Requited Love

[Mikado14]

Here is another story I finally retyped, why too much going on but I want to get them retyped on the computer. If you haven't read the others, specifically these:

The Watcher
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=1187


Destiny's Reunion
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=1224


Bloodline
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=1226


And in this order, you might want to read them first. This is a "long" short story..... but I think you may enjoy it. It is a little dated for it was written in 1980 but it is, well, a story. Hope you like it and if you don't, that's okay too.

I broke it into two parts for ease of posting.




Requited Love

©1979 & 2014 Hickory Ridge all rights reserved

How many of us go through life thinking, if we could only change what was. And out of those that have thought that, there are those select few who wonder what will happen in the future for their personal gain, like wanting to know the lottery numbers. And then, there are those very few who wonder what the outcome of an event will be for nothing more than personal satisfaction. But, what if what we wanted to know led to something that we may have never expected?

The sun was warm and the grass was cool on his back. He had the fishing line looped around his finger in case something nibbled but he was secretly hoping that the fish were out to lunch for he was content in a half-slumber on the bank of the creek. It felt good to get some rest for he hadn't been sleeping all too well due to his dreams, conflicted dreams. His belly grumbled and he decided it was time for a sandwich. He opened his eyes and slowly allowed them to get accustomed to the bright light. He looked to his side and he saw Girl just laying there content. He put his hand on her side and she just laid there, accustomed to his touch. He reached over and opened the lunch bag, with this, Girl was up and looking at him and glancing at the bag and back to him.

Rory found it humourous in that she was fully intent on the bag but at the same time, glancing at him as if to say, "any for me?"

"Okay Girl, let's see what Mom made for us". As he reached in, he taunted her by rustling the bag. She was getting impatient and made a guttural cry of attention. Rory chuckled and stopped rustling the bag and looked into her eyes.

"Is that what you love about me? What I can feed you?" Girl pawed at his leg and glanced at him and looked at the bag.

Rory pulled out a sandwich and opened the wax paper wrapper. "Let's see now," and he slowly taunted her as she began to drool. "Okay, here you go", as he pulled a piece from the sandwich and gave it to her saying, "nice, take it nice" and Girl ever so slowly took the piece from his hand and after it was in her mouth, it was gone and she was looking for more.

"Geez Girl, did you even taste it?" With that, she was staring at the sandwich and making her begging noises.

Rory broke the remainder of the sandwich in half and set one half down for her and she enthusiastically devoured it. Rory took a bite out of his half as he watched her.

"I wonder what goes on in your mind, Girl. I wonder how you interpret in your mind, being on the dam one minute with me as a kid and then in the next, I am picking you up and taking you with me as a grown man. How were you able to handle there being two of me on the dam at the same time?" he paused, "I wish you could talk."

All Girl did was to stare at him as he finished his sandwich. He reached in the bag and took out another one and promptly broke it in half and gave Girl the other half. She took it and slowly ate her share.

Rory looked down stream toward the dam. This was the first time he was here since he brought Girl back. He thought about how it was only a couple months ago but as he looked around he saw some of the small trees were much larger. The dam sustained some damage from Hurricane Agnes in ‘72. Reference he thought. In the span of just a few months, his memory saw the dam as it was as a kid and now as an adult, twenty years later. Time he thought, it was only relevant to the observer, how he perceived the passage would never be the same. What were young saplings were now mature trees bearing fruit.

He thought about his Uncle and his Grandfather. They kept the secret very well. How many times he rode on the tractor with his Granpa, how many times he would talk with him and the times he told that story. He remembered hearing it for the first time sitting on the steps of the springhouse. Eventually, he heard it so many times he would roll his eyes when he would mention it. He remembered when he got his first motorcycle at 12 and how his Mom was terrified of him riding it and the chances he would take and there was Granpa telling her "The boy will be alright". He paused in his thoughts. How many times did he hear Granpa just mention to his Mom that she was just being over protective and he would live to see tomorrow.

He knew. Granpa knew I would be alright. He knew that someday, I would come back to 1938 with my dog and save him from under the tractor. He was confident. He didn't understand but he knew it would happen for he was there and it was his past and my future. Granpa didn't understand the physics but he understood the universe in a manner different than science.

He strolled along the macadam road that paralleled the dam race as he and Girl made their way back to the farm. He took the time to remember, as a boy, the spots where he heard the noise and Girl reacted but he was unsure. The trees have changed, the bushes grew and even erosion and deterioration of the road added to the confusion.

As he rounded the curve he saw Buck headed in his direction carrying a large thermos. As he noticed him, he waved and Rory waved back. As they approached each other, Uncle Buck cried out, "Thirsty?" and with that Rory just nodded his head. Buck replied, "Wasn't talkin' to you, I was talking to Girl" as she ran to greet him.

Rory caught up to where Girl ran ahead to greet Buck and they both turned and started walking back together and eventually came to the covered bridge. The bridge was built in 1869 and still had the seats at either end to shelter weary travelers during a rain storm.

Rory sat down and Girl jumped up next to him. Buck unscrewed the thermos and poured a cup of Rory's Moms iced tea.

"Want some of this?" and Rory replied, "sure", Buck handed him the cup and poured another cup for himself. He leaned over and let Girl lap up some out of his cup. Rory couldn't help but say, "never saw you do that before".

"Why not? She is almost as old as I am, we old coots have to stay together". Rory corrected him, "more like old dogs". All Buck could say was, "Why not. I'm getting old. I was 21 the day you came to the field and now I am 61. It went fast, too fast. When I was that age, I thought I was immortal and now, I am seeing my mortality."

"Uncle Buck, you have a good many years ahead of you. Your healthy as a horse."

"Is that what you think?". Rory responded with, "shouldn't I?"

There was a long pause and Buck pulled a swig from the cup. He looked at Girl and commented, "you know, you have the oldest dog by calendar years. What would she be?"

Rory pondered for a moment over his Uncle's deflection of his question, "Well, I got her in June of '58 and the dam incident was in '61, so by my reckoning and not being too goodly in math" as he glanced at his Uncle with a smirk and a wink of his eye, "I suppose that would make her about 23."

"So, a dog that is 23 years old with the body of a 3 year old," he paused for a moment, "to be so lucky."

"Okay Unc, what's on your mind? I can tell when you got something to say but just don't know how to say it, so, tell me."

Buck turned to his nephew and looked him in the eye and simply said, "I'm dying." Rory looked deep into his Uncle's eyes and could see them getting moist. Rory turned away and stared into his cup.

After a moment of silence, Rory still staring into his cup replied, "How?"

Buck turned away and looked up inside the bridge and around and said in a word, "cancer".

"What does the Doctor say?"

"About six months or so, think they had a machine like yours they look into to make such a prediction." After a pause, Buck asked Rory, "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Anything Uncle Buck, name it."

"I am going to suppose that the machine in your shop can go forward as well as it does backward."

"Yes, J and I have experimented and have been able to jump ahead several months and come back. There doesn't seem to be any paradox issues that have affected us, however, there is always the possibility that we could rewrite time and the future we went to will never exist which would then be a problem for them, I suppose, but I don't really know."

They both sat there, casually drinking their tea with Buck occasionally offering some to Girl as he sat next to her with his arm around her. After a few moments of silence, Buck finally spoke.

"I have been working on a project. It is so Top Secret I doubt the President even knows about it. Well, anyway, I want to know if it ever gets done. I want to know, I want to see it."

They sat there and all Rory could do was nod his head and Buck smiled. Buck reached up and petted Girl on the head, "well Girl, looks like you won't be the only one who will travel in time who ends up being older than they are." She looked at him and wagged her tail.

"Come on Unc, we have some work to do." With that, Rory finished his cup and stood up, "come on Girl" and the trio walked through the bridge and toward the farm.


The following morning, Rory was in the shop working on the dynamics of this new project as J walked in.

"How's it going V?"

"Not too bad. We've got a mission. A mercy mission to run on."

With a questioning look, J said, "What's up?"

Rory put his slide rule down and looked at J and directly told him, "Uncle Buck is sick. In fact, he has cancer." With that, J collapsed on the stool.

Rory continued, "He has been working on a project that is extremely top secret. He wants to know if it ever gets completed."

"But V, that means jumping ahead and we just haven't finished all that is involved with that. The power requirements are totally different than going back. You know that. You know the results of our tests. What did you tell him?"

"I told him we would do it."

J left out an exhale that showed his discomfort but as he did so, he nodded his head and replied, "if it was anyone else, I would say no, too chancy."

After a moment, J continued, "Well, let's get to work".



Over the next several weeks, the boys worked long hours. They came to the conclusion after numerous forward jumps of various temporal lengths that they would need to increase their input one and a half times to jump 15 years in the forward direction than it did to go back the 40 years to the field where Rory saved his Granpa. To jump 30 years forward, would be at minimum, 4 times the power they required to make the few jumps completed into the past.

"Cripes V, we are going to have to get larger generators not to mention the Tractors to power them. Where are we going to get the funds?"

"I don't know J but I would bet a dollar to a donut that Buck will have an idea." With that, Rory left the shop and headed over to the farmhouse to make a phone call to his Uncle.

After a few minutes, Rory walked back from the farmhouse and entered the shop.

"Well?" asked J.

"He said he would come by after work and he was going to try to leave early".



Rory heard the Chevy Monte Carlo pull into the driveway and come up next to the shop. After a moment, the door opened and in stepped Buck. Girl got up out of her bed and greeted him and he reached into his pocket and gave her a piece of rawhide to chew on which she took very graciously and went to her spot.

"What's up boys?"

"Got a problem Unc, we are going to need a good deal of power to jump ahead 30 years, in fact, about four times our current capacity to generate it. That means three more 100KW generators and three more tractors to turn them. And then, we are going to have to build another bank set. The portal rings have to be reengineered to handle the additional power. Hell Unc, I don't even know if the Stainless Alloy of the ring is going to be compatible to the increased field but what I know is that it should be able to handle a 30 year jump. Any more than that I just can't predict it"

Silence hung over the shop. Buck looked around at the equipment. He strolled over to the portal and ran his hand on it. He glanced over to the bank and he remembered how it shimmered when Rory was jumping back to 1938. He then turned abruptly and headed to the door, as he passed the boys they heard him say, "You'll have what you need in a week." and the shop door slammed shut.



Rory was awakened by the noise of something large pulling into the farm. Girl was already up and staring out the window as he rushed over to see what the commotion was. As he looked out the window, he saw a semi with a low flat trailer and sitting on it were three generators identical to the one outside of the shop.

He pulled himself together quickly and was down the steps and out the door admonishing Girl to stay in as she jumped on the door to watch.

As he approached the truck, the passenger who was in the truck and dressed in a military uniform approached Rory and asked, "Where do you want these generators?"

"Let me get the loader and we can lift them off right where you are" replied Rory.

In about an hour, Rory had the three generators sitting by the shop and the truck was leaving the farm. He walked back into the house and his Mom asked if he wanted any breakfast and he acknowledged her that he did.

He went upstairs and finished brushing his teeth and came back down. His Mom was just putting his food on the table as he sat down.

"So, is this some more equipment your Uncle is giving you?". Rory answered between mouthfuls and confirmed her question.

"Now what does he want you to do?"

"Just to increase our experiments in the other direction." As his Mom was cleaning up the morning dishes she inquired, "Let's see, you have a time machine in your shop, what direction could that be?"

"No Mom, I'm sorry, I mean he wants us to experiment in going forward in time, a different direction."

"Why? Did he tell you?"

"No Mom," Rory hesitated, he didn't want to lie to his Mom, "well, yes he did, but it involves a top secret job he is doing."

"What does he want you to do?

"Just to go forward to find out some information."

"Information? What kind of information?"

"Oh, just how something works out that he is doing now."

Rory's Mom turned from the kitchen sink and sat down at the table. "I've noticed your Uncle has been acting," and she paused looking for the proper words, "different lately. It is not that I suspect him of anything but he is not himself. He wouldn't want you to go forward to find and learn something new so he can solve a problem at work, would he?"

"No Mom, you know that isn't how he is, he just wants to know when a certain project gets done. He is over 60 years old you know and one never knows how much time they have."

"Well I am only 53, so what are you saying? Everyone gets a wish from your time machine. Do I get a turn?"

"Oh Mom, I am not saying anything. The project will take many years and he just wants to know if it gets done. No details, just if it will ever get done. And if you want a wish Mom, just ask."

She continued, "Since when did Buck ever worry about anything? Your Uncle is totally different than your Dad. Too Bad he got divorced so many years ago. He needs a good woman in his life."

"What about that girl he talks about at work?"

"You mean Betty?", and Rory gave an affirmative sound between chews of his food.

His Mom began to laugh out loud at which Rory looked at her. "You mean you don't know?" and he nodded his head no. "Betty started there as an intern from Drexell, she is about 35 years younger than him, they are just friends."

"I never knew that, I always thought that the way he talked about her, well, there was something there."

"Well he is old enough to be her Father so I don't think that will go anywhere but I would bet you that he wishes it wasn't so."

Rory finished his breakfast and as always, slipped a piece of bacon to Girl as he got up to go out the door, as he went through, he heard his Mom, "I saw that Rory, she doesn't need bacon" and the porch door closed.



When J arrived, the two got to work setting up the generators on wooden blocks and ran the output wires from the generators into the shop.

"Well, now all we need is something to run the generators, like three diesel engines, or tractors of sufficient horsepower. Does your Uncle have any connections at John Deere?"

Rory cast a glance at him with a frown and then replied, "It wouldn't surprise me in the least".

The boys busied themselves in the final assembly of the rack to hold the second bank set. They had all the wires ran and all they needed were the large capacitors to arrive.

When they were done, they moved on to the portal. They wrapped the new coils in place as opposed to disassembling the ring to slide them over. Both of them figured they could wind the coils faster in place than go through the dis-assembly and reassembly process of the portal.

The following day, another semi pulled up and unloaded two pallets with the new capacitors for the bank. By the end of the following day, the bank was done and assembled. In another two days, the portal was done and wired into the bank.

On the same day the capacitors arrived, the waveform generators came along with the amplifiers to excite the second output bank. The waveform generators produced a complex composite waveform that was the heart of the machine. This waveform and the subsequent harmonics, set the destination by creating a standing wave in the center of the ring. The electrostatic field was the excitation that enabled the ring to essentially allow the parting of the fabric of time. It also established a set reference so that both banks would be in precise phase with each other and the output not only drove the portal but also triggered inverters to cancel any hysteresis in the Stainless ring of the portal thus giving a pure signal that gave stability to the tunnel created from one point in time to another point in time.

It was almost the weekend and Rory knew Buck would be coming to see how things were going. He hoped his Uncle would be pleased.


Saturday came and Buck showed up in the early afternoon. He came into the shop to look around and greet the boys.

"Hi Unc" and J greeted him as well.
"So tell me Buck, " asked J, "Got any connections with John Deere to bring us three tractors to feed those hungry generators?". Buck looked at J with a broad grin and said, "Yep, your gonna have three 4030's delivered here on Monday. I rented them, I don't have a connection with John Deere but I have one with Continental Bank."

J just shook his head and asked, "Why Buck, why are you going to all of this expense, this has got to have set you back. What is so important about this project?"

Buck looked at the two of them and then looked around the room. Finally, he looked back at the boys and said, "What I am about to tell you, is not to be repeated to anyone, in any manner. I am violating the Secrets Act by telling you this."

The boys both nodded in agreement.

"We have been working on a project that will enable a ship to achieve faster than light travel."

"WHAT?" cried the boys in unison.

"Yep, and I have the two of you to thank for that." Rory and J looked at each other and looked back at Buck and they both said, "How?"

"Well, the initial concept where you theorized in creating a field to open a portal easily was modified to create a warp field outside of what we consider to be our dimension. It may not be the key to time travel but it certainly was key to creating a stasis bubble. When Rory came up with the idea back in High School and then the two of you worked it out in your freshmen year, well, that is when I realized that it could create a stasis field and that field could be put around a ship that would displace it in real space. Remember all those papers I would make you write? Well, you abandoned what you were doing and went in a different direction, I merely put it to use, a use you didn't realize, after you abandoned it."

"Does that mean you stole our ideas?" said J in a humorous manner but Buck, taking it seriously, immediately replied, "No. I saw something that you didn't see. You two were going in a direction I didn't even know the compass point to go toward but I did see where your initial concept could be utilized. Remember, I knew you were going to build a time machine, I saw the result in '38, I just didn't know when. What you have here, in this shop, is divergent from what you originally worked on 12 years ago. I didn't buy your "energy device" for one moment but what was I to tell you? It was a good cover but you were headed down a path so different that I couldn't figure out where the two of you were going but I knew you would get there. I see it now, in a way but not then. I always knew the result and now you did it, it's done. They are two entirely different concepts"

"Okay, so let me get this straight, your building a warp drive, like in Star Trek, do I have that correct?"

"Well I have no idea if it is the same thing or not but I can tell you that the ship falls out of this dimension in a bubble and that bubble requires about 1 percent the energy required to propel the same craft with reference to this dimension. The laws of action reaction appear to be different. Does it violate Einsteinian physics? No, for it appears from what we know that it doesn't apply in the stasis bubble when in relation to our dimension. Inside the bubble, you throw a ball, you throw a ball just as you would here, right now."

The boys just looked at him in disbelief, to an extent. "How far is it along?" asked J.

"Well, preliminary tests were done on the last Apollo flight. The results proved the theory, the test craft arrived back on an island in the Pacific less than two seconds after it departed the moon and that is FTL in my book as far as I am concerned. The energy source is solved, it pulls energy from another stasis field setup within a stasis field, which we call the Oort generator named after Jan Oort. The problem we are having is building a ship. The shuttle program won't have the first shuttle ready until '81. I won't make it that long."

"`How far do you want to jump into the future?" asked J.

"How far can we?" replied Buck.

"As far as I can tell, and J agrees with me, is maybe about 60 years but it will need a lot of power. We know we can do 30 with some additional hardware but we will have to do some re-engineering to do 60 to the equipment we have here. Also, I prefer us to make short jumps and not push to the limits on the first try." replied Rory.

Buck said, "Well, this doesn't leave here. I am not worried about myself as much as I am worried what they will do to you two if it gets out. I am making arrangements with someone I trust with my life and your life as well. They will be our contact in the future, I have it figured out. I just need to know the date, time and place we will jump to."

"We?" asked Rory.

"yes, we. I need to know first hand." Rory looked at his Uncle and all he could say was, "Sure Unc."

J spoke up, "I have one question". Buck replied, "Okay, shoot."

"Who the hell is Jan Oort?"

"He was an astronomer who first proposed dark matter."

All J could muster was , "oh, whatever that is."



Several days passed and the boys not only had the heavy work done, they were fine tuning the equipment for their first test, only one problem, the tractors hadn't arrived yet.

"J, what do you say we go down to the dam and throw a line in?"

"I really don't like fishing, you know that but if you want company other than Girl, I'll tag along, that is, if it is okay with her." and J looked down at Girl sitting in her bed in the shop and her ears pricked up.

The boys shut everything down and headed out the door. Rory ran over to the farmhouse to tell his Mom where he and J would be in the event the world fell apart and she just waved him out.
As the two walked, Girl stayed between them and she pranced as if she were the important one in the group.

"V, you never told me exactly where all the things happened when you were a kid."

"Doesn't matter, does it? I mean, it is the same but it isn't when I look around. I went fishing a few weeks back with Girl at the dam. I was right below where the portal opened that knocked her and I back. As I sat there, I saw the dam with the damage from the hurricane, I saw the trees that grew larger and I saw new trees growing that were not there before."

There was a pause and Rory continued,"You know, to see the dam now and I remember it just several weeks ago when I got Girl off of it, it looks so different, no, I mean," Rory paused looking for the right words, "it's difficult to explain, I saw in the matter of a short span of time, the change that occurred in nature, the change in time."

Another pause, J decided to just let his friend talk, "I don't know what I mean. Ever wonder what goes through Girls mind? She knew me as a kid and then all of a sudden, I am a man, picking her up off the dam and taking her into the future. How in holy hell does she deal with it? I mean, I am beginning to wonder if her mind, her brain, is better suited to time travel than ours? Remember your headache? Wanna bet that if Girl and I went back in time and changed something, she wouldn't have the headache but I would?"

J sat on the bank and was tossing pebbles into the water and every now and then he found a flat rock to skip across the water.

"Are you even listening to me J?"

"yep, sure am, I am just letting you get it all out, whatever has been inside you for these past few months. I suppose you have some guilt for hurting Girl but then you did take care of her and then of course, you take her with you to save Gramps and she gets hurt again, yep, I think there might be a bit of guilt there. But remember, where do you think she wants to be? Do you think she blames you for getting hurt? If she does then why is it that she literally wants to be with you? No, my old friend, she loves you, as much as you love her. Remember that time she bit you as a kid that you told me? Do you hate her?"

"Of course not," replied Rory, "it was really an accident, her ear was infected and I bumped it and she snapped. Hell, she cowered after it happened."

J continued, "But you petted her and told her it was okay, or so you said." There was a pause as J left what he said sink in, "Look, get rid of the guilt, she did, you think too much. That dog would no sooner leave you than you would leave her. Look at what the two of us did to find out what went wrong 20 years ago. All she knows is that you, my friend, came and took her to the vet and made her well. Maybe that is what it is all about in time travel, she doesn't think, she accepts it for what it is and moves on, you, well, you think too much."

Rory looked at J and didn't say a word. J skipped another stone across the water. "See how the stone skips? Maybe that is how she deals with the travelling in time, it is just a skip but in the end, she is still the stone, just in another place and she accepts that is where she is at." He looked at his friend, "and you V, need to accept where you're at."

J continued, "And remember this, if it wasn't for your Uncle, we wouldn't have been able to do it. He is the one who got all the grants for us. He was the driving force in the background that funnelled all we needed at just the right time. If he wants to go forward to see what his work or how his work turns out, I would storm the gates of hell for that man, and so would you and you know it. And one more thing, when you went back to save Granpa, you didn't change anything since you already did so according to Buck. No headache."

Rory turned and looked at J and all he could muster was, "let's go back".



The boys were approaching the farm and they saw the flatbed semi with three tractors loaded upon it. As they got there, the driver had two off and was getting ready to drive the third one off.
"Are you Rory?", hollered the driver and Rory replied, "Yep". The driver continued, "You must be planin' on doin' a good deal of work."

Rory looked at J and smiled, "yeah, you could say that."

The driver got up on the last tractor and drove it off the trailer and parked it next to the other two. When he was done, he came over and handed Rory a bunch of papers and told him to sign them and that the rental was based upon hours used and wanted to know if he wished to verify the hours on the hour meter of the tractors. Rory went and checked out each one and came back to the driver who was putting his chains and binders away.

"Here you go, all signed."

"Okay, thanks, guess I will be seeing you when I come back for them", and Rory watched as the driver got into the truck and drove away.

The last piece of the puzzle was here, they could do their first test tomorrow.

[Mikado14]

...conclusion




The following morning saw the boys out and hooking up the tractors to the generators. The two went into the shop and double checked all the connections to the output banks. They fired up the frequency generators and the signal emitters on the portal. Everything checked out. It was already lunchtime and they decided to go and eat some lunch and just about that time Rory's Mom was hollering out the back door and asking if they were hungry. As always, J responded, "I thought you forgot about us" as Mom just waved a nonchalant hand in response.

The boys were at the table eating when the phone rang. Mom answered it and Rory heard her say, "yes, they're here." He heard his Mom come from the parlor and said, "Your Uncle is on the phone and wants to talk to you."

"Thanks Mom", and Rory went to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Rory, where are you at?". Rory told him that they were ready for their first test. "Okay, I want to be there, I'm leaving work right now, be there in about forty five minutes."

"Okay Unc, see you then."

Rory went back to the kitchen and told J that Buck would be there soon. They finished their lunch and as always, Rory slipped part of his sandwich to Girl.

"Rory!"

"Well if you wouldn't feed her maybe she would finish her own food in her bowl."

Rory looked at his Mom and went over and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Mom, now would you expect me not to give her something?", and with that, she hit him with the dish towel and told him to get out of her kitchen.

Rory and J went out and started the four tractors and let them idle to warm up and went back into the shop. About that time Rory's Dad came home from work which was driving a truck that had him away for over a week. He was busy looking around at the tractors and the generators. He then came into the shop.

"Where in the hell did those tractors come from?"

J looked at Rory and mumbled, "oh boy, it's hitting the fan.", which prompted a look from Rorys' dad that if looks could kill, he was a dead man.

"Uncle Buck rented them, he wants me to do some experiments and it's going to need a lot of power."

"And where did those other generators come from? You get another grant? Or did Buck get them?"

"Pop, Uncle Buck got it all, this is his dime your looking at. This is something for General Aviation."

John looked around the shop and saw the new equipment, "It must be pretty important, you did all this in the ten days I've been gone."

"Uncle Buck should be here any minute, maybe you should talk to him."

"Okay, let me go see your Mom and get washed up a bit.", and John walked out the door.

J asked Rory, "Does your Dad know about Buck?". He responded, "I don't think so but I am hoping he will tell him."


Buck's Monte Carlo pulled in at the same time John was walking back from the house. John stopped and waited for Buck to get out.

"Hey Buck, how you doin'?"

"Fine John."

"So, what have you got these boys workin' on now?" Buck continued toward the shop and as he was walking he said, "Oh, just a little idea I had, not too important."

As the two stepped through the door, "Just a little idea you say? Let's see, three new generators, three new tractors", Buck interrupted and said, "rented tractors", and John continued, "okay, three "rented" tractors and a whole lotta new stuff in here."

"Sure, just an idea I see, wish my ideas got me new tractors."

Buck ignored his brother but Rory turned to Buck and in a low voice, "Unc, if he doesn't know, he needs to." Buck looked Rory in the eye. "I mean it Unc, he needs to know, if your going with me on this jump, he needs to stay here with J, someone has to watch the tractors, cripes, we got four of them running, a good deal of power coming in here, J needs the help."

Buck looked at Rory and the lines in his face smoothed out, "Okay kiddo".

Buck turned to John, "Okay brother, here it is in a nutshell. I got cancer and I'm dying," John started to interrupt but Buck put his hand up, "and I don't have much time. I have been working on a project that I will never see done and I want to see if it gets done, I want to go forward in time and see it."

John stood there stupefied by it all, Buck continued, "I can't tell you what the project is, the boys know so don't bother them by prodding but they need you now" there was a pause, "I need you."

Buck's eyes were getting moist as he looked at his younger brother. John was looking back and his eyes were moist and all he could say, "Tell me what to do".

"Well Dad, I need you to run the tractors. They need to be set at PTO speed for now and then anything else that J will need. I have no idea how this is going to work out. Our first jump is going to be exactly five years from this date and time. We will be coming back and then we will look over the readings and set for ten years. We will come back, check the readings and reset for fifteen years. And now this is the hardest part. The only thing you are going to see is us leave and then us returning on all three jumps but I need you to document the time and then meet us in five years and then ten and finally fifteen. And when we come back, you can't ask us anything, it will cause a paradox as far as we know. Confused?"

"I think I have read enough science fiction to have an idea of what your talkin' about son. Oh, and one little incident involving your Granpa."

Rory looked at his Dad and smiled. He turned to J, "Are we ready?"

"Setting up the waveforms, might as well get the tractors going" and with that, Rory looked at his Dad and he turned and went out.

"J, give us five minutes and then open the portal for the return. The coordinates are right below on the same piece of paper." J replied, "You got it V."

"Come on Buck, get over here in front of the portal and get ready".

Rory heard the tractors running up one by one. The cacophony was deafening and he briefly wondered what it must have sounded like for his Dad. He came through the door and looked at Rory and gave him a thumbs up.

"Well J, start the buildup and let's see what it looks like. Point of destination will be the field along the north side of the farmhouse." Rory looked at his Dad and motioned for him to write everything down.

J hollered, "Build up commencing, get ready."

Rory put his hand around his Uncle's shoulder and said, "Your gonna love this." He looked down and saw Girl already alongside of him. He could hear the tractors tone change as the load increased, he watched the banks, the two of them, begin their shimmer effect. He looked at his Uncle and they both smiled at each other and then, they were interrupted by J.

"I have a stable standing wave and in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 engaging the bank!"

The lights dimmed even more, the tractors deepened their tone, the portal began to shimmer in a manner never seen before by Rory or J. Bright shards appeared from the ring and going in to the center of the portal resembling a giant iris and then they pulled back and there was the field next to the farmhouse and there was John standing there. Rory turned and looked at his Dad and he saw the perplexity on his face as he was looking at himself five years in the future.

Rory turned and looked at `Buck, "Let's go Unc, come on Girl." and they stepped through five years of time into a field somewhere in the future.



John was standing in the field and patiently waiting and he was wondering if he had the correct time. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a small black dot appear about five feet off of the ground. It slowly grew into a large black circle. It made a sound that was high pitched and as it expanded, it decreased in pitch. When it stopped, it was a circle of nothingness outlined with bright shards that to him, resembled tinsel on a Christmas Tree. He felt as if he was charged with static electricity and he noticed the hair on his arms was standing on end and then with a rumble similar to a distant cannon, his brother, son and Girl stepped through.

Girl ran up to greet John and he stooped down and petted her and she danced around him and jumped up on him to lick his face.

"Okay Girl, you act like you haven't seen him for years.", said Rory. Buck replied, "She hasn't, it's been five years." which prompted a look from Rory.

"Hi Dad, how is it?"

Rory's dad stood up and ignoring his son, went to Buck. He threw his arms around him and said, "I've missed you big brother." and he kissed him on the cheek.

The brothers composed themselves and Rory asked his Dad, "Well, is it 5 years? Are we on time?"

"Yes, you are right on time" he paused for a minute and Rory spoke up, "Don't say anything Dad, we can't cause a paradox, if even one can be done for us but it may certainly happen for you. Hell, I don't know, I want to ask you so many questions but I can't."

"Rory, I agreed when you came back that I wouldn't say a word but remember this my son, your Mom is fine" John paused and came up to his son and grabbed him by the head in both of his hands and looked into his eyes, "Your Mom is fine, you need to know that."

Rory looked at his Dad and cocked his head as if he knew his Dad was giving him a cryptic message so he just nodded and said, "okay Pop".

The three of them sat down on the ground. John had a Thermos and offered a drink.

Buck asked, "A drink of what?". John smiled and reached around to his back pocket and handed Buck a flask. Buck took a strong pull along with an admonishment from his nephew.

And then the same thing happened again, the black dot appeared accompanied by a strong smell of ozone and slowly built up to a large nothingness and ending with the rumble. Rory and Buck just stared and then Buck said, "Looks just like it did forty years ago." He turned and smiled at Rory.

When the portal was fully expanded Buck turned one last time and gave his brother a hug and said, "see you in five more years".

Buck, Rory and Girl stepped through the portal as John watched as it slowly collapsed with an accompanying sound which ended in a sound of distant thunder.



Rory, Buck and Girl stepped through into the shop and the sound of the waveform generator was winding down.

John looked at his brother, "Well?" and Buck answered, “don't forget the flask when you come to meet us” and he just shook his head and smiled.

Rory went over to the chart recorders and started to peruse the recorded data and J was alongside of him and they compared their thoughts.

Buck and John sat down on stools and John stared at his brother. They exchanged glances but both knew they couldn't say a word but Buck finally broke the silence.

"John, no bull, you were there and everything looked good but we didn't talk. If we did, I could have come back here and told you and you could have changed the future, your future, I can't do that, I don't understand the ramifications." John just nodded his head, reached over and grabbed his brother by the forearm and said, “but your here now”.

Rory came over and said to Buck, "I think we are going to just do the jump to fifteen years and not the ten. The data looks good and the equipment was stable. I see no reason why we couldn't do the fifteen. We should only be pulling from the generators about 175 kW, a walk in the park for them." Buck nodded his head and said, "Let's go."

Rory turned and looked at J and nodded.

J immediately went to work setting up the waveform generators and balancing the composite waveform. Rory motioned for his Uncle to come over to the portal and Girl just naturally followed. The two stood there and just waited as they listened to the tractors and observed the effects and both were lost in their thoughts brought back to reality by J hollering.

"We have a stable wave and in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, engaging the bank!"

The two watched as the portal opened and stabilized and there was the field and the farmhouse, it appeared as if it were a gray day and all Rory said was, "Let's go" and the trio stepped through.



When they came through, no one was there except for three chairs. Rory and Buck looked around and saw nothing unusual and then they heard someone hollering. From in front of the house they saw J. He was standing next to a woman with blonde hair. He turned to her for a brief moment and then he began running to them as the girl just stood and watched. He arrived out of breath.

Girl greeted J as he arrived and then ran down the hill to the woman on the front porch.

"Rory, it is good to see you and Buck, damn, you don't look a day over whatever you were when you left" and he chuckled to himself about his joke. Rory stared speechless at J and he said,"Your Dad is okay, that is all I can say, aw heck, no, he is in the hospital but he will be fine, and now, that's all l am going to say....really." as he laughed to himself. Rory was curious as to why J called him by his first name but just let it go.

J reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flask. "Here Buck, John said to give you this, that’s why I am running late". Rory and Buck looked at the flask with a grin with Buck saying, "he must be okay, he remembered the flask."

Rory looked down to the front porch and saw the woman stooping and petting Girl as she was licking at the woman's face.

They sat down on the chairs and Rory commented on being prepared for their visit. J started to talk, "Rory, there is so much I would love to tell you but I can't but I can tell you this. Girl is important, she is gonna save someone very important to me and you," he paused for a moment, "and others".

Rory looked at J and said, "What? Another cryptic message?". J laughed and all he could say was, "No, not cryptic, let's just call it a premonition, one you won't realize until it happens and it is over with."

Rory looked at J and said, "Well, I see your losing some hair, maybe I will tell you when I get back how bad you aged in fifteen years."

“Kids will do that to you but I know you won't" and J laughed at Rory. “Kids? You?”, stuttered Rory. “Yep, kids” replied J.

Rory glanced to the front porch and saw Girl running back up the hill. "That blonde woman on the front porch your wife?"

"Now really Rory, I can't say a word."

A crackling sound was heard and they all turned to see the portal opening for their return trip. The trio stood alongside each other with Girl in the middle.

“Looks like I am on time, again.” chuckled J.

“Your having too much fun with this, you know?” and J replied, “You have no idea.” and he paused for a moment for the effect, "yet". Rory just looked at him with a frown.

The trio walked toward the nothingness and J hollered, "Buck, your looking good, good to see you again." and Buck replied, "Me too kiddo, me too."

As the trio stepped through the portal, J hollered to Rory, “See you later, brother."

Rory turned to look through the portal and quickly saw J laughing as the image faded. He turned to J sitting at he console and said, “Sometimes I hate you J.”

J turned to Buck and said, “What? What did I do?” and Buck said, “Guess you’ll have to wait fifteen years to find out.”

Rory was at the chart recorders and was perusing the data from this jump and J came over and was looking at it as well. When they were done, Rory turned to his Uncle.

“Unc, we have enough data. I think we are going to do the full thirty year jump at one time. Now, you have to figure out how you are going to get the information you want,” and Rory glanced toward his Dad, “about whatever it is you want to know when you get there and where you want to go, so, the ball is in your court.”

John said to Rory, “Shut the tractors down?” and Rory nodded to his Dad. J was powering down the waveform generators and was bleeding off the residual field from the portal.

“How about next weekend we do the jump. Say, noon?” asked Buck.

“Whenever you want Unc.” and with that, Buck walked out of the shop. Rory turned to J and said, “Were you always such a comedian?” and J just looked at him with a curious look and the two went out to go eat supper.

“Come on Girl” echoed in the shop as they stepped through the door.


Rory and J spent the week relaxing and talking about life and normal chit chat. Reminiscing about old times, checking the equipment over and over again in nervous anticipation of Saturday. Rory wanted to tell J about him having kids but thought better of it, too many questions would be asked that he just couldn’t answer.

Friday night came and the family and Buck along with J went out to eat. Through out the meal Rory kept glancing at his Uncle. He watched him laugh with his Dad, watched how he taunted his Mom and just how the three of them interacted with each other. He poked at his food thinking about the most influential man in his life and how he would not be here this time next year. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes and he excused himself and feigned going to the restroom.

As he was in there composing himself, J walked in. “You okay partner?”

“You know that someday, all those you love are going to go but when confronted with it staring you in the face” he paused for a moment, “it’s like a sting from a phantom bee that you never saw coming.”

“Come on V, let’s go finish our dinner.” The two went back to the dining room.



The following morning found Rory and J in the shop double checking all the connections between the equipment. John was outside and lubricated and serviced the generators, checked the tractors, topped off their fuel tanks and started them up to get them to temperature.

Rory heard the last of the tractors starting and told J that Dad would be coming through the door in a minute. At that, Rory and J turned to not only see John come through but Buck and Rory’s Mom.
“What’s this? A party?” Rory asked. His Mom said, “No, this is family.” Rory looked at his Mom and just smiled. "We are here to support Buck as he would be here for us and of course you need your dads help too and you have me if needed."

Buck walked over to where Girl was sitting in her bed and bent over and gave her a piece of rawhide. She gladly took it and began the slow process of devouring it.

“You ready Unc?” and Buck nodded his head. Rory’s Mom went over and sat on a stool next to J, John stood in back of his wife and J was busy balancing the equipment.

“Okay Unc, I got the destination you gave me all set up for the park in town. We did a test to verify the coordinates by jumping 5 years ahead and looking through the portal, so, we will get there to where you want to be. I just hope whomever you set this up with is there.” All Buck said was, “They will, I know”.

“Okay Pop, might as well bring the tractors up to speed and this time, full throttle, don’t spare anything, we are going to need all the horsepower we can get”, with that, John was out the door.
Rory walked over to the portal where his Uncle was standing. “Nervous?” and Buck nodded his head and said, “A little”.

They both heard John running up the tractors one by one until it felt as if the roof on the shop was going to rattle apart. They both glanced back at J who was busy establishing the composite waveform and stabilizing it to apply to the banks which would feed the portal ring.

"Having a tough time getting a stable standing wave, V. Give me a few minutes." stated J.

Rory looked at Buck and he smiled back nervously. "Don't worry, Uncle Buck, takes a bit longer cause we have to give it time to stabilize on the strongest possible timeline."

"Got it!", hollered J.

As if Girl knew from the noise what was going on, she left her rawhide on the bed and came and stood next to Rory. He glanced down and saw her, he reached down and stroked her head, she pushed back on his hand with her head as he did it.

He redid the calculations in his head, there was close to 400 kW of power getting ready to rip a hole in the fabric of space and time and he was going to walk through it. Thirty years, a jump he had no idea what the result would be. He turned to Buck and asked, “How much time do we need on the other side?”. Buck pondered for a moment, “Would a half-hour be good?” Rory went over to J and modified the coordinates for a 30 minute return.

“J, open the portal in 30 minutes from our time of departure. Use those coordinates I just wrote down.” J repeated what he said, “thirty minutes”. Rory continued, "Make sure you check the generators and let them cool down for a bit before you reopen" at which J interrupted him by saying the train was about to pull out of the station and the standing wave was forming.

Rory looked at the banks charging. He saw the shimmer effect beginning and wondered about how they were somewhere here and somewhere else at the same time being pulled a bit out of reality from the present. He wondered about all of this, where it would lead in the future. He wished he could have asked J about what all happened in the fifteen years, kids, J was a father, incredible he thought, wonder who the lucky Girl was and his thoughts were broken by J.

“Get ready! Standing wave is stable and we are locked on the strongest timeline...and in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, engaging the bank!”

There was an enormous moan that came from the banks. The capacitors were under the most in rush of power to date. The tractors sounded like they were struggling to pull a mountain, Rory hoped that the load wouldn’t stall them out, the florescent lights were doing their internal rolling effect and the ozone was the heaviest he ever smelled. The static from the portal was like pins pricking his skin. He looked at Girl and her hair was straight out but her gaze was intent on the opening forming. The portal opening was brilliant with the shard effect and then changed and bloomed into what looked like an iris. It then slowly pulled back as it stabilized and before them they saw the park in town and standing there was a lady. Rory said, “let’s go” and the trio walked through the portal. J and Rory’s parents watched as the portal image collapsed and the tractors eased up as the load decreased.

J shut the equipment down. He then turned to John and said, “Better back off on the tractors and let them and the generators cool down. And now, we wait for the equipment to cool down."



The lady watched as a small black pinhole grew to a large black ring of nothingness accompanied by a whine that started out high pitched and decreased in frequency as the ring grew larger. The ring was lined with what looked like shards of brilliant metal, there was a sound like a distant explosion and then it was stable. She stood fascinated at what had happened. She waited thirty years and here she was standing in front of the reality of the moment. She was so intent on watching everything as it happened, the sounds, the sights and the permeating smell of ozone. At that point, the blackness rippled and two men and a dog stepped through.

“Buck!” the woman hollered and he walked at a fast pace to her and embraced her in a hug that appeared to Rory as if it would never end and that there was more to it. Girl stood patiently alongside of him and took in the area, she was taking in all the sights and sounds and her nose was going in the breeze. She then ran up to the woman.

Rory caught up and said to his Uncle, “Well Unc, you going to introduce me?” and Buck turned to Rory and said, “Rory, this is Betty, Betty, this is Rory and that there is Venus.”

Betty held her hand out and said, “Pleased to meet you” in a manner that Rory took as a little bit non-chalant. She stooped down to be equal to Girl as she licked at her face. She then said, after Girl calmed down, “and you are the girl that started all of this.”, as she petted her on the head. “Buck, I thought you said her name was Girl?”. Rory interjected, “Venus is her name but I always called her my girl and it stuck. I have never seen her greet anyone before with such enthusiasm.”

Betty looked up at Rory and answered, "I suppose we are just kindred spirits."

Betty continued, “Well anyway, who am I to change your name, Hi Girl, pleased to meet you.” She stood and turned to Buck and said, “Why don’t we sit down on the bench.” and they moved over to sit down.

“Well Betty, tell me, is it really thirty years?”

“Look at me Buck, what do you see?” He replied sheepishly, “I see the same beautiful intern that came into my office back in ‘75 when she was fresh out of Drexell.”

“No Buck, you see a woman who is 55 going on 56 years old. What does that mean to you?”

Rory interjected, “It means we made it.” and Betty turned to look at him.

Betty turned back toward Buck, “How much does he know?” as she cocked her head in Rory's direction. He replied, “He knows what the project is. It is his and J’s initial work that is at the heart of the warp drive”.

“Well? Tell me, did it work? Did it get done?”

Betty looked into his eyes and said, “Yes and No”. Buck’s face turned to one of consternation. Betty realized it and continued, “The ship was built and was tested by the early 90’s. The Space Shuttle that was used for the construction launched from a different base than the Cape. It was done as a joint project between the Navy and the Air Force. After the ship was built and tested, there was an entire new branch of military service created, more of quasi military. The ship on it’s first voyage went to Mars and back. The round trip took less than a half hour.”

Buck looked at her in amazement, “My god” and he broke into a smile as his shoulders that were tense relaxed. “That means we did it, we are exploring the universe.”

Betty looked at Buck, “Well," and she paused as she looked at him, "and here is the “no” part of this.” Buck looked at her confused and she continued, “When it was realized that we could go almost anywhere in the known universe, the government stepped in and shut the project down as far as most of the industrial complex knows. But certain ones, such as yours truly, knows different.”

Betty paused as if she was wrestling with something inside and then she spoke, “There was a mission that went out not too long after the Mars flight, they had first contact with another civilization. The government has been doing an exchange program and we have been learning from each other for over ten years now.”

Buck and Rory just listened. Finally, it sunk in and Rory said, "Do you mean we have people on another planet, somewhere, and there are people here among us from that planet?" Betty looked at him and said, "you'll see".

Betty continued, “Now that I told you this, you must keep it to yourself when you go back, can you do it?” She kept her gaze fixed on Rory and he replied, "yes"

Betty turned to Buck and he said, “I’m not new to keeping secrets to prevent paradoxes, remember what I told you?”

“Yes my love” and Buck looked at her in shock to hear her say that.

Betty turned toward Rory and said, “Why don’t you take Girl and go for a walk, I want to talk to your Uncle.” With that, Rory stood up from the bench and turned saying, “come on Girl” and the two went for a walk in a park that was thirty years in their future.

As Rory walked around, he would glance back at the two sitting on the bench. He saw Buck holding her hand at times. He walked around and looked at the trees, the old bandstand and noticed they refurbished it. He walked down to the building that housed the old civil war cannon and then looked at his watch and realized they had ten minutes to portal opening. He walked back to the bench just in time to see the two locked in an embrace and what appeared to be kissing.

“I don’t mean to interrupt but we have about seven minutes till the portal opens”.

Buck looked at his nephew and motioned for him to sit down.

“Rory, it has been a wonderful life. I have done things, built things, encouraged a nephew and I have traveled in time. I watched you in a field save my Dad from an accident that may have very well taken his life. I have lived a good life.” Rory pretty much saw where this was headed.

“So are you saying you want to stay?” With that Betty spoke up. “Your Uncle and I have loved each other since the day we met. At General Aviation, we both knew it, he so more than I, but we never acted on it. You see, he is only about five years older than I am” as she looked at Buck, “now. I have waited thirty years for him to come to me as you see. I am not going to let him go and there is a bright side to all of this.” She looked at Buck and he nodded, “the type of cancer your Uncle has is very curable. We can have a long life for what ever the world,” she paused, “the universe, has to offer. Your Uncle is going to see the stars with me.”

Rory looked at his Uncle and he felt the tears swell in his eyes. Buck leaned over and put his arms around his nephew in an embrace. “You know, this isn’t good bye, for cripes sake, you have a time machine, you can come and visit anytime you want, that is, if I’m here.” he turned and smiled at Betty and she added, “Anytime Rory and you can bring your family too. All of your family. We,” looking at Buck, “have a place in the mountains.”

There was a pause and she added, “You have quite a few experiences coming your way. We will meet again and very soon. You and I will become good friends and we will talk about Buck and you will tell me about this meeting because it will be just between us. Remember, I will have to wait thirty years for this day. There will be times that you will need my help. I will take the place of Buck. You won’t have to keep any of this secret with me, I know what will happen and I will prepare for this day. You have so much to look forward to but for me, my path is now, and finally, changing.” With that, she reached into her purse and pulled out a large envelope.

“Inside this are instructions you must follow, your Uncle will need you to do this so he will,” and she paused, “fit in here.”

“What should I tell everyone back home?”

Buck looked at his nephew and said, “Well, if I remember correctly, your pretty good at stories. Just tell them I chased after some animal. It worked once before” and Buck couldn't help but laugh. He stooped down and faced Girl and he petted her. As he did so, he said to her, “I am going to miss you but for some reason, I don’t think this is good bye but then, you already probably know.”

Betty looked at Rory and said, “I have a surprise for you. I want you to look over by the bandstand.” Rory turned and looked. He saw a group of people standing there and staring at them as they were sitting on the bench. He looked at Betty and she nodded to the group and all she said was, "family".

Rory looked at the group. He saw an older couple of which one looked like J, with less hair than he remembered, next to a blonde haired woman, he waved to Rory. Next to them were three young adults, a young man and two young ladies of which one was holding a child in her arms. As he looked to the right, he saw what appeared to be himself standing there with a woman to his left and two young adults standing next to her left. Standing to his right was Girl. As he stared at them he saw himself move aside to let an older couple come forward. He recognized his Mom and Dad and thought how good they looked for being in their ‘80s and he felt a weight lifting from him that he knew they would be around and his Mom would live to see his children, her grandchildren. He felt a weakness in his knees even as he sat on the bench.

Girl ran up the small hill to say hi to all. Rory watched as his future self petted her as she went up to greet him and the older Girl ran down to greet him and Buck sitting on the bench. Girl went up to Betty first. She jumped up and put her paws on Betty's lap and she gave her a hug around her neck. Girl then came over to Buck and she jumped up front paws on his lap as he ruffled both sides of her neck with his hands. She then got down and went to Rory. She stood in front of him and stared at him. Rory looked into her butter creme eyes. She slowly approached him sitting on the bench and then she rested her head on his leg never losing contact with his eyes. Rory reached down and petted her and said, "Hi Girl", she licked his hand. They continued to exchange stares...just looking at each other, two points from two different times... as Rory scratched between her eyes. Girl turned to leave and walked a few steps turned back and stared at Rory. He swore it looked as if she was smiling at him, she then turned and ran back to where she came from passing her younger counterpart as she came back to Rory and Buck sitting on the bench.

Rory said to Betty, "Strange, Girl greeted you like she knows you."

"She does." Rory started to ask her a question about Girl and she cut him off, "Spoilers".

“Anyway, Rory, they're here to meet your Uncle and not you. And if I am correct, you have about one minute until the portal opens.”

"How is it that Girl is still with me?" and Betty replied with a smile and repeated, "spoilers" as she continued to smile at him.



Rory stood there and put his arm around his wife. He looked down at his kids and then stooped down to pet Girl. “There he is Girl, bet when he comes up here he has a piece of rawhide for you. Maybe he will give you some steak he promised you after you saved Granpa." She quickly turned her head to look at Rory and then back to the people on the bench.

Rory turned and looked at Jay and said, “And this was where it began” and Jay just smiled and put his arm around his wife and answered, “yep, and I wouldn’t want to change it back to what it was.” as he kissed her on the cheek.

Rory looked at Jay’s wife and she stared back at him. All he said was, “me neither” and Jay's wife smiled back at him.

Buck and Betty stood and started to walk up the hill and turned to watch Rory and Girl get ready to leave.

Up on the hill, the group stood there and watched as a black pinpoint appeared and they could hear the crackle of the shards forming, it was as if reality disappeared in that small area and it grew in intensity and the sound decreased from a high pitched whine to a low inaudible pitch as the diameter increased. Rory looked at the man as he approached the portal and he waved, the man waved back. The man and his dog stepped through and the portal started to shrink and the sound of it increased in pitch until there was nothing but a rumble.

Rory's wife turned to him and asked, “Is that a storm coming?”

Rory looked to the sky and replied, "maybe", and he paused and looked at her "or perhaps just a bit of distant thunder on the horizon, of things to come.”

If we could have easily, what is normally out of our reach, perhaps when we actually could get what we wanted, we may find that it is not really all that important and that the wanting was only the means to get that which we needed. This is not only relevant to the present but in the future as well.