TIME AND TIME AGAIN The sequel to 3037

by Holloway, Peggy

  Irene got a huge smile on her face. I had seen her smile like this before, where her whole face and body seemed to light up with happiness. I thought it was inappropriate at this point in time and I told her so. I was still mad at her.

  She didn’t comment on my anger but said, “If you two are through eating, I have something to show you.”

  She waited while we both dressed and we followed her out of the hotel, down Bourbon Street, and outside of town. We walked for several miles and then she turned down a one lane dirt road. There were wild plums growing on each side of the road and we stopped and picked some. They were so sweet.

  After eating the plums, I felt completely relaxed, and then, just up ahead, I saw it. The cave was back once again. I looked at Joe and we both looked at Irene.

  She laughed, “I woke up this morning at three, out of a sound sleep. I felt like I was still dreaming as I got out of bed and got dressed. I didn’t even question what I was doing. I just went with the flow. It was like an invisible thread was pulling me here and when I entered the cave I went straight back to the city.

  “The membrane wasn’t across the entrance and I went right in. As soon as I got inside, I fell to my knees but this time it wasn’t a physical healing that took place but an emotional one.

  “Y’all remember when I told you that to go between the cylinders in the time/space slit was to cheat time and space in a way?”

  When we nodded she continued. ‘You can’t. It will never work. We have been trying to make things happen the way we wanted it to. As we’ve seen, it doesn’t work. We have to have faith in the universe like we used to do when we let the cave lead us.

  “It started with Josie demanding to be taken back and it snowballed from there. I didn’t help any when I tried to fix everything. We have been tested these last few days, because we didn’t let thing happen that was supposed to happen. This morning I needed to hear surrender from both of you. I couldn’t take you to the cave until I heard that.”

  I looked at Joe, “Then all of the things that happened to us were because of Josie? That doesn’t make any sense, Irene. I had already gone through the time/space slit when Josie demanded to come back. Are you telling me that I was supposed to go through that?”

  “I can’t answer any of the questions except to say we were tested. Don’t ask me how I know but as soon as I fell to my knees, I knew. I believe we had to go through all we’ve been through to prepare us for something big that we’re going to have to face in the near future.

  “I’ve paid for the hotel bill so we can go now.”

  “But what about Josie?” I cried. Where is she and when and what has happened to her?”

  Irene patted my shoulder, “Faith,” she said and led us inside the cave.

  CHAPTER 21

  As soon as Joe and I stepped inside the city, we fell to our knees and I could understand what Irene was talking about. A wonderful peace came over me. I knew everything would happen the way it was supposed to happen.

  Joe and I made our way to our house and we felt the cave lift and “swim” through space. We slept for two whole days and nights, it’s what our bodies needed. When we finally ventured out we met some of our old friends who shared their adventures. They had let the cave take them where they needed to be and they were their same old serene selves.

  We fixed meals together and ate at the outdoor picnic tables and I reunited with my son. He was now 13 years old. I had missed a few years of his life but I was grateful for what time I had with him and would have with him in the future.

  Seth, Joe and I sat for hours telling of our adventures. He told us about a world they had visited with all tiny people. He wanted to pick them up but they were very dignified. They had strict laws. “Their hands were the size of dad’s thumb,” he said and I saw Joe turn his hand over and look at his thumb.

  “Do you know why the cave took you there?” I asked and he frowned while he thought about it.

  He looked sad when he said, “They were losing their sun, mom. It was burning out. They were going to die. Some were already very weak and the planet was getting dark. It wasn’t until we took them into the cave that I noticed that they had pastel skin.”

  “Really?” Joe asked. “You mean they were like a rainbow?”

  “No, dad. One was pink, one was light green, one was light purple, one light blue. But all of them had pink eyes. We took them to another planet that the cave thing picked out and during the journey we taught them many things and they taught us also.

  “They’re very limber and athletic. They taught us all about swinging through trees on vines and swimming really fast. They were so tiny that a bunch of them could surround a fish and catch it before the fish even noticed them. The fish were almost as big as them. We showed them how to cook. They ate everything raw, even the fish.

  “I had so much fun with them that I was sad when we left them on another planet. The new planet had so much sunshine and we stayed with them there until they adjusted. I noticed they were getting to be the same color, a golden tan from the sun.”

  He had been talking a long time and he suddenly stopped and started crying, “I missed you both so much. I hope we never get separated again. I hope we find Josie.”

  Joe took him on his lap and he cried on Joe’s shoulder. “Whether we find her or not, we have to be grateful for all the wonderful thing s we do have.” Joe said.

  Have you ever noticed, in life, that it seems like everything goes wrong, no matter what you do? In fact, it seems like the harder you try, the worst it is? Then all of a sudden everything starts to go right. It’s not something you’ve done, but it’s as if Karma says, okay, you’ve had a lot of bad shit happen, now here’s some good stuff. And then all of a sudden everything works out for you, even the small things?

  That’s pretty much what happened to us and it started when we landed in a new world.

  CHAPTER 22

  We had been in transit for two years and I woke up one morning and felt the floating feather sensation as we floated and swayed form side to side before settling down.

  Seth was now fifteen and he had been working on plans for a skywheel that Irene had described for him. She had died in a skywheel accident and been reincarnated on Joe’s planet and that’s where I had met her.

  Seth said that when we landed, he was going to try to find the materials he needed to build the skywheel. For some reason the cave hadn’t provided him with the material like it had for Joe when he wanted to become a musician or for me when I wanted to design clothes. We still didn’t know why the cave made the decisions it made.

  The place we landed this time didn’t have the natural beauty of some of the other places we had landed. Instead it was a glowing city. That’s the only way I can describe it. Everything looked new and the people bustled about like they were in a hurry. For some reason, no one but our little family wanted to go explore. So it was just the three of us.

  I was surprised that no one else wanted to come with us but was later to learn that was the way it was supposed to be.

  There were vehicles that looked like bullets with wheels and tiny windows. Seth went up to one and it opened. The whole side of the car slid underneath.

  The cars looked like they were made out of the silly putty-like material that the houses on Joe’s planet had been made of. They were seamless and then would open up in a similar manner also. When the car “door” opened, Seth started to get in and a mechanical-sounding voice said, “You are not the owner. Please step away.” When we stepped away, the car, once again, became seamless.

  The men and women all had blond curly hair cut just below the ears and they all wore spandex-looking tight fitting jumpsuits and soft looking boots in bright colors.

  I was so busy looking at the cars and people that I hadn’t noticed the buildings until Joe said, “Look at the buildings, Ashley. Do they look familiar to you?”

  When I looked, I couldn’t believe it. They looked just like the houses on Joe�
��s planet when I had reincarnated there in 3037, except they were much bigger.

  “What does it mean, Joe?” I asked. “Do you think they have a cave thing here also? And another thing, no one has even looked at us. It’s like they haven’t seen us.”

  “I don’t know. They look awful busy. Wonder why they are in such a hurry?”

  When I saw one of them up close, I noticed that their forehead was very wide, so that their hairline was almost on top of their head. Their nose was very narrow at the top and flared out at the bottom so that it covered half of their cheeks. Their eyes were cat-like and slanted upward at the outer edge. Their lips were perfectly shaped, the way a kid always draws lips on a stick figure. Their chin was very narrow so that their lips were almost to the bottom of their face.

  It seemed to take them a long time before they noticed us but when they did, they circled around us and started crowding us so that I became frightened.

  They started talking among themselves and I was surprised that they could already speak our language without the adjustment from the cave that we had grown accustomed to.

  They were more curious than friendly. There didn’t seem to be any leaders and I began to listen to what they were saying to each other.

  “I wonder where they came from…”

  “Can they speak our language?”

  “Maybe they live in the cave.”

  Then I noticed that one was addressing me specifically, “Do you live in the cave?”

  Before I could answer, Joe put his lips to my ear and whispered, “See if you can get them to take you to the cave they talk about. I don’t think they’re talking about our cave.”

  I hate it when other people do this to me but I answered a question with a question, “Where is this cave you’re talking about?”

  She shrugged and looked at one of the men, “They don’t live in the cave or she would have known what cave I was talking about.”

  “Will you show us this cave?” I asked.

  “We’ll show you around but you don’t want to see the cave. It’s just a dark ugly cave. It’s uninteresting. Come and look at everything else.”

  She moved off and the others followed her but when we didn’t move, she stopped and put her hands on her hips and I almost laughed out loud.

  “Let’s follow her, Ashley,” Joe said. “Maybe we can find the cave later on our own.”

  We told them out names and they told us theirs but they were so different sounding that I didn’t try to remember them. They sounded scientific like something from a chemistry lab or the name of a long desease.

  Everyone else rushed off except our guide. No one said goodbye or I’ll see you later, they just left.

  She showed us building after building and I rubbed each one and they all felt and looked just like the houses Joe and his people had lived in. The windows were the same material and reflected like a mirror just like the ones on Joe’s planet.

  “What do you do in these buildings?” Joe asked.

  She looked at him like he had grown two heads, “We work, of course. All play and not work makes Jack a dull boy.”

  I couldn’t help it, I totally lost it. I laughed so hard I had to sit down on the floor. Joe squatted down and looked at me with concern in his eyes, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  I couldn’t talk just then. The fact that this creature knew the quote but had gotten it backwards struck me as the funniest thing I heard in a long time. Joe obviously hadn’t heard the quote, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” I said.

  “What’s wrong with her?” The woman said, backing up.

  I was finally able to explain it to Joe and Seth and they both started laughing. Now she looked scared.

  I got up and tried to explain to her why I was laughing. “The original saying is, ‘All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy,’” I explained.

  She shrugged and didn’t comment one way or the other but just walked off. Joe and I looked at each other and we followed her.

  She walked very fast and we had to hurry to catch up. “What kind of work is it that you do?” Joe called after her.

  She stopped and waited for us to catch up and when we did she said, “We make things, like the things that carry us and the things to heat our food and things like that.”

  She took us into many buildings and in each one there were people working and talking together and it reminded me of a factory except everything was much cleaner.

  They were mostly in groups gathered around tables with machinery on the tables. There were blueprints and people hunched over them talking and arguing about the best way to do something.

  She led us into one room where no one was working. There was what looked like the skywheel that Irene had described to Seth and he had drawn. Seth got excited as he walked over to it. I could see the excitement in his eyes.

  “This is something we tried but can’t finish,” Our guide said. “We wanted to make something that would go into the air but we can’t finish it. Our smartest people have worked on it. We would love to go in the air.”

  Seth began to ask questions and before long she had given him a sketch pad and he had drawn up the plans he had been working on for the last two years. They seemed to not notice that we were in the same room, that’s how excited they became.

  At one point I heard her say, “Oh! Now I see where we went wrong…yes, that would work, I believe. So, what we needed to do was to bring this pair around this way and under?”

  I noticed that Seth had started calling her Foe, a short version of the name she had given us. Now she said, “Will you all excuse me? I’m going to call the others in. I think we can make this work.”

  After she left, Seth turned to us. He was glowing with excitement, “Y’all can go on home if you want to. This may take some time. I have a feeling that they will work on this until it’s finished.”

  I looked at Joe but, before I could answer, Foe came back in, bringing with her three other adults and a girl about Seth’s age. She introduced them but their names were too long to remember. I could see that we were going to have to rename them like I had with Joe’s people.

  Seth smiled at the young girl and I looked at Joe. He was grinning and he nodded to me. Foe motioned for us to follow the young girl, “We have stacked rooms and she will take you there. Seth will work with us to build what he calls a skywheel.”

  “Ashley and I appreciate it but we have our own place,” Joe said.

  Foe shrugged and motioned for the young girl to leave. Before we were out of the room, Seth was bent over the plans for the skywheel and they were discussing it among themselves.

  CHAPTER 23

  Irene was sitting at the entrance of the cave waiting for us when we came up. We all started talking at once. Then we motioned for Irene to talk.

  “The cave is acting weird. Ever since you three left. First the weather was so hot we all ended up in the lakes and streams. Then, all of a sudden, it started snowing just outside the city. I thought I would freeze to death.

  “A few minutes ago, it started moving sideways, like it was trying to sneak along the ground. The movement was so slow I thought I was imagining it until some of the others mentioned it. Then, a few minutes ago I thought it was taking off. Instead, it raised itself up enough to get the arm things out from under it.

  “Now, every few minutes, it moves its arms round like it is searching for something. It’s freaking everyone out and they all want to get out but I convinced them to wait and see what you have to report. Where’s Seth, by the way?”

  “He stayed to help them build a skywheel. Wait til you see this place, Irene.”

  She held up her hand, “Let’s get the others so you can tell everyone at once.”

  We all gathered in the large room at the entrance of the cave and Joe and I shared what we had seen and learned. Joe and I were so excited that we kept interrupting each other until Irene yelled, “Stop! I can’t take much more of this.

  “I think
I can see what’s happening. Has it occurred to anyone else? Think about it: Another cave, buildings like the ones from Joe’s planet, our cave acting like a teenager with raging hormones.”

  We sat looking at each other. We were speechless. Then I said slowly, “Our cave was trying to reach out to the other one like it knew the other one was near. I wish I could communicate directly with the cave.”

  “I think you can, Ashley,” Irene said. “Remember the time you went into the dark passageway between here and the city, alone and you got messages. They weren’t words but impressions. It was the first time we landed on earth. You knew what we should do. You need to go back into the dark passage again to get another message.”

  I was silent, remembering the first time I had spent some time in the dark passage alone. It was a very painful experience. Not physically painful but emotionally painful. I remembered that I had blacked out at one point. It wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat but I felt like I had to do it.

  I stood up and everyone hugged me. They all had tears in their eyes and I wished that they could go with me.

  “We’ll be right here, Ashley,” Joe whispered in my ear as he held me. “I love you so much. The cave will not hurt you. You know that. Just have faith.”

  I left for the dark passage and walking with slow steps. Before, I had not known what it would be like to go through the turmoil but now I knew and I was hesitating.

  I hadn’t made it to the center of the passage when I started getting so many messages that I fell to my knees and grabbed my head, “Please,” I said, “It’s too much too fast. I feel overwhelmed.”

  The voices and sensations stopped abruptly and then I heard a whisper. The voice was soothing, “I am not a cave. I am more like what you call your jellyfish in your ocean on earth. I tried to relate to one once but it was impossible. It was too stupid.

  “I am eight thousand years old. I have been alone for almost all of those years, roaming the galaxies, trying to find others like me. I thought I was the last of my line and have been taking other beings and trying to fulfill their needs so they will not leave me.