Portals of Time

by Vicky McCracken

  He pulled into the circle drive and parked behind a big Dodge truck extended cab 4x4, black in color. He looked over at Helen and she smiled. “Ready?” Justin asked.

  She took a deep breath. “Sure, let’s go.”

  As they walked up the sidewalk toward the front door, the door opened to reveal a little girl of about six or seven maybe. She had blonde hair and blue eyes.

  “Hi, who are you,” she asked.

  “I am Justin and this is Helen. Your parents are expecting us.”

  “Okay, come on in. I’ll tell them.” She held open the door for them to enter the living room. The big flat screen television was on in the corner of the room to a cartoon.

  “I was watching this. You may watch anything you want. I’ll get mommy and daddy.”

  “I like this. I watch it at home all the time,” Justin said. “What about you Helen?”

  “I like it too. It’s fine,” Helen smiled.

  This pleased the little girl for she smiled widely. “Okay, be right back.”

  She ran off out of the room. In only a minute, she returned with a slim blonde lady and a tall dark man. The lady stepped forward and held out her hand.

  “Hello, I am Lori and this is my husband Jessie. This, of course, is our daughter Missy. We are sorry to hear about Mason. He visited us often after one of his trips.”

  “Yes, he will be missed.”

  Jessie stepped up and held out his hand as well. “You must be Justin. I have seen pictures of you and of you. Helen, is it?”

  “Yes,” Helen answered.

  Justin studied Jessie as Lori waved him and Helen to seats. The man didn’t look any older now than he did when Justin had seen him in the old west time. He did look a little different though. He was clean shaven with short hair and had glasses now. He was a clean cut picture of himself.

  “I’m excited to hear your story. Grandpa wouldn’t tell me anything,” Justin said.

  “I guess it’s best if I start at the beginning,” Jessie said. “I was coming off a cattle drive back in the 1800’s. I stopped at a saloon late one night in Tennessee. That’s when I met Missy. Within only a short time we were married and I bought a covered wagon and we moved to Texas where we started a ranch and named it The Lazy Cross. Missy became pregnant but I lost her and the baby in child birth. Missy was my first love,” his voice broke as he finished speaking and Justin watched as Lori reached out to take her husband’s hand.

  “I have been back in time and met you and Missy. It was easy to see that the two of you were soul mates.” Justin said.

  “We were very much in love,” Jessie said returning to his story. “Then one day I went out to check my traps and ran into some Indians. While I was running from them, I was transported into this time.”

  Lori was smiling as she picked up the story. “I found him down by the creek. He was scared, dirty, and stunk. Once I got him back here, my ranch foreman Bo helped me figure out how he got here and we also discovered I was a direct descendant of Missy. I think that is why we were attracted to each other.”

  “Yes, there were times when I thought she was Missy.”

  Justin and Helen sat on the couch and listened.

  “How did you come to name the ranch,” Helen asked.

  Jessie smiled. “One day while I was out in the fields, I found a branding iron that had once been a cross. The blacksmith in town tried to fix it but he couldn’t straighten the cross. I took it home and showed it to Missy and she told me that it looked like a lazy cross,” he stopped talking and sat lost in his own thoughts of Missy. Justin could tell he was remembering all the good times he and Missy had together. “Anyway, we named our ranch The Lazy Cross. I thought Missy had lost the baby in child birth. But the Indians took him and raised him until he was about eight. Then they took him to his grandpa, Missy’s father, and he raised him.

  Missy gave me the watch for Christmas the first year we were married. I thought it was just a watch and so did Missy. We had no idea what the cars were. It kept good time so I carried it as my time piece and because Missy had given it to me. After Missy died in child birth, I kept it to remind me of her.”

  Lori took up the story once more. “To add to my part of the story, Jessie kept telling me he was on his own land and really he was. It had been passed down until it got to me. When I found out I was pregnant, Jessie was so scared. Bo and I helped Jessie figure out how he got here. Also, we found out Missy’s father knew about the watch and had made another one. He showed it to Jessie and Missy’s son Trace, who became angry when he found out Jessie was his father and had first owned this ranch.

  Missy’s father taught Trace to time travel and he found out everything. He showed up here saying he was my brother and killed some of my cattle. He was going to destroy my ranch and buy it himself. When I found out who he was and what he was doing, I confronted him. He had no idea who Jessie was until we told him. He pulled a gun on me and tried to kill me. That’s how Bo died. He stepped in and took the bullet meant for me. In the end, Jessie decided without Missy he didn’t want to go back so he stayed here with me. We were married soon after the baby was born.”

  “I crushed the watch in the hospital room and that’s how Mason found it,” Jessie said.

  “He was a watch repairman and he figured out what the watch was,” Justin told him. “There is still a small shop he started and it does a good business.”

  “He seemed to be a good man,” Jessie said.

  “He was a wonderful father and grandfather,” Helen told them.

  “This is all so unreal,” Justin said. “Even though I’ve done it.”

  “What was so wild for me was the land. Even though we were always on the same ranch, the lay of the land looked so different and new looking back then. You wouldn’t ever know it was the same place, if you didn’t know already,” said Lori.

  “I really want to go back in time again just to explore,” Justin said. “Now that I know the story, I can began my own adventure.”

  “Mommy,” little Missy appeared in the doorway. “Miss Kelly says the cookout is ready to eat outside beside the pool.”

  “Okay,” Lori answered. “Please come out back with us and we will have steak and baked potatoes with a nice cold salad and some grape Kool-Aid. Missy picked the drink.”

  Together they walked out to the pool where there was a picnic table set with enough plates for everyone. Lori said the steak was beef from the ranch. Even the grape Kool-Aid tasted good.

  As they finished eating, Helen rubbed her belly. “We better get back, hadn’t we Justin.” she asked.

  “Yes, we need to get home,” Justin answered as he stood up.

  Jessie and Lori stood also. Jessie held out his hand to Justin and Helen as Lori said, “You two come back over again sometime. We would love to have you.”

  “Thank you, we will,” Helen returned.

  Justin and Helen left. The ride home was quiet with each thinking their own thoughts. Once back at the house, Justin was so tired he fell asleep in front of the television. He was startled awake by the sound of his phone.

  He answered in a sleepy voice. It was his job. They needed him back. “I can fix it. Just leave it alone until I get there. I’m leaving on the next plane home.”

  Once he hung up, he went to find his Aunt Helen.

  “Aunt Helen, I have an emergency at work and I need to go back now, as soon as I can get a plane. Will you be alright when I go?”

  “Yes, of course I will. Now that I know daddy hadn’t lost his mind, I can stop worrying about it. You go back home and do what you need to do.”

  “Okay. I really meant to stay longer, but this can’t wait.” Justin told her.

  “Go. I can always call you.”

  “Yes you can,” Justin kissed her cheek. He was on the phone as he left the room, heading upstairs to pack his bags, as he discovered he could catch a flight out that evening.

  In only a few hours, he was driving the rental car back to the airport
where he would return it. Soon after, he was on a flight back home. He was glad to be going home. He slept on the plane ride back to Tennessee. He was awakened when the gentleman in the seat beside him woke him to tell him they were landing soon and he should put on his seat belt. It was then Justin realized he had never taken it off. He called the office as he picked up his bags and made his way to his car.

  “Hey,” he said as the phone was answered. “Give me time to get home and shower, then I’ll be there.”

  “I’ll let everyone know Justin,” the lady said.

  “Okay, thanks,”

  He drove home with his mind on the problems at work. Within half an hour, he was walking into the building.

  Everyone welcomed him back and was glad to see him. He worked until late that night and for the rest of the week. Finally, by Friday evening around three, he told his office workers he was going home and would be back on Monday if nothing happened.

  He was worn out still but he took time to call Helen before he sat down to relax. He fixed himself a television dinner as he called. She answered on the third ring.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Aunt Helen, how are you? I haven’t been able to call you for a few days. I’m sorry. I’ve been busy,” he said.

  “It’s alright Justin. I’m doing good but it’s lonely around here in this house. I find myself talking to Fulton a lot. He’s a good listener but he never answers me,” she laughed.

  Justin laughed also. “You have your restaurant, Aunt Helen. Maybe you should work more there.

  “I have thought about bringing some new recipes in. I think I will do that. I’ll take some tomorrow.” She suddenly sounded excited.

  “Okay. We got you back on track. If you need me, you know I will come back.”

  “I know you will Justin but I believe I’ll be fine.”

  They talked a few more minutes, then hung up. Justin fell asleep in front of the television. He awoke around twelve and went to bed. He slept soundly. After eating breakfast, he began to wonder about the watch. He wished he could remember if he had brought it here or had left it behind in Texas.

  By mid-morning, he was still wondering about the watch, then he saw a bag in the corner of the living room he had forgotten to open. He walked over to the bag and opened it. There were some clothes and at the bottom of the bag was the watch. He pulled it out and walked over to the kitchen table. The light was good here, better than in the rest of the apartment. He looked closely at the watch. The way the race track was made, there was no mistaking it was Texas Motor Speedway. The tiny cars were made and perfectly set on the track. He touched each one gently. He touched the lead car and it went backward a little.

  Almost at once, the room was spinning. Justin knew he was going back in time and hadn’t meant to. His kitchen must be a portal. Once everything was settled down, Justin looked around. He thought he was back in the old west. It looked like it but he couldn’t tell for sure. There were horses and the roads were dirt but they were roads. They were made better than he had seen before when he and Helen had seen Jessie and Missy.

  He felt sure he was in a town because it was too loud for it not to be. He could hear lots of horses and buggies. Looking at his surroundings, he saw that he was at the back of a building. He walked around the corner and found he had been right. The street, if you could call it a street, was full of horses and people were walking up and down on a mission of their own. The way these people were dressed implied an era of the early nineteen hundreds.

  Coming to the front of the building, he found it was a saloon and restaurant in one. He decided he needed to find some clothes that would match the time. Walking around to the back of the building once more, he took some dirt from the ground and rubbed it on his jeans. Once they were dirty, he looked around for a shirt as his own shirt wouldn’t do. He was about to give up finding something when he spotted a clothes line with some shirts hanging on it and helped himself to one.

  Before he could do anything else, the back door of the building opened and a beautiful young girl walked out. She stood smiling at him.

  “I thought I heard someone out here. You are a stranger in town, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, my name is Justin,”

  “Well Justin, come on in. Don’t stand out in the cold. The wind is a little nippy today. By the way, I’m Paige and this is my grandfather’s saloon and restaurant. I help out in the kitchen, while grandfather takes care of the saloon.”

  Justin followed her into the building. They entered into a kitchen. The room was big with a huge wood stove in one corner. One of the biggest stoves Justin had ever seen. He guessed it was needed to cook for the people who came into the saloon and wanted to eat and drink. “You do a good business here,” he asked.

  “Yes, we do for the most part. Sit down. I do the cooking with my grandmother Tess. Grandfather takes care of the saloon.”

  She motioned Justin to sit down and as he did, she fixed a plate and set it down in front of him.

  “Thank you, Miss Paige.” Justin looked at the plate in front of him. It was a tin plate. He had thought with this being a restaurant they would have real plates. Maybe they did for the guests. He picked up the fork and started to eat the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and some of the best bread he had ever eaten. “Where did you learn to make bread like this,” he asked.

  “From my grandmother. She is a wonderful cook.”

  “I would love the recipe for my aunt. She has a restaurant but they don’t have bread like this.”

  “I’ll have to write it down for you,”

  “Have you always lived with your grandparents?”

  “Yes, my mother was unwed and my grandparents took me in as their own. My mother’s father and mother I mean. My mother did marry though. A man named Jessie James McCoy.”

  Justin stopped eating and listened. “Jessie? Could it be the same Jessie?” “What was your mother’s name?”

  “Missy,” she answered. “She moved to Texas with Jessie and they started a ranch out there called The Lazy Cross. It was there she had Trace and she died in child birth. Jessie thought the baby died too.”

  Justin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This beautiful girl was Missy’s daughter. The man running the saloon was Missy’s father. He had to get back to his own time and think about all this. Aloud he said, “I hate to eat and run but I really must be going. I will be back though.”

  “It was nice to meet you Justin. I will have the recipe for you next time.”

  Justin stood, but he really didn’t want to leave this beautiful girl. He walked out of the kitchen and back to the back of the saloon where he made sure no one was looking and pulled the watch from his pocket. He moved the car forward and in a matter of minutes, he was back in his own kitchen. He sat there for a minute, then he called Helen.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Hey Aunt Helen, how are you?”

  “I’m good Justin. I haven’t heard from you in a while. Where have you been?”

  “I went back in time and visited Missy’s daughter Paige. She was at the saloon owned by Missy’s father.”

  “I thought you might have been traveling. I’ve been working at the restaurant. I added some more recipes to the menu.”

  “I ate some of the best bread. Paige said she was going to get me the recipe for you so you can use it in the restaurant.”

  “Good, I can use a good bread or even rolls.”

  Justin smiled. Helen was a cool person. They talked a few minutes more and they hung up. Justin knew he had brought his grandpa’s journals. He picked up the next one he was going to read and opened it up. After looking through some of the pages, he turned to the front and began to read:

  I hope by now you have talked to Jessie and Lori and heard their story. I was so excited when I heard their story. Afterward I did a little research on the computer. I followed the family tree and saw where Lori is a direct descendant of Missy. It could be why they were so attracted to
each other. I also went through Jessie’s family tree and our family are descendants of his. Odd, isn’t it Justin?

  Justin stopped reading. His family was kin to Jessie’s. Strange. He put up the journal and began to search on-line himself. Tracing it back, he discovered his grandfather had been right. His family was a part of Jessie’s family. Paige came back to his mind. Was this the reason he was feeling like he did when he was around her?

  Could Jessie’s and Missy’s commitment to each other have been so strong it was passed through the generations of people? He had never heard of something like that happening before but after knowing what he knew now, he honestly believed anything was possible. “The love of two people could be so strong, it could pass through the generations.” Thinking about it now made it all seem crazy.

  CHAPTER 5

  Justin closed the computer and tried to watch television to get his mind off these strange thoughts. Nothing seemed to help and even when he went to bed that night he couldn’t rest for he dreamed:

  He was arriving at his grandfather’s house to see Aunt Helen once more. For some reason Aunt Helen told him his room had been moved to the basement. He carried his bag downstairs and put it on the bed. He turned and dropped the bag. It fell to the bed with a thump and his mouth fell open.

  “Grandpa,” he breathed.

  Mason was sitting at the foot of the bed and patted the place next to him. Justin went and sat beside the older man.

  “I thought you were dead Grandpa,” Justin said.

  “I will never be dead to you Justin. You are my only grandchild and I am with you always,” Mason told him.