Indiana Belle (American Journey Book 3) (31 page)

CHAPTER 55: CAMERON

Evansville, Indiana – Thursday, June 27, 2041

Everything exceeded his expectations. The train was fast, the ride smooth, and the scenery as mesmerizing as anything he might find in a movie.

No matter where Cameron looked during the thirty-mile ride from rural Griffin to urban Evansville, he saw something new, different, or exotic. He saw domed parks, elevated drone stations, wildlife bridges, and villages filled with sleek, aesthetic, and no doubt efficient offices, houses, and malls. Nearly everything looked as if it had been designed by an artist and built by a sculptor. Beauty had replaced blight.

Drawn to the unexpected splendor around them, Cameron and Candice wasted no time getting off the train and starting their tour of the city. They wanted to make the most of an opportunity that had fallen into their laps and might never come again.

"I don't recognize this town. Do you?" Cameron asked.

"I don't," Candice said. "I don't recognize a thing."

Cameron could not complain. He saw progress on every block. Gleaming glass towers and refurbished historical treasures loomed over freshly paved streets and public spaces free of garbage, graffiti, and urban decay. Public parks resembled private reserves. Even alleys shined.

Cameron saw even fewer signs of societal decay. No panhandlers pestered pedestrians or blocked sidewalks. No prostitutes or porn merchants plied their wares. If criminals, drug dealers, and gang members operated in Evansville, Indiana, they did so in the shadows.

The Rhode Islander watched in awe as monorail trains, moving walkways, and electric streetcars carried passengers through the downtown core. He did not need to see more to know that this was a city that worked.

"I think this is Main Street," Cameron said.

"I know it is," Candice said. She pointed at a store. "Heller's Drug is over there."

Cameron gazed across the busy street and noticed a business that had not changed its name or location in more than a hundred years. He imagined the fun he could have by walking inside the place and asking Leonard's descendents about their elixirs.

"I don't see the law firm," Cameron said. He stepped out of the way of a pedestrian who gave him a dirty look. "Do you think Richard drove it under?"

Candice smiled.

"I'm sure he did."

Cameron laughed.

"You seem confident."

"I am. If I know Richard, he stole from his partners."

Cameron smiled and shook his head. He started to reply to Candice's comment but stopped when yet another passing pedestrian shot him a disapproving glance. He pondered the glance for a moment and then returned to his fiancée.

"Do you still think about Richard?"

Candice took a breath.

"I try not to. He's a man I'd like to forget."

"I feel the same way," Cameron said. He took her hand. "Let's keep moving."

"OK."

Cameron gave Heller's Drug one last look and then led Candice down Main Street. As they moved southwest, toward the river, he saw the former home of the
Evansville Post
and timeless businesses like a beauty salon, a title office, and an ice cream parlor. He also saw not-so-timeless businesses like a holographic sign shop, a laser-tag arcade, and a life-extension clinic.

Cameron liked seeing these things. He liked that Indiana and presumably the rest of the country had preserved the best of their past while marching boldly into the future.

Yet it wasn't long before Cameron saw things he did
not
like. The drones that frequently flew overhead were unnerving. So were the surveillance cameras on streetlights and rooftops and at least some of the slogans on holographic billboards. With messages like WORK IS JOY, SAFETY IS SECURITY, and TRUTH IS HAPPINESS, who needed positive reinforcement?

Cameron also did not like seeing frowns on the faces of every person he passed. Despite living in a city that positively gleamed, the residents of Evansville did not seem happy. They did not smile or laugh or even engage in lively conversations. They instead moved about like sedated hospital patients or zombies walking through the aisles of a discount superstore.

"Have you noticed that no one is smiling?" Cameron asked.

"No," Candice asked. "Should they be?"

"Yes. They should. At least some of them should anyway."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I don't know," Cameron said. "It's probably nothing."

"Something is bothering you," Candice replied. "Tell me what."

Cameron took a breath.

"I just sense that something is a little off. Something isn't right. No one here is smiling or laughing. No one is even
talking
."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Candice asked.

"Yeah. I do," Cameron said. He pointed to a bench. "Let's sit.

"All right."

The two reached the bench a few seconds later and sat down. They gazed at the street, the buildings across the way, and the unhappy citizens who seemed as unhappy as ever.

"Tell me I'm not crazy," Cameron said. He threw his arm around Candice and swept the scene with his eyes. "Does everyone here look depressed?"

Candice lifted her head and moved it from side to side. She paused a moment, as if trying to choose the right words, and then spoke to Mr. Observant.

"Yes," Candice said. She nodded. "They do."

"I thought so," Cameron said. "I've noticed something else too."

"What?"

"People are giving us nasty looks."

"I
have
noticed that," Candice said. "I noticed that on the train."

"Thank you," Cameron said. "Now I know I'm not crazy."

"I don't understand it either. It's not like we're doing anything odd or wearing anything odd. We're dressed like them."

Cameron pondered her comment as he stared into space. She was right, he thought. They had done nothing to merit the nasty stares. They had done nothing but walk through the streets.

Then he took another look at Main Street and noticed something he had not noticed before. Every man, woman, and child wore a white shirt, a white dress, or white pants. No one wore full-color ensembles. No one, that is, except two time travelers from 1925. A light bulb went off.

"You're wrong," Cameron said. "We're
not
dressed like them."

"What do you mean?" Candice asked.

"Take a look. We're dressed in colors. Everyone else is wearing white."

Candice gave the scene a second inspection.

"You're right. What do you think it means?"

"I don't know."

Cameron gazed again across the street and noticed yet another peculiarity. Two men in white leisure suits stood on opposite street corners and kept a not-so-secret watch on pedestrians. Both turned away when the man in the blue shirt and tan slacks looked at them. He pondered the meaning of that when someone else snapped him out of a daze.

"Cameron?"

"Yes?"

"Is something wrong?" Candice asked.

"Maybe."

"You're scaring me. Maybe we should go."

Cameron thought about Candice's suggestion and considered acting on it. He didn't want to leave because of a few unfriendly glances, but he didn't want to stay if doing so put them in any kind of danger. He looked at the men in white, the unhappy residents, and then at a sign on a building in the next block. Just that quickly, he had his answer.

"Let's stay," Cameron said.

"Are you sure?" Candice asked.

Cameron nodded.

"I'm positive. I see a place where we can get answers to a whole lot of questions. I don't want to leave town without them."

CHAPTER 56: CAMERON

Cameron wasted no time leading Candice down the block, past the observant men, and into the place with the answers. He had hoped to find books on shelves or computers on tables, but he found neither. The library, a branch of the Southern Indiana Enlightenment Center, did not have books or computers. It had thirty touch-screen kiosks that hung from the walls liked paintings.

"The wonders never cease," Cameron said.

"What do we do with these?" Candice asked.

"We touch buttons."

"Can you operate one?"

"I think so," Cameron said.

"Then I'm going to ladies' room. I'll be right back."

"Take your time."

Cameron released Candice's hand and then walked about thirty feet to an unoccupied kiosk at the back of the room. He needed only a few seconds to figure out the machine's particulars, start touching buttons, and begin catching up on the last twenty-four years.

He sought the big picture first. He tapped the U.S. history button, browsed the highlights of each year since 2017, and focused on those pertaining to government. It wasn't long before he found something of interest in the form of the America United Party, an independent faction that had emerged out of nowhere in 2031 and shaken up the political establishment in 2032.

Led by a charismatic software entrepreneur named Wilson White, the AUP appealed to voters fed up with the Democrats and Republicans and captured not only the presidency but also the House and the Senate. Once in office, the AUP, supported by an unlikely coalition of liberals and conservatives, set out to eradicate a host of seemingly intractable problems.

It shut down polluters, sealed borders, and rebuilt cities in its first two years, passed universal health care in its third, and simplified the federal tax code in its fourth. Grateful voters rewarded President White with a second term and his allies with large majorities in Congress.

America United responded by increasing its power. It pushed for a constitutional convention in 2037, got one in 2038, and proceeded to weaken or eliminate the Senate, the Electoral College, and the first, second, fourth, fifth, and twenty-second amendments. By the time President White was elected to a third term in 2040, he presided over a nation where speech was regulated, guns were severely restricted, and due process was a goal and not a right.

Cameron tapped out of U.S. history and switched to a newspaper database. When he accessed the latest digital edition of the
Evansville Post-Record
, he saw what he expected to see: a lot of good news and very little bad. Two articles praised President White's trade initiatives. Another encouraged the public to wear white on the chief executive's fifty-seventh birthday.

The Rhode Islander knew now why the locals frowned. Like other Americans, they had overreached, guessed wrong, and misplaced their faith. They had made a Faustian bargain with a party that promised them everything and took almost everything in return.

Cameron turned away from the screen and glanced at the front of the library. He hoped to catch a glimpse of a woman in green but instead caught a glimpse of a man in white.

A security figure from the street walked into the library, looked around, and made a beeline for the closest available kiosk. He pretended to ignore the man in blue and tan, but the man in blue and tan was not fooled. Cameron was being watched – and followed.

Sensing that time to do essential research was slipping away, Cameron switched from one news database to another. He accessed digital microfilm of the
Evansville Post
from 1925 and flipped through the pages as fast as he could.

Cameron saw much to like. He saw Candice's society columns, her exposé of a booze ring, and a small article announcing her engagement to a New England man.

He did not have the stomach to peruse articles from early July, so he jumped to late July and early August, flipped through the issues, and saw stories that made his heart soar. On July 29 a reporter named Candice Coelho exposed Leonard Heller as a drug runner. Six days later she toppled a corrupt local official. On August 14 she received an award from the mayor.

Cameron began reading the last article in depth when he saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned left just as Candice Bell, soon to be Coelho, approached with a smile on her face.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Candice asked.

"I did," Cameron said. "Oh, did I ever."

"Well, tell me."

Cameron started to respond but stopped when he glanced again at the front of the library and saw the man in white step away from his kiosk. The man looked at the colorful couple, spoke to a patron by the door, and then exited the building. When the patron spoke to yet another man and pointed toward the back of the room, Cameron knew it was time to go.

"I'll tell you later. I'll tell you much later," Cameron said. "Right now we need to act on your suggestion and get out of Dodge."

"What?" Candice asked.

"We need to leave, sweetheart. We've worn out our welcome."

"All right."

Cameron and Candice walked through the room and out of the building. When they reached the street and saw the men in white on the other side, they turned northeast on Main Street, picked up the pace, and did not slow down until they reached the train station.

Thirty minutes later they boarded a train, along with the men in white, dozens of commuters, and more than a few people who did not care for their attire. After a ride to Griffin that seemed to last forever, they exited the train anxious and unnerved. No one followed them off.

If the men in white later returned for two people who did not show respect to the president on the president's birthday, they would not find them. They would not find them on a nearby farm or even in a nearby cellar. The couple would be long gone to a time that was now their own.

CHAPTER 57: CAMERON

Monday, June 29, 1925

Cameron chuckled when the waitress, wearing a spotless white dress, apron, and cap, closed her order pad and returned to the kitchen. He couldn't help himself.

"Why are you laughing?" Candice asked. "Did she say something funny?"

"No," Cameron said.

"Then why are you laughing?"

"It's nothing."

Candice raised a brow.

"People don't laugh over nothing."