by Mark Spaid
“You want me to do what?” Belinda asked the next morning.
“Go see Tom and Captain Shellhause.”
“Dressed like a frump?”
“No, more like a ragpicker,” Tatiana said.
“Ragpicker…I never go out unless I look beautiful.”
“We know that, Miss Belinda and we’re all in awe of your beauty just as the whole world is but this time, we need you to not draw attention to yourself,” Little Wolf said as Tatiana stood behind Belinda and grinned. If you want to convince an egomaniac to do something and make no mistake about it, Belinda was an ultra-egomaniac…lavish them with praise.
“You think I’m beautiful all the time?” Belinda asked.
“Everyone does, Miss Belinda but this time we really need you to dial it back…way back to, yes, the ragpicker stage.” Belinda sighed and nodded.
“Okay, if say so. Jo, can you help me look ordinary.” Jozette gave her a look with pursed lips…No, homely and undesirable.” Jozette knew when Belinda asked to help her look ordinary she was saying that Jozette looked ordinary. Jozette gritted her teeth but said nothing.
“Yes, I’d be glad too,” Jozette said with a big smile. Seeing Belinda not look beautiful was Jozette’s dream. For many years when the two of them were together, Jozette was invisible to the surrounding crowd that was transfixed on Belinda. Jozette was beautiful as well but in Belinda’s shadow she paled as any woman did and it got old. She loved Belinda as her best friend but it’d feel good just to see the princess look ugly even if for a brief time. Jozette and Lexi worked on Belinda for an hour and when they were done there was no recognizing the beauty queen.
“Lind, I have to say, you’ll pass for plain. No one will question you and for the first time in your life you won’t draw attention from anyone,” Justin remarked.
“I called Tom and he knows you’re coming. Go to the main desk at the police station and tell them you’re there to meet Detective Westfield,” Tatiana instructed her.
“How will I get there?”
“I’ll walk you there, Ms. Fanelli,” Robert said. Ariel had briefed him on the events of the day.
“How will I get back?”
“You’ll have to walk,” Tatiana said.
“By myself?”
“Yes, we can’t have Robert hanging around with all the security present,” Tatiana said.
“Well, okay,” Belinda said but she wasn’t very convincing.
* * *
“Can I help you Ma’am?” The sergeant at the front desk asked Belinda. She was in a sweatshirt and dirty blue jeans. Her face was devoid of any make-up and Jozette had added a small scar below her right eye. Her hair was uncombed and her teethe had been yellowed by Janet who jumped in to help, using the kit she had in her purse for disguises. In all, Belinda was nothing to look at and that was indeed a first.
“I’m here to see Detective Westfield.”
“And you are?”
“Victoria Fisher.”
“Detective, there’s a Victoria Fisher here to see you.”
“Yes, send her back. please,” Tom said and Belinda was directed to Tom’s office.
“Holy cow, I don’t believe it. This can’t be possible. There’s no way you’re Belinda Fanelli.”
“Well, I am, Tom so live with it.” He got up and walked all around Belinda smiling.
“Incredible; well Ms. Bogornov said you’d come in disguise and you did.”
“Are you about through?”
“Oh yes, sorry but I just can’t…well, alright let’s go see Captain Shellhause.”
“Ms. Fanelli, I see you’re still full of surprises,” the Captain said as Tom and Belinda stood in the Captain’s office.
“I try to be when I can.”
“Well, no one will notice you like this and it’s certain no one has seen this person before,” Tom said.
“That’s what I was aiming for, Detective.” Captain Shellhause chuckled at Belinda’s banter.
“We kept those packets close to us, Ms. Fanelli and when it happened, we read them right away. It sure helped us sort out what was happening.”
“I’m glad but I can tell you it was hard for us and we knew it was coming,” Belinda remarked.
“What exactly happened?” Captain Shellhause asked. “I knew Dr. Peabody would know but if I approached him, he might suffer. The SS supersedes the police. We take care of the petty crimes but the big ones are handled aby the SS. Except this has only been the case for about a week. What happened?”
“I can’t explain the technical side of it but four Nazis from before the Time Frame changed went back in time thanks to Warren who built a time portal like he had before.”
“What’s this about a Time Frame?” Tom asked.
“Because of what those four men did in the past, everything changed. History has changed and the Nazis won the war. I don’t understand what that means. We’re now in a new Time Frame…a bad one. Little Wolf told me and that’s all I know.”
“They altered the past,” Captain Shellhause said. I did a little reading after it happened and the Germans didn’t invade Russia until 1945. By then they had the atom bomb and they used it on certain areas and the Russians surrendered.”
“I guess so.” Belinda said. Captain Shellhause grinned at Tom.
“You’re here to tell us the plan, I take it,” Tom posed.
“Yes, I’m to see what time would be good for Tom.”
“Well, what would be good for the others. I assume it’ll be Ms. Bogornov and Little Wolf.”
“Yes, just three of you. The fewer the better, they tell me.”
“I agree,” Captain Shellhause said.
“They said they’d meet you around nine pm in three days.”
“So, the nineteenth at midnight but where?” Tom asked.
“There’s a coffee shop two blocks from the lab. They’ll be in the back behind the dumpster.”
“Anything else?” Tom asked.
“Yes, metal won’t pass through the portal.”
“So, we can’t take any guns… that’ll be awkward,” Tom added.
“No metal of any kind; radios, belt buckles, coins, etc.”
“Then we get what weapons we need when we get there,” Tom posed.
“Little Wolf will bring knives made out of hardened plastic and he’ll have some for you too, Tom,” Belinda said.
“Okay, I’ll be there on the nineteenth,” Tom said.
“I’ll be going now,” Belinda said and got up to leave.
“Do you want a ride?” Captain Shellhause asked.
“No, I need to sneak back by walking.” She left and headed back to Ariel’s house but after a block she was lost. “Where am I? I don’t know. I’m so stupid; who can’t find their way home. I just headed downtown from Ariel’s but I didn’t think to remember how I got to the police station. That’s the problem, I don’t think. What am I going to do?” She stopped by a tree lowered her head and began to cry.
“Mom,” a voice whispered.
“Who’s that?”
“It’s me, Jess.”
“Where are you?” Belinda asked as she looked around the tree.
“Don’t look, just keep walking along the hedge row.”
“But I don’t remember how to get back to Ariel’s.”
“Go to Mason Street, it’s just one block ahead. Then turn left and walk two blocks to Greenview. Keep going east on Greenview and you’ll see Miss Ariel’s house.” Belinda did as Jessica told her and then she saw the house and let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, thank goodness, I’m there.” She went along the side of the house and in the back door.
“I see you made it,” Jozette said.
“Thanks to Jess. Where are you baby?”
“Here, Mom.”
“Why were you out there?” Belinda asked.
“Little Wolf sent me in case you got lost and you did.”
“Yeah, I’m true to form.”
“I volunteered since Lit
tle Wolf can’t go out in the daytime.”
“I don’t think they like Latinos around here,” he said grinning.
“You saw Tom and Captain Shellhause,” Justin said.
“I did.”
“Were they surprised to see you like this?” Lexi asked.
“Shocked to the bone. They remember how beautiful I was before today.” Jozette sighed and shook her head.
“Well I see your vanity is intact,” Tatiana said chuckling.
“Is that funny?” Belinda asked.
“Just a tiny bit,” Lexi said trying not to burst out laughing.
“Well, whatever you’re saying that’s so funny, Tom will be ready on the nineteenth at nine behind the coffee shop,” Belinda said as she was wiping off the scar and preparing to shower and dress like she always did.
“You did very well, Belinda,” Dave said. “Thank you.”
“Any time, though I wouldn’t welcome dressing like a ragpicker as Tatiana called it.” She went off to redo herself and the rest began packing what few things they’d be taking with them.
North SS Patrol Station
“Alright, the moment of truth is upon us,” Colonel von Laden said as he stood in a room full of the hostages.
“What?” the mayor asked.
“Where are the perpetrators?” Von Laden asked sharply. There was silence for the simple reason that no one in the room had any idea where they were.
“We don’t know, Colonel,” the mayor said.
“Then I’ll keep my threat and select one of you to be shot.”
“But no one here knows anything about their whereabouts,” the mayor’s wife said.
“When we start shooting people, perhaps someone will have their memory jarred.” Von Laden looked at the hostages then stopped and pointed. “Judge, you come with us.” Two guards took the judge in tow and they started walking out of the room.
“But, he’s innocent,” a woman said.
“Yes, this isn’t fair,” a man said.
“Folks, calm yourself. I’m old; I’ll gladly do my part,” the judge said and held his head up and grinned as they took him away. In the alley behind the station he was stood against the block wall and offered a blindfold which, he refused. The order was given and the judge was shot. A truck took the body away and von Laden went back inside.
Eight Days Ago
“How long will it take?” Kleinschmidt asked Warren as the four men readied for their trip through the portal.
“It’s hard to say for certain. It could be instantaneous since we’re talking about something that’ll happen in the nineteen forties.
“But there could be a lag in time?”
“Possibly…I don’t know if time passing here will be reflected in time passage then.”
“So, it’s all theoretical?”
“Not all, it’s practical as well. The time passage will work. They’ll go back in time.”
“How can you be sure where they’ll land?”
“I can say they’ll be just on the other side of the portal but of course they’ll have to get to Germany because when they go through they’ll be in Indiana at this very spot in 1939. They’re changing time periods but not geographic position. We use the term space-time continuum but really, it’s just the time continuum. So, you and they need to know that they’ll be just across that part of the room but in 1939.”
“I know and so do they. We’re prepared for that. They have German marks of the period and passports along with identification papers so they can get past checkpoints, gates, board trains etc. There’s a ship leaving from New York to Europe three days after they get there if you can send them to the right date.”
“I think I can and if not, they can amend their plans…it’ll be June of 1939 and plenty of time to make it to Germany.”
“How can you even be sure of the year?”
“There’s a chronometer for lack of a better term.”
“How does it work?”
“Time is cyclical.”
“Explain,” Kleinschmidt said.
“Okay, the Universe is ever expanding, sort of like concentric circles in a pond when you throw in a stone. It’s always moving but most importantly it’s curved. So, unlike the circles in a pond that I just described it’d more accurately resemble an oval that has been elongated then bent at both ends. So, it’s moving and expanding at those two ends; in effect it’s trying to make a circle out of the elongated oval.”
“It’s like a racetrack?”
“Similar. Time keeps circling including the past and the future.”
“And, you simply wait for the time to come around to where you want to send someone.”
“Close…I have the numbers thanks to solving the UFT. Now, I have to say that I had already solved time travel years ago.”
“I know.” Warren was surprised to hear that.
“You do?”
“Yes, we’ve had scientists working on building a portal but without success. When you made this one, we knew you’d done it before to build it so quickly. You knew what parts you needed and exactly how to construct it. You knew the voltage levels, the types of insulators and everything. No one could do that successfully the first time without having done it before.”
“I see, so why’d you keep me around?”
“We value service to the cause.”
“What cause?” Warren asked.
“The betterment of The Greater Reich.”
“Oh,” Warren said without enthusiasm.”
“Besides we need you to build the particle beam weapon.”
“When I complete that then what?”
“Oh that, well, then you’ll be shot.”
“I see, well thank you for that, Mr. Kleinschmidt…I feel better already.”
“Come on, Dr. Peabody, I was just kidding. Why would we get rid of someone with your ability?” Kleinschmidt said chuckling. Warren let out a faint grin but he knew that Kleinschmidt was only half joking. He’d be shot when the time was right.
“Funny.”
“Are we ready yet?”
“Yes. I’m winding up the voltage to one million.” He adjusted dials and punched numbers into his computer as the hum started and sparks flew. In a few minutes voltage was where it needed to be and Warren nodded to Kleinschmidt.
“Okay,” Kleinschmidt said and the four men looked at one another and with a nod from Matthews, walked through the portal. Warren turned the transformer off and after Kleinschmidt told them a few things they left for their mission.
“Now we wait,” Warren said.
“What’s that?” There was an impulse for lack of a better word that went through Warren and Kleinschmidt.
“A Time Influx. They must’ve completed their mission successfully.” Kleinschmidt ran to the window and looked at the city square then he smiled. Flying atop the flagpole was the Red Nazi flag.
“Yes, they did it.” Warren sat in a chair and his shoulders sagged.
* * *
“What was that?” Clyde Pearson said as he sat at the lunch counter sipping coffee.
“I don’t know but I felt something,” the waitress said.
“Hey, what’s that above Klemmer’s Variety Store?” A man asked as he’d gotten up to pay his bill and looked outside.
“It’s our flag,” a woman said as she left.
“That’s not our flag. That’s a Nazi flag,” the man said.
“Of course, that’s been our flag since nineteen fifty,” A young man said.
“That’s never been our flag,” Clyde said. I fought for the stars and stripes in Korea. What’s that thing doing up the city flagpole?”
“I’d watch what I said, old man,” A young woman said as she sat next to Clyde. “The SS are everywhere.”
“The SS, here in Bloomington?” Clyde asked but quieter now. He looked around the city as he went to the window. An SS patrol vehicle drove past and two men in Nazi uniforms got out, grabbed a man, threw him to the pavement and cuff
ed him. He was clubbed over the head with a blackjack and thrown into the back seat. Then the car sped away.
“That’s the SS,” a man said as he stood next to Clyde. A city policeman walked down the street and on his sleeves were Nazi armbands.
“What’s happening?”
“What do you mean?” the man next to him asked.
“I’ve been living here all my life. The Nazis were beaten in World War II. There’s never been a Nazi flag flown in the town square.”
“Clyde, you better shut up before they come for you,” the waitress said as she patted Clyde on the shoulder. He nodded and remained silent.
* * *
“I felt something,” Claudine Lafleur said as she readied for her day at school as a third-grade teacher.
“I didn’t,” her assistant said.
“Okay, it’s time for the pledge.” Claudine said as she turned to face the flag and her blood ran cold as she saw the red Nazi flag with white circle in the center outlining the black Swastika. A girl walked to the front to lead the pledge. All the students stood and gave the Nazi salute to the flag.
“I pledge allegiance to the memory of our great Fuehrer, Adolph Hitler and to Nazi America as it takes its place in The Greater Reich. To Adolph Hitler and The Greater Reich, I pledge my undying support.” Claudine stood in disbelief. The students sat down and Claudine motioned for her assistant to meet her in the hall.
“What’s going on here?” Claudine asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The Nazi flag…pledging our support to Adolph Hitler.”
“What about it?”
“Jean, am I crazy or do we not pledge support to the stars and stripes?”
“I’ve been pledging to the Nazi flag since I was in kindergarten. I don’t know anything about any stars and stripes or whatever you called it. And, you better watch it. Two of these kids’ dads are SS officers. They might report you for what you’re saying.” Jean went back in the room and Claudine stood staring at the Nazi flag painted on the wall of the hallway. She went back inside and started the math lesson but she spent the rest of the day in a daze. Was she crazy? She wasn’t sure but she’d say nothing more to anyone.
“Mom,” Claudine said as she went in her parent’s back door.