Sky whistled. "Good for her. And Tariq?"
"Gay," Addi said hauling a bag through the door, "and out and very proud of it. In the future you guys go shopping together."
Sky gasped. "What? No, Tariq isn't gay!"
"Yep." Addi stuck her head around the door. "You are supposed to find out five years from now when he tried to have a thing with you and it didn't work out. You can thank me for the heads up now."
"Addi!" Sky called walking behind her, "tell me more about this."
"I don't know anything much, you must have tried to have sex with him or something and it wasn't happening." Addi headed to the kitchen where Randy and Josh were drinking water thirstily.
Josh heard the last part of her statement and choked mid-gulp.
Addi rolled her eyes and headed through the back door. She dumped the next bag of newspapers in the incinerator. Three more and she could set it alight.
She was blocked at the door by a scowling Josh. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Addi matched his scowl with one of her own. "What's wrong with you?"
"You are going to stop this future nonsense stuff." Josh pointed at her, "or else I am going to tell Mom and Dad."
Addi glared at him. "Well tell them. Please. Stage a family intervention for me."
Josh looked at her aghast as she called his bluff.
"Whatever you do will not prevent the fact that I am what I am. And I say the things that I know to be true of the future. I can't believe that you threatening to tell Dad and Mom on me worked in the past."
She brushed past him and looked back. "If you would just for one moment believe that I know the future it would save you a ton load of hurt!"
She walked toward the music room with Sky hurrying behind her.
She finished the music room in a huff. Sky finally chipped in to help her haul away the newspapers. And then her mother came home saw the machine sitting in the corner and the sewing supplies and started to get nostalgic about sewing.
"No," Addi shook her head. "I already promised to lend it to Myrna."
"Okay, okay," her mother looked around. "Good job, Addi."
"I am thinking of repainting in here and putting up a curtain at the window and turning this into a proper study," Addi said, "I have yet to put up the books on the shelves. Maybe I should move my desk in here."
Her mother nodded. "Sure, go ahead."
****
Addi and Sky accompanied Josh and Randy as they moved the sewing machine and other things nextdoor. When Myrna saw them coming she widened her eyes in astonishment. They set up in a large empty front room, with Myrna leaning on the door, tears in her eyes.
"Thank you, all of you, for the help. And Addison… I don't have the words."
"You are welcome," Addi said tiredly, being on her feet all day was catching up with her. "I'll take my material by tomorrow."
The four of them walked back over to the house mostly in silence. The air had a nippy bite to it even though the evening sun was still out and shining in its golden splendor.
Addi felt dusty and tired. her little tiff with Josh had drained her somewhat. She didn't like when they had disagreements and she especially hated the way that he was so strident against her talk of the future.
She went straight to her room with Sky walking behind her. "I didn't read the book about resetters to you."
"Can I bathe first?" Addi asked, "I feel filthy."
"Sure." Sky made herself comfortable on the bed and started skipping through the pages.
Addi was surprised to see that she was still engrossed in the book.
She pulled on a gray dress with bell sleeves and looked at herself in the mirror. It wasn't until next year that her breasts got bigger. She undid her bun and combed through her hair slowly.
"Are you going to try a bang?" Sky asked glancing at her.
"Nope." Addi shook her head. "Already did. Didn't like it."
Sky frowned. "Lucky you. You have already done your experimenting. Anyway, want to hear this?"
"Yes." Addi plaited her hair in two and left them hanging at the sides of her head. She looked like a young girl.
Too young. She was tempted to unravel them but resisted the urge.
"Are you listening, Miss Vanity?" Sky muttered.
"Yes, I am." Addi turned her attention to Sky.
"It says here, that resetters who have never traveled always have two distinct lines in their palms."
"Like I did before." Addi nodded. "Since I traveled my palms are full of lines like yours."
"Gwen Fisher says that one in every million babies born to this world are resetters. They can be found in every race, everywhere in this world. There are several pathways, on the planet, so far only four are rumored to be in Jamaica."
Addi nodded. "The blue stone on this land is one."
"The other three are not known for sure. There was this guy, Oswald King, from the 19th century who had an article about it in the Gleaner. She has a clip of it here." Sky pointed to the page.
"Gwen Fisher said that is where she got all of her information on resetters. She spotted the article in the archives, while working at the library one day.
"Oswald King had a clue for all of the pathways. Like a treasure hunt kind of thing. Hear this. 'In a land that is cool, the stone is blue, palm to palm you'll know what to do.""
"That's here." Addi grinned, "A land that is cool is Mandeville and the stone here is blue."
"Do you know this one?" Sky read it slowly, "At the side of the road in plain sight covered in stone lays a resetter and his ride."
"Nah," Addi shook her head.
"How about this?" Sky was enjoying herself. "Nestled in a rock with grime and filth lays a gem in the midst of it, for a resetter do with it what he wilt."
Addi grinned. "Okay then. Vague."
"And this," Sky chuckled. "The keystone in the arch looks unassuming, but many a resetter has placed their hand on it and escaped a dooming."
"Ha." Addi shook her head. "Maybe I should solve the riddles and write a book about it."
Sky shrugged, "Good luck to you and that. Oswald King says that resetters can go back anywhere in their lives even their birth. He says that they can take back some things with them including rings, watches, photographs and notebooks. But only if it was produced or available in the time in which they went back and clutched in their palms. Books with ink manufactured in a later time will only be blank books."
Addi widened her eyes. "That's why your book was blank!"
Sky nodded. "Maybe I used a fancy 21st century pen to write notes to myself."
Addi shook her head. "Only you!"
"Well, I didn't know about this rule, obviously." Sky scowled. "Anyway, this guy says that resetters have been dabbling in time for centuries. Some were burnt at the stakes as witches and have been persecuted through the ages. They tend to keep a low profile, many of them choosing not to travel back in time because it was more trouble than it was worth.
"Oswald King says that in his first lifetime he met resetters who had tried to mess with the timeline of political events but never succeeded. He says that he has met resetters who tried to avert major disasters but ended up creating another.
"He ends by saying that resetters should be mostly observers. And that if you can avoid the past do so. Too late for you." Sky sniggered.
Addi laid down on the bed. "Yup, note to self: Never follow Sky Porter in anything again. That's all."
"Oh and one more thing." Sky pointed at the article, "Resetters lose the memory of their previous life after a while. Some of them lose it all together; some retain snippets of it but only vaguely. If you go back, you have to act fast to change whatever it is you want to change because the longer you stay, the more likely you are to revert to who you were then."
Addi sighed. "So, I'll forget?"
Sky nodded. "Yep. You should write down stuff. Stuff that you don't want to repeat."
"Good idea." Addi nodded. "I will."
Sky closed the book. "Or you could tell me. You know I don't forget anything."
"I prefer to write it." Addi chuckled. "Nice try getting me to tell you the future though."
Chapter Eighteen
Addi divided her week between beautifying the study and hanging with Myrna. Myrna was a talker. She seemed to know quite a bit of details about everybody in the neighborhood.
She was the opposite of Keith Jones who was a grunter. He would just silently hover around the place until Myrna told him to do anything then he would move. It was a shock to Addi when he actually volunteered information that he could upholster settees and offered to upholster her two broken down sofas that she had found in the music room. The material she had finally settled on matched the curtain material that Myrna sewed for her and the curtains complimented the newly painted walls.
Just like that the study/music room was becoming the most visited room in the house.
Josh and Randy had taken up residence in there since they found the Game Boys, and her mother started playing the piano again.
Her father after he came back from Negril had taken to sitting in the room in the dark. He frightened her twice.
Another week had gone down in history and she was no closer to coming up with a plan to solving any of her family's looming problems.
Josh had taken up late night telephone chats with Ellie. Addi could hear him whispering and giggling in the hall.
Randy was acting much different than he did in the other timeline. This summer he did a lot of running. Sometimes with Josh and other times alone. He avoided her as much as possible, or was she the one avoiding him?
Her daily trips to Myrna's replaced her daily trips to the office. Tuesday of the other week had her feeling restless and edgy. Myrna wasn't overly talkative that day either. She looked as if she was contemplating something.
If Addi hadn't been so preoccupied with the state of affairs in her family she would have noticed that Myrna wanted to say something but was hesitant.
"Mrs. Porter, your aunt, wanted me to do some drapes for her," Myrna said as an opening.
Addi nodded. She was sitting in a white plastic chair looking out into the yard. Feeling helpless and slightly hopeless. Everything was going nearly the same as the other summer of 92. Josh was still seeing Ellie, either her father or uncle was seeing Ellie too and Uncle Stan was still on the path to be murdered by Rusty.
Myrna cleared her throat. "She er...she is a very strict lady isn't she? I used to think she was so proper."
"Who, my aunt?" Addi asked.
"Yes," Myrna muttered, "I shouldn't say anything."
"What?" Addi straightened up and started to take notice of Myrna's hesitant speech and loaded silence.
"Well your aunt…she's ah… she's very into Rusty, isn't she?"
"Rusty?" Addi shook her head, "what do you mean into him?"
"Well, I passed her vehicle more than once parked near his house. I see the two of them in there talking." Myrna looked sorry that she had said it. She finished hurriedly, "but I know that she is a happily married Christian woman with very good taste in clothes so I shouldn't have said a word."
Addi felt goose pimples spring on her arm. "Right," she said out loud.
Rusty and Ivy? No. Impossible. Rusty could be Ivy's son. She was twenty years older than he was.
She stayed just a few minutes more with Myrna and almost ran toward the office where Randy was. She flung open the office door. Surprising him with her entrance.
He was on the phone. She impatiently waited for him to finish.
"Yes, Miss Addison." He looked at her, his brown eyes trained on her face. "What can I do for you?"
"Aunt Ivy and Rusty," she said and sat down hard on the chair in front of the desk. "My prim and proper aunt and Sky's crush Rusty."
Randy sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Is he the lanky brown fellow that comes by sometimes for his pay?"
"Yes." Addi nodded vigorously, "he is the one. He is also the same fellow that killed my uncle over a supposed pay dispute."
Pay dispute. "And I was the one who did the pay roll before?"
"Yes." Addi nodded.
"They have time cards that they punch when they go on the site. We instituted it last week to reduce any problems with pay and time worked and all of that. Besides, your father would be the person to handle pay disputes. Your uncle doesn't concern himself much with that side of the business." Randy swiped his hand over his face. "This is serious business, Addi. This is police work."
Addi snorted. "Oh yes, I can see it now. We got to the police about a murder not yet committed with no evidence that a murder will be committed except my recollections from the future."
Randy sighed. "So what are we saying here about your aunt? She is cheating on your uncle with this guy, Rusty. And then this Rusty guy kills your uncle because he is jealous or something?"
Addi nodded and then shook her head. "I don't know. Yes, no, maybe."
"We need to investigate her like we did Ellie," Addi muttered and then we need to warn Uncle Stan.
Randy frowned. "I am not liking this 'we' business, Addi. You have Sky now; she should be your new go to person. You are cousins, the same age; you could do your little Nancy Drew thing with her. Please don't involve me anymore."
"But I cannot do it without you and we are talking about Sky's mother. This may be too much for her to deal with." Addi entreated him. "You have always been the one person in my life I can count on to help me with anything."
Randy looked at her and then away. "Addi I have been avoiding you."
"I noticed," Addi muttered. "I have been avoiding you too."
Randy laughed dryly. "I see glimpses of these feelings that you tell me I am going to have and I can't be that Randy. The one from your future. The one who has this torrid affair with you while married…Not going to happen. I cannot be friends with you this time around. I can't be too involved in your life."
"I know." Addi looked down on her hands and then up at him. "I understand."
The silence became so thick she could cut it with a knife.
Randy finally broke it. "You should find out from Myrna what time she spotted your aunt talking to this guy and where he lives. I can convince Josh to run in that direction, when we go jogging this evening. We could check it out."
Addi nodded and got up. "Sure. Thanks, Randy."
Randy looked at her dispassionately. "After this, that's it."
"Yes." Addi nodded. "That's it."
****
Myrna reluctantly confirmed that she had seen Ivy's car near Rusty's gate three evenings at around 6:30 in the evening.
That was about two miles up the road, in the opposite direction to which Josh and Randy usually run in the evenings. Addi had no intention of sitting at home twiddling her thumbs while Josh and Randy discovered Aunt Ivy doing something that could possibly have implications for her uncle this summer.
She got ready long before they were. Sitting in the living room with her sneakers on and her track suit hood pulled over her hair.
Sky saw her sitting and waiting and decided that she too would be coming along. Addi couldn't convince her otherwise and so the four of them went jogging toward Rusty's place.
Addi and Sky could barely keep up with the men as they effortlessly ran up the street. Josh had not wanted them to come along and he was setting a punishing pace.
At least Randy slowed down long enough for them to catch up to him. He wasn't even panting.
"Now this is what I call slow." He laughed as both Sky and Addi were trying to catch their breaths. Addi was wheezing. She plopped herself down on a rock at the side of the road.
"My Gosh man." She looked at Randy, her heart felt as if it were beating in her ear. "Why are you two so show off?"
Sky hung her head down and clutched her ankles. "I just remembered that I wanted to tell you something."
"What?" Addi inhaled and exhaled rapidly hoping her heart rate could come back to normal.
"I realized that some parts of the book that I wrote still has impressions on the page. You know like you can see words but not clearly."
"That's cool!" Addi exhaled on a rush.
Randy nodded. "You can shade it with a pencil to see the words."
"Yes!" Sky nodded. "I am going to do that. Shade the whole book."
"With a soft hand don't press too hard," Randy said stretching. "Do it one page at a time."
"All right." Sky chuckled. "You know I am near Colleen's house. I could stop over and wait for you guys to come back. When you said jogging I wasn't thinking that we would training for the Olympics."
Addi stood up on wobbly legs. "Nah, you are coming with us."
Sky pouted. "Okay. But I think you and I should set our own pace."
Randy grinned. "I can't have you two running alone. I'll stick around."
They started walking.
Randy and Sky started on a discussion on houses and what they wanted to be included in theirs when they built it. Addi tuned them out. She had heavier thoughts on her mind. Like would they even catch aunt Ivy red-handed with her young lover?
And was he even her lover? She had no clue about this in the last time line.
They passed Rusty's house. Sky was the one who pointed it out. It was a simple white adobe type house with lots of bougainvilleas at the front.
Rusty lives there with his aunt and her husband and his cousins and Precious, his girlfriend.
Sky sighed. "I had liked Rusty so much."
Randy glanced at Addi.
"But I am over him." Sky declared with aplomb. "First of all he has a girlfriend, and secondly, he killed my father in some other version of this universe, and third that kiss was subpar."
"Keep your voice down," Addi hissed.
Sky glanced at her. "There is nobody out here to hear me."
Addi looked over at the yard. It was indeed deserted and there was no sign of Ivy's vehicle close to the road.
They walked a distance past the house and then they saw Josh stretching. "I was going to run up the hill over there." Josh pointed to a dirt track that was fairly wide.
"Had to wait on you slow coaches so that you know where I headed to."
Never Too Late (Resetter Series Book 1) Page 14
