Mary Beth took a breath.
"I think you're right."
"Do you still have the book?" Mark asked.
Mary Beth nodded.
"It's back at the motel."
"How could he possibly know about the book?" Piper asked. "You didn't take it into the club. You left it in the car. I remember seeing it both times."
Ben looked at Mary Beth.
"Did you mention the book to anyone? Did you say something?"
Mary Beth closed her eyes, pressed her temples, and searched her mind for answers. She needed only a minute to identify her mistake.
"I didn't say something," Mary Beth said. "I did something. I discarded a receipt."
"You what?" Ben asked.
"I threw out the receipt for the book. I tossed it in a garbage can when Mark and I walked from the club to the car. I gave a stranger the title of a book that won't be published for nearly sixty years. He knows I have the book and knows I'm from the future."
Piper looked at her sister.
"Did the man see you leave the club? Did he follow you out?"
"I don't think so," Mary Beth said. "He wasn't even there on Sunday."
"Then I think it's unlikely he has your receipt."
"He has something, Piper!"
"You're right. He does," Piper said. "He has instructions from the club owner to find you, watch you, and wait for you to make a mistake. As long as you don't say or do anything that suggests you swindled a bookie out of two thousand dollars, you'll be fine. We'll be fine."
Mary Beth conceded Piper's theory had merit. She did not concede the danger had passed. She did not have enough information to cross that bridge. She thought about the matter for another minute and turned to the young man who had called the gathering.
"Tell me more about yesterday, Ben. Who knows about the man? Who knows about us?"
Ben leaned forward.
"The whole school knows about the man. The principal made an announcement this morning. He advised us to watch out for a guy pretending to be an FBI agent."
"What did you tell the principal?" Mary Beth asked.
"I told him what I told the police," Ben said. "I told him I saw a man approach Mrs. Grant, the school librarian, and ask questions about a woman named Colleen Finley."
"What else did you say?"
"I said the 'FBI agent' thought Miss Finley was from Huntsville, Alabama, and had attended Midway a few years ago."
Mary Beth sighed.
"Do the authorities think the woman is me?"
Ben shook his head.
"I don't think so. They didn't ask about you. I'm pretty sure the police think the fake agent is just a pervert who likes looking at yearbook pictures of high school girls."
Mary Beth frowned. She could believe that.
"What about Sally? What does she think?"
"She suspects something," Ben said. "She knows you're from Alabama and knows that you fit Colleen Finley's description, but I don't think she'll be a problem."
"Why do you say that?"
Ben smiled.
"I told her that you and Piper spent the weekend in question with Mark and me in L.A."
"You vouched for us?"
"I did. I would do it again too."
"Thank you," Mary Beth said.
"Did Sally talk to the police?" Piper asked.
Ben nodded.
"She gave a brief statement and left. She wanted no part of it."
Mary Beth looked at Ben with new admiration. He was more than just a cocky high school senior who collected girlfriends like trading cards. He was a stand-up guy.
"Did you say the fake agent looked at yearbooks?" Mary Beth asked.
"That's what he did first," Ben said. "He apparently looked at every one."
Mary Beth turned to Mark.
"It's a good thing you didn't attend Midway High School. The man would have needed only minutes to find your class picture and learn your identity."
"You're right," Mark said.
Mary Beth returned to Ben.
"Did the man get a good look at you?"
Ben nodded.
"He did. He even looked at me funny."
"Weren't you scared?" Mary Beth asked.
"I was at first," Ben said. "Then I remembered he wanted a woman in her early twenties and her male companion. Sally and I didn't look like Bonnie and Clyde."
Mary Beth laughed.
"Oh, Ben, that is just what I needed. I feel better already."
Mark looked at Mary Beth.
"We still need to figure out what to do next."
Mary Beth nodded.
"I know."
"Let's at least get rid of the book," Ben said. "If we ditch the book, then the man won't bother us. He won't have a reason to bother us."
"That's not necessarily true," Mark said.
"You think we should keep it?" Mary Beth asked.
"I do."
"Why?"
"I can think of two reasons," Mark said.
"Oh?"
"The first should be obvious. If we tell the man we discarded the book, he'll just think we're lying. He'll have a powerful incentive to 'convince' us to tell him where it is."
"What's the other reason?" Mary Beth asked.
Mark looked at each of the others.
"That should be even more obvious. If we hold on to the book, we'll have a bargaining chip. We'll have something we can give him if we find ourselves in a spot."
Piper leaned forward.
"You're still assuming that this man knows about the book."
"I am," Mark said. "I am for the sake of argument."
"So what should we do?" Mary Beth asked.
Mark looked at her thoughtfully.
"You should do what's best for you. If you think it's too dangerous to stay in 1959, then you should go back to 2017. I'll understand. So will Ben."
Mary Beth appealed to Piper.
"What do you want to do?"
Piper glanced at each of the others and then gazed out a plate-glass window at cars zipping down a busy street. She needed only a moment to produce an answer.
"I want to stay," Piper said. "There's still more I want to do here."
"What about the stalker?" Mary Beth asked.
"I know things could still get dicey, but I want to stay. We will never again have the chance to time travel. I don't want to go back until we absolutely have to."
"I feel the same way."
"That's good," Piper said.
"I have one request though."
"What's that?"
"I want to make a quick trip to 2017," Mary Beth said. She took a breath. "I want to check in on Mom and Dad."
CHAPTER 24: MARK
Beverly Hills, California – Friday, June 2, 2017
Several hours and fifty-eight years after setting aside one problem at a table for four, Mark, Ben, Mary Beth, and Piper rushed into another at a table for six. Each found it easier to elude the grasp of a Las Vegas stalker than the scrutiny of two Alabama parents.
Mark handed his menu to a waiter, sipped his water, and smiled at the couple sitting across from him. He had smiled a lot at Brody and Colleen McIntire since they had invited him to lunch. Smiling beat answering pointed questions seven days a week.
"Thanks for letting us join you," Mark said. "It's not every day that Ben and I have the opportunity to meet people from the South. This is a real treat."
"It is for us as well," Brody said. "It is not every day we have the chance to meet two young men from Los Angeles. This city has changed a lot in the last thirty years."
You have no idea.
"It has."
"Mary Beth tells us you're a college senior."
"I am," Mark said. "I'm currently working toward a degree in engineering."
"What do you want to do after graduation?" Brody asked.
"I want to build rockets and missiles."
Brody smiled.
"Then you should come to the Rocket City. Hu
ntsville is a hub for rocket and missile development. I know. I've worked on NASA's Space Launch System since 2012."
Mark glanced at Mary Beth, who sat to his left, and noticed a playful grin. If she was sweating through this hastily arranged gathering, she had a funny way of showing it.
"I've read about that program, Colonel. I plan to look into it."
"I hope you do, Mark. I hope you do."
Mark took a breath when it appeared he had weathered the storm. He didn't mind talking to parents, but he did mind running a gauntlet of endless questions. He knew it was only a matter of time before he said something stupid. Encounters like this were risky.
Mark had already taken his share of risks in the preceding hours. He and Ben had smuggled Mary Beth and Piper into the Painted Lady while Donna Ryan slept, woken them before Donna got up, and led them through the time tunnel and into the drizzle of June 2, 2017.
Mary Beth and Piper rewarded Mark and Ben by inviting them to lunch. They told their parents they had met some boys on a morning walk and wanted to liven up a family meal by bringing them along. Neither parent objected.
Mark sipped his water again and looked around the table. He wanted to assess the faces in his party before jumping into another conversation. He saw both safety and danger.
Mary Beth and Piper grinned. They had arranged the unlikely gathering and no doubt felt they were getting a good return on their investment. Nothing beat watching confident young men from 1959 interact with a perceptive fiftyish couple from 2017.
Ben maintained a poker face and kept to himself. He had objected to meeting Brody and Colleen for reasons that now seemed obvious. He was even more afraid than his brother of saying something that might trigger a barrage of questions.
Brody smiled politely and divided his attention between the people at the table and an investment brochure next to his plate. He obviously had better things to do than interrogate two men he would almost certainly never see again.
Colleen apparently did not. She had asked several questions of Mark and Ben and continued to study them like curiosities in a traveling circus. She sipped her iced tea and smiled at Mark when he looked across the table and returned her gaze.
"I like your attire, Mark. Most college students prefer T-shirts and shorts over nice shirts and slacks," Colleen said. "I admire people who make an effort to look their best."
"Thank you," Mark said.
"Mark is very old school, Mom," Mary Beth said. "He told me this morning that nothing is more important than making a good first impression."
Colleen smiled.
"I like that. I believed the same thing when I was your age."
Mark nodded. He considered letting the matter drop but decided to keep it going. He wanted to move the conversation onto safer ground and perhaps spare Ben unwanted scrutiny.
"Did you grow up in Alabama, Mrs. McIntire?"
Colleen nodded.
"I was born and raised in Huntsville. So was Brody. We consider it home even though we have spent much of our lives living in other places."
"So I hear," Mark said. "Mary Beth said you spent several years in Germany."
Mark looked at Mary Beth and saw her grin vanish. He had control of the narrative now and planned to drive it in a new direction. Turnabout, he thought, was fair play.
"I don't know if 'several' is the right word," Colleen said. "We spent a few years there when the girls were very young."
"So Mary Beth and Piper did not attend school in Germany?"
"Oh, heavens no. We left Europe when Mary Beth was five."
"That's funny. I'm sure she said she attended school in Germany," Mark said. He rubbed his chin. "I guess I misunderstood what she said."
Mark laughed to himself when he saw Mary Beth throw daggers with her eyes. For the first time since stepping foot into Barton's of Beverly Hills, he was enjoying himself.
"That's easy to do," Colleen said. "I misunderstand people all the time when they talk about their backgrounds. I think it is human nature to hear only what we want to hear."
"I agree," Mark said.
Mark relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the meal. For the next fifty minutes, he engaged in light conversation with Brody, his inquisitive wife, and their suddenly reticent daughters. He covered for Ben when he could, changed the subject when he had to, and gently needled Mary Beth every chance he got. He found the experience much to his liking.
Mark was grateful that Mary Beth had asked him to lunch and just as grateful he did not have to pick up the tab. He could not believe that the cost of one entrée exceeded what he had made in a week as a soda jerk in high school. He smiled kindly at Brody when he placed several large bills on the table and the others rose from their upholstered seats.
"Thank you for lunch, Colonel," Mark said.
"Thank you," Ben added.
"You're welcome, gentlemen. It's been a pleasure."
Brody helped Colleen out of her chair and guided her around the large table. He stopped when they reached the young adults on the other side. He looked at his oldest daughter.
"Are you going back to the house?" Brody asked.
Mary Beth shook her head.
"We're going to hang out with these two for a while. We want to spend some more time with them before dropping them off."
"Where do you boys reside?" Colleen asked.
"We live in West Adams," Mark said. "We live with our mother in a turn-of-the-century mansion. It's not far from where we met Mary Beth and Piper."
Colleen cocked her head.
"What a coincidence. We've stayed in a turn-of-the-century mansion in the same area all week. I didn't realize Los Angeles had so many old homes."
Mark smiled.
"This town has a lot of things."
"I guess so," Colleen said.
Brody looked at Mary Beth and Mark.
"You four should check out the Farmers Market. I understand it's quite a place."
"It is," Mark said.
"I imagine you've been there," Brody said.
"I have. It's nice."
The colonel turned to Mary Beth.
"There's always the tar pits too."
Mary Beth smiled.
"Thanks for the suggestions, Dad, but I think we have it covered."
"Are you sure?" Brody asked.
"I'm sure," Mary Beth said. She smiled. "We might even investigate more of the mansions. You never know what one can find in old houses."
CHAPTER 25: MARY BETH
Los Angeles, California – Wednesday, April 1, 1959
If there was one thing Mary Beth did not like about time traveling, it was that it killed any chance to rest. Since leaving South Pasadena around nine thirty Tuesday night, she had tossed and turned on a guest bed, spent half a day in 2017, and then returned to 1959 in the wee hours of the morning. If she did nothing else on this day of fools, she would sleep for eighteen hours.
"Are you sure your mom is not awake?" Mary Beth asked.
Mark nodded.
"I'm pretty sure. She rarely rises before seven."
Mary Beth sighed. She hoped that was true. She did not want to meet Donna Ryan for the first time while sneaking out of her house under the cover of darkness.
She leaned against the wall of the time tunnel as blue and white crystals flickered above. She never tired of the pretty lights that signified something both beautiful and mysterious.
"Do you have a plan for the day?" Mary Beth asked.
Mark smiled.
"I have a plan for the week."
Mary Beth raised a brow.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Mark grinned.
"It means I'm taking you to a fraternity formal on Friday."
"What if I don't want to go?" Mary Beth asked.
"Then I'll take Piper," Mark said. "I hear she likes dances."
The others laughed heartily.
Mary Beth liked seeing her sister laugh. She had not seen Piper laugh more than once or twice sin
ce she had returned from the Spring Fling Saturday night. She wondered if Piper and Ben still got along. She wondered if they even liked each other.
Sixty seconds after leading three people into the time tunnel, Mark led them out. Then he walked to a switch, flipped on the lights, and stepped to the center of the dingy basement. Mary Beth, Piper, and Ben joined him a moment later.
"What do we do now?" Mary Beth asked.
"We walk up the stairs quietly," Mark said. "When we get to the door, I'll pop it open, check for signs of life, and let you pass if the coast is clear. I don't think Mom is awake, but I don't know for sure. There's a first time for everything."
"Then what?"
"Then Ben will drive you back to the motel."
"Won't your mother suspect something?" Mary Beth asked.
"No. She'll just think he left early for school," Mark said. He looked at Ben. "You have a test today, don't you?"
Ben nodded.
"I have two."
"There you go," Mark said.
"What about you?" Mary Beth asked.
Mark looked at his questioner.
"I'll leave for school at ten like I normally do. If Mom asks why I have bags under my eyes, I'll just tell her I hung out with a wild crowd Tuesday night. She'll believe me."
Mary Beth smiled and shook her head.
"You're something."
Mark laughed.
"I try."
Mary Beth looked at the group leader more thoughtfully.
"I still want to meet her."
"Who?" Mark asked. "My mom?"
"Yes. I want to meet her."
Mark sighed.
"You will. I just need to think of a way to introduce you and Piper. Unlike your folks, my mother won't believe we all met on a morning walk."
"Are you saying my parents are gullible, Mr. Ryan?"
Mark chuckled.
"No. I'm saying my parent can tell when I'm lying. I'll have to come up with a story she'll believe. I don't think she'll buy the time-travel thing."
Mary Beth giggled.
"I don't either."
Mark looked at the group.
"Is everyone ready?"
Three people nodded.
"Then let's go," Mark said.
Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) Page 11
