your wife. You don’t think she might mention her husband is deceased? It’s bad enough you come back from the dead, but my good husband here, talks in his sleep—a lot. I know you’re a time traveler.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Do I have any choice? From what I can see, you’re a good man and everything Sam has said about you, asleep and awake, has been exceptional. So yes, I’m okay with it. So now, once again, what does your wife think about you being back?”
“I haven’t seen her yet.”
“Why, Jack? The woman loves you like no man deserves to be loved.”
“I’m not so sure,” Jack said, looking away.
“I told him he was wrong about that,” Robbie said.
“Jack, we are two of Frances’ closest friends,” Sam said.
“She told me about your time travel adventures too, but I promised her I would never tell anyone,” Livy said.
“She waits for you to this very day, as fruitless as it seemed for your return,” Sam said.
“Then why did she have an affair with Abner Adkins? And we were supposed to be so much in love.” Jack said it so loud that Susie and Clara were both looking at him, startled and on the verge of tears.
“How are you so certain?” Livy asked.
“Because my father looks exactly like Abner Adkins. That means the baby she was pregnant with on our wedding day was his, not mine.”
“There has to be another explanation for it,” Sam said.
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Robbie said.
“Then you all are living in a fantasy world,” Jack said, standing, pushing his chair in, and storming off to the front porch of the house.
CHAPTER 17
After twenty minutes, Sam came out on the front porch with his cigar glowing in the dark. Its lights blazing in every room, the house tried its best to push away the night. “You know, it’s with your heart that our best interests reside,” Sam said.
“I know. Resentment is just such an easy feeling for me to understand. The feeling I’m most comfortable with.”
“I think the only reasonable thing to do is ask her about it. Do you love her?”
“I guess so…yes, yes I do. In the last week, I’ve grown accustomed to it being over. It’s almost easier than to think that it was all based on a lie than to face all the hard work involved with reconnecting.”
“Robbie told me that you were going on to Emerson’s house tomorrow. Why are you going?”
“Emerson is going to die if I don’t. I have a way to save him. Plus, I need his help, more so after hearing about Frederick Douglass, those two are friends. I just think if I had both of you there helping, there might be a chance of swaying public opinion.”
“Oh, he said there was something about a comet coming? You know I came in with Haley’s Comet in 1835. It’s coming again in twenty-nine years, and I expect to go out with it. It’ll be the biggest disappointment in my life if I don’t. The Almighty has no doubt said: now here are two unaccountable freaks, they came in together, they must go out together.”
Jack had heard the quote about Samuel Clemens many times but he wasn’t about to turn down hearing it directly from the source. “When beggars die, then there are no comments seen. The heavens themselves blaze for the death of a prince.”
“Is that Shakespeare?” Sam asked.
“Yes. And actually, you die in a jet airplane crash in 1890. A jet will be the next generation of airplane, so don’t fly one, okay? Especially around 1890.”
“Wow, whoa.” For the second time that evening, Sam looked speechless. “You’re not supposed to do that are you? Just blather out when someone’s going to die? Aren’t there some kind of rules against that?”
“I’m just bringing it up so you don’t have to die then. You can live a long life, at least until Haley’s Comet arrives.”
“What is this about another comet and how can I help?” Sam asked.
“In January of 2015, a comet is going to slam into Earth. There will only be six days warning and there will be nothing that can be done about it. The comet’s orbit is passing by Earth right now, and we gave the coordinates and projected coordinates to Professor Orman Stone at the University of Virginia, but my dad and William Vanderbilt beat me to it.” Jack pulled the research out of his pocket and handed it to Sam.
“So your father gave him the information before you and now he gets all the credit?”
“It doesn’t matter who gave the information, I’m just surprised he would do it. He doesn’t seem like the humanitarian type. I’ve got another story idea for you: people know the date of the end of the world, they know that there is a finite time to live.”
“Do they have children? Does anyone hold down a job? I like where this story idea is going,” Sam said.
“It’s a two-mile-wide ball of ice and rock barreling toward Earth at 25,000 kilometers an hour. Even if they had a year to work on it, they wouldn’t be able to steer it away. I hope we can change the timestream enough that we can advance technology and save the world.”
“That sounds like a lofty goal.”
“When I hear myself talk about it, it sounds kind of hokey even to me,” Jack said.
“I agree, quite melodramatic,” Sam said and they laughed. “That does sound like a book like I could write.”
“Great, because I want everyone to know this comet is coming. In my time in the future, no money is spent on meteor defense. People think it’s a long shot so they don’t prepare. The only way we are going to get people to spend the billions of dollars needed to avoid the collision is to let them know it’s coming.”
“Let’s go up to the billiards room,” Sam said. They walked through the dining room where Livy and Robbie were deep in conversation.
“Push it I tell you. It’s the right thing to do.” Livy said.
“Push what?” Sam asked.
Both Livy and Robbie answered at the same time, “Nothing.”
Sam looked at Jack with one raised salt-and-pepper eyebrow and then turned back to Jack. “Do you think those men will be back to cause trouble? My concern is about the children.”
“I’m not sure,” Jack said. “I’ll be back in a little bit. I’m going out to check the grounds.”
“I’m going to one up you and call the Hartford Chief of Police and have him send a couple of men to watch over the place tonight,” Sam said.
Jack spent a good twenty minutes walking around the perimeter of the house. Nothing moved, nothing was out of the ordinary. When Jack finally entered the billiard room that occupied the top floor of the house, Sam and Robbie were seated in big wicker chairs. Livy was poking the fire in the ornate fireplace.
“Tell him, Sam,” Livy prompted.
“Oh, alright. Livy a
nd I have decided that we will accompany you tomorrow to see the Emersons. We can drive my automobile.”
“I have been an Emerson devotee for a long time,” Livy said.
Jack looked around at Sam’s makeshift study. The entire billiard table was covered in Sam’s notes for his next writing project.
“I was going to get up before dawn and get the truck out of here just in case those men come back looking for you. I’ll take it back to New Haven and then pilot the boat over to New York,” Robbie said.
“Will you be alright?” Jack asked.
“Jack, I’ve had the boat longer than you have.”
“I don’t mean driving the boat, I mean if those men are staking out the boat or following the truck?”
Robbie opened his coat and revealed a huge handgun in a holster. “Guns are my thing, I not only design them, but I shoot them better than anyone I know. I’ve been plinking water rats down at the piers for twenty-five years. I’m pretty lethal.”
“There’s a big difference between shooting rats and shooting a man.”
“Not really. Jack, I know the last time you saw me I was a kid, but I’m just a few years younger than you now. I can take care of myself.”
“Okay, well kiss my ass.” Everyone laughed hard. “Sorry, Livy,” Jack said.
“Don’t fret about it. You don’t think I’ve heard worse being married to this man? I’m going downstairs and arranging with the nanny about tomorrow’s trip.” Livy wiped her hands on her apron and gave the men a slight wave as she headed down stairs.
“We will drop her back here tomorrow afternoon and then continue on to New York,” Sam said.
“The president is in New York, as is Frederick Douglass, Garrett Fairbanks, and Martin Riggs,” Robbie said looking bigger and more competent sitting cross-legged in the overstuffed chair.
“And how do you know all that?” Jack asked.
Sam handed Jack a half-folded newspaper.
Robbie nodded his head toward the paper, “I am trying to arrange a meeting, at the very least, sniff around a little,”
“Who are you going to arrange a meeting with?” Jack asked.
“Whoever will see me. These are the kinds of circles I travel in.”