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In Time by Lila L Pinord
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Rated "PG13" by the Author.
This book is about a group of time travelers from different walks of life. The main character is called Cowboy. He doesn't know his real name or where he comes from. The following is just one man's personal story before he meets up with the others.
Weekends usually found Seattle John, or Johnny Fredd- his given name- traveling around the countryside, getting away from the huge metropolis of Seattle where he lived and worked. Sometimes the noise and the traffic grew to be too much for him to handle and he liked to “get back to his roots”, as he put it. He often tossed his fishing gear in the back of his station wagon should the urge to drop a line hit him, which it always did sooner or later.
So that is how he came to be standing in line at the local General and Hardware store in the small town of Port Orchard near the coastal waters of Washington state. It’s also when he saw and fell in love with the girl standing directly in front of him. She seemed to float there in a stream of lavender in which he suddenly drowned. He felt light-headed and wondered what the hell was wrong with him? He’s acting like a school kid with a crush on the most beautiful girl in school.
The girl/woman turned suddenly and looked right into his startled eyes. A lump rose in John’s throat, so tightly he couldn’t breathe for a second. Her eyes were a bright sparkling blue as she gazed unblinking into his own gray ones.
“Hi,” she said, “you’re new in town.”
John hadn’t found his voice yet so said nothing.
“What’s your name? Mine is Glee.”
“I’m John,” he finally got the words out. “What kind of name is Glee”
“I’m from Alaska,” as if that explained it.
“Oh,” as if he understood.
Glee turned to the proprietor and paid for her ice cream bar. John paid for his items, whatever they were. He forgot. Maybe some fishing items.
“You can come and visit me if you like,” stated the girl of his dreams. “I live on 91 Maple.”
She drifted out of the store in a purple haze of lavender on the prettiest pair of legs he’d ever seen. He watched the girl in the blue denim shorts until she was out of his sight. Then he felt an emptiness fill his being.
John purchased a bottle of Pepsi and ambled out to the front of the store where he sat on a bench and thought of the girl, Glee. He sat for an hour. Then he rose, got into his station wagon and went in search of 91 Maple Road.
He found the street easily since the town wasn’t very large. 91 Maple stood at the very end according to the white painted mailbox with the numbers ninety one printed in large black letters. He could see a waving meadow behind the house with hazy trees in the distance. The house appeared to be a story book dwelling, painted white with green shutters. Honeysuckle vines wrapped themselves over the front porch posts. It smelled delicious. Just like her.
John parked and strolled to the front of the house. When he reached the porch, for some unknown reason, he leaned to his left and peeked through the window. There she sat, the love of his life, laughing aloud at something on the television which blared in front of her. He watched her and was amazed at the pure joy emanating from her. He’d never seen anyone laughing out loud when they were alone in a room like that.
Quietly, John reached down for the bottom of the window and raised it upward. As he stepped through, Glee turned and saw him. She rose and ran to him and hugged his large frame.
“You did come! I’m so glad to see you!”
“I came through the window. I didn’t want to frighten you by pounding on the door,” was all he could think of to say.
She took his large hand in hers and led him to the couch.
“Do you want an orange soda? That’s what I’m having.”
“Yes,” he said, even though he really didn’t want one. Right now he would have said Yes to anything, agreed to anything, it was all okay with him. Again, he thought what the hell is wrong with me?
Now he could see what Glee had found so funny on the console in front of him. Mighty Mouse was zooming through the sky, getting ready to save the day. Cartoons. The lady likes cartoons.
“So, you like cartoons, huh?” he said to her when she returned from the kitchen with the orange soda.
“Oh, yes, but my favorite one isn’t on yet - the Road Runner! That ol’ coyote will never catch up to him, will he!”
When Mighty Mouse had beaten up all the bad guys, Glee clicked off the television and asked, “What shall we do with our afternoon?”
“Want to go for a walk? I saw a field in back..”
“Yes!” She took him by the hand and led him out through the kitchen and the back door.
In the very center of the meadow, which was covered with wildflowers of every size and shape imaginable, they lay side by side and watched the puffy clouds gather overhead.
“Did you know that if you stared at a cloud for a long time, that it would break up into smaller clouds?”
“No,” he said, willing to play her game.
She pointed at an especially fat one and said, “There. That one. Let’s stare at it, okay?”
They did and after five minutes, it did, indeed, separate into several smaller clouds that drifted off into different directions.
“See? I told you. It’s the power of our minds!”
She was so enthusiastic that he nodded in agreement. Who was he to tell her that all clouds do not stay the same, that they disintegrate, no matter what?
Grasshoppers were everywhere in this wild field. Suddenly Glee reached out and captured one in her cupped hands.
“Listen to it click,” she held it close to his ear and he listened as he was instructed. He nodded.
Then she did the darndest thing. She raised her hand holding the grasshopper high above her head, squeezed its belly and dark liquid shot out of the insect right down into her open mouth!
“Yumm, yumm. Mmmmmm,” she murmured.
John couldn’t help himself. He made a face and asked what it tasted like.
“Like bug juice, what else! Want to try some?” She was already reaching for another of the hopping insects.
He took back what he’d thought earlier about doing anything she wanted, that all was okay with him.
“No. Thanks anyway.”
“Come on, I want to show you something!” Again the willful girl dragged him by the hand to the edge of the clearing until they stood beneath a large oak tree.
“Look up there. Do you see it?”
Halfway up the tree was a structure of some kind.
Straining his neck to peer through the limbs and dappled colors that played upon the tree trunk, John finally said, “Yes, I do see. Is it a tree house?”
“Yes. My father built it a long time ago for me and my brother.” Then she looked momentarily sad. “My brother’s not here anymore though.”
Noticing her change in mood, John said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did your brother move away then?”
“No. He didn’t..” Then her tone shifted again to the happy-go-lucky person that she was. “Come on!”
Glee led John up a well-worn path through tall trees which soon turned to spindly alders. The two adventurers came upon a foaming brook with a wooden bridge arcing over it. She led him across.
On the other side, Glee ran down toward the fast moving stream, knelt down and scooped up handfuls of water to her mouth.
“Mmmmmmm,” she murmured, arching her beautiful neck backwards.
John had never seen anyone enjoy life so fully and all the little things it’s made up of. To her a fresh gulp of water was like a castle built on air. Nectar of the Gods.
“There’s good fishing in this stream. Do you like to fish, John?”
“Very much.”
“Good! We’ll do that the next time!”
A thrill ran through him when he realized she wanted to see him again!
He joined her at the brook and drank deeply just as she had. She smiled sideways at him and he thought his heart would pound right out of his chest. Then Glee rose slowly, sensuously he thought - and leaned back against the rough bark of an alder tree that hugged the edge of the stream.
Joining her, John looked achingly at her soft, naturally pink lips, parted ever so slightly. He allowed his lips to brush gently over hers. They were still moist from the water they’d drunk. A tingling sensation ran the length of his body. Since she didn’t seem offended, John placed his arms around her lithe form and kissed her again, full on the lips this time. He wished to kiss her deeply, but was afraid of frightening her.
To his surprise, Glee ducked under his arms and took off running back the way they had come.
“Wait! I’m sorry if I scared you! I didn’t mean...” he yelled after her.
Then the tinkling sound of her laughter filled the air. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized she was just teasing. Okay, he would play her game, and he ran after her, down the same slippery path through the thin and thick stands of trees until they once again reached the edge of the multi-colored meadow.
“My God, this girl is fast!” he breathed to himself and picked up his pace. Halfway across the wide, sweet-smelling field, John could see that Glee had already reached the back door of her house and was pulling it open when he stopped short. He had noticed a hazy screen of some sort a couple of feet ahead of him, while he had been racing toward the girl of his dreams.
The earth beneath his feet trembled and he only managed to say, “Wha..” The shaking land grew worse. His feet had turned to stone as he gazed forlornly back toward Glee. Far in the distance he spotted a large figure walking toward him with ax in hand.
John looked back and saw Glee as she paused in the doorway to look back for John, to see how close he was to arriving.
A shimmering screen greeted her surprised eyes.
“Now, where did he go?” She scanned the entire scene, but still no John.
“Oh, well,” she said and shrugged. “It’s probably just as well. Because when Daddy Jack got home, he would probably kill him. Like the others.” John heard these surprising words just as he stood on the threshhold of the pink shimmering curtain. He thought he smelled something burning.
John held his posture long enough to watch the scene play out in front of him.
Watched as the girl entered the kitchen, poured a glass full of Kool-Aid and went into the living room where she sat in front of the television set again. For some reason, he heard her echoing thoughts:Maybe tomorrow I will wander down to the store again. Maybe I’ll find another playmate. One who will stay this time.
She flicked on the television using the remote and laughed out loud, clapping her hands with joy, as if all thoughts of John vanished from her mind.
The Road Runner was on.
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