Migrating to Michigan (3 page)

“We shall see,” said the professor, “we shall see.”

P
rofessor Tuesday hooked up the teleporter with its shiny globe to his laptop and typed in some information on the keyboard. Then, he snapped his fingers twice.

“Turn off the lights,” the professor said.

Owen ran over to the wall and flipped the switch. In the darkened room we could see the professor raise two fingers in the air. “I've made some changes to my teleporter,” he said. “Watch this.”

Professor Tuesday came down on the enter key on his laptop. The Tuesday Teleporter lit up like a pinball machine and made strange zapping sounds. Different colored lights slowly circled the room. Then they started moving faster and faster. The sounds got louder and louder.

“AH-H-H-H-CHOO,” Owen sneezed into his elbow. “I think I'm allergic to your teleporter, Professor.”

“Ah, yes,” said the professor, “now I remember you, Owen. You almost got us in trouble with your sneezing when we visited a Native American village in Ohio.”

POW! ZING! went the machine. Then a green cloud appeared in the middle of the professor's office.

“Did it break?” Rachel asked. “I don't remember that noise. And, the teleporter I remember looked more like a green gob than a cloud.”

“Everything's fine,” said the professor. “Those are the improvements I made. I figured out a way to make the teleporter appear in the form of a cloud rather than a gob of jelly. People didn't like walking through jelly. They like the cloud much better.”

After he made a few more keystrokes on his laptop, the professor turned to us. “Please watch Mister Adams for a moment while I make sure everything is perfectly safe.”

The professor turned and walked into the green cloud. Mister Adams pointed his fingers in the air, then made a quick movement forward.

“Oh,” I said, “Mister Adams wants to go. That's what that sign means.”

Mister Adams shook his head excitedly.

“Yes,” I said to him, “we'll all go with the professor when he returns.”

Then Mister Adams nodded his head and went back to his history book. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad watching Mister Adams for the professor. Besides, sign language can be fun.

The professor walked out of the green cloud after a few moments. “It's a lovely day in 1826,” said the professor. “Let's go.”

We all held hands. Professor Tuesday was in the lead. Then it was me, Rachel, Owen, and Mister Adams.

Once inside the cloud, we started tumbling end-over-end. Lights flashed by us and Owen sneezed again. Mister Adams tried to let go of Owen's hand, but Owen held on tightly.

We landed softly in the middle of a thick forest. There were trees, bushes, and grass for as far as we could see. “I thought we were going to see the Erie Canal?” I asked.

The professor turned to me. “Now is the time for watching and taking notes. There will be time for asking questions later.”

The professor reached into his white coat and pulled out a compass. Then he started walking south. The forest was so thick that it was hard to walk. We stepped around fallen trees and through thickets of prickly bushes.

As we walked, Owen stepped in a muddy creek bed. When he tried to get his foot out, he got stuck. We all had to wait patiently while he pulled his shoe from the mud and put it back on his foot. From then on, his shoe made squishy sounds with every step.

“Owen,” Rachel said, “can't you do anything right?”

“It's not my fault,” he answered. “I didn't mean to get my foot stuck.”

Mister Adams held up his finger to his lips.

“Mister Adams is right,” said the professor. “We should be quiet.”

When we came to the top of a high hill, the professor stopped and pointed down to the valley below. There it was, the Erie Canal. The canal was a long and narrow strip of water. It was so long we couldn't see either end of it. Owen and Rachel started scribbling in their journals. They wanted to record everything they were seeing.

The professor was right, it was a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The water in the canal sparkled in the sunlight. All was quiet except for the sound coming from the small town on the other side of the Erie Canal.

Boats and barges were moving along the waterway in both directions. They were being pulled by teams of horses that walked along the banks. Just below us, a boat entered something that looked like a long box with stone sides. As we watched, the boat seemed to rise. Then the young man who was driving the horses snapped the reins. Next, the horses pulled the boat to another big box where it rose again and continued up the canal.

Professor Tuesday reached into his coat pocket and took out some binoculars. We all took turns looking at the waterway and the town below. Some boats were carrying people, others carried barrels and boxes.

“Look around carefully,” said the professor. “There is much to see and learn here, but we can't stay long.”

Off in the distance, a wagon made its way along a dirt road on the other side of the waterway. Clouds of dust were coming from its wheels as it bumped along. It looked like the wagon was heading for the town by the canal. When I looked through the binoculars, I could pick out the white steeple of a church, some stores, and a few homes along the hillside.

Even though there were only a few buildings down by the canal, the small town was a beehive of activity. Men were hauling carts toward the dock that ran alongside the bank. It also looked like some adults and children were waiting nearby.

“
T
his is a beautiful place,” Owen said as he looked around.

“Indeed it is,” answered the professor. “In the future, there will be homes, villages, and roads dotting this countryside. In 1826, it is very primitive.

We watched the canal and quietly listened to the sounds of nature for several minutes.

“It's time to go back now,” said the professor. “Where's Mister Adams?” The professor looked upset. “Now, where is that pesky nephew of mine?”

Owen swallowed with a loud gulp. “It's not my fault. He was here just a minute ago.”

“It's never your fault,” Rachel said. “Can't you do anything right?”

“I'm sorry,” said Owen, “but you don't have to yell at me every time I make a mistake. Nobody's perfect, you know.”

“Back off, Rachel,” I said, “Owen said he was sorry. Besides, we need to work together to find Mister Adams.”

“He's got to be somewhere nearby, he hasn't been gone all that long,” the professor said. We started searching for him. “We should all be careful not to get lost while we're looking for Mister Adams.”

We walked in a big circle looking for the professor's nephew. The brush was thick, making it hard to see very far. We were all getting a little scared.

As we walked, we called out Mister Adams's name, but there was no answer. I was hoping that he would speak up when he was called. If he was in trouble and using sign language, we wouldn't know. Owen got all scratched up as he made his way through some picky bushes.

Rachel was upset. This trip wasn't turning out the way she planned. Mister Adams was nowhere to be found. And, she was afraid that the professor's nephew might just ruin her chances of getting a good grade on her report.

We completed a big circle without finding Mister Adams. It was easy to see that the professor was getting worried. When we returned to the place where we started, the professor looked up as he scratched his bald head. “Oh, there he is,” the professor said, with relief, as he pointed to a nearby tree. “Thank goodness we found you. Now, get down here this minute.”

Mister Adams was sitting on a branch in the tree. The professor's nephew made a sign that I didn't understand. It was like an ‘okay' sign that he made by his face. Then he moved it toward the back of his head and pointed to the horizon. Then he spelled out a word.

“What is he saying, Professor?” Rachel asked.

“Mister Adams sees a group of Native Americans,” said the professor. “It looks like they are coming this way.”

“What tribe are they from?” I asked.

“Mister Adams says he doesn't know for sure,” said the professor, “but he thinks they may be a hunting party from a nearby Seneca tribe.”

“Are we in danger?” I asked.

Professor Tuesday shook his head. “I don't think we are in any danger, but I want to take you somewhere else. We need to be getting back to my office.”

Mister Adams climbed down from the tree. When he got to the lowest branch, he swung back and forth a few times before jumping to the ground.

The professor took a long look at his compass. Then we started back through the deep woods to the place we started this adventure. Owen's one shoe squished with every step he took. When we got back to the creek he had stepped in, he was careful to jump over it this time.

I could tell that the professor wasn't happy with his nephew. I hoped he would let Owen and Rachel finish their research, but I wasn't sure.

O
nce we stepped through the green cloud and back into Professor Tuesday's office, the professor turned to his nephew. “Mister Adams, you gave us quite a scare back there. What if you had wandered off and gotten lost? I want you to promise that you'll stay with us, or I'll have to find a babysitter to stay here with you for the rest of the day.”

I could tell that Rachel thought that getting a babysitter for the professor's nephew was a great idea. Mister Adams looked very sad. Slowly he raised his right hand to his chest and made the letter
s
, then his hand made a circle in front of his heart.

Rachel pointed at Mister Adams, “I think that sign means he's sorry.”

“Very good, Rachel,” said Professor Tuesday. “Is everyone ready to go on another adventure?”

“Sure,” Owen said, “but aren't we going to talk about our trip to the Erie Canal?”

The professor nodded his head, “Yes, we'll talk about the Erie Canal when we get to Detroit.”

“Are we going to Detroit, now?” Rachel asked. “My dad goes to Detroit on business. He even takes me with him sometimes. Maybe we can see a ballgame or go to the zoo.”

The professor gave Rachel a knowing smile. “I don't think there will be a ballgame on our visit, but there's no doubt we'll see some animals.”

Rachel clapped her hands and jumped up and down in excitement. “I love animals.”

“I think everything is ready now,” said the professor as he started up the teleporter for a second visit into history. “I'll just poke my head into the cloud to take a look around before we travel.”

It looked funny when the professor stuck his head into the green cloud. With his head inside, he looked like a headless body that stood in front of us. After a moment he pulled it back. “Everything is just fine. Wait until you see this. You won't believe it.”

We held hands once again, this time with Mister Adams between Owen and me. We didn't want him to wander off again. Even with all the loud noises the teleporter made, all of us could hear Owen sneeze once more as we traveled through time.

We came through the green cloud and landed on a grassy hill overlooking a frontier town at the edge of the water. “Welcome to Detroit,” said the professor.

“This can't be Detroit,” Rachel said. “Where are the tall buildings? Where are the expressways and all the cars? What about the airplanes and helicopters? This doesn't look anything like Detroit.”

The professor let out a loud laugh. “My dear,” he said, “this is Detroit as it was in 1837, long before they had cars, planes, professional sports teams, museums, and zoos.”

“But you said that we'd see animals,” Rachel pouted.

“We'll see lots of animals,” the professor replied. “Just you wait and see.” The professor sat down on the grassy hill and took off his shoes and socks.

“What are you doing, Professor?” I asked.

“Don't you just love the feeling of grass between your toes?” he asked.

“I sure do,” said Owen as he pulled off his high-tops and socks. His one shoe and sock were still covered with mud. Soon all of us were lying back on the hill with grass between our toes. Big, billowy clouds hung in the blue sky above our heads. Owen saw one that looked like a dragon. Rachel found one that looked like a car, kind of.

Mister Adams started jumping up and down and pointing toward a cloud that was over the lake. He made his right hand in the shape of the letter
a
and covered it with his left hand. Then he moved his right thumb back and forth.

“What's he saying, Professor?” Owen asked.

The professor looked at Mister Adams and then at the clouds. “He's saying he sees a cloud that looks like a turtle.”

We all had a good laugh. As we relaxed on the hillside, the professor started to ask us questions.

“So, why do you think Detroit is a busy town in 1837?” asked the professor.

“It is because the city is on water,” Owen replied.

“I think it's because of the Erie Canal,” said Rachel.

“Me, too,” I said.

“All of you are correct,” said the professor. “The Erie Canal was one of the main reasons Detroit became an important city in the 1800s. The canal made it much easier for people and supplies to travel from New York to the Midwest.” The professor chewed on a piece of grass as he thought. “What did you write in your journals about the canal?”

Owen opened his journal and looked up at the professor. “I wrote down that it was one big ditch.”

Even Rachel laughed at what he had written.