Mount Emily Revisited

by Low Ying Ping

  “So what do we do now, oh Keeper of Time?” Elena teased.

  Patsy waved her hand dismissively, but glowed with inward pleasure. She deliberated for a bit, then said, “We’ll need to find the Crystal of Time. When we returned to 2015 after our first adventure, we didn’t see the crystal in the hole. We didn’t search the place thoroughly as we simply assumed it had been used up. I guess it must have been in the hole all this while—covered by some soil. Just now, I felt it against my foot and used its power, but it doesn’t look like I brought it with me, since I wasn’t holding it. Let’s check to be sure.”

  The girls climbed up the slope again and dug in the soil for a bit, using various cards from their wallets as tools, but there was no crystal to be found.

  “I guess we should try to find out exactly what date it is today,” Patsy said at last, wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her grubby hands. “And get ourselves cleaned up.”

  Elena’s expression was deadpan as she dusted off her hands against each other. “That sounds like a plan.”

  Patsy could not tell whether Elena was being sarcastic about her rather dull suggestion of what to do. They had still not spoken of Elena’s silent treatment of her the past week. Was her friend still angry deep inside, or had the excitement of adventure mollified her?

  Patsy wished she knew better what Elena was thinking. After their last adventure, Elena had promised she would try to be more open about her feelings. Well, she sure hasn’t fulfilled her promise, Patsy thought sourly as the girls made their way down the slope, walked the short distance to the railing and climbed over it.

  They cleaned themselves up at a nearby toilet, then ventured towards the canteen and classroom blocks. Their uniforms were modern, improved versions—made of lighter and more breathable material, and their skirts were not as prudishly long as those in 1988—but with luck, nobody would notice. If they did, they would probably just think the girls were being defiant by wearing their pinafores several inches shorter than the school rules allowed.

  It turned out that they had nothing to worry about. The school was practically empty. Only the drinks stall and one noodles stall was open in the canteen. There was a scattering of students but none paid them any attention.

  “Well, it certainly isn’t a school day. Maybe a Saturday,” Patsy commented.

  “Not a Saturday.” Elena drew Patsy’s attention to the empty concourse area outside the canteen. “No uniformed or sports groups in training.”

  “Not a Sunday either, or there won’t even be any stalls open or students around,” Patsy surmised.

  “That poster—it said Open House is on the 19th of November. That’s during the school holidays, isn’t it?”

  Patsy nodded slowly. “Yes… you’re right. It’s probably the holidays now. That’s why the school’s so quiet.”

  “Oh, why are we trying so hard to guess?” Elena exclaimed. “Let’s just ask someone.”

  “No, they’ll think we’re crazy!’ Patsy protested, but Elena was already approaching a small group of students seated round one of the long tables in the canteen.

  “Er… excuse me…”

  The girls looked up at Elena quizzically.

  “Do you know what date it is today?” Elena continued, not at all affected by Patsy’s urgent tugging at her sleeve from behind.

  “The twentieth?” one of the girls said, sounding wary, as if afraid she was being the butt of a practical joke.

  “Of which month?” Elena pursued.

  “Is this a trick or something?” the girl said, frowning.

  Before Elena could reply, Patsy pulled her away, smiling and nodding apologetically at the seated girls.

  “What?!” Elena said, sounding annoyed. “I was just getting close to the answer.”

  “No need,” Patsy said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the lone stall that was open. Hanging at the back wall was an old-fashioned Chinese almanac calendar. Roughly the size of a big textbook, the calendar was formed of a thick wad of micro-thin papers held together by a metal grip at the top, each sheet representing one day of the year. The date was printed in enormous print at the centre of each page, and the small print listed the various auspicious and inauspicious activities for that day. People would tear off a sheet with the passing of each day so that the current date would always be displayed. Such calendars were hardly seen in modern times, but Patsy remembered from her adventure in 1987 that they were pretty common in the past.

  This particular calendar was showing the date “20 December 1988.”

  It was a Tuesday, near the close of the year-end school holidays.

  “Oh good, we’ve solved the mystery!” Elena said. “What luck!”

  “Solved the mystery?” Patsy echoed, regarding Elena with incredulity. “Far from it! We don’t even know if Charlotte and Auntie Min Ling have been kidnapped already!”

  “Relax,” Elena said soothingly. “Can’t you just enjoy the moment?”

  “How can I relax?” Patsy yelped. “This is my first mission as a proper Keeper of Time and we’re right down to a bad beginning! It’s really your fault, now that I think about it. If you weren’t getting all dramatic at the slope, I wouldn’t have activated the time crystal by accident and got transported here unprepared!”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay?” Elena said in a placating tone. “Look, I’ll help you. It’ll be like the good old days. Charlotte said you rescued her and her mum, right? That means we’ll manage it somehow.”

  Patsy thought for a moment. Charlotte’s mother, Auntie Min Ling, had told them during their last adventure that the past could never be changed. That was why they could not prevent Maggie’s death, even though they knew the fateful date in advance. Well, Charlotte was alive and well in 2016, which meant that Patsy must have succeeded somehow.

  That thought reassured her somewhat, until it occurred to her with some alarm that even if she had succeeded in rescuing Charlotte, at what cost was that success? She knew from her last conversation with Charlotte that Auntie Min Ling was not alive in 2016. When did she die? What if it was in 1988? What if it was because of Patsy’s ineptitude? And what about the third person? The one Charlotte said was the most important of all? Who was it and what had happened to that person?

  Patsy wished she understood more about how the time stream worked. What if—and here Patsy gave an involuntary shiver—only things you already knew about could not be changed, but those you didn’t could? That meant the only certainty she had on this adventure was that Charlotte would survive the crisis. Anything else could still happen, and no one else was safe.

  “Hey,” Elena nudged her. “It’ll be all right. Trust me. I’m sorry I caused this, but maybe it’s for the best. Here’s your chance to prove yourself as a Keeper of Time!”

  Patsy shrugged, trying to push away her fears. Elena clearly assumed that Patsy had forgiven her as she gave Patsy a quick hug and a broad grin.

  This is so like her. She apologises when it suits her, and all is well again, Patsy thought, feeling rather dejected. She had no doubt Elena was sincere in her apology, but she suspected the motivation for that was not true contrition but her love for adventure. She just wanted to resolve their friendship problems quickly so they could focus on the excitement ahead. But what was the point of harping on it? Elena had apologised. What more could she say?

  Don’t be such a bitter little person, Patsy told herself firmly. Move on.

  chapter eight

  e need to think what to do now,” Patsy said as the two girls walked out of the canteen. “The last time, we took on our mothers’ identities and stayed in their homes. We obviously can’t do that now.” She looked enquiringly at Elena, but her friend had taken on a glazed look, as if her thoughts had drifted far away.

  “Hey,” Patsy said, nudging Elena’s arm.

  “Huh?”

  “I was saying, we need to think where to go.”

  “I want to go home to see my grandfather,” Elena said
quietly.

  Elena’s parents worked late on most days, and Elena had practically been brought up by her maternal grandfather—until three years ago when he passed away. Patsy knew Elena missed him badly. That had been the reason she had stolen the time crystal during their last adventure. She had simply wanted to stay with him in 1987.

  “He won’t recognise you now, you know,” Patsy reminded her.

  “I know. I just…want to see him.” Elena’s face was set in a determined, stubborn look.

  Patsy did not want to be separated from Elena, but she knew she had to get her priorities right. “Okay,” she said. “But there are only eleven more days left of 1988, and I know the rescue must happen before the end of the year. I’m going to look for Charlotte first. You still remember where she lives?”

  Elena nodded. The three girls had gone to Charlotte’s flat to work together on a geography project during their last adventure.

  “Then come look for me there when you’re done,” Patsy said, trying to keep her nervousness out of her voice.

  Elena nodded again.

  “It’s going to be tougher this time round,” Patsy warned. “Last time, when our consciousness went into our mothers’ brains, we could rely on our mothers’ knowledge and memories. Now we’re entirely on our own. Good thing we’ve been to the past before.”

  “Do our mobile phones still work?” Elena asked suddenly.

  Patsy’s face lit up. She fished out her mobile phone eagerly from her pinafore pocket. The screen was blank. She pressed the power button and the “battery empty” icon showed up for a second before disappearing. Elena’s phone was the same.

  “Oh well,” Elena said, “time travelling must have drained all of the battery.”

  “We did move through twenty-eight years,” Patsy acknowledged, shaking her phone and pressing the button again, but it was no use. “I guess no battery can last that long.”

  “Are you sure time travel works that way on electronic gadgets?”

  Upon hearing that, the anxiety that Patsy had been trying so hard to keep in check finally flared up. “I don’t know! I’m just making it up as I go along, okay? I’ve been a Time Keeper for all of an hour and nobody’s taught me anything!”

  “Okay, okay,” Elena said. “Don’t get your hair on fire. You’re doing fine. I’m sure you’ll figure it out along the way.”

  Patsy continued sulking all the way to the school gates, and Elena let her be, until they reached the bus stop. Then they realised they had another problem.

  “Our bus passes are for 2016 so we can’t use those,” Elena groaned.

  Patsy quickly went through the notes and coins in her wallet. “They’re all minted after 1988, so we can’t use these either!”

  Elena was digging in her wallet too. “I’ve a fifty cent coin that’s dated 1981,” she exclaimed, holding up a coin.

  “Gosh! That’s super rare!” Patsy said, taking the huge coin and admiring it.

  “But it’s not enough for both of us,” Elena said. “Only one of us can make the trip.”

  The girls stared glumly at the bus that had pulled up before them. It looked rickety compared to the modern buses they were used to. The dusty windows were open as the bus was not air-conditioned. It was the right bus for both of them, for Charlotte and Elena’s mother lived along the same bus route. But there was one small snag—they only had enough money for one ticket.

  Looking at the open windows, a thought occurred to Patsy. “Bus fares weren’t as expensive in the past. Come on!” She waved at the bus driver just as the doors swung shut, and fortunately the driver was kind enough to re-open them.

  Patsy was right. It cost only 25 cents each to take the bus. The girls sank down with relief on the hot, bloated seats as the bus rattled off.

  In a rush, the girls made their plans. Patsy would alight first at the block where Charlotte lived along Toa Payoh Lorong 6. Elena’s mother and grandparents lived in a block of flats on Lorong 8, just several streets away from Charlotte’s. Elena would get off several stops after Patsy and see if she could catch a glimpse of her grandfather. She would then walk over to Charlotte’s flat and meet Patsy there within an hour. If all went well, by that time Patsy would be in Charlotte’s flat and have filled her in on the events of the past day.

  Neither Patsy nor Elena mentioned what they would do if Patsy found Charlotte’s flat locked and empty. Patsy knew there was a chance Charlotte and her mother had already been taken by the Midnight Warriors. That would mean she and Elena would be trapped in 1988, without any usable money, with nowhere to stay, and without a time crystal. And on top of that, they had to figure out how to rescue Charlotte and her mum without any help. Patsy pushed that thought away resolutely. They would cross that bridge when they got to it.

  The bus trundled to a stop at the side of a four-lane street lined with trees and blocks of flats on both sides of the road. Patsy got off the bus and Elena gave her an animated wave. “Take care!” she called, sticking her head out of the open window.

  “You too!” Patsy yelled back. She stood at the bus stop for several seconds, getting her bearings. Yes, this was the correct stop. And there Charlotte’s block was—just across the street. She took a deep breath. Would Charlotte and Auntie Min Ling be there? In less than five minutes, she would know.

  Patsy checked for cars in both directions, then stepped off the pavement.

  A voice came from behind her. “Hey, aren’t you the girl who picked up my books?”

  She turned and saw a boy standing at the edge of the pavement. He looked about fifteen or sixteen and was dressed casually in T-shirt, Bermudas and sandals. He was beaming at her and his open, friendly face had a look of pleasant surprise.

  Picked up his books? She looked at him hard. He was slightly taller than her, of medium build and scholarly-looking, wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. No, he didn’t look familiar at all. Sometimes, when she was out with Elena, teenage boys would approach Elena to chat her up and ask for her phone number. But of all the pick-up lines she had heard, this boy’s must be the worst. It didn’t even make sense.

  Well, it was probably a case of mistaken identity. No boy would be attracted to her anyway. She touched her mousy hair and felt her lips start to purse in annoyance. As she turned away to head on across the street, she caught a glimpse of the boy’s smile abruptly disappearing, then he leapt towards her. Startled, she widened her stride and made to dash across the street, away from the crazy guy.

  But he was too quick. She had only walked a step when he had already pounded out the four steps it took him to reach her. Before she was even aware of what was happening, he had grabbed her with both arms and spun her to one side. They fell towards the pavement and she felt him twist so that he landed first and she toppled on top of him. The blare of a horn shrilled in her ears as the motorcycle that would have mowed her down screeched off and disappeared down the road.

  Patsy pushed herself off the boy and sat on the grassy ledge of the pavement, gasping. She could feel her heart pounding as she realised what a near miss she had had. The boy sat up too. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “You saved my life!” Patsy said, her voice trembling in amazement and shock from what had just happened. Then she noticed the bright red stains on the right side of his T-shirt. “You’re bleeding!”

  The boy raised his right arm and twisted it awkwardly to try to see the underside. Patsy could see that the skin over his elbow and part of his forearm had been scraped off from when he hit the rough surface of the road.

  “It’s okay,” he said, squirming with obvious discomfort and turning red when Patsy pulled out a piece of tissue and tried to pat the wound with it. “It’s my fault anyway. Stupid of me stopping you in the middle of the road like that.”

  “Who are you anyway?” Patsy asked, stopping her useless dabbing of the boy’s arm and looking at him.

  “Don’t you remember me? We met once, briefly…” He stopped himself and slapped his fo
rehead with an open palm. “Ow,” he winced as the movement touched off the pain from his injury. “Never mind, pretend I didn’t say anything. I keep forgetting…”

  Patsy looked at him, puzzled, then a thought occurred to her. “Oh my gosh, don’t tell me…” She looked at him steadily, trying to read the expression on his face. “Tell me if this means anything to you: Time—”

  “Traveller,” he finished the phrase for her.

  They stared at each other in wonder.

  chapter nine

  on’t tell me you too came from another time?” the boy asked excitedly.

  Patsy nodded. She was still wary of revealing too much information about herself and the secrets associated with being a Time Keeper, but figured this much she could acknowledge, since clearly he was a time traveller too.

  “Oh wow, this is too cool!” he exclaimed. “What are the odds of us bumping into each other like this?” Then he frowned. “Wait a minute. This can’t be a coincidence. Are you here to visit Charlotte too?”

  Patsy gaped at him, too surprised to speak for a moment. “You know Charlotte?” she finally blurted out.

  “Oh yes, I’ve known her practically all my life,” he declared, smiling. “It’s a long story, though.”

  He’s known Charlotte all his life, and even shares a long story with her, Patsy thought, wondering why that knowledge made her feel a twinge of disappointment. Then, it occurred to her that if he came from the future, the Charlotte he knew intimately was an adult, and her heart lightened again. “Well, we’d better hurry to Charlotte’s flat and get that wound cleaned up,” she said aloud.

  The boy raised his arm again to inspect his wound, which was no longer bleeding but looked raw and ugly and clearly needed attention. He got to his feet, grimacing a little. Only then did Patsy notice that his right thigh and calf had also suffered several nasty-looking abrasions.

  He got these injuries for me, Patsy thought, a warmth suffusing her insides. She itched to offer him a supporting hand as he limped along beside her, but before she could decide if she should, they had reached the void deck of Charlotte’s block.