Fortune

by Craig W. Turner

  When he noticed his paper cup was empty, Jeff pulled his phone from his pocket and clicked it on for the time. He was now only ten minutes early, which seemed acceptable. He tossed the cup into a nearby trash can and headed up a flight of stairs to the second floor, where Erica’s napkin had indicated her office would be. Sure enough, halfway down the hall he found a door with her name on it. “Dr. Erica Danforth – History.”

  The door was slightly open, so he knocked softly and pushed against it. “Hello?” he asked.

  “Hello,” he heard Erica say from the next room over. “C’mon in.”

  Jeff opened the door all the way and entered the office. As he’d guessed upon hearing Erica’s voice, it was two rooms, the first a reception area lined half with books and half with historical artifacts. It reminded him automatically of Dexter’s living room, only with a different theme. This was all Western stuff – rifles, hats, Western wear. The first thing he thought was how wonderfully she and Dexter would get along if they’d met under the right circumstances. A window looked out onto the campus quad, the morning sun shining in.

  Erica hadn’t come out, so he poked his head into the second room, which was her office. She sat behind an old wooden desk, her head down, writing. While the main room had been riddled with history, this room was much more workmanlike. The desk, a lamp, and bare walls except for a framed proclamation. Jeff was too far away to see what it was for, but he could see it was issued in the state of California and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

  He stood in the doorway for a moment until she looked up. “Sorry,” she said, motioning him to the visitor’s chair, which he took. She pointed to the papers on her desk. “Have to do the real job, too,” she said.

  He smiled. “What’d you have to do to get a two-room office?” he asked.

  “Television,” she said. “No matter what you’re doing, if you put your mug on TV you step into a higher echelon.”

  “Honestly?”

  She laughed, nodding her head. “Yep. I had what I would describe as a little cubby on the other side of campus until I started doing The Mystery of History. Suddenly, they ‘worked it out’ for me to have a better space overlooking the quad.” She finger-quoted “worked it out” and motioned with her thumb toward the quad. Jeff liked her mannerisms and sarcasm. They were comforting, and he hoped her openness and humor were positive indicators of her willingness to work with him.

  “That’s great,” he said. “Maybe if you’re able to help me with my little dilemma, you’ll get your own suite.”

  “Not likely,” she said. “But since you’ve brought it up, let’s get to it.”

  He nodded.

  “Before we get into details, though, I have a question for you that’s been plaguing me all night. You build this fantastic device – a time transporter of some sort – that allows you to go back and forth in time to visit the great eras in our nation’s history.”

  “Technically, any history,” he said.

  “Right – any history anywhere in the world, any time.”

  Jeff nodded.

  “So after accomplishing that, given that precious gift that no one before has ever experienced, the only thing you can think to do with it is go back and rob people?”

  He laughed. “Well, when you put it that way...”

  “I honestly can’t think of any other way to put it,” she said. Her eyes were serious, a far cry from the playfulness she’d been showing a moment ago.

  “I guess it was opportunity. And a little bit of adventure. There was only so much to do. You can’t go back and find yourself and make changes. You can’t really observe history without interacting with it. So, we found some instances in history where there were questionable things happening, and we were able to usurp them.” It was a terrible explanation, but it wasn’t a question he was prepared to answer for her at this point.

  “Opportunity and adventure,” she repeated, unimpressed. “How did you come up with your targets? Dexter?”

  He nodded, trying to probe whether she really wanted explanation from him or if she was building up to something. “Pretty much. I’d never even heard of Joe Wilton until a couple months ago. What we looked for were opportunities that had been well-documented, with some degree of reliability.”

  “What does that mean – ‘degree of reliability’?”

  “Dexter laid down some ground rules, the foremost of which is that there can’t be anything supernatural involved.”

  “Supernatural?” She literally leaned forward as she said it, indicating to Jeff that she needed more information on that one.

  “Yeah, like... Take Joseph Smith. We would never mess with Joseph Smith. Anybody who said they saw angels, the devil, used voodoo, cursed treasure. If you can’t trust the account, there’s no way of knowing what we’d be walking into.”

  “I guess that makes sense.”

  “Well, if I’d known I could’ve just watched your show for ideas... The big thing to remember is that Wilton’s gold went missing and was never seen again. Miles’ money was stolen. Garvey’s jewels were lost in the fire. We weren’t changing fortunes. We were simply intercepting fate.” He’d just come up with that one, and kind of liked it.

  She didn’t, though. “If that helps you sleep at night.”

  Erica stood and walked around her desk, sitting on it. It was a classic show of superiority in the conversation, and given that he needed something from her, he was willing to go along with it. In fact, in his mind her body language indicated that she was going to say yes. He kept himself from smiling at his ability to read her. Though, the move around the desk led him to believe there might be strings attached.

  “Alright, here’s my deal,” she said with a new tone – probably the tone she used when she was assigning mid-term papers to her class. “I don’t one hundred percent believe that you can do what you say you can do, or, frankly, that your friend got stuck in the past. But I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and have you show me. If you can prove to me that you can travel through time safely, I’ll help you rescue your friend.”

  He leaned forward. “How would you like me to prove it to you?”

  “I want you to take me to 1831.”

  Didn’t ring a bell. “1831? What’s that?”

  “In Philadelphia, there was a records depot that burned down in 1834. I believe that building held documents related to Dexter’s death.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “I have my sources,” she said.

  “Another place burned down?” he asked, almost amused at the irony. She didn’t share it. “So, you want me to take you to that records place before it burns down? That’s not a problem. Then, if that is proof enough for you that the technology works, we come back here, get Emeka and Abby - who you haven’t met yet – and go to 1770 to get Dexter?”

  “Yes, and it’s actually a dual-purpose trip,” she said more quietly. “Besides proving to me that you can do this without hurling us into a tenuous situation, I’m also not completely comfortable with the details on Dexter’s whereabouts. It makes me nervous to think that he may have been held in the Old Stone Jail. I’d want more information, and I think we can find it in those records.”

  “I’m agreeable to everything you just said,” he said, thinking that what she was offering was even easier than he’d anticipated. A trial run would make her more comfortable and he wouldn’t be worried about her anxiety over the trip in addition to the need to find Dexter. “When do we leave?”

  She asked for a day to get period clothes together, and she’d meet him in Philadelphia. He tried not to read into how she’d become so agreeable, as he’d been assuming he’d have to make a much stronger pitch. Whatever her motivation, though, he left the office extremely pleased that his team had grown by one. Apparently, enticing historians with a trip back in time was a far more powerful motivation than treasure or fame.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The door to the ladies�
�� room opened and Jeff watched as Erica emerged. There were a handful of people around but no one was really paying attention, so there were no long looks at the 19th century woman making her way across the park toward him. She had on a homey green dress that was cinched at the waist over top of a white turtleneck with a small white bonnet.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  He laughed. “It’s very becoming.”

  “I’ve always wanted to dress like this for something other than a reenactment,” she said. “There’s something to be said for the simple life.”

  “It hardly looks simple. You look like you’ve got about twelve layers of clothes on.”

  She laughed. “Well, it’s simple as far as not having to make any decisions about what to wear each day.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I’m just a prop anyway. You’re the one that has to do the heavy lifting.”

  “I’m not much of a role player.”

  “Well, you don’t have a choice. As a man, you’ll be able to get away with things that I won’t. I’ve done all the homework. This is your ballgame now. Now go get dressed.”

  Jeff obeyed, sneaking in and out of the men’s room. He wore a loose blue shirt, dungarees and what he would describe as a farmer’s hat. He had soft brown boots that he couldn’t imagine would hold up through any day’s labor, but Erica had insisted they were historically accurate. He’d be playing the part of a trader making his way up the East Coast.

  Walking up to Erica, he held his bag open for her so she could toss her 21st century clothes in, then he ran to the car and put the bag inside.

  Jeff had to admit that Erica was actually right – his new outfit was simple and comfortable. Strangely, their full garb that was perfectly natural in 1831 also seemed natural for standing in the middle of Schuylkill River Park. In Philadelphia, he guessed that their outfits were commonplace, as they still weren’t getting looks from anyone. With reenactments and the daily historical tourism, there were probably enough people in the area for whom this was their daily work attire anyway.

  What could get noticed, though, was when these two early Americans disappeared into thin air, so as Jeff reached Erica she fell into step with him to move toward their rendezvous point in an isolated corner of the park.

  “You’re sure this was just an open plot of land in the 1830s?”

  She nodded as they walked. “Yes. Why, what happens if we zap into a place where there is something?”

  “Well, nothing, really.”

  “So if we go somewhere where there’s a wall standing there, there won’t be any issues. What, do we just move to the side?”

  “No, that’s not it,” he said. “Technically, nothing will happen to us. See we’re not ‘going’ anywhere. It’s actually time that’s changing around us. So if we time travel and we end up standing where there’s a wall or a tree or a rock, we win.”

  “What do you mean, we win?” She actually stopped to ask that question.

  He turned to face her. “Meaning, we will displace whatever’s there. We have the right to that space.”

  He could tell this was either confusing her or he wasn’t explaining it properly. “What if it’s like half of a tree?”

  “That’s why we want to make sure we get it right. I’m sure neither of us want to be stuck in a tree, or some other immovable object.”

  She turned and continued walking. “Doesn’t that seem a little risky to you?”

  “That’s why you’re here to walk us through it.”

  She sighed. “No pressure, huh?”

  He laughed for her. More of a fake laugh, mainly to calm her nerves. He’d given lots of thought to her question, and his experiments had led him to believe exactly what he was telling her. Still - if they could avoid any problems... “We haven’t had an issue yet.”

  “Always a first time.”

  As they continued across the park, the crowd thinned until they reached a place where they were alone. Jeff started to say something about it being a great place to make out, but closed his mouth before speaking. Way too many dynamics at play for even a simple joke like that. Instead, he asked, “So this is the spot?”

  “According to the map, yes,” she said, checking the landscape for onlookers.

  “Well, let’s do this before we attract anyone’s attention,” Jeff said, pulling the time device from his pocket.

  “Don’t worry, we’re in the clear. Nobody’s watching,” Erica said, then, “This’d be a great place to come make out.”

  He laughed. Though he was immediately irritated that she’d had the courage to say what he hadn’t, and appeared more open-minded than he’d realized about how informal their relationship was. Plus, she was funnier than him. “You’ve got all the calculations?”

  She pointed to her head without speaking. She had a look on her face like a sprinter in the starting block waiting for the gun, building the adrenaline and getting ready to go for it. He liked it. He found himself hoping that she would enjoy what she was about to experience – kind of the feeling he got when he would watch a movie he’d already seen with someone who hadn’t. She was his responsibility now.

  “I wrote them down on my arm, too,” he said, pulling up his sleeve and showing her two lines of numbers. One was for 1831 and the other was to get back to their present time. He’d shown her these numbers on the ride down and she must’ve memorized them. Which seemed unbelievably impressive. There were a lot of numbers to remember.

  She shook her head. “Well, let’s hope I don’t get amnesia and you don’t get caught in the rain.”

  “Yeah, that’d be bad.”

  Jeff extended the device to Erica and she grabbed it. Their hands were about an inch apart, but he could feel the softness of her touch, along with her uncharacteristically trembling. After one more wide scope for eyewitnesses, he pushed the button and the world melted around them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  July 11, 1831

  Erica felt a slight sense of vertigo for a moment before her brain reassured itself that her feet were firmly on the ground. It was a different ground than it had been a moment before, but only in her perception of it.

  “Is that it?” she asked Jeff, who was standing beside her, his hand clenched around the other end of his invention, the time travel device. She noted how high her own voice was – she was practically breathless with adrenaline.

  “That’s it,” he said calmly, having been through this before. “We’re here.”

  “How can we be sure where here is?”

  “Well, we’ll have to do a little checking. But we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  She inspected her surroundings. From one perspective, the park looked very much the same as the one she’d just left – though the trees were definitely smaller. It seemed more open and sunnier – in fact, as she considered the sun, she realized it was quite a bit warmer than it had been only seconds before. They’d left September aiming for July, and the temperature was at least one sign they’d hit their mark. Which allowed her to relax a bit, even as her mind wanted to panic. Was this really happening?

  What was glaringly absent as she looked around was the distant Philadelphia skyline and the apartment buildings that had lined the park. The park facilities were missing, as well – including the restroom building where they’d just changed their clothes. In fact, there really weren’t any buildings in the immediate area, though she could see in the distance the outskirts of the city beginning to emerge. “Unbelievable,” was all she could say.

  “Isn’t it?”

  She looked over at Jeff who, even though he’d done this before, was just as amazed, looking around the way you do when you get to your resort on the first day of vacation.

  “This is really incredible,” she said. “I know we have work to do, but what I wouldn’t give to spend a few days here.”

  He smiled. “That’s what Dexter always says.”

  “Well, now I guess he got that chance – and
that’s why we’re going to do things by the book.” She stopped to place herself, imagining where she’d just seen the high-rises, which had been over a tuft of trees to her right. “So if my directions are correct, we need to head that way.” She motioned to the east.

  “That seems right to me,” he said as she continued searching her surroundings. “I trust your judgment.”

  “No time like the present,” she said, and started walking. He fell into pace next to her and they walked swiftly across the park – which she was realizing was really just a field now. Granted, she knew that parks in the early 1800s wouldn’t have slides and swings and fountains, but there was also no one there enjoying the outdoors. Of course, leisure had taken on a different look when the 20th century arrived, so the likelihood that anyone would be sitting around a park in this time was small. Too much work to do, too much nature and outdoors to go around.

  They reached the park boundary and small buildings began to appear – a few homes, a blacksmith, and a small general store. It astounded Erica that only a half-hour before they’d been waiting in a line of traffic in front of Target and Applebee’s in that very spot. It was such a treat for her, despite not being able to take as much time as she’d like to enjoy it.

  “What are you thinking?” Jeff asked, his best effort to make small talk as they walked.

  “I’m thinking I would love to sit down with the people that live in these houses and just pick their brains on what they think of their lives. When you think of everything that’s happened – all of the advancements, all of the wars, everything that has become of America – since this time, it blows your mind.”

  “Yes, it does,” Jeff said as they saw their first people since they’d arrived – a man who was dressed pretty much the way he was, putting up a fence at one of the houses with the help of two boys.

  “These people don’t know that in 20 years they’re going to discover gold in California, and their neighbors will begin to head west,” she continued. “They don’t know that in 30 years those boys’ sons will be enlisted to fight a war against their own brothers. It’s such a simple life – they can hide from all of that.”