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You are person number
"Don't say that!" Lynn said, shaking her head. "That's not a good thing to think about." She sat up straighter in her chair, and tightened her ponytail.
"Yeah... I know." Angela sighed. She glanced around the house. They had just moved in and it just didn't feel like home yet.
"Let's do something." Lynn said, looking around the room.
"Like what?"
"I don't know... what do you want to do?" Lynn said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Umm... let's see. There's the attic..." Angela trailed off. Lynn smiled.
Angela stood up and turned toward the flight of stairs in the corner. The stairs were old, and the white paint was beginning to peel off. They started up the stairs, when they reached the landing at the top of the stairs, Angela slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The air was stiflingly hot, and felt thick and stagnant, as if it hadn't changed much over the years. The room smelled old and dusty. Angela pushed the door open, and they quietly walked in. It was stiflingly hot, and there was very little air circulation. The sunlight filtered through the dirty windows with flecks of dust floating through the air. Old furniture, chairs, pillows, clothes, and boxes of stuff, like books, were piled up there. There was a small walkway cleared that led along the left wall, and down to the back wall.
"Hey Ange, that wall looks sort of funny." Lynn said, pointing to the back wall. It was made out of large stones, mortared together.
"Yeah, I know. It's stone." She said. The reason it stuck out from the rest of the walls was that all the other walls were built out of wooden planks, and were quite different looking from the stone wall. Lynn thought it was sort of cool looking.
"Yeah, well it's pretty cool." Lynn said. "Hey, look at these!" She held up a string of beads. The string was rotten and the beads skittered to the floor. "Oh!" She said, reaching out to catch as many as she could. She set the beads down in a pile and walked to find Angela.
"What did you find?" Angela asked when she saw Lynn coming.
"Umm.. a necklace, but it broke." Lynn said, smirking at the floor.
"All right... well, try not to break anything else," Angela laughed.
They walked among the old furniture and boxes, occasionally picking up something to look at it closer, or wiping the dust off something.
"This is pretty cool." Angela said, gesturing to all the stuff up there. Lynn wiped her dusty hands on her shorts, and was opening an old book when she happened to glance up, towards the back wall.
"Uhh.. Ange?" She mumbled, squinting at the wall. Her vision wasn't great, she was nearsighted. She did have glasses, but she never wore them, because she hated them.
"What?" Angela asked.
"The wall looks funny..." She trailed off.
"What do you mean?" Angela said skeptically. "It's stone." She repeated.
"I don't mean that!" Lynn said impatiently. "I know that!" She pointed to the wall, and Angela followed her gaze. There was something strange about the wall. She couldn't quite figure it out, until something, not so much fuzzy as transparent, started to materialize in front of it. Angela didn't need to look twice. Lynn didn't either, she didn't particularly like the idea of ghosts.
Angela gasped and her eyes grew wide. She looked at Lynn, who made a quiet squeaking noise. It seemed as if time with standing still. Angela grabbed at Lynn's arm. They desperately wanted to run, but it was as if they were rooted to the spot, held by some greater force. As the shape began to shimmer and twist, Lynn and Angela let out a scream and ran for the door. They streaked down the stairs and ran screaming out the door, and finally collapsed on the front lawn.
Pie Eater blinked a few times, slowly. He stared with disbelief at everything around him, and found himself almost unable to move. Mush, however, walked towards the furniture stacked up in the room, and touched it, almost questioning it's reality. His hand came away grayish with dust, and he wiped it off on his pants. He came back to Pie Eater, and they started to wander around the attic.
"What's goin' on?" Mush asked, bewildered.
"I dunno.." Pie Eater trailed off. He looked around uncomfortably. Something wasn't right. He exchanged a worried look with Mush.
They walked over to the window and looked out. Something about what they saw startled them. Trees, houses, power lines, roads... half of it they couldn't identify, and none of it looked at all like New York.
Lynn stared at the grass, panting and scared. Angela was looking at the window she knew led to the attic, panting and scared. They both knew they couldn't have seen a ghost, but that's sure what it's looked like. Lynn looked at the window too, not that she could see anything, of course.
"What.. I mean, how..." Lynn started, her eyes wide. She waved her hands around in confusion.
"I know... it's like.." Angela murmured, staring off into space.
"We have to.. I want to know..." Lynn said.
"Yeah." Angela said. They could talk without talking, and they'd just decided they had to go upstairs and see what had become of the ghostly shape. Angela took a deep breath and stood up.
Angela slowly and deliberately climbed the stairs to the attic. Lynn followed apprehensively behind. When they reached the door to the attic, they stopped, and after a long pause, Angela silently opened the door. Lynn peeked through the doorway, and stepped through with Angela. They saw nothing at all.
"Whew." Lynn said, wiping her hand across her forehead for effect.
"I know.." Angela whispered. Their relief lasted all of one second, because when they turned to the window, they saw two people's backs. Two people they seemed to remember rather well...
Lynn's eyes widened. She usually took things rather calmly, but this was still quite a shock to her. She found herself a little short of breath. Angela did not take this well at all. She gasped, and gulped, and then proceeded to hold on to Lynn's arm to steady herself as she took a step backwards. Even with her eyesight, Lynn could recognize Mush and Pie Eater when she saw them.
They could recognize Angela and Lynn, too. At first, Mush and Pie Eater were surprised, and rather happy to see the girls. It was then that they realized a lot of things. They obviously weren't where they used to be. They were no longer outside, the landscape was completely different. And then there was Angela and Lynn's clothes. Lynn was wearing a blue striped short sleeved shirt and khaki overalls. Angela was wearing a tank top and jeans shorts. This was not appropriate dress for anyone, girls or not. They averted their eyes, embarrassed. What were they supposed to do? The girls showed no signs of embarrassment regarding what they were wearing. This only confused them more.
Angela murmured to Lynn, "I think I'm gonna be sick..." Lynn glared at her. She was still in a state of shock, but the weird looks on Mush and Pie Eater's faces were making her think. Finally she realized their problem.
"It's our clothes." Lynn murmured to Angela.
"Well, they're gonna have to get used to it, 'cause I'm not changing." Angela said. Lynn nodded in agreement. She looked up at the boys.
"Uhh... hi Pie Eater. Hi, Mush," she said, rather uncomfortably.
"Hi, uhh... Lynn." Pie Eater said.
"Hi." Mush said.
"He he.. hi." Angela said.
Eventually, Angela came back from her cloud. "Well, it's hot up here.. let's go down to the kitchen." she said, and gestured for the boys and Lynn to follow. Lynn sat down on a chair by a counter, and motioned for Mush and Pie Eater to sit. They sat.
"So, why are we.. uhh.. here?" Mush asked, looking around the unfamiliar kitchen, with it's unfamiliar appliances, and it's unusual view out the window.
"No clue." Lynn said. Angela nodded.
"So, uh, where 'zactly are we?" Pie Eater asked.
"Minneapolis, Minnesota." Angela nodded vaguely. For some reason, maybe the tension of the whole situation, Lynn found this hysterically funny. She burst out laughing. After she calmed down, she said.
"Sorry, sorry. Actually, I'm really sorry. Really." She nodded. Pie Eater and Mush paused for a moment.
"How'd we get here?" Mush asked. Angela gave an exasperated sigh.
"I don't know! We thought you people were ghosts!" she said.
"I don't know how you got here. You just... appeared." Lynn said, frowning at the memory.
"Well, uh... why are youse... uhh..." Pie Eater trailed off.
"What?" Lynn asked.
"Why're youse.. uhh.. wearin'..." Angela and Lynn exchanged a look.
"It's perfectly normal clothes. Shorts and a T-shirt, or a tank top." Lynn said, gesturing to her own clothes as she spoke.
"Things are different, here... now..." Angela said, pointing around the kitchen, and out the window.
"I'm really confused..." Mush said. "If youse don't know nothin' 'bout why we're here... an' we don't know nothin' 'bout where we are or why we're here, den who does, an'... well, why're we here?" He sounded confused as he stumbled over the words.
"Well, we're pretty confused ourselves." Angela said, "excuse us for a minute." She stood up and Lynn followed her out into the hallway.
"What are we going to do about this!?" Lynn said, pointing to the kitchen door. Angela shrugged.
"I haven't the slightest idea. How did they get here? This is 1999. This is Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is not 1899 New York!" She whispered, loudly.
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Lynn asked, leaning back against the wall.
"Augh... I have no idea. We have to tell them where they are... as in, what year it is..." Angela murmured.
"They won't believe us." Lynn said.
"Look at it this way. When we went back to 1899, we knew, sort of, what it had been like a century ago. They know nothing. People don't see into the future." Angela said, staring off into the distance.
"We have to tell them. They need stuff, like... clothes." Lynn said, and she turned, "let's go try to explain this." They walked back into the kitchen. Angela sat down on her chair.
"All right... well... it's like, a hundred years later then it is.. uhh.. where you came from." Angela said. Lynn smiled and waited for a reaction.
"What!?!?" Mush and Pie Eater exclaimed.
"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." Lynn said, pulling out some change from her pocket. "1995, 1995, 1993, 1997, 1999, 1995..." she said, setting them out on the table. Mush and Pie Eater picked them up, staring.
"It don't even look like oua' money." Pie Eater murmured, turning the coin over in his hands.
"No, it don't." Mush mumbled.
"So... this is our time. When we met you, we were... out of our time. This is the way girls, people, dress now." Lynn said, pointing to her clothes.
"Yes." Angela said, "and this is a 90's kitchen. 1990's, that is. Microwaves, refrigerators, sinks with running water..." she pointed to stuff around the kitchen. "Here, let's go outside. I'll show you some more." Everyone stood up and walked towards the door.
They stepped out of the air-conditioned house into the sticky August air. Mush and Pie Eater looked startled, and then looked back at the house.
"Air-conditioning." Lynn said. They still looked puzzled.
"It keeps the house cool." Angela said. They walked over to a tree where they were going to sit down in the shade. Suddenly, Mush and Pie Eater shoved the girls into the ground.
"What!?" Angela shouted.
"Was that for?" Lynn added, sitting up, and brushing the dirt off her grass- stained knees.
"Dat.. thing." Pie Eater said shakily, pointing down the street.
"Oh. My. God..." Lynn mumbled. "It's a gosh darn car!" She said loudly, "an automobile!"
"People drive them all the time. You better get used to them, because most likely you'll be riding in them often."
"Umm.. sure. A car." Pie Eater murmured.
"What 'zactly, umm.. is a car?" Mush asked. The fast, loud, unusual machine had scared them. They realized they had a whole lot to get used to in this decade.
"People drive them. To get places." Angela said. She walked over to the road and touched it with her hand. "They drive on streets. Like this." The boys walked over to her and put their hand on the hard, black asphalt.
"Angela? What are you doing? And who are the boys? Oh, and uhh.. why are you feeling the road?" A voice called from behind them. The four people turned to see a girl with dark blond hair walking toward them. She was wearing jeans shorts and a white t-shirt with yellow butterflies on it. She was wearing a yellow belt, and turquoise and purple sandals. Her chin-length hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
"Marie? Oh geez.. it's a long story." Angela said, letting herself roll onto her back in the grass. "Lynn, will you explain?"
"Sure.. hold on." Lynn said, and she walked over to Marie. She led her a short distance away, and stopped. "Look. It's a really, really long story. But Angela and I went time-traveling about five months ago, and we met these boys. In 1899 New York City. Well, we don't know how or why, but they're here, somehow. The taller one is Pie Eater and the shorter one is Mush. Get used to the names." Lynn said, pointing to the group as Marie started to laugh at their names. Angela looked exasperated. It was sort of funny. "Come on, I'll introduce you. Oh yeah, and their feeling the road because.. well.. they didn't know what it was." They walked over to Angela, Mush and Pie Eater.
"Who is this?" Mush asked.
"This is Marie. She lives by me. This, needless to say, is Angela's house, not mine." Lynn said. Mush took her hand.
"Pleased to meetcha." he said. Pie Eater nodded agreement.
"Pleased to meetcha." he echoed. Marie looked a little startled.
"Very formal, aren't they?" she asked, laughing.
"1899." Lynn said, smiling. Angela laughed a little.
"You're serious, aren't you. You really think they're from 1899." Marie said, rolling her eyes.
"No, seriously. What would we have to do to prove it?" Angela said.
"I don't know.. it's just.. time travel? You seriously went back in time?" she said, "it all sounds too weird. People can't do that."
"Well, we can. We did. They can, and they did. There's nothing we can really do about it, is there?" Lynn said.
"You guys are seriously from New York? From 1899?" Marie asked, looking incredulously at the boys.
"Yeah. We's from New Yawk. An' 's far's we know, it's still 1899. Although ya friends 'ere 've been tryin' ta tell us dat it ain't, dat it's 1999." Mush said, getting the confused look again.
"Well, I can tell you that it is certainly 1999, and I can also tell you that this certainly isn't New York. You sure have the accents, and the manners..." Marie said, shaking her head, "but how could you be here if you were from New York, and the real question is... how did you get to 1999 from 1899?" She shook her head again. "It's crazy.."
"Yeah, crazy.. but I know we were in 1899, so I guess if that's possible, it's possible to have them, here, in 1999." Angela said, leaning back against the tree.
"You two always seemed sorta diff'rent." Mush said, "youse had dose, uhh.. pants on, da foyst couple times. An' 'er hair's real short."
"Real tactful.." Lynn muttered under her breath.
"I don't mean dat's bad." Mush said, "just, well, people don't da dat... or, uh.. didn't do dat."
"Yeah, ok." Lynn said, shrugging. "It doesn't matter." Marie stared at them in disbelief.
"You went back in time... that's pretty cool, really. What was it like?" she asked.
"It was nice. The people were nice, the area was nice. Everyone was so much more polite." Angela said.
"Yeah. It was really nice. If we'd known we could get back we would have enjoyed ourselves a little more. We were really worried, though." Lynn said, "and it was hard to explain to Mush and Pie Eater why we had to leave... it didn't really work out, we just... left."
"Oh. Ok." Marie said.
"Dat was sad. When youse left, dat is. We didn't know what'd happened ta youse. One minute, youse were dere, da next, youse were jus' gone. We looked for ya, but ya just weren't dere." Pie Eater said, remembering.
"We couldn't help it. We'd done what we'd come to do." Lynn said.
"So, are we 'ere ta do somethin'?" Mush asked. Angela thought for a moment.
"Possibly. Generally that's why people time travel, at least, well, from my experience, which isn't much. Mostly reading books and, well, I did time travel once." She said, and nodded. "Yes, it's very possible there's something you have to do. We should try to figure it out."
"If we're trying to figure it out, maybe will that confuse it?" Lynn said, confusing herself.
"What?" Angela asked. Lynn laughed.
"I have no idea what I just said..." she smiled.
To be continued (maybe)...
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You are person number to visit this website since 3/25/99 at 11:22 AM. Aren't you spiffy?