Portals of Time

by Vicky McCracken

  “Yes, I trip over my dress tail all the time. I remember now why I don’t wear dresses. I missed you. ”

  “You alright Jessie,” Bo asked as he turned to look at Jessie.

  Jessie stood and walked toward Bo. He held out his hand and Bo shook it.

  “Good to see you, Bo.”

  “You too Jessie. I see you took good care of Lori. I knew you would. I want to hear all about everything but first let me ride back to the ranch and come back with the truck. Be back in a few. But first tell me where you guys have been,” Bo told them.

  “Somehow we went back to Jessie’s ranch. He really did time travel here. It is the watch and these cars but I still have to figure out how. I’m so glad to be back. I’m not going anywhere,” Lori smiled. “Oh and Bo, will you bring me a change of clothes. I don’t want anyone seeing this,” she held out the tail of the dress.

  “I was thinking as much when I saw the horse hair on the tree. But you can tell me the rest back at the ranch. I’ll go get you a change of clothes.” Bo got on his horse, threw up his hand, and was gone.

  Lori handed Jessie back his watch which she had been holding tightly in her hand.

  “Put this up. We will study the watch more closely later when we can. I need a shower and a good meal before I can think.”

  “You should rest Lori. You must take care of the baby as well as yourself,” Jessie told her as he took the watch and slipped it in his pocket.

  “I am so glad to be home like you were Jessie. I didn’t realize how hard everything was then. Even the food was plain. Things are so much better now.”

  “Yes they are,” Jessie said. “I guess I am used to the hard way.”

  They looked around at the land. To Lori, it looked nothing like the way it had when they were in 1888. There had been so many trees then and now they were almost gone, only a few remained. She looked at the fallen tree the lightning had hit. It had stayed here and the horse under it had been lost in time. The portal had to be smaller and the tree was on the outside. That would make the horse half in and half out of the portal. Would that mean the horse was dead or alive somewhere? There was so much about this time traveling she didn’t understand or probably never would. How big was the portal anyway? She would hate to be trapped in time. What if you were somewhere and couldn’t get back. Would you be half here and half there? Who knew?

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Bo came back with the truck and Lori changed into a pair of jeans and tee shirt. Soon the three of them were riding back to the ranch. After Lori had taken a shower, she went to the kitchen. The kitchen help and cooks were working hard and fast on dinner. Lori was starved but decided to wait and eat with everyone else. She took a drink from the kitchen and headed toward the office.

  “Well, here you are. Where’ you been sis,” Trace spoke from behind her.

  “I have been out of town Trace, on business,” Lori told him, glad he hadn’t seen her while she was still wearing the dress. She didn’t want Trace to know anything about it. For some reason she didn’t trust him or like him very much even if he was her brother. There was something about him that seemed different somehow. Maybe strange was the right word. She didn’t know.

  “I hear from the guys you have lost some animals. Anything I can do to help,” Trace asked.

  “No, everything’s taken care of,” Lori turned and headed for her office.

  She closed the door and sat down behind the desk. She was so glad to be home. Trace had upset her. Then suddenly she thought, “How did he know about the animals?” The only ones who knew were Bo, Adam, Jessie, and herself. But she needed to find out for sure. She picked up the phone and called Bo. He answered the phone almost at once.

  “Lori, what’s up,” he asked.

  “Bo, where are you?”

  “I’m out in the barn making sure the horses are taken care of.”

  “Good. Listen, who knows about the dead animals? As far as I know, it’s only the four of us- Me, Adam, Jessie, and you. Can you call Adam to find out if he has told anyone or if there is anyway anyone else might have overheard anything about the animals? I know Jessie wouldn’t have told anyone. He doesn’t know anyone here but us.”

  “Yeah, but what’s up Miss Lori?”

  “Trace. He knows and he shouldn’t.”

  “I’m on it. I will call Adam and the two of us will meet with you. Where you at?”

  “I’m in the office.”

  “Okay, see you in a few.”

  Lori hung up the phone and began going over the details of everything in her mind. She thought of Jessie’s watch and called Bo again.

  “Bo,” she said when he answered. “Bring Jessie. I want to look at his watch more closely.”

  “You got it.”

  Lori put down the phone again and waited until Bo, Jessie, and Adam entered the room.

  “Sit down guys,” she told them.

  “I asked Adam if he told anyone about the dead animals but he hasn’t,” Bo said as he sat.

  “I haven’t’ even spoken to Trace but to say hello. I don’t know where he could have heard it from,” Adam spoke up.

  “This worries me Miss Lori.” Bo sounded puzzled. “I don’t trust Trace.”

  “Nor do I Bo,” Lori said.

  Jessie was about to say something when Adam’s phone rang and he jumped. “Sorry Jessie, I have to take this, it’s one of the guys.” He answered the phone and after a minute of listening said, “Yeah, be right there.” He closed his phone and spoke to Bo and Lori “Sorry, gotta go. The boys are having a problem getting the new horses in the pen.”

  “Go,” Lori said. “It’s okay.”

  Now Jessie spoke. “About Trace, I get the impression he’s hiding something.”

  “Interesting,” Lori said leaning back in her chair. “Anyway, I’ll think about Trace later. Jessie, let me see your watch again.” She turned on a lamp on the desk and took a magnifying glass from one of the drawers and some tweezers from another. Jessie handed her the watch and she looked at it under the light with the magnifying glass.”

  “What are you doing,” Bo asked.

  “One of the cars is loose. I found it just before Jessie and I landed back here. I think it’s the key.” She had the tweezers touching the tiny cars one by one. “Someone made this race track and the cars and it had to take some time to make it.” She was still touching each car one by one. Looking closely at the tiny track, she could see the white line which was the finish line. She touched the lead car but it was solid. So was the second but when she touched the third place car it was loose.

  “Here it is. I found it. Now we have to test it and find out just how it works.”

  Bo and Jessie both took the magnifying glass and looked at the watch. Jessie was amazed how the watch looked close up. All the cars seemed to be made in detail and that was wonderful work by who ever had made it.

  Lori leaned back in her chair and looked at the watch. “In the morning, we will go back out there and see if we can figure out how all this works.”

  “Then we need to mark it, Lori, like we did the other place at my ranch, remember,” Jessie asked.

  “Good idea. We should do this,” Bo said. “You two feel like riding back out there to mark the place before we all forget where it is.”

  Both Jessie and Lori nodded. The three of them were in the truck and riding out toward where Bo had found them earlier. Once there, they stepped out of the truck and Lori looked around. The tree was plain to spot.

  “Okay,” Lori said. “The tree isn’t in the portal because it is here so the portal has to be here in this area,” she said pointing.

  “Alright, we’ll mark this,” Bo said. “How big a place do you think it is?”

  Jessie spoke up now. “It was about twelve by twelve at my ranch.”

  Bo took some tape from the truck and he and Jessie put sticks in four corners making a twelve foot square. Then Bo pulled the yellow tape around from corner to corner.

  “Ho
w does this look Lori,” Bo asked.

  “I think you’ve got it. Most of it anyway.”

  “Good. Let’s go back and we’ll start on this tomorrow,” Bo told them. “Miss Lori, you really need to rest. You look tired.”

  “I am tired Bo. Let’s get back to the ranch. I’m hungry,” Lori said.

  Together the three of them rode back to the ranch. Once they walked into the house, they could see several of the men going into the soon-to-be-filled dining room. By the time they had found seats, every chair almost was full. Lori whispered to Bo, “Where is Trace? Does he make a habit of disappearing at dinner?”

  Bo thought for a minute. “Yeah, most evenings he is gone and stays gone most of the night or all night. I hadn’t thought of it before.”

  “At least he’s not here now asking questions. I hate that,” Lori said.

  Everyone was glad to see Lori and Jessie back and dinner was a happy meal. Lori was relieved. She didn’t want the help to know what was happening on the ranch. After dinner, Lori told Bo and Jessie she was going to her room to watch some television and relax. She spent the rest of the evening in her room and went to bed around ten.

  Jessie walked slowly to his room thinking of the difference between this world and the one he was used to. Things in his world were so hard. Here in this new world, everything was so easy. He was beginning to like this but at the same time he missed his world. He arrived at the room and went inside to sit down on the side of the bed. Somehow his watch was a transport object. Why had it not caused him to jump before? He felt Lori was right somehow and he was meant to be here in this time. That he was supposed to meet Lori. She was Missy. No, she wasn’t Missy, she was Lori. Jessie shook his head. This was all crazy and he was confused. He fell asleep and when he woke up it was dark and he was chilly. He rubbed his eyes and pulled off his boots then he slid under the covers on the bed and fell back to sleep.

  * * * * * * * *

  Lori awoke to sunlight streaming through the window. She looked at the clock beside her bed- ten a.m.. She hadn’t slept this long in years. She must have been tired. She sat up and felt sick which caused her to think of the baby. Rubbing her belly, she took one of the pills the doctor had given her and made her way to the kitchen for something to drink. The kitchen help had already cleaned up after breakfast and Lori poured a glass of orange juice and found a slice of breakfast ham and a left over biscuit. After eating, she began to feel better. She was on her way to the office when she saw Bo and Jessie.

  “Hey, good morning guys,” she smiled.

  “Morning,” Jessie returned.

  “Sleep good, Miss Lori,” Bo asked.

  “I did. Thanks for asking Bo. Have either of you seen Trace this morning?”

  “No,” Bo said and Jessie shook his head.

  The three of them walked into the office and Lori and Bo took care of some ranch business then Lori said, “Let’s ride out to the portal.”

  Together the three of them saddled horses and rode slowly out toward where Bo had found Lori and Jessie the day before. Lori looked over the land remembering how it had looked in 1888. No wonder Jessie had been lost. Most of the trees were gone now and the land was more flat. If she didn’t know it was the same land, she would have thought she was on a whole other ranch. She remembered when she and Jessie had seen the little Indian village in the canyon where she now kept her horses. Hearing Bo’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

  “Where was the spot I found you? Wasn’t it here somewhere?” Bo sounded puzzled.

  Lori looked around and the yellow tape was nowhere to be found nor was the tree the lightning had struck. “Maybe it was on up,” she said.

  They rode on but couldn’t see anything like the tree the lightning had hit.

  “How can this be,” Lori asked. “There isn’t a twig of the tree. It had to have been around here somewhere. Someone has moved it, all of it- the tape and the tree.”

  “Who would do that,” Jessie asked.

  Bo and Lori looked at each other and both spoke at the same time.

  “Trace.”

  Jessie nodded. “You’re probably right. How can we find the spot again?”

  “Let’s ride back to the oak tree where the cabin used to be and ride like we did the other day. I think I can remember the direction we rode in, do you Jessie,” Lori asked looking at Jessie.

  “Yeah, I think I could find it like that,” Jessie answered.

  The three of them rode back to the oak tree.

  “Alright, the two of you ride the way you did the other day and I will follow,” Bo told them.

  Jessie and Lori rode off racing the same way they had only a few days before. Lori was laughing as they rode neck and neck. Bo followed, watching them, seeing how happy they were together. It made him realize that maybe it was meant for Jessie to come into this world to be with Lori. They liked each other. He could tell by the way they looked at each other. He was worried though. Maybe Jessie could only see Missy when he looked at Lori.

  It didn’t seem long before Lori pulled her horse up short. She pointed to the left.

  “Jessie, look. I remember the big rock. Do you?”

  Jessie looked at the rock, a large boulder, and remembered it was close to where they had jumped time.

  “Yes, the big rock was straight across from the tree, right?”

  “It was and the tree was here,” Lori said sliding off her horse. “Which means when Bo found us we were there,” she was pointing.

  Bo and Jessie both got off their horses. “Now,” Bo said. “What are we going to do to mark it this time?”

  No one spoke for a minute, then Jessie said, “Why don’t we plant a tree or flowers?”

  “Sounds alright to me. What about you Bo?” Lori was looking at Bo.

  Bo nodded and the three of them started digging with anything they had. In no time at all they had three holes dug.

  “Now, where are we going to get trees or flowers,” Bo asked.

  “We can get someone to buy us some in town later,” Lori said.

  “Are you ready to try and make this thing work,” Bo asked.

  Lori smiled. Sure, come on Bo. Let’s see what happens.”

  “I’m game,” Bo said. “We better get on our horses or we will be stuck without any way to get around.”

  “Yes. Smart,” Lori said getting on her horse. “Jessie, stay here. If we jump time, go back to the ranch, but don’t tell anyone anything.”

  Jessie nodded. “Got it,” he said.

  Bo and Lori got their horses close and Lori touched the loose car moving it backwards a little. She thought she saw a flash and she held the watch out. All at once the world was spinning out of control as it had when she and Jessie came back home. It didn’t last as long this time and in a few minutes it was all over.

  Lori looked around and everything looked the same.

  “Bo,” she said softly, looking at the older man beside her. “Did we jump?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we did because if we hadn’t, wouldn’t Jessie be here with us,” Bo asked her.

  “All I know is, if we did, we are not in 1888.”

  “Only one way to find out and that’s to ride and see what’s happening.”

  Good idea, let’s ride toward the house by way of the cabin. Maybe we can tell how far back we are, if at all.”

  “Let’s go,” Bo kneed his horse and the two of them rode off toward where the little cabin used to be. Neither of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts, until Bo pointed in front of them.

  Lori stopped her horse.

  “Oh God Bo, we did jump time.” For there in front of them stood the cabin as it had been when Lori was small. She could still remember how she used to play inside the cabin making believe it was her house and she lived in the old west.

  “Bo,” she said aloud, “We had to have gone back in time to before I was eight when you tore down the cabin.”

  Bo reached over and touched her arm. “Lori, we ca
n’t let anyone see us. We can’t do anything to change the future.”

  Lori nodded. “Okay, let’s go on.”

  They rode on toward the house and tied their horses out back and came in the side door of the house. Bo found a jacket and cap hanging just inside the door. He threw the cap to Lori and put on the jacket turning up the collar. They could hear voices coming from the living room and walked slowly toward it making sure they were not seen. Once they were outside the door of the living room, Lori looked in. She put her hand over her mouth and Bo looked to see what she had seen. There in front of them, through the crack in the closed door, were Lori’s father and mother. Their conversion was heated. Bo looked back at Lori to see if she was alright. She had tears running down her face but was wiping them away as fast as they came. “Mommy,” she said in a whisper.

  “Who is she,” Lori’s mother was asking. “Are you seeing her on the side?”

  “I told you I don’t know her and no, I haven’t seen her,” her father had been going to say more but her mother stopped him.

  “Then why is she saying her son is yours?”

  “She’s lying and I can prove it.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “If you will hold your tongue for a minute, I will tell you.”

  “To give you time to think up another lie. Why should I believe you? You are, after all, a man.”

  “I don’t know this woman. I haven’t seen her until she showed up here saying she had my son. I don’t know any more than you do.”

  “She has been here for months with this boy. You told her she could stay in the bunk house and it means nothing.”

  “She is a woman with a child. Doesn’t matter who the father is. She had nowhere to go. I let her stay for the sake of the child.”

  “Then he is yours,” Lori’s mother was almost in tears.

  “No he isn’t. I had a DNA test and here are the results.” Lori’s father handed his wife a paper. “Read it. This boy, Trace, he isn’t mine.”

  Lori’s mother took the paper and opened it. Her face changed at once and Lori could tell her father had spoken the truth.

  “I’m sorry,” her mother said. “Forgive me?”

  Lori wiped her eyes one last time and motioned Bo to go back the way they had come. Neither of them spoke until they had taken off the cap and jacket and were outside. Bo could see Lori was shaking.