Justin thought now about Aunt Helen. He had promised her he would tell her what he found- but should he? Yes, he had to because he had promised. Not knowing how she would take it was the bad part. He sighed and went upstairs. He found his aunt in the kitchen making each of them a hamburger she had cooked on the grill.
She was putting chips and dip on the table as he entered the room. She smiled when she saw him.
“Here you are. I was going to call you. Would you rather have fries instead of chips with your hamburger?”
“No thanks, chips are fine. How did you know I was here?”
I saw the car and knew you were back so I figured you were in the basement. Have you found out anything new?”
“You are right on both counts. I know Grandpa’s secret, but I don’t know how you are going to take it.”
“You can tell me after dinner. I promise I won’t go off the deep end,” Helen said as she set plates out for the two of them.
“Okay, these burgers smell good. You were always the best with burgers on the grill, Aunt Helen.”
“Thanks Justin,” she said as she sat at the table across from him.
They ate quietly, only talking about the food. Once they were finished, Justin helped her clean up the kitchen. Then they retired to the living room.
“Okay Justin,” Helen told him. “I’m ready for anything.”
“He probably didn’t tell you because he thought you would think he was nuts but he wasn’t. He was time traveling.” Justin looked at her for a response.
She looked puzzled. “He was what?”
“He was here one minute and in another time the next. Have you seen some of the older movies about time travel? It’s something like that only different. The watch he found is the device used to travel, so when you thought he was gone, he really was.”
“Oh my goodness Justin. I don’t know what to say. Where did he travel?”
“I don’t know. Only the first time, see if I understand it right, there had to be a portal. It has to be in the basement. But the first time Grandpa jumped, he found himself four years in the future on a ranch called The Lazy Cross, where he met a woman who had a baby girl at the hospital before he retired. Of course he didn’t tell them he had jumped time but I’m sure they would have understood. You see, he found the watch in the room after she went home.”
“I don’t know what to say Justin. I wish he had told me.”
“You are taking this better than I thought Aunt Helen. I guess Grandpa always thought you were weak, but you aren’t.”
“No. I have always been a strong person. I can handle almost anything. Daddy wouldn’t tell me anything. He always thought I would worry and he didn’t want me to.”
“So what do you think now, Aunt Helen?”
“Are you going to time travel?”
“I thought I would try it.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Are you sure you want to?”
“Of course I do. This could be fun.”
Justin smiled and stood up. “Okay, let’s make our way to the basement.”
Together they walked to the basement. Justin took the watch and looked around.
“Grandpa was probably sitting at the desk so the portal must be near it.”
“Alright,” Helen pulled a stool over next to the chair at the desk.
Justin looked closely at the watch and tried to move the cars but nothing happened. He was about to give up when he touched the loose car. He leaned over and took his aunt’s hand. With his other hand, he moved the car back.
Suddenly everything was spinning faster and faster, then began to slow down to a stop. Justin and Helen were sitting on the ground and it was only about forty degrees. The ground was cold and wet. He got up and reached for Helen’s hand to help her up. There was no tree stump at all.
“Why is it so cold Justin?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I don’t know where we are.”
Helen was shivering. “I’m cold,” she said.
“I know. I am too. Let’s walk a ways.”
They began to walk. There wasn’t a road or a path anywhere. In one direction was a forest of trees. The other was kind of like it might half way be a road.
“Let’s go this way,” Justin said.
They began to walk and had only walked a little ways when they heard a noise and from out of the trees came a young man on horseback. He stopped as he saw them.
“You all lost,” he asked.
“Yes we are,” Justin said.
“Well, the lady can ride with me and you can follow on foot. It ain’t far to my cabin. My wife will fix you up with some grub and get you some warm clothes. By the way,” he jumped off the horse and held out his hand. “My name is Jessie. Jessie James McCoy that is.”
Chapter 3
Justin looked at the young man. His clothes were old and dirty and smelled a little. His saddle was old also and he had a worn blanket and old saddle bags. It was strange. All of it: the horse, the young man, even the land.
Once Helen was on the horse behind the young man, she looked down at Justin and held her nose. Justin smiled and nodded.
“It’s good to meet you Jessie James McCoy. My name is Justin Walton and this is my Aunt Helen.”
“Aunt,” Jessie asked puzzled.
“She and my mother are sisters.”
“Oh, she’s your Ant.”
“Yeah.”
This man had a strange way of talking. Justin wondered where they were so he asked.
“Where are we Jessie?”
“This is my ranch, The Lazy Cross. My wife Missy and I haven’t lived here long. Your clothes are different. You let your woman folk wear britches?”
“They wear whatever they want to. I guess I never really thought about it.” Justin was puzzled now. He remembered reading in his Grandpa’s journal about a Lazy Cross Ranch but that was all he could remember right now.
He looked around the land. It looked new and fresh. Even the air was fresh and crisp. He shivered a little. Why was it so cold? It wasn’t cold at home. They had most certainly jumped time and was somewhere else.
Aloud he asked, “What is the date today?”
Jessie smiled. “You must be lost fella. It’s September 2, 1887.”
Justin looked at Aunt Helen. She was as surprised as he was. The year was 1887. They had went back in time.
Jessie interrupted his thoughts. “Here is the cabin,” he said as a small building came into view. “Missy will be glad for the company,” he stopped his horse and reached to help Helen down. She let him, even though Justin knew she was holding her breath.
Justin watched until he heard a voice behind him saying, “Jessie, you’re back and you brought some company.”
Justin looked at the young woman who was smiling as she walked toward them. Her dress was long and hung to the ground. The neck was like a turtle neck with buttons. The color was gray and the cloth looked like it may have been a sack or something. She was pretty. Her dark hair was pulled up on her head, although some was falling down.
Jessie walked over and put his arm around the young woman saying, “This is my wife Missy. Missy, this is Justin and Helen. I’m sure they are hungry after their trip. I found them walking out on the northern side of the ranch.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, come on in. You must be tired. Helen, I could use some help in the kitchen and Justin, I’m sure Jessie has a bottle of something around somewhere.”
“A bottle? What was she talking about? What kind of bottle?” Justin thought as Missy spoke.
Jessie said, “Yeah, come with me Justin. Let’s go out to the barn.”
Justin, not knowing what else to do, followed Jessie to the small barn. He stood inside letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. Jessie was pulling a sack from something in the corner.
“Come see what I’m making Missy- a cradle for the baby. I mean, we are having a baby.”
“Wonderful,” Justin a
nswered. He hadn’t even noticed Missy was with child. “How far along is she?”
“She is about four or five months from what old Doc Crocker said.” Jessie looked up at Justin. “What do you think?”
Justin looked at the half finished cradle. What Jessie had finished of it was beautiful. Justin wondered how he could do such fine work. “This is beautiful. How long have you been working on it?’
“Only for a month or so,” Jessie said. “I work on it at night when I tend the animals. Missy don’t know, so don’t tell her.”
“Okay.”
Jessie was taking a saddle off his horse and Justin watched. He had seen all these things in movies but never had he seen anything like this for real. It was amazing the way people had it so hard. Jessie finished with the horse and they walked back toward the house. It was beginning to get dark. Jessie opened the door of the house and let Justin enter first.
The room was larger than it appeared from the outside. It was only one room. On the left side was a bed with a quilt on a string to block it off from the rest of the room. On the right side, in the corner, was a small wood stove on which Missy had a large pot. She pulled out a hot slab of bread from the oven and placed it on the small, square, wooden table.
Helen had four plates in her hands and put them on the table. Justin hadn’t seen plates like this. They were made of tin, at least they looked like it.
Helen smiled and winked at Justin. “I was telling Missy about our house where we have a maid to cook for us, which is why I don’t know how.”
“Yes,” Justin said. “Neither of us have had to do anything. The family won’t let us work.”
“You must live on the plantation in the town of Sentry about two hours away,” Jessie said.
“Yes,” Justin answered quickly. “We lost our horses and were searching for them when you found us.”
“Well, we could maybe loan you one horse but it’s too late today, of course, to go anywhere,” Jessie sat down at the table with Justin.
“I can’t ask you to do that for us. Tomorrow, if you could just take us out to where you found us, someone from home will come get us. I’ll call home.”
Missy turned from the stove. “Call?” She had a puzzled look on her face; then it cleared and she smiled. “Oh, you mean send a telegraph.”
“Yeah, a telegraph. I’ll send one tomorrow,” Justin said. He would have to watch what he said.
“You can go with us to the barn raising in the morning. There will be a dance afterwards. It will be fun. We will cook, Jessie and the men will raise the barn.” Missy smiled at Helen.
“Sounds like fun,” Helen answered.
“Good, let’s eat.” Missy set a large bowl of hot soup on the table where Jessie was sitting and proceeded to fill bowls for the rest of them. Then she sliced pieces of the hot bread she had taken from the oven and placed a slice on each plate.
The soup smelled good to Justin but he had no clue what was in it or anything. He took a bite. It had no seasoning at all, but other than that it tasted all right. The bread was good too. He was surprised at the taste. After they ate, Jessie and Justin carried water for the women to wash dishes in. Justin had never had to carry water, though he had read about it and he even remembered Grandpa talking about carrying water from a well when he was a boy. He and Jessie were carrying water from a small creek about 200 yards away which was a long way when you had two large buckets of water.
As soon as the dishes were done, Missy sat by the fire and began to mend some of Jessie’s socks. Jessie went out to the barn and soon came back with a lantern.
“I fixed a bed in the barn for you and me Justin. Helen can bunk in here with Missy tonight. We better get to bed early. We will rise early in the morning.
Justin looked at the watch on his wrist. It was just about seven thirty. He couldn’t go the sleep this early. “Did everyone go to sleep this early?” Justin thought. Jessie led him out to the barn. He had made a bed of straw and covered it with an old feather tick and some quilts. Their pillows were also made of old feather ticks. It was cold here in the barn and Justin shivered. Jessie held the lantern and set it down on a small homemade table. He waited for Justin to lay down under the heavy covers before he blew out the light and lay beside him.
The layers of cover over Justin were so heavy, he could hardly move his feet. He laid still, listening to the sounds of the darkness. He could hear owls hooting, cows mowing, chickens clucking, and something out in the woods howling. Justin had never heard noises like this before. Living in an apartment, there were no noises at all and now he wondered how they slept for the night sounds.
Jessie was sound asleep beside him, snoring loudly sometimes. Justin’s mind was racing. He thought about getting Helen from the house but knew if they wandered off trying to find the portal, they would be lost and that would be bad, since the weather here was so cold. Justin had always taken running water, lights, and heat as a normal thing. Now, to be here where there was no running water or electricity for lights or heat was hard. Things in this time were hard and lots of things Justin had always taken for granted.
Finally, it was after nine and Justin was still awake. He got up and took the top quilt and wrapped it around him and walked quietly and slowly to the door of the barn and slid outside. Once outside, he stood there letting his eyes adjust to the difference of the darkness. As he stood there, it began to snow. As he walked toward the house, he saw Helen coming out the door of the house with an old coat on that was much too big for her.
“Helen,” he said. “Couldn’t you sleep either?”
“It’s much too early and way too hot in there.”
“When we come back from the barn raising tomorrow, I’ll have Jessie take us back to where we jumped and we’ll go back.”
“I didn’t realize how hard things were for people in these times. Now we have seen it firsthand. This couple, Missy and Jessie, seem so happy here and with each other.”
“I know,” Justin smiled wrapping the quilt tighter around him. “It sure is cold but I guess the weather has changed also. You know Helen, I remember Grandpa writing about a wife of Jessie having a baby in the room where he found the watch. Do you think it could be the same Jessie?”
“I don’t know Justin, but I suppose it could be.”
They walked down by the small creek. Justin was afraid to go far, afraid they couldn’t get back. Helen looked down at the clear water or at least it looked clear in the darkness.
“I’m so glad I didn’t have to live in these times. Things were so hard.”
“They were also simple. No drugs, everyone helped each other, and almost everyone went to church on Sunday. They lived off the land.”
“True,” Helen answered. “The air smells fresh and clean.”
“Aunt Helen, we better go back. They will get us up early in the morning.”
They turned and walked back to the little cabin. Justin waited until Helen had disappeared into the house before he made his way back into the barn where Jessie was still sound asleep on the feather tick on the floor. Justin shivered a little as he slid out of his shoes and laid under the huge pile of quilts. Soon he was warm and drifted into a fitful sleep.
“Justin, wake up,” Jessie’s voice was saying. “We have to be going soon.”
Justin opened his eyes. It was still dark and Jessie was holding a lantern. He looked at his watch. It was only three o’clock, much too early to be up.
Jessie began to take the covers one by one and fold them up. Justin stood and slid into his shoes, yawning widely.
“I see you aren’t used to getting up early. You are spoiled. Come, let’s go into the house. Missy will have a fire going and something for us to eat. I will see if I have some better suited clothes for you to wear. Maybe another pair of shoes also.”
Justin could understand the clothes. What he wore now was much more modern for this time. From now on if he time traveled, he would need to change clothes beforehand.
Th
ey arrived at the house where a light burned brightly inside. Jessie opened the door and allowed Justin to enter. As they entered the room, Helen came from the quilted area which was the bedroom part of the house. She was wearing one of Missy’s dresses. It was made of a thick looking cloth much like a sack. It’s color was brown and the long sleeves puffed at the shoulder and were tight at the wrist with a button. It had a high neck like the one Missy wore and Helen pulled at the neck. The front had buttons down to the waist which was snug. Then it flared out into what looked to be yards and yards of cloth and was so long you couldn’t see her feet. Justin wondered how she walked a step without falling or at least tripping over its tail. The color looked good on her but Justin almost laughed until Jessie appeared with some clothes for him to wear.
Justin went behind the quilt rather than going back out into the cold again. The shirt was an old flannel one and it itched and smelled funny. It was also a little large. The pants were an old faded pair of overalls with one strap missing and a large hole in one knee but Jessie had told him to put on a pair of long underwear under his clothes so the hole only showed the yellowish white of the underwear. He also slid out of his own shoes and into the worn out cowboy boots that were at least one size too large for him. When he appeared again in the other room, he saw Helen hide a smile under a yawn.
The meat they ate for breakfast was fresh but Justin didn’t know what it was and wasn’t quite sure he wanted to know.
Soon afterwards, while Missy and Helen cleaned up inside, Jessie and Justin went out to the barn to hitch up the buckboard to the horses. It was hard for Justin. Somehow he couldn’t seem to get it right and Jessie laughed.
“You have been waited on all your life and haven’t even learned to hitch up a buckboard.”
“I know. I guess I’ve had the easy life.”
They pulled the buckboard around in front of the cabin and returned inside to collect the women who were carrying pies and a large pot of stew. After everything was on the buckboard, Jessie helped Justin and Helen climb onto the back and sit near the front. He handed them each a thick blanket for cover. Then he helped his wife onto the wide seat upfront, handed her a blanket, and climbed up on the other side of the seat beside her. As they rode along, Helen suddenly asked, “Tell me, how did the two of you meet?”
Portals of Time Page 20
