An Acceptable Time

by Madeleine L'engle

Mrs. Murry patted his head, "Thanks, Og," and turned toward the door. "Must be Zachary."

  "Bring him in," Dr. Louise suggested, "and we'll give him a cup of tea."

  Once again Zachary had parked his car on the lane. He kissed Polly in greeting, then said, "Thanks for letting me come. It means a lot to me."

  "It's good to see you. Come on in and say hello."

  "Who's here?"

  "My grandparents--though Granddad's working outdoors. And Grand's friend Dr. Louise. You met her."

  "Yes. Nice. A bit formidable maybe, but nice. What kind of doctor is she?" They went in through the garage.

  "An internist. But, she says, she's basically a country doctor, and they're almost a lost breed. Endangered, at any rate."

  They passed Mrs. Murry's lab and climbed the three steps to the kitchen just as the kettle began to sing. Mrs. Murry went to the wood stove. "Hello, Zachary. Will you join us for a cup of tea?"

  "Thanks. Tea would be fine. Hello, Dr. Colubra. Nice to see you again." Zachary shook hands courteously, then sat at the table.

  Mrs. Murry poured tea. "Sugar? Lemon? Milk?"

  "Just as it comes, please."

  She handed him a cup. "It's another superb autumn day. Do you and Polly have plans?"

  Zachary was wearing jeans and a bulky Irish-knit sweater, and new-looking running shoes. "I thought we might go for a walk."

  "Oh, good. If you drive to the ski area, there are several excellent walking trails."

  "Polly says there are good places to walk right around here."

  "There are, but..."

  --Now what? Polly thought.--How are they going to keep us away from here?

  Mrs. Murry was busy adding more water to the teapot. "I gather there's a good movie on in town if you're interested. It's only half an hour's drive."

  "No, thanks," Zachary said. "I can go to a movie anytime, and what I really want to do is just amble around and talk with Polly."

  Polly perched on the stool by the kitchen counter, where her grandmother sat to chop vegetables, and waited. She knew she ought to say something, make some reasonable suggestion, but her mind was blank. How could she explain her trips to Anaral's time? Zachary had no idea that the girl he had seen was from the past, and if Polly cared anything about him, she would see to it that he didn't get drawn further in.

  "Zachary," Mrs. Murry said, "I'm simply going to have to ask you to take Polly somewhere else for your walk. As I said, there are some good hiking trails near the ski area."

  Zachary put down his cup. "That was excellent tea. Mrs. Murry, is something peculiar going on? Does it have something to do with that guy with the dog or the girl I saw the other day that Polly was so mysterious about?"

  "Anaral? In a way, yes."

  "I don't mean to push, but could you explain?"

  Dr. Louise stood up, took her cup to the sink, rinsed it, and put it in the rack. "All right, Zachary. You would like an explanation?"

  "Yes. Please."

  "My brother, who is a retired bishop, has accidentally opened a time gate between the present and three thousand years ago, when there were druids living with the native people of this land." Her voice was calm, without emphasis. "The girl you saw on Thursday is a druid and belongs to that time. Her people are largely peaceable, but one of the Celts who came here from Britain believes that the Earth Mother needs human blood to stop the drought which is driving other tribes to this part of the world, tribes which are not peaceable."

  Zachary stared at her and burst into laughter. "You're kidding!"

  "Would that I were."

  "But that's--"

  "Crazy?" Dr. Louise smiled.

  "Out of sight."

  Dr. Louise continued, again in a cool, academic way. "It seems that there is at least one person back in that long gone time who feels that Polly would be just the right human sacrifice. Naturally, we are not eager for Polly to be drawn through the time gate and into danger."

  There was what seemed to Polly a very long silence. Then Zachary said, "This is absolutely the most off-the wall--"

  Mrs. Murry said, "You did see Anaral."

  "I saw a beautiful girl."

  "Describe her."

  "She had a long black braid. And honey-colored skin, and eyes that weren't quite slanty, just--"

  "A little exotic?" Dr. Louise suggested.

  "Definitely. I'd like to see her again."

  "Even if it means going back three thousand years?"

  "That's an extraordinary suggestion," Zachary said, "especially coming from a--a--"

  "A physician. Who totally rejects everything she's said, and yet on another level has to admit the possibility."

  "Why? It's impossible."

  "A lot of things my forebears would have considered impossible, such as television, or astronauts, or much of modern medicine, are now taken for granted."

  "Still--"

  "Polly has been through the time gate. So has my brother. My brother may be eccentric, but he's no fool."

  Mrs. Murry's voice, too, was quiet. "We don't want Polly in any kind of danger, real or imaginary. Perhaps the imaginary danger is the most frightening because it is the least understood."

  Zachary looked at Polly, raising his brows at the story he was expected to take seriously.

  Polly said, "Well, I know it sounds crazy, but there it is."

  "In which case," Zachary touched her arm lightly, "I'd still like to go for that walk with you. I gather this time gate is somewhere on your land?"

  "Yes. By the star-watching rock, where we were the other day. But also by the swimming pool. That's where you saw Anaral."

  "A swimming pool hardly seems the likeliest place for a time gate, or whatever you call it." He sounded slightly dazed.

  "The pool is over an underground river, and three thousand years ago there wasn't a pool, and there wasn't the house. It was a great circle of standing stones."

  "If I didn't know you're an intelligent person, I mean highly intelligent--do you believe all this?"

  "I've been there. Then."

  "So--I can't just wipe it out, can I?" Suddenly he laughed. "I'm intrigued. Really intrigued. You think the girl I saw actually lived three thousand years ago?"

  "Yes," Polly said.

  "Mrs. Murry? Dr. Colubra?"

  "It appears to be a possibility," Mrs. Murry said.

  "Who knows, then?" He sounded suddenly wistful. He looked at Mrs. Murry and Dr. Louise. "Polly may have told you I'm having some problems with my health."

  "She told us that your heart is troubling you," Mrs. Murry said.

  "And my life expectancy isn't good. If I'm to take all you've been saying seriously, maybe it would be a good idea for me to drop back three thousand years."

  "Not with Polly." Mrs. Murry was firm.

  "Zach--" Polly was tentative. "Would you let Dr. Louise examine you--listen to your heart?"

  "Sure," Zachary said. "But I don't think you"--he turned courteously to Dr. Louise--"can find much beyond a murmur and some irregularity."

  "Probably not," Dr. Louise agreed. "I have my stethoscope with me, but that's all. Shall we go into the other room?"

  Zachary followed her out, and Polly turned to her grandmother. "He's right, I guess. I mean, she can't find out much just this way, can she?"

  "I doubt it. But Louise has a sixth sense when it comes to diagnosis. Polly, can't you suggest to Zachary that you go to the club, or hike by the ski trails?"

  "I can suggest," Polly agreed, "but I don't think Zach's up to much in the way of hiking."

  When Dr. Louise and Zachary came back, the doctor's face was noncommittal. "Zachary obviously has excellent doctors," she said, "who are doing everything I'd recommend. Now, my dears, I need to make a move-on. What are your plans?"

  "We could amble along the lane toward the village," Polly suggested.

  "Ambling is fine with me," Zachary said. Then, to Dr. Louise, "Thank you very much, Doctor. You're very kind." And to Mrs. Murry: "Would it be
possible for us to have tea and some of that marvelous cinnamon toast when we get back?"

  "Quite possible. Polly, just walk on the lane and the road to the village, please."

  "Yes, Grand." She and Zachary went out through the pantry and Polly took the red anorak off the hook. "Are you warm enough?" she asked.

  "Sure. This sweater is warm enough for the Arctic. Polly, I wish your doctor friend had been able to give me some good news. She didn't say anything."

  "Well--as you said--she didn't have anything except her stethoscope."

  "Polly, do you believe in angels?" He turned to follow her as she started down the dirt lane.

  "I don't know. Probably."--But not, she thought, that they're fairies with magic wands who can hold back bullets or make new a maimed heart.

  "I wish my grandmother were still alive--the one who was willing to let me be me, and didn't load all kinds of expectations on me. I've gone along with the expectations. I could follow in Pop's footsteps if I had a life expectancy in which to do it. Now I'm not sure that's what I want. Maybe there's more to life." He turned as there was a sound behind them and Og dashed to Polly, waving his tail, jumping up in joy.

  "Down, Og," she said severely, and the dog obediently dropped to all four feet.

  "Hey!" Zachary stared at Og. "Where'd that dog come from? I mean, haven't I seen him before?"

  "Yes." Polly looked directly at him. "Remember that man you saw under the oak tree the day you came looking for me?"

  "Yeah. He had a dog."

  "This dog." Polly tried to keep her voice as dry and emotionless as Dr. Louise's.

  "So how come he's here, obviously thinking he belongs to you?"

  "Well. He just sort of appeared."

  "What do you mean?"

  "What I said. That's how my grandparents always get their dogs."

  "Crazy." Zachary shrugged.

  "Maybe," Polly said. "The thing is, he's come through the time gate, too."

  Zachary sighed exaggeratedly, then looked again at Og, who stood by Polly, long tail moving gently back and forth. "Dogs going through time gates? That's as nuts as anything else."

  "Yes," Polly agreed.

  "He's sort of odd-looking. Reminds me of some of the dogs on the Egyptian friezes. Well, if he's three thousand years old, that would explain it all, wouldn't it?" He laughed, a short, unamused sound. "Does he have a name?"

  "We're calling him Og, mostly. It's short for Ogam."

  "It suits him, somehow." Zachary plucked a blade of grass and chewed on it. "Polly, this dog--it's just another sign. I want to go back to that place--the star-watching rock--and that oak tree--and the stone wall where I met you."

  "I can't go there, Zach. I promised." Og nudged his head under her hand, and she scratched between his ears.

  "I just have this strong feeling that if we go there, there will be things I need to find out."

  "I don't think so, Zach. There are things to find out just walking along here. This is a beautiful place." She paused to watch a small stream, not more than a trickle, sliding under some water willows.

  Suddenly fierce, he said, "I don't give a bloody zug if it's beautiful. What I want to know is if there's some way I can live a little longer. I don't think that's likely here, in this time. I don't like the way your doctor friend very carefully didn't say anything. But I saw her face. I saw the look in her eyes."

  "You're projecting," Polly said firmly. "She didn't say anything because she didn't have enough to go on."

  Just past the small stream there was a faint path to their left, probably made by wildlife. "Let's go this way," Zachary said.

  "It doesn't go anywhere. It'll just end up in underbrush." Polly didn't remember having seen the small path before, but it ran roughly parallel to the orchard and the field that led to the stone wall.

  "Polly." Now Zachary's voice was soft. She followed him along the path in order to hear, Og at her heels. "I want to see what all this Ogam stuff is about. If somehow I could go back three thousand years, what would happen? Would I be the same me? Or would my heart be okay?"

  "I don't know." Polly watched Zachary push through browning blackberry brambles. Then the path widened out slightly and wound between grassy hummocks and across the ubiquitous glacial rocks.

  "Am I right?" Zachary asked. "Is this path going toward the star-watching rock?"

  "I've never been on it before. I don't think it goes anywhere."

  He reached back and caught her hand. "Polly. Please. I need you to help me."

  "This isn't going to help. Come on. Let's go home." She tried to release her hand.

  "Polly. Please. Please. Don't pull against me. I need you to help me. Please."

  Og had run on ahead of them, and circled back, tail swishing happily.

  "See, the dog thinks everything's okay," Zachary said.

  Now the path went under some wild apple trees and they had to bend low. Then it opened up and joined the path at the stone wall. Louise the Larger was lying there in the sunlight, but they were on the far side of the stone wall and Zachary hurried away from her, along the path to the star-watching rock.

  "No, Zach, come back!"

  Louise raised her head and several inches of body and began weaving back and forth.

  "No, Zach!" Polly repeated. "Zach! Come back!"

  But he was continuing along the path, calling, "Polly! Please! Don't desert me now!"

  Og pushed against her, growling slightly, but she could not let Zachary go alone. Stumbling a little, she ran after him. "Zachary, this is foolish. Nothing's going to happen."

  "Okay, so if nothing happens, we'll just go back for tea." He stopped, breathing rapidly and with effort. His face was very pale, bluish around the lips. He reached out his hand for hers, and she took it.

  Under their feet the ground seemed to tremble. There was a faint rumble, as of distant thunder. The air about them quivered with concealed lightning.

  "Hey! Polly!" Zachary's voice soared with surprise.

  The trunks of the trees thickened, the branches reached upwards. Ahead of them, sunlight glinted off water.

  "Well," she said flatly, "it's happened."

  "What's happened?"

  "We've gone through the time gate. Look at the trees. They're much older and bigger. And that's a lake that fills the whole valley. And look at the mountains. They're younger and wilder and there's still lots of snow on their peaks. I guess in geological terms the Ice Age wasn't so long ago."

  Zachary stared around at the primeval forest, the jagged mountains. "Maybe I've had a heart attack and died?"

  "No, Zach."

  "In which case," he continued, "you'd have to be dead, too."

  "No, Zachary. We aren't dead. We're three thousand years ago."

  "So in our time we'd be dead, wouldn't we?"

  "We're alive. Right now."

  "I don't feel any different." He breathed in, deeply, disappointedly. "Hey, and the dog's still with us."

  Polly put her hand on his arm as she saw Anaral running toward them.

  "Poll-ee! Go back! It is not safe!" She looked suddenly at Zachary, her hand to her mouth. "Who--"

  "Zachary Gray. He saw you the other day. I guess you saw him, too."

  Zachary stared at Anaral. "Who are you?"

  Anaral's eyes were veiled. Polly answered, "She's a druid."

  "Holy zug."

  "Go back, both of you. It's not safe."

  "What's not safe?" Zachary demanded.

  "Last night there was a raid. Several of our best sheep and cows were taken."

  "What's that got to do--" Zachary started.

  Anaral continued. "Tav is wild, and not only Tav. We are all in danger. Raiders may return at any moment."

  "Tav?" Polly asked.

  "Tav is not the only one who is ready to fight for our land. Karralys fears that there will be much blood shed. You understand?"

  "No," Zachary said.

  Polly still could not conceive of having fun with so
meone you were planning to sacrifice.

  Anaral looked at her. "You understood what was being said--" She paused, looking for words. Continued, "--around the council table?"

  "Most of it, I think."

  "What did you understand, please?"

  "I think--I think Tav believes that the Mother--Mother Earth?"

  "Yes."

  "That she demands a blood sacrifice, and that I have been sent--" Her skin prickled. "Do you and Karralys--?"

  "No. Not us. For us, the Mother is loving and kind. Karralys, too, believes that you have been sent."

  "Sent?"

  "Not for the shedding of blood. Karralys lies on the great altar rock and prays, long, long, and he says the pattern is not yet clear."

  "Hey, what are you talking about?" Zachary demanded.

  "Well." Polly's face was stark. "Tav believes--perhaps--that the earth demands blood in order to be fertile, and that my blood..." Her voice trailed off.

  Anaral said, "Karralys says that there is--is problem--across the great water where he and Tav come from. He says it used to be that the shedding of the blood of a lamb was--was--" She stopped.

  "Enough?" Polly suggested. "Sufficient?"

  "Yes, and the lamb was thanked, and mourned for, and then there was a great feast. But there came a time of no rain--you remember, Tav told--"

  "Yes."

  "The lamb's blood was not suff--"

  "Sufficient."

  "Sufficient. Rain did not fall. Crops died. People were hungry. And after Tav killed the man and his blood was spilled on the ground, rain came."

  Zachary asked, "Do you think that was why the rain came?"

  "No. We People of the Wind do not try to tell the Presence what to do, but to understand and use what is given, whether it seems good or bad. Some of my people think that there may be other gods across the water, gods who are angry and have to be--"

  "Placated?" Zachary suggested.

  Anaral looked at him questioningly.

  Polly said, "The gods will be mad at you unless you give them what they want?"

  "Yes."

  Zachary scowled. "But you think your god loves you?"

  Anaral smiled. "Oh, yes. We do not always understand our part in the working out of the pattern. And you see, it is possible for people to work against the pattern, to--to tangle the lines of love between stars and people and places. The pattern is as perfect as a spiderweb, and as delicate. And you"--her level gaze rested on Zachary--"we do not know where you fit in the pattern, which lines come to you, or which lines are from you, or where the lines that touch you touch us."

  Og, who had been standing quietly by Polly, moved to Anaral, and she reached down and patted the dog's head. "Karralys has sent him to you. I am glad. Now go. Please go. To your own place in the spiral." She turned from them and ran swiftly away.