Hamelton (Dr. Paul) (9 page)

The answer was that I needed to leave from my bedroom in 1641 to get to my bedroom in my own time. If I tell William my conclusions, then I may change history, if I haven't already with my meddling. If I do not tell him, that may be part of history, like him not going to the king because of our arrival, and what will happen to the world if I put time into an endless loop, assuming that's possible. I deemed it best to do as William asked and that was not to offer him anything he did not have.

When my friends woke and got themselves ready for the day, I called a meeting in the room. I explained my proposal to my four friends who did not seem to understand it fully but felt it was worth considering. I then suggested doing the experiment in the room we opened the gate in because if I was right, that was the only way home. We stayed in our room late in the morning. Then we ventured out to the room that I will call my own three hundred years from now. We sneaked to the room without being seen. I entered the room slowly in case it was occupied. The room was vacant. We quietly got ready to travel. As I lay there, I noticed a large cross above the bed and a sword beside the bed. The sword was John the Friar's weapon. This room was the Friar's room, of all the bad luck! This discovery made me want to speed up the trip.

This time the journey went fast. The limbo stage was also simpler this time than before. I could see what everything looked like but the speed was too fast to realize what was happening. I did see another tunnel on the side but could not slow down at all.

I woke up, and slowly glanced around my room to see William's dagger framed on the wall just as I had left it in my room several days ago. We had made it back to our own time again! This was a feeling that made me feel flushed. The others were also looking around at the room.

Jeff asked in a whisper, "Did we make it?"
"Yes, it would seem so," said Handy.

We all sat there for some time laughing and giggling that the episode had ended and we all felt safe. Everyone admitted that they had been scared to death whether we could get back or not.

It was a joyful time until Handy stopped and said thoughtfully, "Are we home or in the Garden of Eden or in some time close to our time."

Dead silence filled the room like a heavy blanket. After I got back from the shock of his statement I said, "My suitcase is in the corner, so the time is right. Let‟s go see if there are people around."

We went out the bedroom door and down the hall. How odd the walls looked painted white, after we had just spent days seeing them in their original unfinished stone. The staircase going down was just as odd. I stopped momentarily to see where the staircase going up used to be.

With Cindy leading, we opened the front door to see a gardener cleaning leaves out of the fish spitting fountain. The sun looked as if it was straight up around noon.

Handy's arm came over Jeff's and my shoulders. "My good friends, I think it is about time for breakfast... or a lunch." With that we all happily headed for the kitchen.

Maggie was in her usual position, fussing around in the kitchen. She must have barely heard us coming because she had just twisted around as we entered. "What's for lunch?" I asked with delight, as my friends very talkatively made themselves comfortable around the table.

"What do you want?" Said Maggie rather slowly for her.

"Cold sandwiches sound fine for everyone?" My friends all responded with shakes or nods as they continued with their chatter. "And some coffee, please," I also added, and then I joined my friends in conversation.

An interesting note here is something I had heard about later in life and now see the truth of it as I look back to that moment. People say that once a group lives through a life threatening circumstance they form an unusually strong bond. Like soldiers who feel a need to meet together every so often. Well at that time in my life I was closer to those four people at that table than I've ever been to anyone since or before. We were all talking about everything in the world, except the last 2 days because Maggie was there. The ideas my friends were trying to get across, seemed to make sense before they would finish their sentence. I am not an advocate for E.S.P. or anything like that; however I will always treasure that feeling of being in tune with the three of them. Although not to that intensity, some unusual closeness existed with us from then on.

Maggie was busy preparing and serving the food. We took a long time to eat because no one wanted it to end. Hanna asked Maggie, "Since I still have two days of leave left, would it be okay if I took the yanks to town in the van?"

Maggie only nodded. When we got up to leave for town, Maggie made an expression and gesture indicating for me to stay.

"I'll be out in a minute," I proclaimed to my friends as they left the room, "Now what can I do for you?" I asked Maggie.
"When did we last speak?" She inquired.
I had to think back, then confidently replied, "This morning at breakfast."

Maggie said in a very caring voice, "That's what I thought you would say after Hanna said she still has two days left of her three day leave. You have been gone for three days now. You may want to inform your mates what day it is. And Hanna is welcome to have her two more days off," I did not know how to answer that and felt rather embarrassed so I just nodded and turned to leave the room, "My family thanks you," she called after me as I left.

The rest of the day went fine walking around the town. We talked a lot about what had happened over the last several days, which you now also know and don't need it repeated. Hanna had mentioned that her family moved to Hamelton only fifty years ago, so she had no relatives in town at the time of William. Handy kept making a fool of himself trying to impress Hanna about himself and his father's money.

That night, we all enjoyed having a few beers in the library and continued rehashing our adventure. We all toasted William's health holding our glasses toward the stained glass window. I think Maggie may have spied on us, but I doubt she could have followed the conversation with the way we were jumping around discussing various parts.

VIII

The next day went by quite quickly. We toured several local sights in the van with Hanna as our guide. Jeff pursued one of his hobbies, photo taking. I enjoyed playing a somewhat childish game of 'hide and go seek‟, when Hanna took us to some old ruins from the thirteenth century. We were now enjoying our vacation without much thought of William.

That night we went to the Knights Edge with Hanna. We stayed with the younger crowd this time. Hanna seemed well known but not too attached to any of her town's folk. She seemed to try to include her friend July into our evening. July was much cuter than her and I feel that Hanna was trying to fix her up with Handy so Hanna could continue with us on a platonic level. None-the-less that was the last time I saw July because Handy did not seem to have any interest in her at all.

That night back in my room, I was a little drunk. As I prepared for bed a knock came at the door. "Come in."
Maggie entered. "Do you mind if we have a little talk?"

"No problem," I said, only slurring my words slightly. "Now that you have achieved what most would say cannot be done, I would like to talk to you about how it happened. If you would be kind enough to tell me."

"Will you also tell me how you know?" I asked.
"Yes, most definitely," she replied.
"It's a long story, where do I start? What do you already know about William?" I asked.
"William was a rogue. Why did he turn to a life like that after such a good upbringing?" She asked.

"Woo... what are you talking about? I saw no rogues. We went to meet William. What are you talking about? Are we on the same subject?" I said, trying not to get lost in my drunken state.

"Let me get this straight. You went back to meet William in his time. And that's all you did?" She asked.
"Well, I thought that was a lot to do. Going back in time and all. What did you think I was supposed to do?"

She pulled out an old paper that I had not seen before. "One of my distant grandfathers wrote about you in this. You saved his life from the rogues. Four of the five of you are described perfectly. I had heard of the documents of William doing strange things here. When I met the four of you then Hanna joined, I suddenly realized you are the ones that saved him. If you did not save him, then I shall never be born. You must go back."
"We were lucky to get back the last time. We have no desire to go back again. Let me read that paper and see what it said."

"No. No. If you haven't done it yet, then this is still your future. I must go now we will talk later. I must go." She left without another word.

I lay in bed, not sure if I wanted to relive seeing William again. I felt too drunk to think about it and I was enjoying my vacation, thinking I had solved the mystery. Now I had a new mystery.

IX

Morning came late the next day. I enjoyed laying there on my comfortable bed for a long time thinking how beautiful the landscape was out my window despite the fact I could see little from the bed. The talk with Maggie was intentionally blocked from my mind.

I finally got myself up and prepared for the day. While shaving those few hairs that grew under my chin, I realized I had run out of aftershave lotion. Knowing that Jeff used the same brand, and is not opposed to sharing, I decided to go borrow some from his bathroom. Being late morning I figured that he was probably already gone for the day.

I opened the door to his room and marched unthinkingly toward the bathroom. I stopped short when I saw the covers move. "Excuse me. I thought you would be downstairs by now," I said. A second look told me that there were two people in the bed. Jeff pulled the covers down so I could see him and Cindy from the shoulders up. "Oh, excuse me a lot. I'll be going now. You never saw me," I said in a cute way to try to hide my embarrassment, as I backed out of the room. They were not in the act of love making, just snuggling, but I still felt as if I definitely didn't belong in there.

"I was just leaving, anyway. You boys can stay and talk about boy things," Cindy said as she wrapped a robe around herself and stood up. She leaned over and gave Jeff a kiss and said, "Meet me in the hall in about half an hour?" Without waiting for a response she walked toward the fireplace, pushed on the book shelf and slide through an unseen passage back to her room.

"That's what I want," I said "...half naked women coming out of the walls."

I sat on the end of his bed and we talked about some unimportant matters then Jeff asked, "What do you think about Handy and Hanna, because I'm not sure I like it?"

"In what way?" I threw the question back at him, because I already knew my answer and wanted to know his first.

"Well, Hanna doesn't seem to like him. Every time Handy gets close to her she starts talking to Cindy and me. I thought she was playing hard to get but Cindy said Hanna is playing impossible to get. What do you think?"

"I think Cindy is probably closer to the truth. Hanna just uses friendly talk to get attention. We are in a much smaller town than we are used to. Customs and attitudes are a world apart here, just like we must have seemed odder to William than he did to us. Hanna was probably acting that way all her life and no one thought much of it until now. I think it's much too late to try to tell Handy anything different. You can try if you want," I said hoping he would do the dirty work for me.

"I'll say something if the time is right then," Jeff said.

I replied, "And good luck trying. By the way, I came in here to use your aftershave lotion. It's in the bathroom, isn't it?" At morning breakfast Maggie was stone cold. Albert was at the table having some hot creamed cereal. This was the second time I'd seen him since the first day. The other time he was walking in the gardens as I looked out a window. I had almost forgotten about his existence. Jeff and Cindy were eating mostly without talking. Handy was nowhere to be seen.

Someone rudely reading my manuscript over my shoulder as I write this just asked, "Why don't you tell what the food tasted like, and did you have tea time?" So for those that it interests, Maggie's breakfasts were very large and varied. Fried beans were usually served at breakfast. Lunch and dinner were rather light. She made wonderful 'puddings' daily, but in America we would call them gravies. Crumpets were always available however we never had interest in tea time at the mansion, although, it was constantly offered. The prepared food in William's time was not as appetizing because I knew they had different standards of cleanliness in those days and live animals were butchered there on the property. An assortment of bread and fruit was offered at all meals, which we mostly ate. Several barrels of wine were in William's dining room and the servants kept our glasses almost annoyingly full. Now the food crazed reader will be satisfied.

Hanna entered the room with a wave of fresh air. She spun around in a flower patterned sun dress that made the bottom hem fly up to her knees. "Do you like it?" She asked the room collectively.

Jeff, Cindy, and I made complimentary remarks on cue Albert nodded without looking up. Hanna hugged Maggie and said, "Thanks to being given a few more days off, I can spend more days with you yanks," and then more timid, "Assuming I have not overstayed my welcome."

I assured her that we were enjoying her company and we had no idea what to do in Hamelton without her. She said there was to be a soccer game in the park today and we agreed to go. Handy walked in from the garden as we were finishing eating. He also agreed to go the park.

At the soccer game we sat on some bleachers on the Hamelton team's side. There were about two hundred spectators. Hanna seemed well known and liked by the town's people that stopped to say hi. She politely introduced us to everyone. Occasionally some people sat and talked for a while. Hanna and Cindy spent much of the day together. Which is another strange occurrence in human nature, a woman always seems to hate any other woman that gets laid more than she does. Is it disgust, envy, or a little of each? Nonetheless, Cindy seemed to really be taking to Hanna now that she knew that Hanna was not as loose as she had assumed she was.