Time Trap

by Danele J Rotharmel

  Nicole gurgled. “Practice, practice, and more practice!”

  As they walked across the gallery, countless people stopped Nicole to compliment her art. She responded with wit and charm. Nicki watched with admiration as her older-self moved through the crowd with poise. When they arrived at a semiprivate alcove, she asked, “How can you be so self-assured around all these people?”

  Nicole squeezed Nicki’s hand. “I took Gil and Sue’s advice and talked to a new person every day. Like everything else, self-confidence is just a matter of practice.”

  Looking at her glamorous future-self, Nicki said hesitantly, “I’m awfully glad I got a chance to meet you, but I don’t understand why you wanted to see me.”

  Nicole looked Nicki straight in the eye. “I wanted to let you know some bad news followed up by some very good news.”

  “I was afraid it was something like that,” Nicki mumbled. “What’s gonna happen?”

  “By the time Christmas comes for you, Mom and Dad will have filed for divorce.” As Nicki gave a dismayed gasp, Nicole said quickly, “I wanted to tell you because I didn’t want it to come as a complete shock.”

  “This is all my fault!” Nicki moaned. “I shouldn’t have been such a pain. I shouldn’t—”

  “No! You’re not responsible for their breakup. They’ve been growing apart for years, and they’ve been neglecting their relationship just like they’ve been neglecting you.”

  “Is there anything I can do to stop the divorce?”

  Nicole shook her head. “I want you to prepare yourself and focus on your art.”

  Nicki took a shuddering breath. “What’s the good news?”

  “The good news is that you’re going to have a perfectly wonderful life. Just because Mom and Dad can’t get their acts together doesn’t mean you have to follow in their footsteps. Work hard, and by the time you’re nineteen, your paintings will be exhibited in galleries. Keep working hard, and by the time you’re my age, you’ll have achieved success beyond your wildest dreams. You’ll have good friends, a lovely house, money to spare, and a wonderful relationship with God. You’ll be a success by the world’s standards, but more importantly, you’ll be very happy.” Nicole ran a gentle hand over Nicki’s hair. “Don’t let Mom and Dad’s bad choices discourage you.”

  “I’m glad you told me.”

  Nicole gave Nicki a hug. “I knew you would be.”

  Taking a shuddering breath, Nicki asked curiously, “So, are you married?”

  Nicole’s musical laughter filled the air. “Not yet, but not for lack of asking. You’ll receive four marriage proposals by the time you’re my age.” She smiled. “But, actually, only two of them could be counted as genuine.”

  “Why’d you say no?”

  “They were both nice men, but neither had Jesus eyes. I’m holding out for God’s best.”

  “But you do date?”

  “Of course I do.” Nicole chuckled. “It’s the spice of life. My current fella’s standing by the eagle sculpture.”

  Nicki glanced across the room and saw a handsome man who looked as if he’d stepped off the cover of a glossy magazine. “Wow!” She whistled. “He looks like a fashion model.”

  “That’s probably because he is one. Good looks are nice, but remember they aren’t the only things that matter.”

  Nicki hesitated. “Did…did you ever date…?”

  “Gregory Hinkes—the boy you currently have a desperate crush on?”

  Nicki blushed and nodded.

  “Of course I did.” Nicole laughed and whispered in Nicki’s ear, “Greg was a nice boy, but his friend Mitch was a much better kisser!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  “I found it!” Laura crowed as her groping fingers touched one of the missing flashlights. Grabbing it, she switched it on. The darkness cringed back into the corners and sulked.

  “Way to go, Miss Marvel!” Peter exclaimed.

  Grinning, Laura went to the metal door and studied the keyhole. “How are your lock-picking skills?” she asked with a quirked brow.

  Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “About as good as yours, I’d guess.”

  Taking a bobby pin from her hair, Laura knelt by the door. After thirty minutes of trying to pick the lock, she sighed and passed the bobby pin to Peter. As he jiggled the pin in the lock, he muttered, “This door looks new. I’ll bet Spider installed a high security door just to keep us trapped.”

  Laura nodded and walked around their prison, looking for options of escape and finding none. Finally, she studied the only other object in the room—the mattress. Giving it a kick, she asked, “Do you think we can do anything with this?”

  Continuing to ply the bobby pin in the lock, Peter replied, “Logically speaking, it could be useful. Maybe not as an option of escape, but it’d be warmer to sit on than the cement floor. I just don’t know if we can trust it.”

  Laura bent down and inspected the mattress. “Why are you so suspicious of it?”

  “After the fall, it took us too long to regain consciousness—especially you. The mattress may have a chemical poured on it that we can’t see or smell.”

  Laura raised a brow. “That’s possible, I suppose.”

  Peter winced as the bobby pin snapped in the lock. Shaking his stinging fingers he said, “I don’t trust Spider or his bed. Anything he provides can’t be good for our health.”

  “You’re probably right.” She wandered back to Peter’s side. “Do you want another pin?”

  “I don’t think it’d be much use,” he replied, picking up their backpacks. “I’m pretty sure the lock’s tamper proof—that’s probably why Spider chose it.”

  As they walked to the wall furthest from the door, Laura asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice, “Can you check for spiders before we sit down? I hate to admit it, but spiders give me the creeping willies.”

  “Not a problem,” he replied, sweeping away the webs and crushing the insects he found. When he finished, he sat down and beckoned to Laura. “Come here,” he said gently.

  She laughed. “I don’t need to sit on your lap again. You’ve killed the local wildlife.”

  “I guarantee my lap will be more comfortable than the cement.”

  “I’m sure it would be.” She smiled, sinking to the floor next to him. “But you don’t have put yourself out on my account. I’m a big girl.”

  Peter wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled their blankets over their laps. “Any ideas on how to get out of here?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “We can’t pick the lock, and the hole’s too high to be a means of escape—we couldn’t reach it even if you stood on the mattress and I stood on your shoulders. There aren’t any fire alarms or sprinkler systems we can trigger. The walls are cement—we can’t punch through.” She sighed. “As far as traps go, this is a pretty good one.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Peter said in a bolstering voice. “We’ll get out. But until we do, we’d better ration our food and water.”

  Laura tugged the blankets up to her chin. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Well, I don’t know about you,” Peter replied with a smile, “but I think it’s the perfect time to play twenty questions.”

  Laura blinked and swatted his chest.

  “Okay, if you don’t want to play twenty questions, how about we get more acquainted?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” she sputtered. “We’ve known each other forever.”

  “I’ll grant you that”—he chuckled—“but I’ll bet there are still a few things we don’t know about each other.”

  “Such as?”

  “Our favorite toy when we were growing up, our most embarrassing moment, the funniest thing we ever saw… I’m sure we can think of all sorts of subjects to talk about.”

  “I’ll play your get-acquainted game,” she said, turning off the flashlight, “but let’s do it in the dark. We should conserve our batteries.”

  As darkness flooded the roo
m, Laura heard a rodent scuffling in the wall behind their heads.

  “Laura,” Peter asked, “how do you feel about mice and rats?”

  “I don’t mind them,” she replied, trying to see him through the inky blackness. “My brothers kept mice as pets, and my youngest brother had a trained rat that he kept in the barn. Why?”

  Chuckling, Peter said self-consciously, “Well, one thing you definitely don’t know about me is that I feel about rodents the same way you do about spiders. I don’t even like cute, fluffy hamsters. Pretty embarrassing thing for a grown man to admit, isn’t it?”

  Laura’s expressive voice held an understanding smile as she squeezed his hand. “I’ll make you a deal—you defend me against the spiders, and I’ll defend you against the rats.”

  “I’ll take you up on that.” He laughed. “You’re one in a million.”

  “Thank you, kind sir.” Smiling against the darkness, Laura leaned her head against his shoulder. “So, what was your most embarrassing moment?”

  “Other than admitting to a pretty lady that I can’t stand mice?”

  She laughed and nodded. “Other than that.”

  “Fay Hennly,” Peter said with a groan. “Hands down, it’s gotta be Fay Hennly.”

  “That horrible girl you took to the drive-in? Tell me about her.”

  Tucking the blankets securely around her shoulders, Peter said, “I was seventeen, and Fay was a girl I knew from school. I thought she was kinda pretty, so I asked her out.”

  “What movie was playing?”

  “Some Disney cartoon, I think.”

  “And you were all excited?”

  “Sure was. I’d been working as a part-time dishwasher at Stubby’s Diner, and I’d saved up enough money to buy this really cool silk shirt. My date with Fay gave me the perfect opportunity to wear it. I thought I looked like a million bucks.”

  “So what happened?”

  “You know what happened.”

  “Only the bare bones. Don’t be miserly, give me details!”

  Peter gave a weak chuckle. “Well, everything went fine for a while. But halfway through the movie, without warning, Fay just kinda lunged at me.”

  Laura gurgled.

  “Hey, it wasn’t funny. It still makes me nervous thinking about it.”

  “So, what’d you do?”

  “Honestly, I was so shocked that I wasn’t sure what to do. Here was this girl leaping on me, and I didn’t know where I could appropriately touch her to push her away.”

  “Oh, Peter”—Laura laughed—“you poor guy!”

  “About that time, I felt her tearing the buttons off my new silk shirt. When I heard my shirt ripping, I got plain mad and stopped worrying about appearing rude. I managed to get my car door open and slide out. I told Fay I was going to the concession stands, and then I called Sam and told him I had an emergency at the drive-in.”

  “That must’ve been quite a call.”

  Peter nodded. “You’ve just gotta love Sam. He was in a meeting with the church deacons, but when he heard my panicky voice, he dropped everything and came. When he saw my ripped shirt, he pretty much knew the score of things. He told me not to worry, and then he went to my car and sat down in the backseat.”

  Laura shrieked with laughter. “This is priceless!”

  “Sam told Fay he was out for a jog—in a suit mind you—and that he had an irresistible desire to see a movie. He thanked us for letting him horn in on our date, and he kept up a constant stream of talk through the rest of the movie. Fay was only answering in monosyllables, and I was frankly too shaken up to respond much. When the movie was over, Sam said he’d pulled a hamstring and asked if I’d drop him home. That gave me an excuse to drop Fay off first.”

  “Sam’s a trooper!” Laura said in a quivering voice.

  “He sure is. Fay was so embarrassed about being caught by the preacher that she never looked my way again, and her mouth was sealed concerning our date.”

  “What ever happened to her?”

  “Sam got Sue to go visit her, and Fay ended up getting involved in church. We never became friends, though. That night was pretty embarrassing for both of us. Last I heard, Fay was married to a mechanic up in Westfield. She has a houseful of kids.” Peter squeezed Laura’s shoulders. “But enough about Fay. It’s your turn. What was your most embarrassing moment?”

  “Mine isn’t nearly as dramatic as yours.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You have a literal captive audience.”

  “In that case, I rode a bus going the wrong direction in college.”

  “Come on.” Peter groaned. “After filling you in about Fay, you’ve gotta do better than that.”

  “I’m not finished yet,” she said, her expressive voice bubbling with laughter. “I rode a bus going the wrong direction every Thursday for two months straight, trying to get up the nerve to talk to a cute guy who was riding it.”

  “Did you ever talk to him?”

  She nodded. “But when I was finally brave enough to approach him, he was more interested in my brain than in me. I might as well have been a guy. All he saw was another mind he could use on a project he was working on.”

  “I’ll admit your brain’s pretty fascinating.” Peter chuckled, resting his cheek against her hair. “But if that guy couldn’t see how perfectly beautiful you are, then he definitely wasn’t worth your time. He sounds like a perfect drip—and a dumb drip at that!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Sue watched from across the gallery as Nicole and Nicki talked.

  “Psst,” Sam whispered, elbowing her arm. “What’s this statue supposed to be? It looks like a blob of silly putty eating a gecko.”

  Sue’s lips twitched. “According to the plaque, it’s supposed to represent Inner Oblivion.”

  Sam stepped back and squinted. “I don’t get it,” he said flatly.

  “Shh!” Sue chuckled. “Just act like you do.”

  As a tattooed man sauntered by, Sam stroked his chin and said sagely, “What an epitome of the struggle against obscurity.”

  The tattooed man stopped. “Excellent appraisal. Are you an art critic?”

  “No.” Sam grinned. “I’m a preacher from Colorado who likes iguana-eating blobs.”

  “Ah,” the man murmured, raising an eyebrow and moving away.

  Choking back a laugh, Sue hissed, “I thought you were going to behave!”

  “Believe me, Susie-Q, I’m trying.” Sam’s eyes twinkled. “It’s just such hard work!”

  Before she could reply, Nicole and Nicki strolled over to them. Zeke walked up at the same time, straightening his tie. Sue watched as Nicole looked curiously at Zeke. It was obvious that the artist was struck by the enormous size of Zeke’s nose. Sue didn’t blame her—Zeke’s nose was a marvel of nature. Seeing Zeke’s flushed cheeks as he glanced Nicole’s way, Sue narrowed her eyes. A smile played along her lips as she sized up the situation.

  Beside her, Sam asked Nicki, “So, how’d it go?”

  The teen gave a huge smile.

  “That good, huh?”

  Nicki nodded. “Even better. I’m gonna like being me!”

  Nicole’s laughter sparkled through the air. “Glad to hear it, honey. Being us is lotsof fun.”

  “So, did you find a parking place?” Sue asked, drawing Zeke into the conversation.

  The computer tech nodded. “The only space available was several blocks away. When we’re ready to go, I’ll leave early and pick you up at the door.”

  “That’s thoughtful,” Sue replied. She turned to Nicole. “Sam and I have already looked at your lovely work, but Zeke hasn’t seen it yet. Would you like to show him your paintings while we take Nicki for refreshments in the other room?”

  Nicole smiled and took Zeke’s arm. “I’d be delighted.”

  When Nicole and Zeke moved away, Sam whispered in Sue’s ear, “Just what are you up to? We haven’t seen Nicole’s paintings yet, and after all these gecko-eating blobs, I was looking forwa
rd to viewing them.”

  Giving a spot-on imitation of Twinkles, Sue groaned in despair. “Men! You’re all as blind as bats—even the best of you!”

  * * *

  Laura chuckled in the darkness. She was enjoying Peter’s little game of personal questions, and she was learning a surprising number of things about him. “Favorite toy?” she asked.

  “That’s easy—a Jiffy Quick Oven.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” she exclaimed, choking with laughter.

  “Not kidding at all,” Peter replied. “I found my mom’s ancient one in the attic, and I loved fooling around with it. I mostly cooked mud pies. The thing caught fire when I tried to bake bird’s nest soup using a robin’s nest.”

  Laura gurgled.

  “You?” he asked.

  “My grandfather’s abacus. It fascinated me.”

  Peter rubbed his cheek against her hair. “That figures. You always did love math.”

  “Okay, here’s a serious question for you,” Laura said. “How old were you when you accepted Christ as your Savior?”

  The laughter stilled in Peter’s voice. “I was eleven. I’d started hanging out with Dan, and he’d just accepted Christ. He was so excited that he talked about God all the time. Even though Sam and Sue were newlyweds, they opened their home to me. Sue mothered me, and Sam scolded me when I stepped out of line. I went to church with the Ablemans, but honestly, I was on the fence when it came to religion.”

  “Because of your parents?” Laura asked softly. She felt him nod.

  “I was an angry kid,” he admitted. “Even though I tried hard to win my parents’ approval, nothing I did was ever good enough. Eventually, Mom and Dad dumped me at my grandmother’s and told me it was because I was too much of a pain to have around. They claimed to be Christians, and I decided that if they served God, I sure didn’t want to.”

  Laura found his hand in the darkness and held it. “I’m sorry.”

  Peter squeezed her hand. “I’ll admit what they did hurt, but realistically, being dumped at Gran’s was the best thing that could have happened to me. Mom and Dad were selfish people. If I’d stayed with them, it would have screwed up my life. Mom moved to California to find her inner child or some other rubbish like that, and Dad had a succession of girlfriends and wild parties to prove he didn’t miss her. Although Gran wasn’t interested in me either, living with her put me just a few doors down from Sam and Sue. They stepped in and filled the gaps that were missing in my life, and Dan was like a brother. Later, when Angelina and Alex were born, it felt as if they were my own siblings. I can’t imagine my life without the Ablemans.”