Portals of Time

by Vicky McCracken

  He got the watch back into his pocket just as he felt the first few drops of rain and heard another clap of thunder and lightning. The lightning must have hit something for suddenly there was smoke or maybe fog. Jessie didn’t know which but it was so thick he could hardly see where he was going. There was another clap of thunder and rain began to come down in buckets. Jessie was soaked in a matter of minutes. Suddenly the world was spinning around him and he closed his eyes. Once he opened his eyes, his horse was walking slowly through the trees, and he could hear the Indians talking but their voices were faint and he had to listen closely to hear them at all. He must have out run them for their sounds grew fainter and fainter. The fog was terrible but at least the thunder and lightning had stopped. The fog began to clear a little but it was still thick and the world stopped spinning. The rain slowed to a stop and there was only dew left from the fog. The temperature seemed to be warmer and for some strange reason the trees were getting fewer and fewer. He could feel his pocket watch in his pocket and for some reason it seemed warm. Pulling it into his hand, he looked at it. It was warm to the touch and it seemed like one of the horseless wagons had moved. No, it couldn’t be. He shook his head and placed the watch back into his pocket. Suddenly he realized he could see the sun again. It was then he knew the Indians weren’t behind him anymore. Had he somehow lost them? He must have.

  “Great,” he said aloud. He kneed the horse a little and they loped along at a slow pace, then he looked around. Where was he? He knew he had not left his land but somehow it was different. There had been a small forest of trees out here. Well, at least he thought it was here. He was suddenly unsure where he was on his own land.

  The snow was gone, the sun was shining, the grass was green, and it was hot. Jessie stopped and jumped off his horse taking off his outer shirt and wiping his face for he was sweating in the heat. He looked around. This was strange. The trees were gone and there was a small creek. How did the creek get out here? The creek was over in front of the cabin, not out here. There had not been a creek out here on this side of the ranch. He knelt down by the water and splashed his face with his hands in the water wondering how did it get here. And how did it get so hot. It was snowing and about twenty degrees only this morning. He took a drink of the cool water.

  Jessie caught a glimpse of himself in the creek. His hair was well over his ears and looked black and his face was bearded and unkempt for he hadn’t shaved in months. He hardly knew his own face. Before Missy and the baby had died, he had shaven every day. Missy told him she didn’t like men with beards. They broke her face out in little bumps. Now he could remember the way she would run her hand lovingly over his clean shaven face and tell him how handsome he was with his dark hair and his deep brown eyes. In the summer sun, his skin was almost as dark as the Indians. He sighed and looked around him. There were very few trees here now. Where had they gone? Why all at once had the weather changed so suddenly?

  The sun bore down and Jessie looked at his watch. It was a little after three. He rolled up his shirt sleeves and watched as his horse drank from the creek. The horse then walked off a piece and began to eat some of the green grass. Jessie wiped his face again from the heat and wondered which way it was back to the cabin. The way the land looked now he had no idea which way to go to get home. He walked back to his horse and patted him gently.

  “Do you believe this boy? Come on, let’s walk a ways.” He took the horse’s reins and led him along the creek, having no idea if he was headed in the right direction.

  They had walked quite a while when Jessie stopped and wiped his face on his sleeve. He led the horse under the shade of a tree and tied him there. The horse began to eat the grass. Jessie sat down under the tree, drinking from his canteen that he filled from the creek with the fresh cool water. He fell asleep and dreamed of Missy and the baby. Somehow they weren’t dead. The baby was crying and Missy began to feed him. Jessie could hear him suckling at her breast. Missy was smiling.

  “See Jessie, everything’s alright. The baby is fine and look, your watch is still running.”

  Jessie pulled his watch from his pocket and looked at it. It was still running but what was Missy talking about, the watch had always kept great time.

  “What do you mean, Missy,” he asked.

  She laughed.

  “Oh Jessie, I love you so much. That’s why I gave you the watch. It’s a sign of our love just as it had been for the last three other couples who had it. It is something that will always be with you no matter what happens. It will pull you through.”

  “Missy, I don’t know what you are talking about. This is just a watch.” He was looking at it with its strange picture and couldn’t understand what was going on.

  “We must go now Jessie but remember, I will be with you, in your heart, as will your son. Good-bye darling.”

  Missy was walking away from him with the baby still suckling at her breast and all he could do was watch her go. He came awake suddenly. What a strange dream. He had dreamed about Missy before, after she died, but never one so silly. And to have dreamed about his watch too. Suddenly he heard something; a twig snapped and he reached for his gun.

  “Who’s there,” he asked. There was no answer. “Come on out, I have a gun.” Still no answer. He heard another twig break. He cocked his six shooter and holding it tightly, he pointed it toward the sounds he heard. As he saw the person who walked around the tree holding a shotgun, his mouth flew open and he almost dropped his gun.

  CHAPTER 3

  Lori Patterson sat looking out the window of her father’s truck. They were on their way home from town. Lori liked going to town with daddy. He always stopped at McDonalds and bought her a happy meal. Today she had chicken nuggets and her toy was a dog. She was more interested in looking out the window than playing with the dog.

  She had been looking out at the road every time she had been to town but she loved looking out her window. They hadn’t been riding long when Lori saw a young man standing beside the road.

  “Daddy,” she said. “Stop.”

  “Why, Lori,” her father asked.

  “That man, he needs a ride Daddy, please stop,” Lori looked at her father with sad eyes.

  “Okay, Lori but what if he’s a mean man, and he tries to take you away from your mother and me?”

  “He’s a nice man Daddy. I know.”

  Her father stopped the truck beside the young man who came up to the door as Lori rolled the window down.

  “Where you headed,” her father asked.

  “Don’t know yet, I’m just traveling. I guess I’ll know where I’m going when I get there.”

  “Well, if you’re a mind to, you can go to our ranch. We can give you a good hot meal and a good bed for the night. How does that sound to you?”

  “Sounds good. By the way, my name is Bo Weston.”

  “I’m Lori,” Lori spoke up.

  “You are a beautiful young lady, Miss Lori. How old are you anyway?” Bo smiled at her as he opened the door of the truck.

  Lori slid over next to her father.

  “I’m six,” she giggled. “This is Daddy.”

  Bo laughed. “Hello Daddy.”

  Lori giggled again.

  “No silly, his name ain’t Daddy.”

  “I know, I was just being funny.”

  “You’re silly,” Lori said.

  Lori and Bo laughed all the way to the ranch about everything they talked about. As they pulled up in the driveway, Lori was excited about her new friend. She took Bo by the hand and led him into the house and to the huge dining room that was now empty.

  “Sit down Bo,” she told him. “I’ll get you a plate.”

  Bo was laughing as the little girl walked into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later without a plate.

  Bo laughed more.

  “Where is my plate, Miss Lori?”

  “Becky is bringing it. She said I would drop it. She is warming it for you.”

  In a little wh
ile, Bo had finished eating and Lori had sat and watched. Her father came into the dining room.

  “Here you are Lori. Bo, if you are tired, you can lie down on the couch in the living room and rest. You must be tired with all the walking you have done. While you are resting, I will have Becky fix a room up for you. You are welcome to stay as long as you want. You can work for your food and bed, deal?”

  “Deal,” Bo and Mr. Patterson shook hands. “I am tired. I think I will lay down, thank you.”

  Lori followed her father and Bo and watched as they entered the living room and Bo laid on the couch. He seemed to be asleep in an instant and Lori thought he would never wake up. She watched Bo sleep for a while before going off to play and coming by every once in a while to see if he was awake. Finally, when she came in to see if he was awake, he opened his eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back as he sat up and patted his knee to her. She was giggling as she sat on his lap and he told her a story. It was the start of their long friendship.

  After seeing how Bo was with Lori and the way he worked, Lori’s father put him on the payroll. To Lori, he was like having another father. He took her riding and played games with her when he had time. When he went into town to cash his payroll check, he would always bring Lori something back.

  One evening she was in her father’s office with Bo and her father playing a game on the couch.

  “Bo,” her father said. “Money is missing from my safe. It’s been happening for about three months now. “

  “Do you know who might be taking the money,” Bo asked.

  “No I don’t. I wanted to ask you if you had any ideas about who would take it,” Lori’s father said.

  “Who can get into it,” asked Bo.

  “Besides myself and my wife, there are four other men. I trust them all. I don’t know if it’s one of them or not. I hope not. Will you keep your eyes and ears open?”

  “We will, won’t we Miss Lori,” Bo asked her tickling her belly.

  Lori nodded. “We will daddy,” she liked it when Bo called her Miss Lori. He had ever since the first day. It made her feel grown up.

  Only a few days later Lori was following Bo. He was working outside the bunk behind one of the rooms. The window of the bathroom was up and Lori could hear the ranch foreman and one of the other hands talking about having a poker game the next night. The ranch foreman was saying he didn’t have the money to bet but he knew where he could get it.

  “Where’ you going to get enough money to play? Payday is next week.”

  “I know how to get into the safe in the office. I have taken money from it before. I’ll get it tonight. I don’t think they ever miss it.”

  “Okay, you come to the game if you have the money to play,” the ranch hand told him.

  After hearing this, Bo began to walk toward the house and Lori ran to catch him.

  “Are you going to tell Daddy?”

  “Yes, I am, Miss Lori, you coming?”

  “Yeah,” Lori reached up for Bo to pick her up. He sat her on his shoulders as he always did when he carried her. As they entered the door, Lori ducked down, so as not to hit her head. They arrived at the office door and Lori knocked with her foot.

  “Come in,” her father said.

  Lori ducked again as the two of them entered the room and Bo sat Lori down. She ran to her father.

  “Daddy,” she said. “We know who’s taking your money.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes,” Bo said. “I overheard the ranch foreman telling one of the other hands he would take the money tonight.”

  “Okay, thanks, don’t let on and I’ll be here waiting with the police. Lori, don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

  “Okay Daddy, I won’t.”

  “I’ll make sure she doesn’t sir. Miss Lori, would you like to see that new Disney movie playing in town?”

  “Yes, can we go now?” Lori was excited.

  By the time Bo and Lori were home from the movie and stopped at McDonald’s, Lori’s father had already caught the foreman and he was in jail.

  Lori’s father met them at the door and motioned for Bo to come to the office. Lori had fallen asleep on the way home but was awake now.

  “Bo,” her father said as he closed the office door. “I won’t beat around the bush. You have been a good worker and Lori loves you. How would you like the job as ranch foreman?

  “I don’t know what to say,” Bo said.

  “Say yes Bo,” Lori said sleepily.

  “Okay, yes, I’ll be glad to.”

  * * * * * * * *

  Lori awoke suddenly from her dream. She lay still for a minute thinking about the dream she had just woke up from. Why had she dreamed about when she was six and Bo had come to live with them? Her dream had been what really happened. She thought it strange she would dream details this way. She sat on the edge of the bed, her stomach felt a little funny and she felt for a minute like she was going to be sick, but it passed. She took a shower before going into the huge dining room to join the ranch hands and Bo.

  By now the years had weathered Bo. His hair was almost all gray and skin was wrinkled from the sun. Lori could see more lines in his face than ever. Still, she depended on him a lot. She remembered the time when she was eight and had wandered off the ranch to explore on her own. She had been mad at her father because he wouldn’t let her go spend the night with one of her friends and she had ridden off by herself. At first she didn’t know where she was going, then she rode straight to the little cabin that she had seen one day when she and Bo were out riding. Many times she had been upset and mad at her father. She arrived at the cabin and began to pretend she had come home from a long trip. She had been so into her playing that she hadn’t heard the rafters until suddenly she was trapped under one of the logs. She had been so afraid and had cried for her father, her anger turned to fear. All she wanted was for someone to find her so she could go home. She didn’t know how long she laid there. The log was hurting her leg and she couldn’t move. She was trapped and crying when she heard the sound of a horse. Then she heard Bo’s voice and she answered him crying even harder. He had been as scared as she was. Bo had carried her out asking if she was okay. Her father had thought her leg had been broken, but once he had taken her to the doctor, they had found out it was only bruised. Her father had Bo stay behind to make sure the old cabin was all torn down.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the back door opening as one of the ranch hands went out. Lori walked behind him and watched as Bo and the other ranch hands went off on their daily chores. Bo was good at his job. He would tell the men what he wanted and leave them to it. Most of the time, he helped them. If any of them had any problems, they knew they could come talk to Bo and he would listen and try to help them; like the time when one of the guys had lost his whole pay check betting on a horse race. His name was Jeb. He hadn’t been at the ranch long when some of the other ranch hands had taken him to town with them. He had never gambled before and a few of the guys told him he could win big on the horses. So he had thought he could double his paycheck and had put the whole thing on one horse. It turned out to be the wrong horse. The next day, he had asked Bo for money. That was when, after Bo pressed, he had told him what happened. Bo had told Lori and between the two of them, he had what he needed till he was paid again. Bo made him promise that he would not bet on anything like that again or at least not his whole paycheck.

  She looked up at the sky. It was going to be hot today. She was glad she put on a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top this morning. She climbed into the gray four wheel drive truck and started it up. She remembered the day her father had bought the truck. He had told her it was hers because she was so much help to him on the ranch. She had just finished high school and she hadn’t yet told him she wasn’t going to college. He told her he had a surprise for her. When she walked outside, there was the new truck and she had begun to cry.

  “What‘s wrong,” her father had asked.
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  “I don’t understand why you bought me a truck,” she told him.

  “You will need something to drive when you go to college Lori.”

  Lori had looked at Bo for help. She had already talked to him about what she wanted to do. Bo helped her out.

  “I know you are upset about this, sir, but Lori and I believe she would be more help to you and me if she stayed here on the ranch and took some classes on-line. She would still be in college and could help us out here too. What do you think?”

  At first, her father had been upset because she didn’t go to college but then realized that taking some classes on-line so she could help him on the ranch might be for the best. After all, this was all she had known. She had grown up here and loved all the memories of the ranch. The ranch had been in the family for three generations. First, her grandfather had bought it from a man who owed back taxes on it and was about to lose it. It had been named The Lazy Cross even then and it seemed to fit the ranch so through all the generations it had remained the same.

  Lori drove slowly past the front of the house with its big porch with a swing on one end and two rocking chairs on the other. It looked friendly and inviting. Driving on, she passed the bunk house, which at one time had been a motel and had been converted into a bunk house. It worked well. Lori’s father had placed a twin bed and a small television set in each room. Of course, they already had their own bath. It seemed to work well as each ranch hand had their own room. She drove through the gate with the name The Lazy Cross Ranch on the wooden sign over the huge opening. She turned right and began to drive slowly across the fields, a picture of her mother popped into her mind. Her mother was something else that had happened to her when she was eight. Her mother had been driving home from the city one evening and was hit by a drunk driver. She had lived for two days afterwards but the doctors said she had too much internal damage. Lori remembered her father being devastated but knew he had an eight year old daughter to take care of. If it hadn’t been for Bo, she didn’t think her father could have kept the ranch. He had been so busy with Lori and not knowing anything about an eight year old, but Bo had helped him with that too. Bo helped Lori with her homework. Her father had found out that he had cancer and probably wouldn’t live much longer. In fact, the doctors had only given him a year and he had lived two. Bo told her it was to make sure she knew everything there was to know about the ranch first. He had made sure he had the ranch in Lori’s name and she owned it free and clear. He had died in his sleep one night with Lori asleep in the chair beside him.