Bloodline

[Mikado14]

I have received a few PM's about my stories so I will continue with another one.

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Bloodline


©1979 & 2014 Hickory Ridge all rights reserved

In the span of time known as our life, we can be faced with a responsibility that we never knew existed. What happens when there are those who knew it existed but kept it secret? Do we get angry for never being told and even manipulated or do we just rise to the occasion?


A ray of sunshine protruded through the shade landing on his eyelid. He peaked through parted lids and abruptly turned to extinguish the burning sensation. As he laid there, his mind was parting the fog of the last vestiges of sleep. He wasn't sure where he was, confusion was rampant in his thoughts. A dream,... no, .. reality? Which one was which? His mind imagined things, he was besieged with images that conflicted each other. The question slowly came to him as to what happened and why he was so confused. What was real and what wasn't. He slowly began to realize where he was, in his bed and waking up and one set of images became reality and then it hit him as his thoughts coalesced.


He jumped out of bed and hurriedly brushed his teeth. As he went to the stairs, he was going down the steps two at a time, all while throwing his clothes on and creating a ruckus that resulted in his Mom calling out if he was okay. As he entered the kitchen, he saw her. There in her bed was his girl, looking up at him and thumping her tail as a drummer with a bass drum. He fell to his knees and grabbed her head with both hands and rubbed her as she continued to thump her tail at a faster rate. Before he could say anything he heard his Father.

"Well boy, you have some explaining to do." Even though Rory was in his thirties, his Dad always referred to him as "boy" when he wanted an answer.... and quickly. With that, he stood up and took a seat at the table glancing back at Girl as he did.

"Explain what?" was all he could say.

"Girl disappeared over twenty years ago and you said she chased after some animal. Now why am I having a tough time believing that now as I didn't then? And another thing, what exactly have you been building in the shop? For some reason, I suppose it isn't a new energy source as you said, so" with a pause, "you have some explaining to do especially since your Mom says that she was able to see you as a young boy on the dam."

Rory's Mom poured him a cup of coffee and put the sugar bowl next to the cup. "You want some eggs this morning? I have a few pieces of bacon left that your Dad didn't finish and I can make you some toast."

"That will be fine Mom", and with that, she busied herself but was all ears for she wished to hear what Rory had to tell his Dad.

"Where do I start....well Pop, back when I lost her," as he paused looking for the right words, "something happened on the dam."

Rory looked at his dad for some sign of consent but there was none forthcoming so he continued, "You see, " again Rory paused stumbling to find the right words. "Well, ....you see.....there was this lightning bolt that came from the side of the ridge above the dam. It hit the dam and knocked girl and I back a ways and we both landed hard." Again, Rory looked to his dad for some comment but all he did was to continue to stare with one lone raised eyebrow, waiting for his son to continue.

"All I remember is this man walking up and picking her up and taking her. And here's the hard part, he disappeared through a hole. Like when looking at it, there was nothing there, just blackness." And then there was silence at the table as Rory took a swig of hot coffee.

His Father finally spoke, "Go on son". Rory continued, "Well, after he walked through the hole, it just collapsed down into a single point. It made a sound that went from a low hum to a higher pitch as it got smaller and then there was a pop and a wink accompanied by a sound like distant thunder. I never saw his face since the sun was behind him. I must have sat there and cried for an hour not knowing what to do and then I came home and the rest you know."

Rory's dad set his coffee down, "So let me get this straight, someone from...nowhere...walked up to you and took your dog and you sat there. He then goes back...to nowhere...and you come home and you let us look for her, for what? A month? And it didn't bother you any to not tell us the truth?"

Rory felt a bit chastised but he countered, "But Pop, now be honest, what if I did tell you the truth? What would you have said?"

His Dad just exhaled as he picked up his mug and took a long pull of the coffee from within. Rory knew that onomatopoeia and was quite adept at understanding his Dads sounds.

His Mom put the plate of food in front of him. Rory looked up at her as he said thanks and she smiled and winked. As he started to dig into the food, his Mom said, "Well, you know the only reason you are upset old man, is because he didn't tell the truth but you know that if he did tell you, you wouldn't have believed him, and you also know I probably would have. So, if your going to sit there and make all your sounds that you do when your frustrated then you might as well include me."

"That's not it and you know it" as he continued with a smirk and a smile, "old lady". " I think I need to get a hold of Buck." He stared into his coffee and spoke again, "Invite him up for Sunday dinner". He turned to look at his wife and she gave him a strange look.

Rory finished his breakfast and got up from the table. He sat on the floor next to Girl and gave her his last piece of bacon. As he did this, he looked at the cast the vet had set. His Mom saw him sitting there and commented, "It won't be too long, the vet said in about four weeks it will come off and you and Girl might be able to finish that fishing trip." Rory just looked up at his Mom and smiled and the only words he could muster was, "maybe".



Rory entered the shop carrying Girl and laid her down in a bed he had made and gave her a piece of rawhide to entertain herself with. He then slowly walked around. As he went from rack to rack, he ran his hand down the equipment that he and J had built. He let his mind wander not only at what they had achieved but he also tried to take in the paradox he created. He struggled with the thought of being a kid on the dam and as a man at the same time. He thought about the dreams he had as he was waking up and the contradictions between them. He began to realize that he created the situation that caused the accident. All he ever wanted was to go back to learn who the person was that took his dog and what really happened that day on the dam. After the realization that his actions were the cause of the accident, he knew he was the one that went back and took girl. All those years he thought the worst. That girl was hurt with more than just a broken leg. But still, he felt as if there was more to what happened but he just couldn't put his finger on it, that somehow, there was a different reason.

All he could come up with to make sense of the situation was the diddy about the chicken and the egg. The chicken had to be there to lay the egg but then the chicken had to come from an egg so who laid the initial egg? He jokingly thought....he laid the egg and with that, his musings and chucklings were broken by J coming through the door.

"Well V, first thing, how's Girl?"

He pointed to her laying in her bed as he said, "She's going to be fine, all she has is a broken leg. The vet said she will be up and about without the cast in about four weeks." As Rory was talking, J just nodded in consent as he sat down on the floor next to her while continuing to pet her. Girl laid her head on his thigh as he continued to pet her head and scratch behind her ears. Rory continued, "Of course we will have to keep her on a leash so she doesn't hurt herself."

"So my old friend, I have heard the story of you on that dam many times. I'm not stupid, you caused a paradox but then, did you? You went back in your own timeline and when you realized what happened, you took your dog. Did you identify yourself to yourself?", and with that, J chuckled and continued, "No, you didn't at least in my memory." He paused as he was looking at Girl and continued to pet her.

"You see, if you told yourself as the boy that day on the dam just exactly who you were, then you wouldn't have been angry with yourself after the last attempt when you realized what happened", he paused to look out the window at Rorys Mom and Dad coming toward the shop. "You see, if you knew before you and I tried to go back several times to the dam to see what happened and all you were doing was to go back to get your dog then I would not be questioning you now. Understand?"

Rory stood there and just nodded his head and then spoke, " So, your saying that you wouldn't be questioning me now as to telling myself who I was because your memory is that I didn't tell myself. Therefore, you knew I didn't. So, no paradox. Do I have that right?"

J responded with a nod. With that, Rory continued, "What about the chicken and the egg effect?"

"The what effect?" replied J with a look of "what the hell?" Rory continued, "It may not be a paradox in the accepted terms but I caused the accident over 20 years ago. But then I wouldn't have caused it if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to know what happened and who took my dog. With me so far?" and J just nodded. "so for the past 20 years, you and I ended up creating a dimensional portal to go back in time and thus created the accident that was the reason for us to build the darn thing to begin with."

They looked at each other and began to laugh. "Okay", said J, "it's not a paradox, what should we call it? How about a causal loop?" The laugh disappeared and there was silence as J said to Rory, "What if there was something more?"

Rory looked down at his friend sitting next to Girl and said, "I was thinking that too. When I woke up this morning, I was confused as to what was a dream and what was reality." J said, " Remember your dream?"

"Not really but it was about the dam. Like there were two dreams occuring at the same time. Sounds crazy, I know."

"Well, let's just stick to the chicken and the egg" said J.

Rory responded, " I kinda like the chicken effect." And with that, Rory's Mom and Dad came in and his Dad asked, "What are you gonna do to the chickens?". Rory and J looked at each other and had a hard laugh at his Father's expense.

"Look Rory", his Dad never liked calling him V and wouldn't. The first response he had when he heard it for the first time, "If I wanted to call you V, I wouldn't have named you Rory."

"...your Uncle Buck is away on a business trip and won't be back for about a month." Rory responded, "Okay Pop."

"Look son, your Uncle and I need to talk to you but we need to do it together so I want you to promise me that you won't be rescuing anymore dogs with your machine here".

He replied with a smile, "Don't worry Pop, I only had the one to rescue". With that, his Mom and Dad left the shop. As they walked out of the shop, Rory's mom turned and gave the boys a smile. J looked at Rory with an inquisitive look and said, "What was that all about?". All Rory could muster was, "I haven't a clue."



Over the next four weeks, the duo worked on perfecting the calibration of the equipment. Rory refined his equations against hard empirical data which enabled him to improve the accuracy of where....and when, the portal would open. This increased accuracy also reduced the power required to go back. They experimented with opening portals as far back as 30 years.

The pair had many discussions about paradox. J insisted that there was none. From the day they met in college, all Rory could talk about was to go back in time and find who took his dog. Eventually, Rory agreed with J but still insisted that there must be something more.

They decided that J would go through the portal. Rory set up to send him back to a week prior to his entering the shop and he would greet himself. They felt this would be a variation of Rory on the dam as both an adult and a boy with the exception that J would greet himself and identify himself.

Rory sent J back and he greeted himself as he was entering the shop a week ago. After the initial shock to the then J, the two had a conversation as to why he was there. J explained that it was an experiment to explore the paradox issue. When he came back through the portal he fell to his knees with a splitting headache. Rory rushed over to him and helped his friend into a chair.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?".

J slowly said, "My head hurts, ....big time but it worked. I met myself last week before I came into the shop, the look on my face was priceless but man...my head hurts."

Rory answered him, " Yes, I remember that day, you came in here and excitedly told me what happened." J looked at his friend and said slowly and calmly, "V, I remember two ways."

Rory looked at him and he responded calmly and reassuringly, "J, listen to what you are saying. How can you have two different memories? I distinctly remember you coming in here and saying how you met yourself so we decided that you needed to go through the portal and complete the memory."

"No V. It didn't happen that way. We decided to test the idea of a paradox and what would happen if we met ourselves in the past and then we came back through the portal. Prior to me going through the portal, you had no memory of my telling you about meeting myself because it didn't happen."

Rory tried to interrupt his friend, " NO", J protested sternly,"listen to me." and he paused to gather his thoughts, "We created a paradox, no, I created it. The fact that you don't remember a time that I didn't tell you is because from your reference it didn't happen that way. Your memory is that I came in and told you that I met myself outside but I remember a time that I didn't meet myself. I am an anomaly, don't you get it? The paradox exists in my head. Not in yours, my head and I can remember both, the timeline without telling you and the timeline where I came in and told you about meeting me."

They stared at each other. Rory slowly let it sink in.

"I'm going over to get some coffee, you coming?" said J as he went through the shop door, "and to get a few aspirin."

As they walked, Rory said to J, "You know what I think? I think that entropy, the universe, God, whatever, will cancel out the paradox except at the source. In other words, the universe accepts the change but the point of paradox is contained. In fact, it may only allow the paradox to exist as a memory to the paradox itself meaning you. It may already know, as if it is intelligent, of what will happen and effectuates the change at the time of the paradox being created from your reference point. It sees the future, it knows what will happen and adjusts for it." He looked at J and all he could say was, "well, it certainly exists in my head cause I remember both".

"Yes but look at it this way, you were removed from time. The only paralleled timeline that exists is with you and in your head. The rest of the universe self corrected itself from the point of the paradox forward but out of reference to you. It never happened from my frame of reference." He paused for a moment, "your parallel timeline doesn't exist and maybe never did." As they reached the door to the kitchen, Rory opened it and let J go through. "Think of it this way J, you may have a unique ability. Your mind can handle the paradox but with the price of a headache. What if, somehow there are those who just go insane, multiple personalities, whatever?"

All J said was, "I want coffee".



Uncle Buck returned from his business trip and arrived on the following Sunday afternoon and entered the kitchen of the old farmhouse.

"Knock Knock" was all he said as he entered. Upon seeing his sister in law, "Hi Kathy". "Hi Buck", as she was busy putting Sunday dinner together.

"Where's my brother?"

"He's over in the shop with the boy's waiting on you."

"Okay, I'll be back" and with that he left the kitchen as Kathy hollered back, "And don't get too involved cause dinner is in about fifteen minutes and if you want your mashed potatoes hot, you better come when called." As he walked away he waved his hand.

Buck entered the shop to see his brother along with Rory and J sitting and talking.

"Hey Buck"

"Hey John. How you two young fellows doing?" J was quick to answer, "I'm doing good, how about you?"

"Just fine J. How you doing Rory?"

"I'm good Uncle Buck." With that Buck looked down at Venus. His faced turned ashen as he looked down at girl.

"I don't believe it. Is that really your dog...is this really girl?" Rory looked down at girl and answered with a smile, "yep, that's her." With a bit of a stammer, Buck replied, "I only half believed it possible." as he slowly bent down on one leg and petted Girl as he turned and looked at his brother who just nodded his head at him. Buck looked back at girl and all he could say, " I need to sit down." With that, Rory pulled a stool over for him to sit down but he just plopped down next to Girl as he slowly stroked her head.

"John, you know what this means?"

"Yes, the old man wasn't delirious." Rory and J just sat there and took it all in.

Buck sat there on the floor and thought about what to say and how to say anything. He looked up at his brother, "John, have you said anything to them?"

"Nope. I figured I would wait for you to come and do it, afterall, your the older brother and let's face it, you always believed the old man more than I did."

Rory couldn't contain himself anymore. "Okay you two, what's this all about?" With that, Rory's Mom was hollering out the back door of the kitchen for dinner. All J said as he went out the door was, "let's eat", and the rest followed with Girl on Rory's heels.



Dinner went as they all do on a Sunday. Buck was asking about how the farm was going and John was asking how things were going with General Aviation where Buck worked. Rory and J were just involved with eating and Rory occasionally slipped a piece of beef under the table for Girl with an admonishment from his Mom about feeding her at the table.

After dinner was done and the coffee and pie served, Rory asked his Uncle, "Okay you old codger, what do you have on your mind that you want to talk about."

Buck glanced at his brother and then to his sister in law and started to talk.

"A long time ago, your grandfather used to tell a story about how he was working ground on the back slope and the rear tire of the tractor went into a groundhog hole and it rolled over. He was pinned under it."

Buck paused for a moment to let it sink in and then Kathy interjected, "Oh John, are you going to let your brother tell this again? The ramblings of an old man and a story that has so many holes in it that it resembled swiss cheese?"

"Let him finish, Kath." With that, she got up and shook her head as she started to clean up the table.

"You see Rory," as Buck continued, "your grandpa always insisted that if it weren't for this stranger who just happened to be walking through the field, it would have rolled over and crushed him."

"Okay Uncle Buck, the old stranger who pulled him out story. I remember it and Mom's right, it never did make any sense, even when he told it to me. I remember asking him where did he go and all he ever did was to smile and say he disappeared. He was a good story teller and that is what I remember".

Buck looked at his brother and then back at Rory. "You have your girl back. How is that possible?" So with that, Rory told his Uncle that the energy device that J and him were working on wasn't really that but a device that opened a portal to travel across the dimension of time. He explained about what happened the day on the dam and how the stranger came through the hole and took girl. He explained how it was his quest to find out what really happened that created the situation to begin with.

"So Uncle Buck, now you have the story. So what is it that you want to talk to me about."

Buck looked at his brother again, there was some hesitation as to how to explain.

"Rory, there is one thing you never heard about that accident." Rory answered, "And I guess your going to tell me, so, go ahead."

"Alright" answered Buck, " the stranger had a dog with him and from how he described the dog, that dog has been under this table and you have been feeding her."

Rory looked at his Dad. All he did was to nod in agreement and then he spoke.

"You see Rory, when you first got Venus, I didn't think anything of it until one day when Buck was here and Venus was asleep on her back with her legs straight up as she does. Buck noticed that she has the same birthmark, the one like an hour glass, that your grandpa said the dog had on her belly. We thought it was a coincidence and even though that...well...somehow that perhaps she was an ancestor of that dog. So I tried to find out the bloodline but nothing, it seems that girl has no daddy that I could trace. And then a month ago, you come home with your dog from the vet with a broken leg that disappeared over twenty years ago."

Finishing his last piece of pie and talking with it in his mouth, J said, "They think its you V, you went back to save your grandfather and you took girl with you" and then he washed the last bite of pie down with the last of his coffee. J looked up from his plate to see everyone staring at him.

Silence hung around the table. Kathy came in. "Are you two crazy?" as she stared at both her husband and Buck. "Do you really think your son" and turning to Buck, "and your nephew traveled back in time with his dog to save your father? If it wasn't for the fact that girl is here now I wouldn't believe it myself but you know what you are asking?"

Silence hung again and then was broken by Rory, "Their right Mom, I have to do it." He turned to J and said, "Let's go and get the equipment warmed up. Dad, would you get the tractor going and after it warms up, you will have to run it at redline." Without a word said, everyone stood up and left the dining room.

Rory stayed behind and looked at his Mom. He walked over to her and said as he held her in a hug, "It's going to be alright Mom, I will be okay" and as he drew back, he looked into her tear swelled eyes and all she said was, "come back to me, I lost one child, I don't want to lose you". He kissed her on the cheek and said..."I love you Mom" and she just nodded her head as the tears ran down her face.



Rory entered the shop and saw J working on the capacitor bank and setting up for the charge. Rory immediately went to his table and began to do the necessary calculations.

"Well Uncle Buck," as he turned and faced him, "I am going to need a destination, a date, a time, ....at the very least."

"It was on April 4th, 1938. I think it was around 5 PM or so and it was the back field on the farm, the hilly one that goes down to the creek." replied Buck.

Rory never looked at his uncle as he talked but was intent on his work. He was doing the calculations necessary that would take him back over forty years and place him in a field over a half mile from where he was.

After 15 minutes or so, Rory looked up upon hearing the tractor go to redline and watched J throw the main cutout to begin the charge to the capacitor bank along with adjustments to balance the load for the output. He gave J the sheet with all the settings for the coordinates to set the output to focus on the destination. It seemed simple enough for they did this numerous times over the past month but this was different, this was the longest portal jump yet but for some reason, he wasn't too nervous. He knew that at the very least, he made it, it was the return trip that worried him.

J asked, "How long do you want me to wait to build charge up and open the portal for your return?"

Rory turned to his Uncle and said, "Well? How long was the stranger there?" All Buck could muster was, "Five, maybe ten minutes". Rory walked over to Jay and looked at his calculations. He made some notations and turned to J and said, "That will give me ten minutes".

Buck left the shop and went out to talk to his brother. "John, should I tell him about the dog?"

John looked at his older brother with an emotionless face and all he could say was, "No", with that, the two of them went into the shop.

They entered just in time to see the banks charging and the shimmer effect on them. Buck stood there in amazement at what his nephew had done. He looked at the portal with the huge stainless steel rings partially embedded in the floor. The coils symmetrically spaced around it. He perched himself on a stool as he looked on in amazement. The smell of ozone was getting stronger and he could hear the static build up and began to feel his hair starting to stand on end. His nephew did what only he dreamed of doing. All those years of encouraging him, making him write a paper as to why he wanted a piece of equipment and how he was going to use it. All the behind the scenes prodding for his grants, if Rory only knew that his uncle was the reason for his grants. He perused the scene in front of him and sitting here was the culmination of it all, his nephew did it. He sat there and watched destiny unfolding and knew the relief he would have when it was over and how he could finally talk.

Buck was taking it all in. He glanced down to where Girl was sitting and as the static build up increased for engagement, he watched as Girl got up and went to the portal. He thought how strange, it was as if she knew she was going with Rory.

J shouted out, "getting close...get ready. Remember V, ten minutes after you go through the portal, it will be there for you to come back no matter how long it takes me to do it. I won't let you down". Rory smiled at J and nodded.

Rory went to the portal and stood with girl who was already waiting. He listened to the tractor working hard, harder than all the other jumps, he watched the florescent tubes start to swirl inside and thought how many times he and J had done this over the past month but this was a jump that he wasn't sure of. Forty years, ten more than they ran tests. The Tractor and generator were at their limit. He went over the calculations in his head again, there should be enough power for a stable portal. He looked down at girl and she was calm. He was brought back to reality by J...

"Standing wave is stable..... in 5...4...3...2...1 engaging the bank!". A black nothingness appeared in the stainless steel ring and as the shards pulled back, the image of a field that was partially plowed appeared and the only words he could find to say as he stepped though was "come on girl" and she led the way through the portal.



Rory and Girl stepped through just in time to see the old tractor going over on its side. Rory ran over to the tractor and saw his grandfather as a man in his forty's and not as an old man and for a moment, he was stunned by this. He quickly evaluated the situation and saw that his leg was partially pinned under the wheel of the tractor with his hand under the steering column. The engine was struggling to continue to run in protest of its situation. Rory quickly summed up what was going on. The struggling engine was causing the tractor to shake and threatened to come over further which if it did, would drive the flywheel into his grandfather's skull.

He looked around and saw an old pipe that was being used as a brace for the corner of two sides where the fence met.

With alarm in his voice he said, "Girl, stay with him, watch him", with that, she stood over him and waited. She licked his face and then laid next to him as if to comfort the man and he reached up and put his free arm around her neck.

Rory ran the 30 yards to the corner and retrieved the pipe and ran back with a good deal of alacrity. As he got there, the engine was still struggling and shaking the tractor into an even more threatening position. Gas was beginning to drip out of the cap on the tank and was running down the sheet metal. All Rory could think was what would happen if it hit the hot exhaust manifold. He had to shut the engine down but he couldn't get to the ignition switch. He did the only thing he could think of....he pulled out the coil wire...the engine came to a stop.

"Okay, listen to me, I am going to put this pipe under the case here at this spot. I am going to push up and you should be able to get your leg out from under and should take the pressure off of your hand so you can pull it free. Ready? " and with a nod of his head, Rory replied, "Here goes.", with that, Rory pushed with all his might and girl grabbed the man by the collar and pulled as hard as she could. Rory didn't let go of the pipe until his grandfathers leg was out from under the wheel and then he let go of the pipe. The tractor slammed to the ground and settled into an even more precarious angle.

Rory turned to see girl letting go of his grandfather's collar and fell over and made a yelp. His grandfather rolled over and crawled to the dog that was now laying on the ground. Rory came over and picked up his girl and she looked at him.

"You pulled too hard girl", and her tail wagged.

"I don't know what to say to you but thanks. Where did you come from? I didn't see you in the field."

And Rory didn't know what to say. He stared at the man before him. He saw so much of both his dad and uncle in him. He felt that he couldn't lie so he told the truth.

"You won't believe me but I am going to tell you anyway." He paused and contemplated on what he was about to do and then continued, "I am your grandson from the future and here to save you. You see, your going to tell this story of how this stranger saved your life who came from nowhere and then disappeared and he had a dog with him but you can't tell anyone who I was."

"My grandson? How?...how is it possible?" The man looked at Rory and sized him up and down. "Are you daft?"

"Well, it involves a lot of physics and lot of other things but mostly, in a nutshell.... its time travel."

His grandfather said, "you sound like my son Buck".

With that, Rory said, " you can't tell him about me" and with that, Rory saw his grandfather cock his head and looked past him. His grandfather said, "too late" and he pointed over Rory's shoulder, "he's been here ever since you started talking."

Rory turned to see his Uncle standing behind him out of breath with a look of amazement. He saw his Uncle as a young man in his early twenties, younger than Rory was and he instinctively said in a low but audible whisper, "Uncle Buck".

"I understand what you said, I'll explain it to my Dad." Rory didn't know what to say except, "you really need to just keep it as a story about a stranger and you can't tell anyone, you will create a paradox that I have no idea of what the outcome would be."

All of a sudden there was a crack with a high pitched sound that decreased into a low audible hum accompanied by a smell of ozone. Rory turned to his young Uncle and his Grandfather and said, "Sorry about the dent I put in the side of the tractor," and then as he turned to leave for the portal he said,"I love you both" and his Uncle hollered back, "We won't say a thing, you'll be safe." With that, Rory stepped through the nothingness of a black hole with girl in his arms as a Father and a son watched the nothingness shrink and disappear with a sound of distant thunder echoing from the trees.



J finished setting up for the return to bring Rory and Girl back, as he finished, he engaged the portal as John and Buck looked into the portal. They both saw the old John Deere on its side with their Father and Buck standing there watching as Rory was carrying Girl and coming towards the portal.

John stood there with his mouth agape looking at his Dad as a young man.

Buck commented, "Was I really that young?"

All three watched as Rory approached the portal and stepped through with Girl in his arms.

Buck said, "Just as I remembered it, the black hole, the nothingness but I am now watching myself from this side of it". Rory looked at his Uncle and he saw a tear running down his cheek.

Buck continued, " I never told a soul, not even your Dad of the identity of the young man. Your grandpa and I talked about what happened but only between the two of us. I couldn't say anything and didn't to anyone else."

"I know, I don't have a headache" was all Rory could say and Buck just looked at his nephew with a curious look. "I'll explain it later Uncle Buck but I know, you kept your promise and so did Grandpa. One thing though Uncle Buck, you engineered all this to happen, didn't you?"

Buck ignored his nephew and looked at the dog, "What about Girl? Pop thought she was hurt that day." Rory looked down at her and said, "well, I guess there must be something in the bloodline, she grabbed ahold of grandpa's collar as if she was pulling me out from under that wheel and it appears she pulled so hard, I think she may have refractured her leg or something. Looks like we are going back to the vet and on a Sunday night".

Buck's only response, "We thought she was hurt much worse."

At that moment, Rory's Mom came into the shop. She saw her son standing there, safe and with girl in his arms.

"Looks like you need to call the vet, Mom, I think girl may have rebroke her leg". She quickly turned and walked out of the shop and headed for the house with her apron to her eye.

"Don't worry about the vet, Rory, I'll take care of the bill and that dog of yours is going to have steak when she is better...as much as she wants".

As they walked to the old station wagon they went by the shed where an old tractor sat. It had a dent in the sheet metal. Rory glanced over and saw it and now he knew why when his grandfather had the tractor restored, he refused to have the dent removed.



The four left the vet after receiving a lecture about taking care of your dog and not letting her get too over anxious and the only way this was going to completely heal was to put Girl's leg back in a cast for a few more weeks since neither her master or herself would let it heal. Properly admonished, Rory picked up girl and the group of them left.

Rory, his Uncle and Dad along with J, went to the retirement home where his grandfather was staying.

Uncle Buck and his Dad went up to the room first. J went and got a cart with a cloth over it to hide girl in so as to sneak her up to the room. As they got to the hallway where his grandfather was, Rory got girl out from under the cart and carried her into the room where his grandfather was laying in bed. His grandfather looked up and saw Rory with Girl in his arms and they came over to the bed and Rory laid girl next to him just as she had laid next to him forty years ago. He looked at her and stroked her head. He saw the cast on her leg and then he looked up at Rory and said, "I guess you just got back not too long ago from the field. You know, she helped pull me out from under the wheel" and with that, he looked at girl and petted her as she thumped the bed with her tail.

"Is she okay?" and Rory explained how she was getting over a broken leg and she just strained it when she pulled him out from under the wheel.

"I remember, she pulled so hard I thought my collar was going to choke me." and with that he looked at her and rubbed her between her eyes.

"I didn't get to say it to you that day.." he looked up and into his grandsons eyes and said...

"I love you too".


What some call destiny, others call a family obligation. Then there are those who call it neither and refer to it as nothing more than family and they find the motivating factor to be love.