Chapter 17
Reece and Sean tiptoed out of the barn, raced around the corner, ducked under the two windows at the General Store then scooted around the corner to the locked door.
As quietly as she could, Reece inserted the key and turned the lock. When she opened the door, Bear shot out with his tail flapping back and forth against the doorway making a terrific racket. Sean grabbed the dog and pulled him further into the pathway then gently encircled his mouth and shushed him, while Bear softly whined.
The Professor leaped through the door with ANNA flying directly behind his right shoulder. By silent agreement, no one said a word. The Professor led the way to the rear path with his huge strides, while the children raced to keep up. Everyone crawled and flew under the two windows, and as they passed the barn, the children heard James saying, “Forty-five. . .forty-six. . .forty-seven.”
Reece and Sean exchanged guilty looks, but this was the only way James could face Mr. Johnson without feeling responsible for what happened.
They’d reached the cover of the woods now, and the Professor bent his body forward into a full run, leaping over logs, and ducking under low-hanging branches.
Within ten seconds, The Professor was completely out of sight, and the children were utterly lost. Their attempt to jump over a log resulted in a pile-up on the other side. Bear stopped and encouragingly licked their faces whining for them to get up. They pressed their hands to the ground and slowly rose checking for scrapes which seemed to be everywhere. Now, they were limping along at a crawl and quickly reaching the total meltdown point they’d experienced in the barn.
Bear trotted between them glancing at each child and nudging behind the knees if there was any slowing down.
Although it was totally impossible, they heard voices running towards the woods. James was only on number forty-seven less than a minute ago, so it couldn’t be that. Somehow the men must have heard Bear whining and realized that it was coming from outside the locked room. Once they realized everyone had escaped, they’d quickly organized a chase.
The children limped faster, but they were no match for grown men. Within seconds, the store owner was beside them and grabbed Reece by the arm. “Who are you?” he demanded. “And what have you done with that man?”
Reece struggled but the man’s grip only increased. “Get the Professor!” she screamed.
Sean shook from anger as much as fear. He picked up the largest limb he could possibly hold, drew it back like he was holding a baseball bat and swung a home run catching the man in the shins. The man howled, released Reece, and sat down to nurse his leg.
The second man rounded the corner, but this time Bear was on it. He ran three steps, jumped, and hurled the weight of his entire ninety-pound body into the man’s chest. The man lay stunned and blinking. Two down.
The other men weren’t far behind, so the children were off at a frantic pace with Bear falling protectively behind.
Suddenly, ANNA appeared. Long, slender rods with clamps at the end extended from her round, little body. As the rods reached the children, the clamps opened up, and grabbed them by the back of their tunics. ANNA lifted them two feet off the ground and surged forward faster than they could peddle their bicycles.
The children twisted their bodies to look behind. There were two men on the ground and two standing with mouths agape watching a grapefruit whisk two children through the woods. One of the men was the preacher. His mouth was open, too, but he lifted his hand in a final wave and managed a smile of farewell.
The children were too confused to lift their arms the entire way, but gave their new friend a mini wave in return. Soon, they caught up with the Professor.
“Use your GPS, ANNA!” the Professor commanded.
“I know what to do!” With a firm grip on the children, ANNA used her internal GPS system to calibrate the direction then shot forward with the Professor directly behind.
Before they reached the hut, they heard the sounds of voices and men thrashing through the woods after them again.
The Professor kicked aside the small log holding the door open then all of them clamored through the doorway. He pressed a button to close the door then raced to the control panel where he quickly flicked two switches on the panel.
ANNA lowered the children to the floor and flew to the table.
“ANNA is so small,” said Reece. “How did she pick us up?”
Without turning around, the Professor said in gasping breaths. “Can’t possibly explain it to you.”
Sean drew his lips inside his mouth and frowned. “Does it have anything to do with anti-gravity?”
The Professor’s hands stopped fluttering and he momentarily turned around. “That’s not exactly on the mark, but close enough.” His mouth twisted into the closest thing to a smile he’d offered so far. “I had no idea you were such a clever little boy. And a brave one, too.” He returned to his work then added softly. “Well done, Sean. Well done, Reece.”
Sean’s face slowly broke into a wide grin. “Thanks.”
Reece smiled as well, but for a different reason. “You do know our names.”
“Of course, I know your names! You’ve blasted me with them enough times.”
Reece tilted her head as she studied the Professor. “I thought you didn’t like kids.”
“I don’t.”
“But you like us. I can tell,” said Sean smiling impishly. “You didn’t like us in the beginning, but you do now.”
“Positively deplore children!” said the Professor as he gruffled and grumbled and cleared his throat twice. “Well, you’re not really children. . .just small adults.”
The children grinned at each other then walked over to the cot and sat down. They were quiet for a moment then the planner turned to her brother. “How do you know about anti-gravity?”
Sean shrugged his shoulders. “I like science fiction books. One of them talked about anti-gravity.”
Reece was silent for a few seconds then her voice dropped as she whispered in her brother’s ear. “But this isn’t a science fiction book, so how did tiny ANNA lift us into the air?”
“Well, maybe. . .maybe,” Sean began slowly then fell silent as he studied ANNA.
The Door Into Time Page 17
