PLAY ON

by Marilynn Halas

  Dillon listened for a response, but when he heard it, he was a little afraid to repeat it to his mother. It was still hard for him to hear Uncle Joe. The connection was never as strong as it was with Danny, but he heard this response loud and clear.

  “He says, 'The twins may have been going blind, but you are deaf'.” Dillon’s face turned bright red. He’d never heard anyone speak that way to his mom.

  Uncle Joe went on to say that he had been waiting all along for the chance to talk to her but she was never ready. She couldn’t hear him now because she was too preoccupied with his memory. He also said that he was worried about Danny.

  “Dillon, your eyes are fine now, but Danny still can’t see much of what is around him,” Uncle Joe continued.

  Danny didn’t have a clue what Uncle Joe was talking about. I can see just fine, he thought.

  Dillon continued to repeat Uncle Joe word for word. “Danny, I know you have always felt a little alone in this world. I think there is some part of you that knew you were out of step with this time. Whatever the reason, you need to believe that you are not alone. You never have been. Even in Afghanistan, you were not alone. Your buddies risked their lives to bring you out, even though they knew it was too late to save you. Your family has surrounded you, and not just in Tennessee. Right now, you have family all around you waiting to welcome you home to them, but you can’t see them. It’s like a kind of emotional blindness.”

  Danny looked supremely uncomfortable and Dillon was afraid he might bolt. “Look, it ain’t that I don’t appreciate the intervention and all, but if I am blind, it ain’t by choice and it ain’t like there is some twelve-step program I can follow to learn to see.”

  Thomas was writing again furiously. He was making calculations and shaking his head. It was almost as though he wasn’t even interested in what was going on around him. “We need to find her,” he mumbled.

  “Who?” Tom asked his dad.

  “The old woman who gave the twins away. She is the only link to their real past, their real identity. Damn, I hate it when I make assumptions. I assumed that the boys belonged to her, or to the people in the back of the truck that night in 1985. Now I don’t think they did. Dillon and Ryan can do it. Michael McIntyre can do it. Why not the old woman? What if Danny can’t see where he is going because he needs to know more about where he is from. What if there is one more piece to this puzzle? Something they left behind them in the place they were born. Something they are incomplete without. What if Danny can’t move on until he finds it?”

  Ryan was impressed. Everyone was overwhelmed. But Thomas was busy developing a hypothesis, and a good one to boot. If Thomas was right, then they had to return to the time before the boys were in the back of the truck. They needed to know how they got to Rosa De La Joya. Only if the boys discovered their whole story could Danny, and someday Dillon, discover eternity. You have to know where you’ve been in order to get where you’re going. That made a lot of sense to Ryan, and he knew just where to start.

  December 23, 2011

  Ryan, Dillon, and Danny went back to Michael’s office and were surprised at the warm welcome they received. Michael handed them each a cup of eggnog and turned down the carols on the radio. Michael wasn’t just full of Christmas spirit, he was practically possessed by it. It was creepy.

  “Hi, guys! I’m so happy to see you. Listen, I’ve been thinking about everything and I hope we can figure out a way to work together.” Michael took one look at Dillon and it was clear Dillon knew about the crystal.

  “Where is she? Is the old woman here all the time, or do you have to call her?” Ryan was in no mood to play games.

  “Her name is Rosa De La Joya, and yes, I can call her whenever I like.” Michael didn’t bother to mention the fact that she was never very far away.

  “Call her here right now,” Dillon demanded.

  Michael feigned offense. “Gentlemen, haven’t I always helped you in any way I could? Tell me what’s going on.”

  “What’s going on is that you have been stealing ideas and technology from the future with no hesitation whatsoever, but you were still reluctant to help my son. We are not friends. I will personally give the crystal to the government and then we both know you will never make a dime from it, unless you call Rosa, right now,” Ryan snarled.

  Rosa stormed into the room and took everyone by surprise. She didn’t know what she might find, but she knew Ryan and Michael in the same room was dangerous enough to have cosmic consequences.

  “What is the meaning of this? What is going on?” Rosa demanded.

  Ryan’s whole attitude changed once he saw her. “Please, Rosa, we need your help again. We need to know where you found Dillon and Danny. We have to piece together their story from the beginning so that Danny can move on.”

  Rosa looked at Michael. She made her decision.

  “We will all go. Give me a day to make the preparations and we will go tomorrow. I will meet you in Times Square at dawn.” With that, she rushed out of the room.

  Dillon and Ryan looked at each other in surprise. “Times Square?”

  December 24, 2011

  Marie woke up earlier than usual. This time of the year, the mornings were so dark that she relished the idea of sleeping late, but today was different. It was Christmas Eve. Her family would have a full house tonight, and it wouldn’t be long before her mom was up and peeling shrimp in the kitchen. Her mom was from a long line of Italian moms who prided themselves on the special dinner of seven fishes for Christmas Eve. Marie liked the shrimp, but she could do without the eel. Still, her mom insisted on serving it all. Shrimp, baccalà (a dried cod fish that took her mom days to make), mussels, calamari, crab, whitefish, and the dreaded eel for Uncle Bob.

  Marie got dressed quickly and went downstairs to leave a note. She wanted to surprise Dillon with breakfast and then spend the day looking at the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue. She knew it would be a day they would never forget.

  As she headed out the door, the wind whipped around her face. By the time she reached the end of the block, she was already rethinking spending the day outside looking at the decorations on Fifth Avenue. Maybe a little quality time at the Plaza Food Hall was in order. The more she thought about it, the more she liked that idea.

  Marie was glad to get to the coffee shop, and even happier when they handed her a peppermint mocha and hot chocolate to go. She got a bag of Christmas cookies and was on her way. The street lights turned off as the sun broke over the horizon. It was 7:30. When she rounded the corner of Dillon’s block, she got a surprise. Dillon and his dad were already up and headed down the front steps.

  Marie wished she had thought to bring more hot chocolate. She planned to text Dillon and meet him on the street, but she never counted on Ryan being over there so early. Still, she was up, dressed, and standing twenty feet away with breakfast. She had come too far not to at least say hello. She could always beg off if it looked like they had other plans.

  Marie picked up her pace and called out to Dillon. Naturally, that was the moment the garbage truck groaned in down the street. She tried to catch up, but by the time the truck moved out of her way, Dillon and his dad had already turned the corner and were headed downtown. Marie called again, but it was no use. If they couldn’t hear her before, there was no chance that they would hear her calling after them on Fifth Avenue.

  “Okay,” she grumbled. “This is getting stupid. If they get in a cab I will just turn around and go home.” This was not turning into the Christmas Eve morning that Marie planned. Even peeling shrimp would be better than this.

  They didn’t get into a cab, but they took off at a run. Marie ran after them. The dawn was breaking and Dillon and his dad knew they had no time to lose.

  “Maybe there is some use for all that cross-country practice,” Dillon joked as he struggled to keep up with his dad. They rounded the corner and there it was, Times Square twinkling in all its early morning glory. Dillon wondered where to meet Rosa, but h
e needn’t have worried. She was easy to find. Rosa and Michael were waiting for them between the TKTS booth and the iconic statue of George M. Cohan in Father Duffy Square, right in the middle of everything. It was too early for the usual line of tourists hoping for bargain seats at Broadway shows, so there was no one blocking Dillon’s view. Rosa and Michael were on the top step of the pavilion.

  The sun was rising higher and higher, and when Dillon reached them, he found Danny already there. Before he realized what he was doing, Dillon blurted out, “Why here? The cave I understand, but right here in the middle of Times Square? I don’t get it.”

  “There are many things you don’t get, but you will learn,” Rosa said. “Time travel can occur anywhere there is a great energy source and someone prepared to use it. The cave works because of what is underneath. Hundreds of miles below the surface of that cave is a massive deposit of plutonium. That untapped energy provides the power needed to travel to another dimension.”

  “Don’t tell me there is a plutonium mine waiting to be discovered under Times Square,” Ryan said.

  “Of course not. What surrounds us here is much more powerful. It is the most powerful, renewable energy in the world,” Michael said, practically salivating.

  Danny and Dillon looked at each other and shrugged. As a budding scientist, Danny was desperately hunting through his memory for what might be more powerful than plutonium. “It can’t be solar. Even at the equator, it couldn’t be solar, right?”

  Rosa looked right at him and it was clear she could easily see Danny. “You are right. It is not solar. Let me tell you a story. We believe at the dawn of time, the Great Creator made human beings and he wanted them always to be able to find him again. There was a special key that would always bring them back into his presence. His servant asked him where he would put the key so that humanity would not lose it. The Great Creator smiled and told his servant that he would put it in a place where they could never lose it, but that sadly, because it was so safely tucked away, only a few would ever find it. Then he put this key, this greatest source of energy inside us: the power of thought, faith, and love. Times Square is the crossroads of the world. People come from all over and add their gifts to this place. The gifts of thought, faith, and love are the only gifts that grow greater the more they are shared, and so this is the place of the most powerful energy in the universe. It remains unharnessed because so few of us discover its power. That is why time travel eludes most; they are overwhelmed in one dimension and cannot access the key that would allow them to expand into others.” Then Rosa looked squarely at Michael. “Even some who are given the key can never fully use it. Some never move beyond their thoughts and so they need to borrow faith and even love in order to access the power of the key. Thought alone is only a beginning.”

  Dillon and Danny didn’t know what to make of that. It sounded good in theory, but surely it was just some indigenous legend describing the energy of certain places all over the world, energy patterns that Rosa must have recognized in Times Square.

  “Wait a minute,” Dillon gasped. “Is that why they named it Times Square?”

  It would have been much easier to dismiss if they hadn’t seen what happened next. Rosa raised her hands and the wind around them began to blow. It lifted dust and papers, and soon it was so fierce that even some of the neon signs began to swing. Marie was only a few yards away now, watching the whirlwind take shape.

  The wind continued to move all around them, and Dillon and Danny began to feel like they were in the eye of a storm. Soon the winds began to spark as they moved, and the energy discharged with loud cracks. Ryan reached for Dillon, but Ryan was blown back. Dillon didn’t know what to expect as the cyclone around them grew tighter and tighter. It looked like a freak storm to the other people in Times Square and most of them ran inside, but Marie moved closer, utterly entranced. Another second and Rosa began to shout prayers or incantations or something else that Dillon and Danny could not understand. She opened her arms wide and blasted Michael and Ryan out of the circle as Marie was swept in. Suddenly, the ground shifted beneath them and Dillon could see it open up as if to swallow them whole. Dillon squeezed his eyes shut and reached out for something to hold on to, and he caught hold of a hand. He was sure it must be Rosa’s. Then he opened his eyes. Shock replaced relief when he realized that Marie was falling with him through a great abyss.

  As they fell, Dillon cried out for Danny. He couldn’t see him but he knew for sure that Danny was right beside them. Marie’s eyes were wide with terror and she gripped Dillon’s hand for dear life. Dillon tried to close his eyes and relax. He knew from experience that this kind of travel always went better with a relaxed mind, but it was almost impossible. He worried about telling Marie about this and now she was right here in the middle of it all. The wind whistled in their ears and it was a bumpy ride as they fell through the icy air.

  Soon the ground was rushing up at them and Dillon knew it wouldn’t be long before impact. Rosa landed gracefully on her feet, but the others didn’t do quite as well. Danny tumbled down and rolled to a stop on his side at Rosa’s feet. Dillon tried to pull Marie closer to him so he could catch her and maybe even break her fall, but no such luck. Dillon came down with a thud, and Marie finally released her grip on his hand. When he rolled over, he understood why. Marie was lying on the ground a few feet away and she wasn’t moving.

  New Year’s Eve 2049

  “Marie!” Dillon yelled as he raced over to her motionless form. Danny was already at her side and the look in his eyes told Dillon all he didn’t want to know. Carefully Dillon rolled her over and wiped the blood from her forehead. She was never intended to make this trip with them and now she might never make it back. Dillon knew they had a future together, but now that she was here in this place, it seemed like she was literally out of time and that everything could change.

  Rosa knelt beside her and took Marie’s wrist in her hand. Marie’s pulse was weak and her lips were starting to turn blue. Danny knew from basic training that if they didn’t do something soon, Marie would not wake up. Rosa removed her shawl and wrapped it around Marie. Without saying a word, she lifted Marie’s feet a little higher than her head and put her bag underneath them. Then she stood.

  “Dillon, you must bring me a very special herb. Cleome monophylla. It’s about a foot high and it grows in places just like this.” That was the first moment Dillon took his eyes off Marie and looked around. They had landed in a wasteland of dry brush and dirt.

  “Nothing could grow here but weeds,” Dillon said with a rising panic.

  “It is a weed. Now go and hurry.”

  Dillon bolted and Rosa leaned over to listen to Marie’s heart. To Danny, Rosa gave another instruction. “You go and find me two rocks. When he finds the weed, we will need to pound the roots to make a fine powder.”

  Danny was on his feet in an instant, but he worried that it might be a waste of time. “What makes you so sure he will find the root she needs anyway?”

  Rosa looked at him with a serene expression. “This is why we have come. This is the reason that you must bring balance between the physical and spiritual, the eagle and the condor. People need this healing. Now it is Marie, but the whole world needs the balance you will bring. This is part of your journey. The weed will be here because Dillon needs to find it, and you will find the means to crush it because you must. That is your journey. That is my faith.”

  Danny found Dillon on his hands and knees in the underbrush. Dawn had broken and they could clearly see Marie and Rosa a few yards away. “I don’t even know what the heck I’m looking for. Danny, what am I gonna do?”

  “I’ll tell you what we are not gonna do. We are not giving up.” Danny sounded a lot more confident than he actually felt. He looked around for a big flat rock, but found nothing. He tried to find a rock he could use as a hammer, but there wasn’t anything the right size or shape. In the distance, Marie began to moan.

  Then Danny did something he had
n’t done since he was a small boy. Even in his own last moments, he thought about it, but he was gone before he could begin. “Oh dear God, please help us help her. She loves Dillon and he’s gonna need her. Please show me how to grind the root and show Dillon where to find it.”

  The place around them darkened and then was bright, as though a lightning bolt had flashed across the sky. Danny looked over at Dillon, but he didn’t seem to see it. When the sky cleared Danny saw a mortar and pestle and shouted to Dillon that the plant they needed was right under their feet. Danny didn’t know how he knew, but he was sure that the plant they needed was right beside them.

  When they returned to Rosa’s side, there were tiny beads of sweat forming across Marie’s face. She was pale and her breathing was shallow. Dillon had seen his future and knew he would become a doctor. He figured he must have made that choice so he would be able to cure himself of Leber’s Disease when the time came. But now, looking down at Marie, unconscious and struggling to breathe, he knew that wasn’t true. He would become a doctor so that he would never feel this helpless again.

  Rosa was surprised to see the mortar and pestle, but she took it gratefully. She ground the roots until they were reduced to a fine, brown powder. Very carefully, Rosa put the powder on Marie’s lips. Dillon and Danny didn’t know quite what to expect. They hoped she would sputter back to life, cough, or even moan, but there was nothing. Rosa put a little more on her lips, then reached for Marie’s small hands. She put one in Danny’s hand and one in Dillon’s. Dillon trembled when he held it and thought of the first time he held her hand, skateboarding in the park—he had been trembling then too.