Written in Time (72 page)

The citizenry of Atlas was so confident that the McKinley/Roosevelt ticket would be triumphant, they were holding a party hosted by Republican leaders in the town. Ellen had made her venison stew—Jack raved about it—and sent a huge pot of it along as her contribution to what amounted to a town-wide block party. Bobby Lorkin had picked up Lizzie, showing off his new spring wagon and the matched pair of dapple gray geldings pulling it. Clarence, recovered from his near fatal wound, and Peggy were in the secret room, watching a movie and just keeping company. Eventually, the tapes would wear out. Clarence was a political conservative, but Peggy, a lifelong Democrat, as had been/would be her parents, could not make herself go to a Republican rally. As Ellen reflected upon that, she realized that the Naile family could accept this one terrible flaw in Peggy’s otherwise fine character.
 

As to David, his politics were a mystery, but he’d liked Teddy Roosevelt. And he liked parties. There was a girl he’d been seeing, as pretty as she was smart. Good daughter-in-law material. The store was a runaway success. David had just returned from a business trip two towns over, where he’d opened up a second Jack Naile— General Merchandise store. The family’s fortunes, in David’s hands, were on the increase. Horizon Enterprises was on its way to its destiny.
 

Jack fired his cigarette, and Ellen moved to stand beside him. The stars shone so brightly over Nevada in 1900 that, on a clear November evening, Ellen no longer considered herself night-blind—almost, at least.
 

“Gimme a drag,” she told Jack, taking the cigarette from between his fingers. She inhaled deeply; then, as she exhaled, told him, “This roll your-own-stuff is nowhere near as good as a Camel.”
 

“Yeah, I know. Boy, would I walk a mile for one.”
 

“Do you miss it? Besides the cigarettes, I mean?”
 

“Yeah, I guess. But I’m way ahead of anybody else in this time or any other. Come here.” Jack snapped the cigarette away over the porch rail, folded Ellen into his arms and kissed her hard on the mouth.
 

After a long moment, Ellen leaned her head against his chest and said, “I thought a good cowboy hero was just supposed to kiss his horse.”
 

“No see, those are the kinky cowboys. Real cowboys kiss girls and that’s how you get little cowboys and cowgirls.”
 

“Whoa, pardner!”
 

“Don’t fret none, ma’am. I recollect how I got the sawbones to fix me up a few years back.” Jack tilted her chin up, smiled and whispered, “We can fool around all we want.”
 

AFTERWORD

The beginning of this novel is true. We went to the post office, and a reader—we’ve lost track of the man’s name, and we apologize for that to him—actually sent us a page out of the April 1993 Nevada—The Magazine Of The Real West. On page 19, there’s a photograph of a very busy boomtown street scene in the early 1900s Tonopah, Nevada. Men, women, children, dogs, all manner of wagons, horse-and mule-drawn, fill the photograph. On the farside of the street, at the center, is a light-colored building. Fanned out in a crescent at the top of the building front in big block caps is JERRY AHERN and underneath that, GENERAL MERCHANDISE. This street seemed like a good location with lots of business.
 

The photo got us thinking, just like the Naile family, about what would happen if, somehow, our family got swept back in time. Our son, Jason, really was heavily involved with work that summer and was even then and is now one of the most intelligent businessmen we’ve ever met. Our daughter, Samantha, sweet and loving with plenty of pluck, helped us plot out the story. We actually called the historical society and discovered further proof of Jerry Ahern having lived there. We have a nephew— George—who has always been like an older son to us. At the time, after a stint in the Air Force, he was managing a theater, just like Clarence. As anyone who ever got into a fight with George could attest, he’s always been very good at taking care of himself.
 

Many readers will know that, aside from writing novels, the Ahern family has always been involved with firearms, just like the Naile family.
 

We carefully research in order to make the story as accurate as possible. A good example of that is the train schedule, when Jack and Ellen go off to intercept Teddy Roosevelt. Assuming the train didn’t break down or a trestle wash out, the times for those train trips are exactly as they would have been, and so is the route.
 

Lastly, however time travel may someday be accomplished, it will likely start out as a trick, occuring by mere chance. Let’s hope it will be looked at serendipitously.
 

JERRY and SHARON AHER

May 11, 2010