Hamelton (Dr. Paul) (7 page)

He froze for a moment then quickly recovered. "How did you know of me and what I'm teaching," William whispered with extreme interest.
I said softly, "I find difficulty answering that without saying more than may be healthy for either one of us."

"Tell me..," he asked softly as he pulled at his lip thoughtfully, "I saw you walk out of my home but never saw you enter it?" Picking up Handy's left wrist that held a gold bracelet that said "HANDY" on it. He rubbed the small finely braded links on the chain between his fingers. "Your clothes and ornaments seem better made than any place I know of can make?"

"I can't directly answer that. The book you are writing, how is it going?"

Again amazed for a moment, he recovered and trying to be helpful enough to keep me talking he said, "I write a few pages a month. My assistant, John, makes five copies. I never mentioned the book to anyone but John, I trust him completely. John has never mentioned the book to anyone. I assume you will not tell me how you know about it. Perhaps knowing that you know, tells me a lot, and how far this California Island is … or will be." William seemed to have the answer he needed, for the time. He paused thoughtfully like a statue.

William straightened his back and said load enough to stop all the small talk to the end of the table, “Our new friends have traveled far and don‟t know our customs. No notice will be taken or corrected if they seem impolite, because they are not.” When William finished speaking he looked back to me and all the small talk continued down the table as if there had been no interruption. This seemed strange how such a timid man could make a commanding proclamation. But then I recalled that not only was everyone living off William‟s money, that he had some royal title, and that he was also their spiritual leader. I took a mental note not to again underestimate this man or the loyalty he has around him.

The mood changed to comfortable as William told us amusing stories about the local town. He asked no further questions as he seemed to need to gain our confidence by being excessively friendly. He apologized for being low on rooms and promised to rearrange sleeping quarters so we could have private rooms. I refused his offer but asked if the girls could be in a nearby room which he easily granted.

The concert that night was excellent. William kept us near him through the evening, but did not ask any questions at all.

We retired to our rooms. The girl's room was now across the hall. We all met in the boy's room to review the day. During the talk Jeff mentioned, "When do we go home?" Stunned we looked at each other. No one had thought, "How do we get home?" We decided William knows if anyone does. We talked late into the night. Handy kept making passes at Hanna, however, she seemed to be more interested in being my friend than Handy's lover. I figured she was getting bothered by Handy and was trying to use me as a blocker. Everyone went back to their beds and slept hoping to wake in our own time.

VI

Morning came and I awoke in the same hard bed I fell asleep in. My friends were stirring awake at the same time. I reached back behind me in bed and pulled the drape toward me. The brilliance of the midday sun intruding from behind the dark drape was blinding. I thought I had not slept so long into the day then I remembered that it was mid morning when we left our time and mid afternoon when we arrived in this time. Just what I needed, when I finally recovered from my jet lag from the trip to England, my system gets mixed up again.

Jeff was fumbling around looking for a bathroom. "Look what I found, a note stuffed under the door," Jeff said.

"Then pick it up," Handy said in a patronizing tone. Jeff took the folded note to Handy. Handy read out loud from his bed. "William Hamelton requests the privilege of your party's company in the Library for morning nourishment."

"I guess I peaked William's curiosity more than I thought last night. Why don't you see if the girls are up? And find out how close the nearest bathroom is, I hope not outside", I said to Jeff, who obeyed concerned there may not be bathrooms.
We boys dressed in our own clothes, while the girls felt more comfortable in the outfits provided them. Once all together and ready we went to see William as a group.

Entering the library was strange; it was the same as I remembered for the most part. The circular staircases and the brass ladders did not exist. Only the one wood staircase went up and the book shelves were accessed by moveable step stools. The furniture was different, but the style and placement was much the same. On the balcony were drop cloths around the newly installed stained glass window. William was seated against the opposite wall from the window facing into the room. The couch he sat on seemed out of place and probably recently moved for our benefit. There was also an assortment of comfortable chairs and couches set up in a circle. William was dressed in white similar to the way he was the day before. He stood to greet the ladies then waved his hand at waist level gesturing us to join him.

"I'm sure you are all hungry and I will summon any meal you wish." As he reached over and rang a bell. We talked briefly about the violinist of the previous night. A servant appeared and we had a rather embarrassing time ordering breakfast when she did not understand what Jeff's cheese blintzes were. As she was leaving William said, "Tell John that we are waiting for him. Please close the door behind you." After that the smiling William kept the subject matter simple, as I wondered what he had planned.

Soon a tall muscular man entered whom I had not seen the day before. "If I may, I would like to introduce my assistant John. I have no secrets from him and I trust his loyalty with my heart. I prefer if he could join us. Do you mind?" asked William in a manner which seemed not to be prompting an answer.

"The balls in your court. Do as you want," I said. William did not seem to understand what I said but his expression accepted it as an “okay”. I said more plainly, "You have called us here for a reason, something we all must face. How do you want to handle it?"

"As forward and direct as I can." William paused for a moment then continued carefully. "It's hard for me to talk about some things unless I have better proof... or... an... idea of what you know. So that I can be more open... What can you tell me that can gain my trust?"

"That window you keep looking at looks like the Garden of Eden. It would be a nice place to visit," I said, looking right into his eyes.

Apparently satisfied William started what seemed to be a well thought out speech. "I am very impressed with your presence within my house. And I apologize for hiding that last night, but I had much thinking to do before I could approach you. If my conclusions are correct, I understand that you are limited to what you can say and do. I feel if I tell you what I know, completely, you may find yourselves able to tell me more. Is that so?"

"It would be a good start," Handy said, as several servants entered with our food. No one spoke until the servants closed the door behind them as they left.

William continued, "I saw you leave a house that I do not think you ever entered. The guards at the gate said they never saw you enter the estate. As you left the house, you looked around in amazement which confirms my belief that you left but never entered. I do not think the apparel and shoes you wear are made anywhere on this earth or in its past. I can find no record of California Island. Your speech is unknown to me, and I am well traveled." He took a deep breath. "Since I am a religious man, I do not believe life started anywhere besides earth. Therefore I can only come to two acceptable possibilities; either you come from the future, or from a world within our world. Both these may sound impossible to another man, however my studies of recent ...has opened my eyes." He stopped to see how we were responding.

"I can see you have reasoned well," I said with a nod.

Now more c omfortable he went on. “If you were from a world within our world, it would make little difference to you what you told me because it could never affect you. However if you were from the future you would be in fear that what you said could affect your own past. You seem weary to speak. I can come to only one conclusion.”

Feeling more confident with our amazed expressions confirming his every word he went on, "If I were you, and was in a faraway place or time, and wanted to visit me on a mission, I would have prepared better. Maybe imitating the talk and clothes of the place I was going to. You must have known something of me. You seem to have read the book I have yet to finish." He stopped to think. "These things conflict. This is as far as I know. Not that I mind or anything. Your party are very honored guests in my home. But what is it you want from me. And how can I help you?"

"You can get me home," said Jeff with a mouth full of food. I shot him a dirty glance. Then looked at each member of my group as if taking a vote. "Okay." I turned to William. "I think I can tell you some things that will not do any more damage to the situation than we have already done. I will not tell you anything that may change things that are not yet to come. We are from sometime in your future, and we found your book, tried your experiment to the Garden of Eden. The result was we fell easily through the gate you must have opened in this time. We are more shocked that it worked then you are to see us. Now as Jeff said we are nervous about attempting to go home."

"That answers a lot for me and I understand how it may damage the future if I learn too much from you. Let me think for a minute", William said slowly with compassion. This gave me a chance to turn and look over this John fellow who had sat just outside the circle of chairs. He had a well kept beard covering his thick neck. His hair was a dark black with a few lines of gray in it and he wore it straight back. He was slightly balding in front. He looked about fifty with a serious face. He must have known I was looking at him, but he stared straight ahead like an outside observer. His outfit was all dark almost black. He had a silver necklace on, but I could not make out the pendent from where I sat. I saw between two chairs that he seemed to be wearing a dress or a robe. "'The Friar”, I said under my breath.

William spoke, "It is urgent that I help you return to where it is you came from. I had decided to slow down on the experiments due to some minor mishaps. However now I see that I must forge ahead no matter what the consequences are immediately." He stood up with enthusiastic energy. "Will you meet me in one hour at the front of the house?" Without waiting for a response from us he said, "John, prepare as needed." John stood up and went for the door. William turned back toward us saying, "You know, this morning I was supposed to leave to advise the king, but when I saw you yesterday, I knew a greater destiny awaited me here." He left through the door in a hurry.

I was stunned with his last statement. He just turned down an invitation from the palace. That is what happened in history! Did he turn it down before for a different reason and for us this time or did I read history the way I was creating it myself? Should I make him go see the king, and if I did would it save William or destroy the fabric of time? I just became aware of the very delicate situation we were in and how badly we may have been handling it. Seems William understood our situation more than we did.

In the years since I left Hamelton many advances have been made in understanding time and multi-dimensions. But still to this day the theoretical physicists argue on how many dimensions there are. I have come to believe that even the smartest people who say they understand don‟t have a clue how things work. If your field of study is so limited that no one can counter your conclusions then you could say anything you wanted even if there is no way to prove a thing in your thesis. No senator could turn down your funding if they don‟t know you have discovered nothing and will not admit they don‟t understand what you are researching.

But still there is the unfailing question, “What if you went back in time and killed your own grandfather, could you have ever been born to have gone back in time?” This all happened 11 years before the movie Back To The Future movie was filmed and time travel was not widely talked about, let alone thought about. There were a few dusty books, “B” movies, and a couple episodes of Star Trek that touched on such concepts. However I had never thought about it and the sudden realizations that there was a situation, which could change the world as I knew it, and I had no training, was frightening.

Handy suggested we all carry the same clothes as we did when we arrived because maybe it makes the return easier. The girls agreed, but feeling shy knowing that the men of the time thought them half naked decided to carry their 20
^th
century clothes and change at the Hidden Six. Which was an interesting concept to me that women can wear a revealing bikini at the beach but if the wind lifted their dress to show their non revealing slip for a short moment, she would be very embarrassed. I suppose that it is a matter of perspective, that seeing something that is historically personal as an invasion, when on the other hand, a string bikini can be considered socially acceptable clothing. Anyway, we agreed among ourselves to meet at the front when ready.

When I arrived at where the fish fountain would someday be, I realized that it was more like a large bird bath or children's wading pool. It was about ten feet across and filled with clean water. Probably because I was busy baffling my overworked mind with puzzles, I wondered why they did not have the fish spitting fountain here at this time? They had no electricity to pump the water up, seemed to be the obvious answer. My mind started to wonder. I had 300 years of knowledge over the people of this time. I knew scientific information that could revolutionize the world. This fountain for example, I could motorize the water and make a fountain that kings would come to see. But, I don't know how to make motors, or make wire, or cast for the rotor, or for that matter make electricity. I thought about cars, washing machines, air conditioners, and telephones. All these things need parts I did not know how to make and had parts I was not sure what their function was. Well, of course now you and I can think of easier inventions we could have stolen the credit for like Velcro, but try to figure it out when you are in a strange world and uncertain of your own future.