The Door Into Time
Page 11
Chapter 11
The children heard the rattle of dishes. Sean crouched down and Reece hovered over him as they allowed one eye to peek around the corner. They saw a man carrying a tray of food standing behind a man holding a large key. Their stomachs growled. The man with the key yelled through the locked door to get a tight hold of that wild dog, and he’d unlock the door. Indeed, Bear did bark like a wild dog once the door was cracked open. The dinner tray was slid across the floor, and the door slammed shut and soundly locked. The two men returned to the store shaking their heads and muttering.
There were two back windows of the General Store where James must have kept watch to steal food. At least, that’s what he said. Quickly, they raced to the first window and placed themselves on either side. Slowly, they angled their necks and looked through the window which was cracked open just enough for them to hear. But, the two men standing in the doorway talked only in low voices shaking their heads and taking occasional glances at the locked room next door. Finally, the key was hung on a nail just behind the door. One of the men left, while the storekeeper made his way round to the back of the counter.
Reece and Sean stared at the key as James had probably stared at the pile of apples nearby, then Sean shifted his attention to the planner.
Reece pondered their situation which obviously called for drastic measures. She drew her brother to her side of the window frame and spoke in a low voice. “One of us has got to distract him and get him out of the store, while the other grabs the key.”
Sean scrunched his lips outward while he mulled over the entire situation weighing which role he wanted to play. Neither really, but since rescuing Bear hung in the balance, he thought it through to its logical conclusion. “You run faster.”
Reese turned back to the window and measured the distance from the floor to the nail holding the key. “Yes, but I don’t know whether you can reach the key. I don’t even know if I can reach it.” She was silent for a moment while she organized their escape plan. There didn’t seem to be any full-proof ideas to assure they wouldn’t get caught. Perhaps, she’d test her ideas with the Professor first. They stepped back from the window and looked up and down the rear path. The two windows at the back of the locked room looked identical to the windows behind the store, except they had bars on the inside. She signaled for Sean to follow her, and they boldly pressed their noses against the glass and tapped on it.
Bear resumed his whining while he raced to the window and placed his front paws as far up on the wall as he could. He pressed his nose between the bars and against the window staring mournfully at them then let out a single woeful bark.
The children comforted, shushed, and assured him that escape was only minutes away.
ANNA floated up above Bear’s head and appeared to stare haughtily at them. Turning her back she floated away coming down to rest on a nearby dusty table.
The Professor transferred his scowling expression from his untouched dinner tray lying on the floor to the window. His scowl deepened with every step towards them. He grabbed hold of the bars and tried to shake them loose, but they were deeply embedded inside the window frame. He bent over in order to look through the window. “I jolly well can’t eat this abominable food, and where have you two been? You were to get the key and come back straightaway. And, just how do you plan to get me out of here?”
Reece and Sean looked at each other. If it weren’t for Bear. . .well, they really couldn’t go there.
“Um, Professor,” Reece began softly. “Don’t you think you should keep your voice down?”
“I’m keeping my voice down!” The Professor shouted. Then, to his credit, he did add in a lowered voice. “Have you located the key?”
“Yes, it’s behind the door,” Sean said.
“If it’s behind the door, how did you see it?”
“We saw him put it there,” said Reece.
The Professor nodded his head. His nervous eyes shifted away then veered back to the children again. “You still here? Off you go now, wait till the silly man turns his back then snatch that key!”
The children looked at each other. It seemed risky. They returned the Professor’s gaze then dropped their eyes.
“Well, what is it?” the Professor said more gently this time.
Reece looked up and cleared her throat. “Well, we thought that one of us could distract him so that he leaves the store, then the other one could grab the key and unlock your door.”
The Professor rocked his head side to side a few times. “Seems straightforward enough.” When the children failed to respond, he sighed. “What else?”
Sean took a deep breath. “Reece doesn’t think I’m tall enough to reach the key, but she runs faster than I do, so we’re afraid we might get caught.”
“Yes, well, I can see that might be a problem.” The Professor thought for a few seconds. “Wait until the storekeeper leaves the store, I’ve heard him do that twice since I’ve been in this ridiculous place, then get the key.”
The children stood working through his suggestion in their minds.
With a great sigh, the Professor nearly shouted. “Well, you’re not going to know if it will work until you try! Now see here, whatever you do, don’t allow yourselves to be caught, or we’ll all be stuck in here together!” Another gigantic sigh hissed from his mouth. “All right, don’t just stand there, push off and give it a go.”
Sean kicked a stone out of the way as they inched towards the General Store. “I don’t know why he has to be so mean. He’s the one who stole our dog. We wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him, and now we’re the only ones who can get him out.”
“What if we get caught and end up right beside him. . .maybe for days.”
Worry was decidedly contagious. “Maybe forever.”
Reece looked over her shoulder at the small building. “I wonder if there’s a bathroom in there.”
“Girls always worry about bathrooms,” Sean stated. “But, we might never get home again, and who will eat the cookies Mama is baking?”
“How much do you think we’d really miss Bear?” Reece wondered aloud.
The fact that Reece proposed this idea, and Sean didn’t immediately answer spoke volumes concerning their state of mind.
“Do you remember Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz?” asked Sean. “She worried that she’d never get home either, and she had a dog.”
Reece set her mouth in a hard line. They’d grumbled on about this long enough. “But, she and Toto did get back to Kansas at the end.”
Sean lifted his head. “I know,” he said in a firmer voice.
They’d reached the window of the General Store and squatted down on either side of it. Time crawls when one fears capture, but in about fifteen minutes the storekeeper put on his hat and left the store locking the door behind him.
As quietly as possible, the children pushed upward at each end of the window. At first, it made the most horrendous squeak, so they stopped, slid to the ground, and waited. When no one appeared, they rose to their feet. Slowly, and with great difficulty, the window lifted far enough to slide over the ledge. They dropped to the floor then hunched over remaining below the level of the front windows then dodged between tables and shelves to the front.
On her tiptoes Reece could not reach the key. She looked at her brother. She hadn’t been able to lift him in two years.
They separated each scurrying around the cluttered store looking for something they could stand on yet careful to keep their bodies bent over. Sean hefted a stool from behind the counter and lugged it back to the front. Reece hopped on the stool, grabbed the key, and both children raced to the window and wiggled through the opening. Before they could lower the window, the storekeeper unlocked the door mumbling over his shoulder to a woman who stood behind him. The children sunk to the ground unsure of what to do next. They closed their eyes praying that he would not see the open window. Their eyes sprung open at the same second. They’d for
gotten to replace the stool behind the counter.