TIME AND TIME AGAIN The sequel to 3037 (11 page)

“The membrane wasn’t across the entrance and I went right in.  As soon as I got inside, I fell to my knees but this time it wasn’t a physical healing that took place but an emotional one.

“Y’all remember when I told you that to go between the cylinders in the time/space slit was to cheat time and space in a way?”

When we nodded she continued.  ‘You can’t.  It will never work.  We have been trying to make things happen the way we wanted it to.  As we’ve seen, it doesn’t work.  We have to have faith in the universe like we used to do when we let the cave lead us.

“It started with
Josie
demanding to be taken back
and it snowballed from there.  I didn’t help any when I tried to fix everything.  We have been
tested these last few days, because we didn’t let thing happen that was supposed to happen.  This morning I needed to hear surrender from both of you.  I couldn’t take you to the cave until I heard that.”

I looked at Joe, “Then all of the things that happened to us were because of
Josie
?  That doesn’t make any sense, Irene.  I had already gone through the time/space slit when
Josie
demanded to come back.  Are you telling me that I was supposed to go through that?”

“I can’t answer any of the questions except to say we were tested.  Don’t ask me how I know but as soon as I fell to my knees, I knew.  I believe we had to go through all we’ve been through to prepare us for something big that we’re going to have to face in the near future.

“I’ve paid for the hotel bill so we can go now.”

“But what about
Josie
?”
I cried.  Where is she and when and what has happened to her?”

Irene patted my shoulder, “Faith,” she said and led us inside the cave.

CHAPTER 21

As soon as Joe and I stepped inside the city, we fell to our knees and I could understand what Irene was talking about.  A wonderful peace came over me.  I knew everything would happen the way it was supposed to happen.

Joe and I made our way to our house and we felt the cave lift and “swim” through space.
  We slept for two whole days and nights, it’s what our bodies needed.  When we finally ventured out we met some of our old friends who shared their adventures.  They had let the cave take them where they needed to be and they were their same old serene selves.

We fixed meals together and ate at the outdoor picnic tables and I reunited with my son.  He was now 13 years old.  I had missed a few years of his life but I was grateful for what time I had with him and would have with him in the future.

Seth, Joe and I sat for hours telling of our adventures.  He told us about a world they had visited with al
l
tiny people.  He wanted to pick them u
p but they were very dignified.  T
hey had strict laws.  “Their hands were the size of dad’s thumb,”
he said
and I saw Joe turn his hand over and look at his thumb.

“Do you know why the cave took you there?” I asked and he frowned while he thought about it.

He looked sad when he said, “They were losing their sun, mom.  It was burning out.  They were going to die.  Some were already very weak and the planet was getting dark.  It wasn’t until we took them into the cave that I noticed that
they had pastel skin.”

“Really?”
Joe asked.  “You mean they were like a rainbow?”

“No, dad.
  One was pink, one was light green,
one
was light purple, one light blue.  But all of them had pink eyes.  We took them to another planet that the cave thing picked out and during the journey we taught them many things and they taught us also.

“They’re very limber and athletic.  They taught us all about swinging through trees on vines and swimming really fast.  They were so tiny that a bunch of them could surround a fish and catch it before the fish even noticed them.  The fish were almost as big as them.  We showed them how to cook.  They ate everything raw, even the fish.

“I had so much fun with them that I was sad when we left them on another planet.  The new planet had so much sunshine and we stayed with them there until they adjusted.  I noticed they were getting to be the same color, a golden tan from the sun.”

He had been talking a long time and he suddenly stopped and started crying, “I missed you both so much.  I hope we never get separated again.
  I hope we find Josie.”

Joe took him on his lap and he cried on Joe’s shoulder.  “Whether we find her or not, we have to be grateful for all the wonderful thing s we do have.” Joe said.

Have you ever noticed, in life, that it seems like everything goes wrong, no matter what you do?  In fact, it seems like the harder you try, the worst it is?  Then all of a sudden everything starts to go right.  It’s not something you’ve done, but it’s as if Karma says, okay, you’ve had a lot of bad shit happen, now here’s some good stuff.  And then all of a sudden everything works out for you, even the small things?

That’s pretty much what happened to us and it started when we landed in a new world.

CHAPTER 22

We had been in transit for two years and I woke up one morning and felt the floating feather
sensation as we floated and swayed form side to side before settling down.

Seth was now fifteen and he had been working on plans for a
skywheel
that Irene had described for him.  She had died in a
skywheel
accident and been reincarnated on Joe’s planet and that’s where I had met her.

Seth said that when we landed, he was going to try to find the materials he needed to build the
skywheel
.  For some reason the
cave
hadn’t provided him with the material like it had for Joe when he wanted to become a musician or for me when I wanted to design clothes.  We still didn’t know why the cave made the decisions it made.

The place we landed this time didn’t have the natural beauty of some of the other places we had landed.  Instead it was a glowing city.  That’s the only way I can describe it.  Everything looked new and the people bustled about like they were in a hurry.
  For some reason, no one but our little family wanted to go explore.  So it was just the three of us.

I was surprised that no one else wanted to come with us but was later to learn that was the way it was supposed to be.

There were vehicles that looked like bullets with wheels and tiny windows.  Seth went up to
one and it opened.  The whole si
de of the car slid underneath.

The cars looked like they were made out of the silly putty-like material that the houses on Joe’s planet had been made of.  They were seamless and then would open up in a similar manner also.
  When the car “door” opened, Seth started to get in and a mechanical-sounding voice said, “You are not the owner.  Please step away.”  When we stepped away, the car, once again, became seamless.

The men and women all had blond curly hair cut just below the ears and they all wore spandex-looking tight fitting jumpsuits and soft looking boots in bright colors.

I was so busy looking at the cars and people that I hadn’t notice
d the buildings until Joe
said,
“Look at the buildings, Ashley.  Do they look familiar to you?”

When I looked, I couldn’t believe it.  They looked just like the houses on Joe’s planet when I had reincarnated there in 3037, except they were much bigger.

“What does it mean, Joe?” I asked. 
“
Do you think they have a cave thing here also?
  And another thing, no one has even looked at us.  It’s like they haven’t seen us.”

“I don’t know.  They look awful busy.  Wonder why they are in such a hurry?”

When I saw one of them up close, I noticed that their forehead was very wide, so that their hairline was almost on top of their head.  Their nose was very narrow at the top and flared out at the bottom so that it covered half of their cheeks.  Their eyes were cat-like and slanted upward at the outer edge.  T
heir lips were perfectly shaped
, the way a kid always draws lips on a stick figure.  Their chin was very narrow so that their lips were almost to the bottom of their face.

It seemed to take them a long time before they noticed us but when they did, they circled around us and started crowding us so that I became frightened.

They started talking among themselves and I was surprised that they could already speak our language without the adjustment from the cave that we had grown accustomed to.

They were more curious than friendly.  There didn’t seem to be any leaders and I began to listen to what they were saying to each other.

“I wonder where they came from…”

“Can they speak our language?”

“Maybe they live in the cave.”

Then I noticed that one was addressing me specifically, “Do you live in the cave?”

Before I could answer, Joe put his lips to my ear and whispered, “See if you can get them to take you to the cave they talk about.  I don’t think they’re talking about our cave.”

I hate it when other people do this to me but I answered a question with a question, “Where is this cave you’re talking about?”

She shrugged and looked at one of the men, “They don’t live in the cave or she would have known what cave I was talking about.”

“Will you show us this cave?” I asked.

“We’ll show you around but you don’t want to see the cave.  It’s just a dark ugly cave.  It’s uninteresting
.
  Come
and
look at everything else.”

She moved off and the others followed her but when we didn’t move, she stopped and put her hands on her hips and I almost laughed out loud.

“Let’s follow her, Ashley,” Joe said.  “Maybe we can find the cave later on our own.”

We told them out names and they told us theirs but they were so different sounding that I didn’t try to remember them.
  They sounded scientific like something from a chemistry lab or the name of a long
desease
.

Everyone else rushed off except our guide.  No one said goodbye or I’ll see you later
,
they just left.

She showed us building after building and I rubbed each one and they all felt and looked just like the houses
Joe and his people had lived in
.  The windows were the same material and reflected
like a mirror just like
the ones on Joe’s planet
.

“What do you do in these buildings?” Joe asked.

She looked at him like he had grown two heads, “We work, of course.  All play and not work makes Jack a dull boy.”

I couldn’t help it, I totally lost it.  I laughed so hard I had to sit down on the floor.  Joe squatted down and looked at me with concern in his eyes, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

I couldn’t talk just then. The fact that this creature knew the quote but had gotten it backwards struck me as the funniest thing I heard in a long time.  Joe obviously hadn’t heard the quote, “All work an
d no play makes Jack a dull boy,
”
I said.

“What’s wrong with her?” The woman said, backing up.

I was finally able to explain it to Joe and Seth and they both started laughing.  Now she looked scared.

I got up and tried to explain to her why I was laughing.  “The original saying is, ‘All work and no play
,
makes Jack a dull boy,’” I explained.

She shrugged and didn’t comment one way or the other but just walked off.  Joe and I looked at each other and we followed her.

She walked very fast and we had to hurry to catch up.  “What kind of work is it that you do?” Joe called after her.

She stopped and waited for us to catch up and when we did she said, “We make things, like the things that carry us and the things to heat our food and things like that.”

She took us into many buildings and in each one there were people working and talking together and
it reminded me of a factory except everything was much cleaner.

They were mostly in groups gathered around tables with machinery on the tables.  There were blueprints and people hunched over them talking and arguing about the best way to do something.

She led us into one room where no one was working.  There was what looked like the
skywheel
that Irene had described to Seth and he
had drawn.  Seth got excited as he walked over to it.  I could see the excitement in his eyes.

“This is something we tried but can’t finish,” Our guide said.  “We wanted to make something that would go into the air but we can’t finish it.  Our smartest people have worked on it.  We would love to go in the air.”

Seth began to ask questions and before long she had given him a sketch pad and he had drawn up the plans he had been working on for the last two years.  They seemed to not notice that we were in the same room, that’s how excited they became.