Waking in Time

by Angie Stanton

  I stagger back, bumping into Colton. My hands are shaking, I push my punch into his hands, hoping he takes the glass before I drop it.

  Colton’s dad speaks to the man. “Dad, is this the girl you’ve been waiting for?”

  “Abbi.” The old man’s smile beams across the room and tears sparkle in his eyes.

  I stumble forward and kneel at his side. Tears spring to my eyes too. He reaches for my trembling hand.

  “Professor, you didn’t die.” I whisper, struggling to find my voice. Tears roll freely down my cheeks now, and I don’t care.

  “Dad, what’s going on?” Colton asks, utterly confused.

  His father shushes him. “It’s okay,” he says.

  The professor’s weary eyes never leave my face. “You warned me about that bombing, and I never forgot.” His eyes are faded and crinkled with crow’s feet but still shine with the levelheaded stability that helped me at my darkest times.

  I begin to weep in earnest and all my pent-up emotions of fear and loneliness pour out. He leans forward in his recliner and pats my back with his bony hand. It’s as if the professor and I are the only ones in the room.

  “It’s all right, Abbi. You made it home.”

  “I was so scared.” My voice hitches as I try to stop crying. “I never thought I’d be able to come back.”

  Professor Smith gazes at me with somber relief. “You’re safe now. No need for tears.” He grips my hand as if he too barely believes I’m here. But I can’t stop. I’m so relieved, and it’s like all my anxiety and stress flow out at once.

  “Abbi, are you okay?” Colton kneels next to me, clearly wondering what the hell is going on.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” I smile, taking the tissue he’s holding out for me.

  Colton looks to his grandfather. “Gramps?”

  “It’s a long story, Colton. Give them some time,” Wally says.

  The professor turns to his grandson. “Colton, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me. Abbi and I met a very long time ago.” He pats my hand and I smile back. Colton is still as confused as ever but sits on the floor next to us as the professor begins.

  “The first time she and I met, I was a frightened boy of seventeen starting college.”

  “Gramps? That’s not possible…” Colton interrupts.

  “Do you want to hear this or not, Colton?” the old man chides.

  Colton looks to his dad as if to say his grandfather’s gone bonkers, but his dad gestures for him to listen. “Okay, okay, go ahead,” Colton says, casting me an uneasy look.

  “Mom, why don’t you sit down, so you can hear this too?” Colton’s father suggests to his elderly mother.

  Mrs. Smith takes a seat in the recliner next to the professor’s with a spry energy that belies her age. “I’ve known this story for more than fifty years. I finally get to witness it firsthand.”

  The professor continues. “You see, Colton, Abbi was so kind to me and helped me gain my confidence when I was thinking of quitting school.”

  “And that was the last time I saw you,” I say softly, remembering that day.

  “But I saw you again three years later,” he says, then addresses Colton. “That’s when Abbi told me this cockamamy story that she traveled through time.”

  Colton looks at me with disbelief, as if I’ve been scamming his grandfather, but he holds his tongue.

  “Of course, I didn’t believe her, but Abbi was patient and eventually convinced me. I saw her several times over the years.”

  Someone yells “Game time!” from another room. Colton’s mom closes the doors so we can have quiet, then takes a seat on the couch, soaking up the story.

  The professor takes a drink from his glass and clears his throat. “It was during that time that I began work on my theories for time travel. I don’t think I would have accomplished what I did in my career if I hadn’t met you along the way. You believed in me before I believed in myself.” He gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

  “I was just a scared girl who needed a friend. You were always destined for greatness.”

  “And I was a lost young man with no direction and no family. The last time I saw Abbi was in my lecture hall in 1970. It’s thanks to her that I didn’t go to Sterling Hall the night of the bombing that August.”

  “Professor…” I say. As much as I want to rehash the whole story, I have to tell him who he is. “I have to ask you something. What do your initials W. C. stand for?”

  He looks at me oddly, his brow creased.

  Colton answers. “W is for Walter and C for Colton. All three of us are named Walter Colton Smith. I’m the third. Why?”

  I sigh and smile wide with such relief. “I think you are the fourth.”

  “What?” the professor gasps. “Why do you say that?”

  “You know how I was with my grandmother in 1951?”

  He nods slowly, recalling the scene.

  “If you recall, the note Grandma wrote that I received with the hatbox asked me to finish what I had promised. You see, she wanted me to help find the baby. She discovered that her mother—Ruby—had a baby before she was married. And now that I think of it, maybe that’s what got this whole thing started. I think that near the end of Grandma’s life, she realized that I had somehow, impossibly, been her roommate at Liz Waters.”

  I glance at Colton and the others in the room. They are silent, totally confused, but I can’t stop to explain everything now.

  The professor nods, hanging on my words.

  “Soon after, I traveled to 1930.”

  “To Will.”

  I’m hit with a pang of sadness at losing him, but I need the professor to hear the rest of my story. I take a breath. “To Will, and also to Ruby, my great-grandmother.”

  “This is impossible,” Colton says, getting frustrated and looking to his dad again to stop this nonsense, but his dad gives a simple shake of his head.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but listen. Ruby was pregnant when I met her,” I continue.

  He stares at me.

  “She was planning to marry the father, but her stepmother sent her to a convent to have the baby.”

  The professor goes still as a deer.

  “The convent was in Chicago,” I say softly.

  The professor’s wife takes his hand and says, “Abbi, what is it you’re trying to tell us?”

  “Ruby was dating, and later married… Wait! I think I put the letter here.” I dig in my bag, filled with various things collected during my travels, and finally put my hands on it. “Ruby wrote to me in July of 1930.” I unfold the letter and hand it to him. “See here, she was sent to the convent. And here, Ruby says her son was born July seventeenth, and she named him Walter Colton Smith… after his father.”

  There is an intake of breath from everyone in the room. The professor reads the letter and covers his mouth with a trembling hand to hide his emotion, but his eyes are brimming with tears. He hands the letter to his son, who quickly scans it.

  “As soon as I read Ruby’s letter, I finally put it together. Remember the picture of the nun we found in the hatbox? That was Ruby from her time at the convent. And your name is Walter Colton Smith, the same as my great-grandfather’s, but I didn’t know it was your name until that night.”

  “There were two other Walters at the orphanage, so Smitty was easier,” he says, his voice breaking, and I wonder if all this is too much of a shock for him.

  “You see, Professor, my grandmother, Sharon, was your sister.” My voice shakes. “And Ruby, your mother, never wanted to give you up, but she was forced to. She and Walter always wanted you.”

  He pulls a tissue from the box and mops at his face. “I always hoped it might be something like that. But you know what this means?” He rests his weary eyes on me.

  I nod, my eyes watering agai
n.

  “You and I are family.” He reaches for me and I accept his bear-like hug.

  “You’re my great-uncle!” I laugh through my tears.

  “And all my kids and their kids are your cousins.” He gestures to the others in the room.

  I beam. “I always wanted a big family.”

  “But, Abbi, why didn’t Will tell me any of this?” the professor asks.

  My gut tightens. “I never got a chance to tell him. He was caught sneaking in that night and was hauled off to jail.”

  “That’s right. I recall it now. You see it was over fifty years ago he told me.”

  “And I traveled that very night, and woke up here, this morning.”

  Colton’s eyes widen. “You’re saying that you were in 1930, like, yesterday?”

  I nod. “And I left Will all alone, trapped in time. As soon as I woke up today, I went to find his buried treasure, but they’ve taken it.” And even though I’ve just gained a family and given the professor the knowledge of who his parents were, I’m filled with despair. I fulfilled my promise to Grandma, but I’ve lost Will.

  The professor reaches for my hand. “Abbi—”

  “Some grad students found Will’s buried treasure, and now, if he ever travels this far forward in time, he’ll never find his tin. I won’t be able to get a message to him.” I stare at the floor, miserable.

  “Abbi,” the professor begins again, this time his voice strong and direct.

  I look up.

  “Will is here.”

  “What?” My breath leaves me.

  “I saw him last night.”

  CHAPTER 24

  “He’s here? Now? Today?”

  He chuckles. “Yes, he was in this very room. I retired from the university years ago, but I told Will how to find me. That’s why I’ve refused to move to a smaller house.”

  “But I’ve been here all day. Why didn’t he come find me?” Then I realize I was all over campus and never in my dorm room for long.

  Colton’s brow furrows. “Abbi, what’s this Will guy look like?”

  “He’s tall, has sandy-blond hair, he laughs a lot, and has this dimple.” I touch my cheek, picturing him perfectly with that sparkle in his eyes.

  Colton’s jaw drops open.

  “What?”

  “Does he row crew?”

  I nod.

  “That’s my roommate! I invited him to the bonfire at Picnic Point last night, but he ditched because he had someone to see. It was you!” Colton says, turning to his grandfather.

  All of the sudden my sight narrows to tunnel vision and nothing else registers. Will is here. I stand. I can’t let Will slip away from me again. What if he traveled last night?

  “Did you see him this morning?” I demand.

  Colton nods. “Yeah, he’s a night owl. He sleeps in.”

  “I have to go. I have to find him. Please, can someone drive me back to campus?” My eyes dart around the room in desperation.

  Colton jumps up. “I’ll take you.”

  “Thank you! Professor, I’m sorry, but I have to find Will. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I do. There’s so much more I want to tell you!”

  “Hold on, I’m coming too.” The professor strains to rise from his recliner.

  Colton helps him. “Gramps, are you sure?”

  “Damn straight, I am. I haven’t had this much excitement since I met my first time traveler back in fifty-one!”

  “Dad, I’ll take you. You’d never be able to wrench yourself out of Colton’s car,” Wally says.

  Together Colton and I help the professor to his feet.

  “Professor, what if I can’t find him? What if he’s gone?” I can’t keep the panic from my voice.

  “Rest assured, Will is as desperate to see you as you are to see him.” He chortles. “And to think how angry you were with him that first day!” I can see the professor thinking back to that time so long ago.

  “Any idea where Will would be?” I ask.

  “He was sleeping when I left my dorm room a couple of hours ago,” Colton says.

  We hop into Colton’s car and race toward campus.

  “I know my Gramps won some prestigious awards for his work in physics, but is all this actually true?” He gives me the side-eye while taking a corner.

  I pull the newspaper out of my bag. “You know that buried treasure discovered on Picnic Point? It’s written up in the Badger Herald. There’s a photo in there of Will and me that we took back in 1930. For me it was only weeks ago. Some of our letters are pictured, and see that gold watch? It belonged to Will’s father.”

  He glances at the paper and the car veers toward a parked truck. “Eyes on the road! You can read this later. And would you please drive faster.” If only I could zap us to wherever Will is right this very instant. Colton runs a yellow light and I grip the armrest. He speeds along, losing Wally and the professor in our fumes.

  When we arrive on campus, students are everywhere, so it’s difficult to get through. Once at Tripp Hall, Colton parks in front of his dorm and we jump out.

  “Will must have been up all night, to make sure he stayed here.” I say, imagining him pacing the halls.

  We run into the dorm and down the first-floor corridor. My heart is pounding. When we arrive at his room, I see Will’s name on the door and nearly hyperventilate.

  “Hurry,” I urge Colton, wanting to break down the door.

  He swings it open, but the room is empty. The wind goes out of me. If Will isn’t here, where is he?

  I step into the room and recognize his bag hanging over the foot of the bed. I run to it and clutch it. The room even smells like Will. I sigh with relief. I’m getting close.

  We run back to the car, and his dad and Professor Smith are waiting, their hopeful faces fall the moment they see us without Will.

  “Now where?” Colton asks.

  “Did Will tell you what he planned to do today?” I ask the professor.

  “Only that he planned to see you, but we didn’t know if you’d be missing from this time, or here, but unaware of the time traveling.”

  I glance over the surrounding trees and shrubs, willing him to step out of the shadows. “He could be anywhere, Picnic Point, at crew practice, my dorm, maybe the Union Terrace.”

  Wally takes charge. “Let’s split up. Colton, why don’t you check out Picnic Point since it’s too far for your grandfather. Abbi, try your dorm and see if he’s been there. I’ll take Dad to the Terrace where we’ll keep an eye out and wait for you to meet up with us.”

  We take off in different directions. I take the sidewalk that cuts from Tripp Hall over to Liz Waters. The lawns are green and the bike racks are overflowing.

  Inside my room, Jada looks up from painting her toenails. “You sure are popular today. Another guy stopped by to see you.”

  I nearly cry with relief.

  “Are you okay?” Jada holds the tiny brush in midair.

  “I’ll be better soon. What did he look like? What did he say?” This has to be Will. I can’t imagine anyone else who would come.

  “He was tall, really cute. Oh, and he had this long blade of grass in his hand. Kinda weird!”

  Yes! “And what did he say?” I’m tense, like a spring wound too tight.

  “That you should meet him at the bell tower.”

  Of course. “When was he here?”

  “About two hours ago.”

  “He must have stopped by right after I left.” I can’t believe I missed him. “So you think he’s there now?”

  “Maybe. I asked if he wanted to leave his number, but he said he hadn’t figured out how to use his phone yet. Isn’t that odd?”

  “No. That’s Will.”

  “That’s right. His name was Will. So you know him?”


  Heading out the door I smile. “Yes, I definitely know him.”

  * * *

  If Jada’s right, Will is two minutes away. I hurry outside, where I can see the top of the Carillon Tower beyond the Social Sciences Building. I consider texting Colton that I may have found Will, but I want this moment for myself.

  I follow Observatory Drive the short distance down the hill and then up to where the tower is. Other students on the sidewalk block my view of the tower’s base. My heartbeat thumps against my chest and my hands perspire as I try to find Will in the crowd. Please be there, please be there.

  A group of students cuts across the street, and finally, I see him. He’s wearing cargo shorts, a gray Wisconsin T-shirt, and leaning against the building with one foot braced on the stone wall. I grin at how perfectly he blends in with the other students.

  Will stares into the distance, his hair blowing in the breeze and his mind seeming a million miles away. He’s probably soaking up all the changes of the twenty-first century, with students buzzing by on mopeds or walking with their eyes glued to their cell phones.

  I stop about fifteen feet away, my heart bursting. He looks exactly the same as yesterday with his deep summer tan, sun-streaked hair, and lean body.

  Something causes him to turn and look in my direction, and he freezes. “Abbi,” he gasps, and his expression morphs from casual indifference to shock and relief.

  He tosses away the blade of grass and strides toward me. I run into his arms. He holds me tight, and I hug him back, releasing all the pain and anguish of losing him. Having him in my arms feels like I’ve finally come home, and neither of us is willing to let go.

  He nuzzles my neck and breathes in my ear. “I’ve missed you desperately.”

  I inhale his scent and melt in his arms. “I thought I’d never see you again,” I whimper.

  He pulls away to look at me, tears in his eyes. “My beautiful Abbi,” he whispers. Then he lowers his mouth to mine.

  When we part, he cups my face. “I can’t believe you’re really here. I hoped, I prayed, I wished on stars, and here you are. It’s a miracle.”

  “It’s only been a day for me, but I was out of my mind worrying about you.”