Chapter 30
Everyone returned to the cot with the children on either side of the Professor. They stared at the same spot on the floor resting their elbows on their knees. Somehow they managed to sigh in unison then slumped over and allowed their chins to drop onto their hands.
Bear hardly knew which child to comfort first. He put his paw on Sean’s lap, but got no response. Whining rather loudly, he walked to Reece and tried to lick her face, but she merely buried her face deeper into her hands. Finally, he lay down with his muzzle across her feet and frowned, his eyes rotating back and forth between the children.
Deep within ANNA’s small body, a single light blinked then a set of seven lights within a triangle began to blink. A rod slowly rose and blades unfolded. Soundlessly, she flew in front of them and hovered. Now, all one hundred forty-seven lights were ablaze.
At first, all three were focused so solidly on the floor that they failed to see ANNA four feet away. But, then the floor around them reflected the blinking lights, and they looked up. It was like watching a fire truck standing still with its lights swirling in the darkness. In the small space, the entire time machine unit glowed with her pulsating lights.
“What is it ANNA?”
Bear reached up to sniff her, but ANNA flew several inches higher out of the dog’s range.
The Professor held his breath then whispered softly. “She’s analyzing our little problem. Maybe she’ll. . .”
The children wondered how the Professor could possibly call this a ‘little problem’. But, their attention was riveted on the three-pound grapefruit that had the power to lift them off the ground and the speed to outrun people who threatened them. Added to that impressive list, she had the ability to disappear before your eyes by the flick of a switch. But, could she save them?
Finally, ANNA’s lights began to dim, and they functioned at the normal brightness and rate of pulsation. “Professor!” she shouted.
“Yes, ANNA,” the Professor said softly.
“As usual, you’ve forgotten me.”
The Professor caught himself before replying that he wasn’t likely to forget something as disagreeable as his assistant. “I do apologize, ANNA. What have I failed to remember?”
“When you enter navigational coordinates into the control panel, it is automatically recorded in my memory bank. When you installed the new navigational system into your control panel, the data was made available in my system as well. Now, I have the old and new systems as part of my operating systems.”
The Professor dropped his head and frowned in deep concentration.
“My back-up systems are perfectly functional. You can bypass the new system on your control panel and access information on my old back-up system to reverse the steps to determine how to return these two individuals to their time.”
The Professor stared at ANNA. “How could I have overlooked that?” he murmured.
The phrase ‘absent-minded professor’ came to the children’s lips, but they remained silent.
The Professor shot up and signaled ANNA to follow him to the control panel then pressed several buttons. He desperately wanted to ask her at what point she remembered all this, but past experience taught him that she had the capacity to sulk in a corner and deactivate her equipment for hours.
The children watched as the entire panel lit up as brightly as ANNA.
“I wonder if this is what Daddy calls a long shot.” Sean whispered.
“It just has to work, but all those lights are so bright, I hope it doesn’t blow up.”
“I know,” said Sean then looked at the pile of clothes on the floor. “I’d hate to wear that dress the rest of my life.”
“And I don’t want to live in the woods like James did for the rest of mine,” said Reece then gasped and nudged her brother. Something strange was happening. The door had slid shut and it was slowly losing its transparency. In seconds, they could no longer see through the door to the outside world.
“Do you think he knows about the door?” whispered Sean.
“I’m perfectly aware of the door. Had to shut down the door transparency function. Rather not run too many functions at the same time,” said the Professor. “And, this most assuredly does not fall into the category of ‘a long shot’.”
The children looked at each other. He seemed to know and hear everything.
Like the last two times, they felt absolutely nothing move, but within minutes, the Professor turned around. “All right. Let’s give it a go.” He walked to the door and waited. The last time the Professor reset the panel controls, they’d had time for tea and scones, but now he waited in front of the door. When the door slid open, he stepped through then turned around and signaled for everyone to follow.
Bear bounded forward followed by the children, but ANNA remained behind.
It was hot, but was it exactly as hot as it was when they entered the time machine the very first time?
Within a very few minutes, the children saw the neighborhood houses rise above the fences. They laughed and skipped and did all the things overjoyed children do. Seconds later, Bear broke through the trees then stopped in the middle of the path and waited for the others to catch up. He walked in circles, but rotated his head so that his eyes were always focused on the woods.
The Professor was next with Reece and Sean close behind. He watched as the children stood grinning at the familiar sounds of cars and lawn mowers. Somehow, they seemed so much louder now than they had before.
“Well,” the Professor began then cleared his throat. Really, what did one say at a parting such as this?
Reece looked down at the ground then tilted her head all the way back to look up into the Professor’s face. “Well, thanks for bringing us back.”
“Yes, thanks,” echoed Sean.
“Not at all,” said the Professor rocking back and forth on his heels. “It was entirely my pleasure.”
They moved their mouths side to side struggling for just the right words. “I guess we’ll see you around. . .sometime,” said Reece.
Sean glanced up at the Professor. “Probably will anyway.”
“Yes, it’s entirely possible.”
Reece nodded her head then frowned. “Why did you take Bear?”
The Professor turned sideways and stared into the woods. The children waited and finally he turned back. “You see, ANNA can be a bit. . .” and he lowered his voice to the barest whisper just in case, “testy. Harridans are like that, you know. I thought, perhaps, a dog might be, well, pleasant company.”
The children gazed at the Professor’s downcast face. He was lonely.
“Actually, we had a pretty. . .” Sean scrunched up his mouth searching for just the right phrase to express their experience. “A pretty, fairly nice time.”
“We’ll miss you a little bit, too,” Reece added.
The Professor looked down at the children with just a hint of fondness in his eyes. Well, at least as much as he felt for anyone. He turned sideways again for a few seconds. When he turned back, he made an offer. “I’m, well, I’m exploring a new sight tomorrow after lunch. Say around 2:00. Need to test the system again. I have great hopes that it will work this time. Of course, if I don’t find myself exactly where I set the coordinates, ANNA’s back-up system will lead us. . . me back. So, if, uh, you think you’d care to. . .”
The children pressed their lips together in deep concentration, but didn’t make eye contact with the Professor.
“Maybe we’ll come back,” was Reece’s almost decision.
“Yes,” said Sean. “Maybe we might.”
The Professor nodded his head and a slow smile formed on his face. “Well, then maybe I might see you.”
The children said good-bye then turned around and hurried down the path to the gate behind their house. Bear had bounded ahead of them and stood there scratching at the door, but when he saw the children he let out a series of barks. They turned around to give the Professor a fi
nal wave, but he was gone. They stood just a few seconds longer wondering what he would do when he returned to the time machine.
As Sean closed the door, he turned to his sister. “What time did he say he was leaving?”
“2:00 o’clock.”
“2:00 o’clock, ok.”
They were crossing the lawn when Reece stopped short. “I know who he reminds me of,” she said turning to Sean.
“Who?”
“Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Sean slowly nodded his head. “He looks just like the picture in our book.”
They grinned all the way to the back door.
Mama heard them coming, opened the door, and peeked around the corner. Her searching, blue eyes saw a sparkle in her children’s faces that hadn’t been there a few moments earlier. “First batch is ready. Are you hungry?”
“Starved!” they both said at once.
~The End~
The Door Into Time Page 30