by C J M Naylor
Family business. I got the impression that Oliver knew about Timekeeping, but he didn’t want to say so in case I didn’t know about Timekeeping. But, likewise, I didn’t want to say anything in case he didn’t know about Timekeeping. It was an awkward situation all the way around. There was a creak, and I looked up to see Alma standing in the doorway. Oliver turned around and saw her, and I saw something light up in his face. It was a quick flash, and then it was gone.
“Abigail,” Alma said, looking away from Oliver, a slight blush on her cheeks, “Thomas sent me to tell you he wouldn’t be in today and was wondering if you could finalize the list of donors for the library’s upcoming charity event?”
Thomas wasn’t coming in. Was he avoiding me? I wasn’t sure why this mattered to me, as I was clearly doing the same thing to him. But it did.
“Of course,” I finally said. “I was just about to head out for something to eat, but I will get that taken care of.”
Oliver cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to butt in, but would you two ladies like to come to lunch with me? I was going to go with Thomas, but he clearly isn’t here, and I’m starving, to be quite honest.”
Alma looked from Oliver to me, not knowing what to say.
“I guess I could do that,” I finally said.
I looked over to Alma and she shrugged her shoulders and then nodded. And just like that, I was off to lunch with two people I barely knew. There I was being completely trusting again, but perhaps that was something that would always be my downfall.
Oliver took us to the Balboa Cafe, insisting it was his favorite place in the entire city. I wondered if this was some sort of sign, considering I had just been there yesterday with Thomas on the date that ended terribly. I decided not to protest, however. In a way, I felt like it kind of told me a little more about Thomas. Perhaps the Balboa Cafe was some kind of favorite pastime of his from living in San Francisco. Perhaps, he was pretty close with Oliver, and the two of them would often come here when they were younger. I could envision them as young teenagers, bringing their first dates here on the night of a school dance. I smiled at that and let myself drift away into my thoughts.
“Miss Jordan.”
I snapped out of my reverie and saw that Oliver was trying to get my attention.
“I’m sorry,” I suddenly said. “I let myself be taken away for a moment. What were you saying? And please, call me Abigail.”
“Oliver was asking how long you’ve been in America,” Alma supplied.
“Oh,” I said, “almost eight months.”
Oliver nodded and looked away for a moment. I was getting the impression he and Alma knew each other a bit. I decided I might as well ask.
“So, do you two know each other?”
Oliver looked at Alma with an expression that almost looked as if he wasn’t sure he should answer. It was the same expression he had worn earlier when he had referred to Thomas’ family business.
“She’s a Timekeeper,” Alma whispered, and Oliver nodded in understanding.
I looked from Oliver to Alma. “So, he knows about Timekeeping.”
Oliver answered. “Yes, but only because Thomas told me when we were younger, much to the dissatisfaction of his father. Although I’m beginning to think that most Timekeeper’s share the information with their closest friends; I mean how could you not? It would be as if you were living a lie for almost your entire life.”
I knew the feeling. I hadn’t shared this information with my closest friend at first and it had almost ripped us apart. I truly believed there was no reason she shouldn’t know. And she hadn’t told anyone about it. She hadn’t shared the information around. And who would believe her without proof? I secretly suspected the Council knew this, and this was why they weren’t as stern on enforcing this particular rule. Instead they focused more of their time on who used their resources, such as the Time Line, illegally. It almost felt hypocritical of them to be upset with Thomas and I for traveling without permission, when my family started it all. I suddenly felt like that was power talking through me though, and I didn’t like that feeling.
“In regards to your question though,” Alma said, “Thomas introduced me to Oliver when I started my training.”
“What’s your story?” I asked her. “I don’t know much about you, and I’d like to.”
Alma smiled at that, but before she could answer, a waiter came to the table. I expected him to ask us for our drink orders, but what he actually said sent a cold shiver down my spine. He looked directly at Alma.
“Miss,” he said, “I’m sorry, but we have a few customers uncomfortable with your presence here, and we need to ask you to leave.”
Alma nodded, placed the napkin she had in her lap on the table, stood up, and walked out of the restaurant.
I looked back at the waiter. “I’m sorry, but what exactly is the problem?”
“Her kind isn’t welcome in this type of establishment,” an older woman at a nearby booth spat at me. “And you should be ashamed of yourself for associating with her. She knows where she belongs.”
Oliver stood up. “Let’s go, Abigail.”
I looked between Oliver, the waiter, and the old woman. All of them continued to stare at me, and finally I stood up and walked out of the restaurant.
Alma was standing just outside the cafe, taking a puff on a cigarette. She looked up at us when we came out.
“My apologies guys. I just wasn’t thinking. You two could have stayed though. Did you want to try somewhere else?” She took another puff on her cigarette, waiting for my response.
I looked at her in confusion, and then turned to Oliver who was rubbing his hand through his fiery hair.
I turned back to Alma. “I’m so confused. What just happened?”
“There are some places I can’t go,” Alma replied.
“But, why?”
Alma looked surprised. “Uh, because I’m black. Don’t you have any places where colored people can’t go where you’re from?”
I thought about it, continuing to be appalled by the entire situation. “I mean, no. I don’t think so. I guess I don’t really know. Honestly, I’ve never gotten to know someone like—” I stopped myself.
A cheeky grin appeared on Alma’s face. “Someone like me?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I just—”
“It’s fine,” Alma cut me off. “Really. What matters to me is that you don’t care what people think of you when you are with me. You could have stayed in there. You could have not gotten lunch with me at all. But you did. That’s what matters.”
I continued to look at Alma and then to Oliver, and then back to Alma again. I just didn’t know how to process this situation. It was like meeting Councilor Winston all over again. I remembered his comments about people that didn’t live up to his image. I knew that Hitler was killing people who also didn’t live up to his image. I had just never seen anything so hateful, so vile, and close up before. I had never seen it directed to a person I knew. And it scared me.
“I just feel like we need to talk about this,” I said.
Alma stepped forward, placing a firm hand on my shoulder as she did. “Honestly, Abigail. There’s nothing to talk about. I’m fine, you’re fine. Let’s just forget this happened and get some lunch. Okay?”
I nodded and the three of us made our way to another destination, but in my head I still wasn’t satisfied. I could tell this wasn’t anything new for Alma, and that she was simply moving on as she had probably done countless other times. But I felt like I needed to do more for her. And I wanted to try to accomplish that.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
November 1944
Weeks passed and I heard nothing from my sister. The hallucinations had also stopped completely. The only thing that remained were the dreams. I was still constantly plagued by dreams of Phillip and my family dying around me. The only difference was I was used to it now. I was used to waking up the middle of the night i
n a cold sweat. I was used to flailing around in my bed sheets. Luckily, I had stopped drawing attention to myself. When I woke up in the darkness of my room, I knew it was just a dream. I no longer screamed. Bridget no longer needed to come into my room and comfort me.
Except for Alma, who had begun to come to the library regularly during the day for lunch, and Ian, of course, I had no contact with anyone from the Timekeeping world. Thomas had not been in the office for weeks now. He appeared to be giving me space, or perhaps I had scared him off. I had no idea. I was grateful Alma didn’t pry, or ask what was going on between us. She simply came to be a friend. During the weeks that passed, as October slowly faded away into November, I began to learn more about Alma. I learned her father, Beauford James IV, came to San Francisco in the 1920s looking for work and had met and fallen in love with her mother, Meta Johnson. Her father worked for Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, while her mother came from a prominent Timekeeping family in Africa. Alma’s mother had trained at the San Francisco Headquarters when she was Alma’s age and had decided to stay on, working her way up to be one of the members on the San Francisco Council.
The Headquarter Councils were another thing I learned about the Timekeeping community. Apparently, every Timekeeping Headquarters had a Council that was similar to the Council that led the Timekeeping world. At the head of the Council at each Headquarters, was the head of the Headquarters, so in San Francisco’s case, it was Thomas.
During all of this, I was constantly reminded of what had taken place at the Balboa Cafe. For Alma, I knew it was something that happened to her and she moved on, but it continued to haunt me. I couldn’t fathom how people could be so cruel toward another human being. But then I remembered the likes of Bessie, and how she had destroyed my mother, or aunt, and I was reminded that’s how some people were, unfortunately.
And then one day, Alma asked that I come to her ball. As I had not so long ago, Alma would have a Timekeeper’s Ball in which she would be fully initiated into the society. I kept finding myself drawn into the world of the Timekeepers, no matter how much I tried to stay away. I was beginning to fully accept this was who I was, whether or not I actually liked it.
“The ball is this Saturday.”
Alma and I were once again eating lunch in the office of the library. I looked over the calendar that Thomas kept on his desk and saw that this Saturday was November 18. I had nothing planned, so of course I would go. Before I could respond, however, the door to the office opened abruptly and Thomas stood in the doorframe. I was taken aback by his appearance. His normally clean-shaven face was replaced by a scraggly looking beard that he was clearly not maintaining. The dark bags under his eyes indicated he had not been sleeping and my heart suddenly beat faster. Had I caused this? Had I done this to him? I needed him to know, wanted him to know, that he wasn’t the reason for my feelings. But I guess that wasn’t true. Technically, he was the reason I was having these conflicted feelings, but he needed to understand it was me, not him.
“Abby,” Thomas said. He looked from me to Alma, and then walked into the room and knelt in front of me. I leaned back in shock. Was he going to propose? But then I shook my head. Of course, he wasn’t going to propose. How absurd could I possibly be?
Thomas took my hand and looked into my eyes. “It’s Mathias.”
That made my heart skip even faster. “What about Mathias?”
“Councilor Headrick has put out an injunction,” Thomas began, “prohibiting Mathias from continuing in his position as head of the London Headquarters.”
“Can she do that?” I asked.
“Yes,” Thomas said, “and no. There are rules. However, she has power as head of the Council to issue a temporary injunction. She has twenty-four hours before the injunction is lifted. During that time, she has to prove to the Council that Mathias is inept at continuing in his position. There will be a hearing, during which evidence and testimony will be presented by Headrick, Mathias, and other parties. The Council will then vote on whether or not Mathias can continue in his position. The thing is, the injunction was issued yesterday.”
“When is the hearing?” I asked, standing up.
“In thirty minutes,” Thomas replied. “I only just found out. I think Headrick was trying to cover it up. Ian and I were going to go. Ian was going to provide testimony in support of Mathias’s character and I thought you should have a chance to have your own voice on the matter. I’ve already gotten approval for us to travel to the hearing.”
“Let’s go,” I said. I looked to Alma. “I’ll see you later?”
Alma looked appalled at the idea. “Are you joking? I’m going with you. I may not be able to put my own two cents in, but I can offer moral support.”
I smiled at that. I really did like Alma. Together, the three of us made our way down into the Headquarters so that we could travel to the hearing.
The hearing was to take place at the Central Headquarters. Thomas quickly found Ian and we went to the Time Line to travel. When we left the San Francisco Headquarters, the four of us were dry. Upon arriving at the Central Headquarters, we landed in a pool of water. It was as if I had been dropped into an ocean of water from high above. Below me was what looked like never-ending darkness. Above me, I could see the surface. I could see a ceiling and on that ceiling, I could see a clock. The clock had no hands, a common symbol in the Timekeeping community to represent the idea that time itself is endless. I stayed like that for a moment, underneath the surface, looking up at the blurry image of the clock until finally a hand touched mine and I was being pulled to the surface.
I was surprised to find that as soon as I broke the surface, I was standing up. It was shallow water. But I had been underneath the surface. I had been dropped into what felt like the deep end of a pool. But now there was no deep end. Thomas stood directly in front of me, his hand still clasped in mine. He beckoned me forward and I stepped out of the pool of water onto concrete and I was immediately dry. It was as if a strange, heated wind suddenly came over my body and everything that had been dripping wet was now dry, as if it had never been wet at all.
“I don’t understand,” I said, looking behind me and back at the pool of water. It was then that I noticed we were in a room with multiple pools of water at various different points. Individuals were stepping out of these pools of water and onto the concrete just as we had.
“Central Headquarters has never made much sense,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t try to dwell on it too much. The only thing to know is that water is often seen as an important concept that goes hand in hand with time. Timekeepers see time as a stream, just as water is a stream. They see it as being endless. Always constant.”
I nodded, looking again at the pool of water we had just come out of. Thomas’ hand was still clasped in mine, and I didn’t pull away from it. He began to lead me down the concrete row, past all of the pools of water, Ian and Alma in tow. We stepped through a tall archway and into a well-lit hallway. Intricate designs of a clock were etched into the walls of the hallways as we made our way toward wherever the hearing was taking place.
“What country are we in?” Alma asked. “What city hosts the Central Headquarters?”
“Isn’t that the question of the day,” Thomas said. “Honest answer? No one knows. No one has ever been able to find a way out of Central Headquarters. The only way in and out is through the Time Line, or in this case, the pools of water. You have to have your pocket watch with you, of course. Once you travel to another Headquarters, you can go back to the mainland by using their exit. But as for the way in here, from land that is, no one knows. Not even Headrick. Many people have assumed that it was only known by the original Timekeeping family, but of course many still say that is a fairy tale.”
Thomas gave me a look out of the corner of his eye, reminding me he believed my story. That I was an original Timekeeper. I had no idea what was going on. He didn’t seem upset. He didn’t seem mad at me. Maybe he hadn’t been avoiding me at all? Maybe he
had just been busy.
We eventually found our way into a large, square chamber with stands on both sides of the room. At the front of the room was a long table at which sat, I assumed, the Timekeeping Council. I recognized several faces from my ball, but there were some I didn’t recognize as well. At the middle of the table sat Councilor Headrick, a stern expression on her face. She sat back quietly in her chair as she carefully observed each person who walked into the room. Her hair was pulled back so tightly in a bun it looked as if the skin on her face was being stretched. When she saw me, nothing changed on her face. There was no concern. She simply looked at me and then moved on to look at the other Timekeepers entering the chamber.
I followed Thomas to a table directly in front of the Council’s table. Mathias sat waiting. When I was close enough, I broke away from Thomas’s grasp on my hand and took a seat next to Mathias. A smile appeared on his face as I did. I took him all in. It had only been a few weeks since I had last seen him, but he had cleaned up nicely for his hearing. His hair was still long, but he had completely shaved off the beard that he had been growing out. He looked as if he had been getting some rest, so that was good. He leaned in and pulled me in for a hug. After a moment, he pulled away and looked at me again.
“You came,” he said.
“Of course,” I said. “We can’t let them do this to you.”
He smiled at that. There was a loud sound as Councilor Headrick beat a gavel. Thomas took a seat next to me, Alma next to him, and Ian at the end of the line. We all turned our attention to Headrick, who was now walking around from behind the table to address the chamber as a whole, her heels clicking angrily against the chamber floor. The sound reverberated off the walls, making it even louder than it really was. She wore a tight, black dress that covered her entire body, almost as if it was swallowing her up.
