Part 8 (2/2)
”I guess it didn't work,” said Caleb. Abbey detected a disappointed tone.
”We should go talk to Mark quickly anyway,” Simon said. ”Where did the charcoal and hanger go, though? Did Farley knock them into the bushes? And did the stupid turkey actually eat all the paper?”
Farley wagged his tail helpfully.
”I don't know. I didn't think he did,” Caleb said. They looked all around them, but found nothing.
”The charcoal and hanger must have rolled under the rosebush,” Simon said. ”Let's go talk to Mark. We can look again when we get back.”
They traipsed down the hill with Farley in the lead. As they approached the drive, Farley began to skitter around, the short fur on his back standing up in swale-like ripples. Several meters from the front door, he began to bark and growl like a lunatic, running back and forth on the lawn, alternately working up his nerve and the volume of his bark, lunging at the door, and then darting away as if the front steps were on fire.
Abbey, Simon, and Caleb exchanged stunned looks.
”Do you think someone is inside? What should we do?” Abbey asked. The house sat shrouded in late afternoon shadow. No lights decorated the windows. A new autumn doormat sat in front of the burnished red door. Her mother must have purchased it today in preparation for the campaign party they were hosting the following evening.
Caleb managed to hook his fingers around Farley's collar as the dog made another pa.s.s. Simon picked up their father's beat-up old rake that had been left carelessly on the sidewalk.
”Caleb, get your cell phone out,” Simon said. ”Punch in nine-one-one, but don't press dial. Just be ready to. Stay out here and get Farley to shut up. Abbey, you follow me in, but stay back. Caleb, if anything happens, run and dial.”
Caleb pressed the numbers, which glowed green and ominous on the small screen. He'd lost his iPhone so many times he'd been forced to adopt his mother's old Motorola. Farley dropped into the down position but continued to growl.
Simon pulled out his key, slipped it into the lock and turned. The door popped open with its familiar click, and warm furnace air and the smell of roasting meat floated out.
Simon stepped inside, clenching the rake. Abbey followed, expecting at any second to be at gunpoint, or, worse, to feel the pierce of a bullet through her skin. Simon stopped dead just past the threshold.
”Holy c.r.a.p!” he said. ”Mom got new furniture.”
Abbey stared at the glossy brown leather furniture that sat in place of the tarnished old chintz sofas. A guttural groan came from the living room. Abbey's heart started to pound so fast it hurt. She and Simon peered around the entranceway wall into the living room.
Farley's bed sat against the wall as always. But on it lay a grizzled, old, brown dog, stretching out its forepaws and yawning as it attempted to lurch into a standing position, its tail thumping the bed, a gleam of recognition in its rheumy eyes.
Abbey felt the hot tears coursing down her cheeks before her mind had quite come to its final conclusion. Simon seemed frozen beside her. She sank to her knees. ”Farley?” she said, her voice a quaver. The tail wagged harder, the old dog apparently having given up trying to force its stiff bones upright. Abbey took the large brown head with the white muzzle in her hands and buried her face in the wiry fur, her throat tight and scratchy.
Simon walked across the living room to study the pictures on the mantel. Everything else was in the right place-the dining room table, their baby pictures on the wall, their dad's blue and white Sundance golf umbrella in the umbrella stand.
”We have to get out of here,” Simon said. He'd gone to look out the picture window in the living room. ”I see the van coming up the hill.” He crossed the room in a flash. ”Go downstairs,” he ordered. ”We'll have to go out the crypt door.”
”Run!” he yelled out the front door to Caleb, who was still sitting across the yard with young Farley. ”Take Farley back to the stones as fast as you can. Now!” Simon yelled, his voice jumping startlingly into the low pitch of a man. ”We'll meet you there in five minutes.”
Simon closed the door and locked it from the inside. He and Abbey dashed down the stairs. She almost doubled over with tears to see the old Farley watch them go. They were out the bas.e.m.e.nt door and racing up the back lane a few seconds later.
They ran up the hill in the quickening dark.
”We have to go back through,” said Simon to Caleb, who stood by the stones looking quizzical, Farley still freaking out on the end of the leash. But Caleb didn't argue. They stepped on the stones again, pus.h.i.+ng and pulling Farley with them. There was the whoosh and they were standing in the forest again.
Abbey sank to the forest floor and wrapped her arms around Farley's neck. Farley thumped his tail obligingly and leaned into her. ”Farley,” she whispered. ”Why can't you be an elephant?”
Chapter 7.
A Light in the Dark
”What are you talking about? Elephants? What the heck just happened?” asked Caleb.
Abbey frowned to contain her tears. ”I just wish Farley had the lifespan of an elephant, that's all.”
”We went to the future, the near future,” said Simon. ”Judging from Farley, I'd say ten years in the future. There were photos of us on the mantel, photos of us older. It was creepy.”
”What do you mean, judging from Farley?” Caleb asked.
”There was an old Farley there.” Abbey managed to choke out the words. ”Really old. That's why young Farley was barking, I think. He sensed himself in there.”
”That is so cool,” said Caleb. ”What else did you see? Why did we have to run out of there so fast?”
”Because the van was coming up the drive and I can't imagine Mom or Dad would react well to seeing younger versions of us wandering around the house. I can't believe they were still driving the blue bullet. The only thing they changed is the couches.”
”Okay, okay,” said Caleb, combing his fingers through his hair. ”This is a really important breakthrough. We know we're going to the future. We just don't know where or how far.”
”Do we know that?” asked Abbey.
”Yes. We absolutely do.” Caleb held up his hand with one finger raised. ”Clue one is that we definitely went to the future this time. Clue two is that ALICE is a fuel that does exist and will power s.h.i.+ps that can go into s.p.a.ce-but not until the future-and we were clearly on Earth... I mean, it looked like Earth, people spoke English. Clue three is that your cell phone worked, so we had to have been on Earth.” Caleb waved his arms in the air in his usual 'ta-dah' fas.h.i.+on.
”I've been thinking about that,” said Abbey. ”How could that have been possible? Don't you have to have a cell phone plan for your phone to work?”
”Maybe in the future they'll have free cell service just like they have free wireless in some places,” said Caleb.
”But then my cell phone had to have the right chip in it or something, right?”
”They could probably make it recognize any chip in the future, if someone wanted to provide free cell service,” answered Simon.
”See? That proves my theory,” Caleb announced, with a second sweep of his arms through the air and a victory smile.
”Good grief,” said Abbey squinting at Caleb. ”Don't you knuckleheads ever pay attention in science? That doesn't prove anything. You don't have a theory. You have a hypothesis that you have to empirically test before you can even begin to a.s.sume it might be true.”
”Just to be clear,” Simon said. ”I did not claim to have proved anything.”
”All right, Miss Smarty-Pants, let's go ask Mark if our theory is correct.” Caleb turned and marched down the hill.
Simon rolled his eyes but followed.
”You mean your hypothesis,” muttered Abbey, huffing through her nose. She snapped Farley's leash onto his collar and trudged down the hill after the boys.
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