He was a reporter/photographer for National Geographic and had been assigned to cover the dig in Annapolis, Maryland. He was taking the place of another man who had been given the assignment, but for some unknown reason had been dismissed before he started.

The streets were still wet after an early morning rain shower and as he walked along the waterfront, his camera and equipment on his back, he couldn't help but be grateful for his stroke of good luck. Here he was, a history buff, and he would be paid for an assignment he would gladly have done for free. A dig near the waterfront where the remains of an early 1700 settlement were being unearthed had him excited so he hastened his step and hoped he would get there before too many onlookers arrived.

As he approached the site, he could see that people were already gathering. He took a few moments to enjoy the beauty of the waterfront. It was an exciting time for him. 1700, Wow! That was so long ago. He wondered if there would be any bones of people or animals of that time. Would any of it be recognizable. Then he saw something. It was something he couldn't describe even to himself.

He saw a young woman, perhaps twenty years of age, sitting on a rock not ten feet from him. She was dressed in clothing he could swear was vintage 1700. Even her shoes and bonnet were from that time in history.

Not one to miss an opportunity, he quickly set up his camera equipment and prepared to take the young woman's picture. As was his usual procedure, he first took a Polaroid shot of the young woman.

When the Polaroid slowly began to form, he stood there stunned. There was the rock, there were the workmen in the background, but the girl wasn't in the picture. Looking back at the rock, he saw the woman turn, smile and wave at him.

He stood for several seconds, puzzling, then decided to investigate. As he approached the woman he noticed that she continued to smile, as though she might know him. "Good morning, Ma'am," he said.

She laughed and replied, "My, aren't you the formal one. Good morning, Thad." She pulled her skirt close. "Here, sit beside me and we'll watch together."

The sounds of hammering and men's voices caught his attention and he turned toward the scene of what should have been the excavation site of a 1700 building. My god! Carpenters were erecting a building, not excavating for artifacts.

"Oh, you muddied your trousers in a puddle this morning," she exclaimed and he looked down. What? What the heck was going on? These weren't the jeans he had put on that morning. He had set out in denim and now he was wearing tweed?

What was going on? he wondered to himself. The men working on the construction were dressed not in modern work clothes, but Old style Levi's, flannel shirts, and hats that looked like they dated back to the 1700's.

He started laughing. He looked around and tried to find the candid camera crew, but none were around. The whole area looked like 1700's era. It was amazing. It must be a movie set, he thought.

He looked at the girl and asked,"How do you know my name?"

"Why shouldn't I know your name Thad? You've been courting me ever since we kids together."

He looked at her like she was nuts. He didn't know her from any other girl. Who did she think she was trying to fool.

Walking closer, he reached out and took her hand. She evidently was no ghost as her hand felt quite solid in his.

"When did the building commence?" he asked.

"Last month, of course. You were here on the day it began. You don't remember?"

He turned back to set up his tripod and camera. There was no camera equipment. Neither was there a city behind him. Just a dirt road leading from here on down to the waterfront with a few log cabins lining the road. There was also a small fort facing the forrest he suddenly realized surrounded the little valley which extended from the forrest to the waterfront.

"Come, my dearest. It's time to approach father and to ask my hand in marriage. We DO want little Thaddeus to have a proper last name, do we not?"

Uncomfortable with her forward manner, he swallowed. One foolish act and he was committed for the rest of his life. Good-bye to his dream of a seafaring adventure, he thought, as he took her by the hand. With a sideward glance, he took one last look at the clipper ship that lay at anchor in the Chesapeake Bay, its sails trimmed, its masts still wet from the early morning rain.

They moved toward the building her father owned, which was known as the Shiplap Tavern. Her father, mother, and a sister lived on the second floor and unless a miracle occurred, it was probably where he would wind up having to live.

When the entered, her father looked at them sternly. Holding hands in public was not considered proper behavior for a young lady. Thad looked around and noticed the entire family was present. He wanted to bolt from the building. This just couldn't be real. How had he gone back in time? He pinched his own arm, but didn't wake up. It had to be a dream! It just had to!

Emily removed her shawl and excused herself so she could accompany her mother back to the kitchen. She was just in time to help her mother knead the dough for their weekly bread-making, she explained, and on her way out, she beckoned for her sister to follow.

Thad felt a little more comfortable after the ladies left, but his throat was dry and his hands were sweaty. But as he was about to explain why he had come, Emily's father harrumped and said he was overdue at the tavern and why didn't Thad come with him. "They'll be kneading for at least an hour so you may as well go down and help me wash windows. I don't pull too many drafts at this hour, but it isn't unusual for a carriage to arrive and for passengers to want a room."

He could do nothing but follow his future father-in-law. He cringed when he thought that. Father-in-law. The sound of it in his mind, was like a noose being pulled around his neck. Handcuffs on his wrists. He wished he would wake up soon. This was the worse nightmare he had ever experienced.

He tried several times to speak to the man and ask for his daughter's hand in marriage, but he just couldn't get the words out. How could he ask to marry a girl when this was all a figment of his imagination?

He was washing windows when the three ladies returned. Emily walked to his side and took his arm. "Father" she said. "Thad has something he wants to ask you."

Taking a deep breath, Thad began. "Sir, Emily and I wa....."

Suddenly, Thad felt as though he were being pulled in two directions. The forces pulling him forward were exactly equal to the force pulling him backward. Somehow he sensed that he himself had the choice of which direction his life would take. He deliberately took a step backward.

There was a rock, not ten feet in front of him. Beyond the rock, men and machinery were hard at work unearthing the remains of a village of circa 1700. He was back in the twenty-first century.

The strange day was behind him now and he was tiredly undressing for bed when he felt as though someone was watching him. He flicked on the lights and carefully looked all about the room. No one was there. He slept fitfully that night. Several times he awoke, certain someone was in the room with him.

"Do you think he will ever regain his sanity?" Asked a woman dressed in white, to a man wearing a doctor's uniform.

They were standing near the door, looking through a small unbreakable window. They watched as Thad fitfully tossed and turned on his cot.

"It is hard to say. I told his father that it might be many years before we would know."

Five minutes later, the window was again checked. There was no one on the cot, no one in the room. Thaddeus Whitmore no longer existed in the twenty-first century.

"Sir, I am asking your permission to marry your daughter."

The innkeeper laughed happily and said "My boy, you have both my permission and my blessing."

The next ten years were busy and prosperous ones. The inn was at the very crossroads of a bustling new city. Ships from both France and England arrived almost daily and even Holland and Spain were represented in the harbor from time to time.

The incoming ships brought finished products from Europe and took back raw materials from the new world. Reputations and fortunes were being made and one of these fortunes was that of a much respected young man named Thaddeus Whitmore.

Thad, his wife, Emily, and their three daughters brought respectability to the Shiplap House so it soon became a popular place where young men of political ambition gathered. One of those young men was William Paca, a wealthy young planter and politician who took a liking to Thad and Emily. Thad's political ideas and insight into the future so impressed William Paca that it wasn't long before the young couple were frequent guests in his home. And when word got around that the young couple who ran the Shiplap House were good friends of William Paca, they soon found themselves being invited into the homes of the town's most prominent families.

Soon they were being surrounded with temptations. At one party, Thad found Emily dancing with the town's most rakish bachelor. Jealousy raced through his blood. For years he knew that she had trapped him in marriage. Now she was flirting outrageously with another man. Why had he allowed himself to be drawn back to this world? He missed his father's advice, his mother's love, and most of all the freedom he once had.

Thad was miserable for weeks after the flirting incident and decided that if he had witnessed it, so had others. He wished they had their old life back and weren't so caught up in social activities, but Emily loved it, and sadly, he knew why.

Spring arrived and the harbor bustled with activity. Ships brought passengers almost weekly from Europe and Shiplap House was a popular place for them to spend a night or two in the new country.

One evening while he was entertaining a small group of his closest friends, Thad got the surprise of his life. A woman came in on the arm of a slightly graying man and as soon as Thad saw her, he was struck with a feeling of de'ja'vu. She paused just inside the doorway to wait while her escort booked them a room, and when she noticed Thad staring, she smiled and looked away.

It was the same woman, the woman from the bookstore in the twenty first century. He was sure of it. The day before he was transported into the past, he had been browsing through an old book store on the east side of town and he and this woman had struck up a conversation. He had told her how much he loved history and how he wished he had lived in those early days just before the American Revolution. Had she had something to do with his being here now?

"Are you happy now, Thaddeus?"

He turned quickly to face her. "How did.........I mean, why did.....?" He couldn't find the right words.

"I granted your wish, Thaddeus, I merely granted your wish." she said as she smiled at him over her fan.

"My wish? You think my wish was to be tied down with a wife and three children? Especially a wife that flirts with every good looking man in town?"

"Thaddeus, you can't have it all your way. You chose when you wished to to be a part of history. You didn't specify that you wanted to be a part of history without adding to it. Haven't you ever heard the saying, be careful of what you wish for?"

Thad was about to say, "Yes, but..." when Emily came through the backroom dooway. She looked straight at Thad and the young woman, then she approached the graying stranger who was waiting to register for a room. "Are you new to Annapolis?" Thad heard her ask. Emily turned the register for their guest to sign.

"Yes," the stranger said. "My daughter and I are down from Salem to attend a funeral."

"Salem, Massachusettes?"

"Yes, we reside in Massachusettes."

Emily pondered a moment then angled her head. "So tell me Mr..." She turned the register so she could read the signature.

"My name is Adam Forrester."

"How do you do, Mr. Forrester." Emily extended her hand. "Welcome to Annapolis." She paused, cleared her throat, then said, "I hesitate to ask, but I'm curious."

A dour expression appeared on Adam Forrester's face. "You're curious about our witches?"

An eerie laugh erupted from the woman with Thad, but when he glanced around, he saw no sign of amusement. Instead, her features were those of a serious-minded woman.

When Emily and the grey haired man wandered into one of the small rooms set aside for small parties, they were deep in whispered conversation.

"What's going on?" Thad asked as he started to move toward the small room.

The strange woman stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Let them go" she said. "My father has a droll sense of humor and your wife IS a flirt, is she not?"

Thad's eyebrows arched in confusion. The woman in front of him cocked her head as if listening to something, then began to laugh with glee.

"What's so funny?" Thad asked.

"Your wife just told my father she thought he looked like a pirate and that she had always fantasized about being shipwreaked and on a deserted island with a boatload of pirates."

The woman's father joined in the laughter as he stepped back into the main room. Thad rushed to the small room and found it empty.

"What happened to my wife?" Thad asked.

"My father is a warlock" the woman told him. He too likes to grant wishes."

"Now" the woman said as she took his arm in her's. "Is there another time or place you would like to visit?"

"Just send me home to when and where I was born" he answered, fear almost preventing him from speaking. Both the woman and her father were laughing as the room spun, then disolved in front of him. He opened his and screamed.

It was his mother's face, looking down at him. "Coochie coo" she said as she picked him up from his crib. "Does my widdle bitty Thaddeus need his diaper changed?"

He could still hear the laughter as the grey haired man and his daughter slowly faded from sight.

THE END