Sept 4, 2022--Awake in your past or your future

 

Story Slingers prompt

"your subject wakes up in the future or the past"

September 1, 2022

Daren Flynn

IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE. IT WAS THE WORST DAY OF HIS LIFE.

Young Wolfgang T. Abernathy III made his way down from the stage with a shout of exultation. He had just given the valedictory address at the commencement exercises for the graduating class of Pompous High School. He had done it! All those who had jeered at him and called him offensive names, could now just eat crow. He was the top of the class! Numero uno! The Smartest! The Best!

"I'll show them! I'll show them all," he gloried.

Yes, he who was awarded all those scholarships, would show them. He would attend an Ivy League school and he would become a brain surgeon just like he always said he would.

The other kids in his class had looked down on him with their upper class demeanor, knowing, that even with his fancy sounding name, Wolfgang came from the other side of the tracks and was not worthy of their approval or acceptance.

What they did not know, was that Wolfgang had worked every summer since he was eight years old on his uncle's farm and saved every penny for one purpose only: to pay for his admission to the prestigious Pompous High School. And that is just what he did because he knew that graduating with honors from the top ranked High School in the state would give him the recognition he desired from the Ivy League University of his choice.

Now, with his goals thus far accomplished, his entire being was permeated with satisfaction to the point of complete exhaustion. On entering his house, he made his way to his upstairs bedroom and flopped on his bedaubed was almost immediately asleep.

In a dream like state, Wolfgang became aware that he was in a classroom of the Ivy League University he had always dreamed of attending. What is more, he was taking the final e\medical school test that would determine whether he would qualify as a Medical Doctor or not. Horror of horror, he did not know the answer to any of the questions.

Was this a terrible nightmare or was this real? Had he awakened in the future? After all the work and study he had done over all of the years of his youth, was he now to fail?

He picked up the unmarked test answer sheet and shuffled to the from of the roman handed it to the professor.

It was then that Wolfgang T. Abernathy awoke with a start. he was lying face down the bed in his humble room on the wrong side of the tracks. He held in his hand the precious graduation diploma and the sheaf of scholarships.

It was only a dream. A really bad dream. He knew he could still make his lifetime dream, the dream of becoming a brain surgeon, come true.

"I can and I will, he shouted out loud."

IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE!

By: Colleen Holmquist

The boy had siblings, three in fact. Two younger—one of each variety, a sister and a brother. They weren’t a problem for him. Well maybe the youngest—his only brother. But that was just because he was a tag-along or at least a wannabe. The boy could ignore The Little Brother. But the one who gave him real trouble was The Big Sister. She was not even two years his senior but thanks to how the birthdays fell, she was two grades ahead of him. She got to do everything first. She was smart, but not any smarter than he was. She may have been louder than he. So, everyday life was one long competition: each one trying to best the other at most everything. Once in awhile, in shocked silence, the rest of the family would observe moments of cooperation even of laughter between them. Those moments were brief, however, and followed by an immediate return to rivalry.

There was always a nagging question in the back of the boy’s mind. Why was she born first? 

As he was ruminating about that during a rare moment of solitude, he slipped into something akin to a trance. He awoke, shook his head to rouse his mind. Unsure where and when he was he carefully observed his surroundings:

White, lots of whiteness, clouds?

People all around. Quiet people. Happy people. 

And a line—-a looong line that seemed to stretch into eternity. 

To what end? 

 

He ventured closer and joined the que. Voices surrounded him, voices that while hushed couldn’t contain their excitement. It seemed they were all waiting to go…somewhere. He approached the front of the line and noticed an infinite number of short lines along what appeared to be a cliff. He couldn’t see what lay beyond.

A lovely young woman beckoned him to join her. She gestured toward another young woman and young man in her group. She said that the four of them would be siblings—brothers and sisters in a family. 

He wanted to know when he would go, which of them would leave first. Then he heard what sounded like the starting sequence for a race because in his present life he was a runner. He moved closer to the precipice and in a last-second friendly tussle, just as the “go” command came, he gave the young woman a a gentle push and over the threshold she went.

Surprised, he peered over edge and watched her descent through the clouds. 

“I didn’t intend for THAT to happen,” he uttered under his breath.

A gentle voice at his side explained that she was on her way to her earthly family. She would be a Big Sister. He would follow and at various intervals the other two would arrive.

Once again, he shook his head to clear his brain. The lightbulb illuminated his understanding: the rivalry between him and The Big Sister was launched long ago in that place in the clouds.

Story Slingers

September 4, 2022

Myrna Flynn

An Impossible Happening

A fairly newly wed couple, Misty and Josh Swanson, are getting moved into their first home. It is just an ordinary first house but it seems a mansion to them. Everything is going great for them. They have a house and new jobs that start in the morning. Misty is a para legal and Josh is finally a licensed attorney, having recently passed the bar exams. They will be working in the same law firm. 

"I'm really tired. Let's just leave everything where it is and after work tomorrow, we can start organizing the house," Misty said, sounding bushed.

Josh replied, " Sounds good to me. I will set an alarm for 6:30. That should give us time to shower, get dressed and eat a quick breakfast and be to work by 9:00."

Both of them fell asleep right away. It had been an exhausting day. Suddenly, Misty woke up feeling that something was not right. she looked at the clock and jumped out of bed. She shook Josh and said, "The alarm did not go off and it is 7:15, we will probably have to grab a yogurt and a piece of toast, no time for a real breakfast."

They did that and hurried into the garage. But the SUV was not there. The vehicle there was a 1963 Ford Galaxie Country station wagon. Opening the overhead doo, they went outside and to their surprise everything was different, the house was not the same, the surroundings were wrong. The town looked like the town Misty had grown ups in, Stevensville, MT. Josh had never been there. He grew up in Minnesota.

They stood there in shock. All kinds of emotions and thoughts running through their minds: unbelief, grief, anger, fear, wondering how this happened, would they be stuck there forever, how would they find their way home....?

They looked at each other. Josh said, "Let's get that wagon out and check out the town. Let's see if we are confined to here or if we can go elsewhere."

The vehicle started with no problems. Misty said, "Maybe we can go to Missoula and go to the library. I have been thinking that maybe we are in a time warp and we can find a book about how it performs."

They drove to the city limits. The car stopped and sat idling until Josh put it in reverse. He turned it around and drove to Main Street. Misty exclaimed, excitedly, "There's my dad's store. I am sure he will not recognize me. I left home after I graduated from the university of Montana. I moved to Minneapolis  and only made a couple of visits home, the last in 1995. Mom died in 2000 and dad died in 2005. Anyway, dad was a science fiction addict, so maybe he will have a book on time warps. I know that the idea of time warp being feasible has been around for years."

Josh pulled up next to the curb and they went into her dad's store. Josh told the man that he and his wife had been arguing about time warps, wondering if it could happen. Josh said, "We asked a man down the street and he told us that if anyone could answer that question, it would be you."

Misty's dad replied, "I have a book here that claims that it is possible and explains how it would take place. According to the book, it is a freak accident that usually rights itself within a few hours. Anyone caught in it would be returned to the time and place where they were trapped, but only if they were in that spot at the right time. If not there, they would be marooned, never to return to where they belonged."

They dashed out, piled into the wagon and drove back to the house. They went to the kitchen and prayed that the warp would end soon. It seemed like they had been in 1963 Stevensville for days.

Actually it had only been 1 and 1/2 hours. Misty and Josh felt a whirl, a jerk and a falling sensation. Miraculously, their return gave them 15 mins to make it to work on time.

A Very Strange Morning, Indeed

By:  Carrie Keiser

Emberlee Mae Johnston, a twenty-two year old recent graduate of the Savannah College of Arts and Design with degrees in Fashion and English, is fervently looking for her dream job. She has spent weeks tirelessly making the rounds: filing out applications, taking interviews and blanketing the city with her face and resume, but hasn’t yet found THE one.  
Emberlee is perfect for the fashion industry, she has just the right body type: 5 foot 9 inches tall, beautiful honey colored hair and striking green eyes. She wants to design the fashions, not strut them down the catwalk. No one seems to take her seriously even with her fresh off the printer degrees.  Emberlee, walks slowly down the beautiful Savannah, Georgia streets barely noticing their charm, lost in thought.  Later she will look into her other options, perhaps she will go teach English or fashion at a local high school.  That’s not her ideal choice, but she is fast approaching the due date of her student loans and working nights at the Holiday gas station isn’t going to cut it.

As the day draws to an end and she arrives at her small apartment, she types the code in the door, tosses her bag on the counter and heads for the bathroom.  Emberlee lets the water run in the sink and washes the day off her face, preparing herself for another evening of job searching after dinner. She shuts the tap off and walks into the kitchen opening the freezer, a frozen pizza, some fruit and two bean and cheese burritos, “Looks like a burrito and a smoothie it is tonight,” she mumbles to the room.

Grabbing her food and her laptop Emberlee settles on the futon couch and begins her search.  Before she can even fully finish her smoothie, she drifts off to sleep and her laptop gently slides down her legs to rest at her feet.  The screen shows the job service listing for all the local school openings for the day Aug 14, 2016.

There’s a strange buzzing in the back of Emberlee’s mind slowly bringing her to consciousness, she swipes her arm towards the nightstand and then remembers she fell asleep on the couch.  Her arm comes into contact with a lamp that should not be there.  Her eyes fly open and she is met with an unfamiliar scene.  She is no longer on her old futon, but rather lying in a comfy bed next to someone she doesn’t recognize. Panic rushes into her and she does her best to tamp it down while not disturbing her bed companion. Slowly, carefully, she slips out of the covers and sees a robe on a nearby chair.  Quietly she throws it on and opens the bedroom door.  She is so confused, she has never been in this house before, cautiously she makes her way down the hall and finds the bathroom. Emberlee closes the door behind her and slides down it to the floor, head in her hands and starts to shake.  “This has got to be some kind of nightmare!” She whispers into her fingers.  

Emberlee doesn’t know how long she sat like that when she heard the knock on the door and a man’s voice, “Em hurry up in there, we need to use the bathroom too this morning!”  

“We?”escapes her lips. There’s more than the man and her in the house?  How many people live here? and how did she get here?  Where is here? All these questions and more franticly run through her mind in a matter of seconds.  Emberlee clears her throat and walks toward the mirror.  She is taken aback, the woman in the mirror is her but not her.  She looks older than 22 maybe pushing 30?  What has happened to her?  She reaches over and pinches her arm, “Ouch! Dang, not dreaming, then, she says out loud.

Once again, there’s a knock, only this time she can tell it’s not the man, the knock is softer and the voice is way younger, a child’s. “Momma, are you there?”

“Momma?!  What?”  Emberlee leans her head against the mirror and stares into the eyes of this older, married, wife, mother version of her and wonders a loud, “Just how many years have I  lost over night?”

She pushes off the sink and for the first time takes a good long look at herself in the full-length mirror on the other side of the spacious bathroom.  Yes, she has put on some weight, from having a baby, no doubt, but other than the few fine lines she noticed in the mirror, she still looks pretty good.  Suddenly, she wonders what career path she has gone into.  Was she a fashion designer or a school teacher?  How old was the child on the other side of the door?  Girl or boy?  Panic again welled up inside her, she doesn’t know the name of her child or the man, her husband. Quickly, stepping back to the sink, Emberlee splashes her face with cold water hoping against hope that it truly is a dream. Grabbing the nearby hand towel, she gently drys her face and then opens the door.

Two tiny hands reach for her as the door opens and an angelic face stares into hers.  “I have a little girl, about 3, it would appear,” she says in her mind. The man’s voice floats up the stairs she hadn’t noticed on her way to the bathroom earlier that morning. “Willow, have you found, mommy?” 

The child tugs on her robe and giggles, “Yes, daddy!” Then turns to run off toward her father.  

“OK, so the child is Willow.” She thinks, “I’ve always liked that name.” Ember steels herself and heads down the stairs into this life she can’t remember because last night she was 22 and searching for a job in Savannah, GA. Today she’s not even sure who she is, how old she is or what city she lives in.  

As her foot hits the bottom step, a tall handsome, reasonable fit, man comes around the corner and all in one motion hugs her to him. This she could get use to, if only she knew his name. As the thought flits across her mind, the man gently brushes her with a kiss and releases her to finish breakfast.  The smells of eggs, bacon and pancakes waft over to her, and all of a sudden she is starving. She enters the kitchen slyly taking in the room and trying to act like she’s been walking into it for years.  Movement catches her eye and she sees Willow pad in in her tiny bare feet, she skids to a stop and holds her hands up, “Pick me up, momma!” Emberlee awkwardly reaches down to comply with the demands and settles the girl on her hip.

The man joins them at the bar with a plate full of pancakes and they all sit down to enjoy the breakfast feast. She watches him through her eyelashes as he prepares Willow’s food, “He’s very gentle and loving, that’s a good thing. I wonder what day it is? Do I need to hurry off to work?  I don’t know if Willow goes to daycare or where that even is.” She can feel the panic rising, she takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.  She can sense his eyes on her. Maybe she should tell him she’s not feeling well and needs to go back to bed?

“Em, are you alright?” The man inquires of her. 

“No, I think I should lie down.” Is her only reply.  She stands up and leaves the delicious smelling food behind, planning to head back up the stairs.  She looks into the living room and decides the couch would be easier.  Perhaps if she falls asleep on the couch here she will wake up back on her futon. Emberlee settles into the soft cushions and closes her eyes.  She hears the man tell Willow, “Mommy’s not feeling well, we’ll let her rest.”  She hears his feet tread across the floor and feels him cover her with the afghan, as her mind floats off to dreamland. 

The ringing of her phone brings Emberlee out of a deep and strange sleep.  She opens her eyes and surprise registers, she has returned to her tiny apartment and her uncomfortable futon couch.  Relief passes through her, It really was a dream after all. Emberlee reaches down and taps the keyboard of her computer to bring it back to life.  She resumes her search of jobs and her eyes land on a hi-lighted school listing needing a Family and Consumer Science instructor and and English teacher.  Em clicks on the application, 15 minutes later she hit the submit button, including attachments of her two degrees.  At this point it really didn’t matter which job they hired her for, she was desperate for a plan and a path to start down.  

Getting up from the couch she walked into the kitchen area and a flash back of her “dream" and that breakfast she had almost consumed overtook her.  Searching through the fridge and the cupboards, she found that she had all the things to make eggs, bacon and pancakes.  Emberlee got to work and made herself a feast. She could almost see the man and Willow just out of sight, it's the strangest thing to miss someone she’d never known.  She remembered the feel of his hug and the gentle brush of his lips as he released her.  “That was some dream!”  She thought, shaking her head.  “If I ever do meet that man….”She laughs and heads off for a shower.

A few days later she receives a call from the school, they are impressed that she could fill either of their openings and want to meet with her later that afternoon if possible.  Emberlee readily agrees to the interview at Savannah Early College High School. She must dress to impress, she pulls out the last design she made for her final grade in college, it was the perfect pant suit in black with the palest of pink pinstripes. She had dyed the fabric herself, no easy task.  The cut was perfectly tailored to her body of course. If need be it could be a selling point for her, otherwise she’d just look awesome as an English teacher. Either job was going to require a little more schooling, but that didn’t bother her.  

All these thoughts were churning in her mind as she made her way to the school.  Emberlee was a little distracted as she mounted the stairs in search of the office and ran smack dab into a tall dark haired, athletic looking man on his way down. “Oh! Excuse me. I’m so sorry,” she immediately responded looking up into the face of the man in her “dream”.  She was nearly struck dumb in that moment and couldn’t make a coherent word connection. She was so embarrassed and looked at her feet trying to collect her thoughts. She took a deep breath and thrust her hand in his direction with a smile, “Hi, I’m Emberly Johnston and I'm here for an interview.  Can you point me in the right direction?”

The man clasps her hand and a shiver runs through her.  He replies with, “Nice to meet you, Emberlee. I'm Mack O’Connor, I teach Phys. Ed here at Savannah Early.  The office is through the main entrance and first door on the right.  Looking forward to working with you.” She turned and watched him walk away.  The man in her dream actually exists! She whispers his name, “Mack O’Connor,” and it feels right coming off her tongue. A smile spreads across her faces as she continues to climb the stairs and enter the building.

Emberlee was offered the job as FACs teacher and started the following week.  She and Mack bumped into each other frequently in the halls and eventually started dating.  They found they thoroughly enjoyed spending time together and were married the following spring at Red Gate Farms. It was a beautiful ceremony in a stunning venue. The next summer they found their dream home at 713 W 144th St. They had been saving for a home and this one was a perfect 2-story with a cute fenced in yard.  Just the place to set down roots and hopefully start a family.  The following May just after Emberlee’s own birthday, they welcomed a lovely 7lb 5oz and 21 inches long, baby girl, whom they named: Willow Jean O’Connor.  She stole their hearts the minute she was born.  Willow was everything, their whole world.  It was hard for them to put her in day care but in this day and age they required both incomes to make it.  The enrolled her in A Nu Beginning Childcare Center & Learning Academy located close to Savanna Early and life settled into a happy routine. Saturday mornings, Mack would wake up and make breakfast with Willow even when she was too small to really help he’d put her up on the counter in her Bumbo seat so she could be a part of the process.  

On the evening of Aug 13, 2022 she was extremely tired and went to bed kinda early for her, she just felt a little off. Mack, ever the caring husband, sent her off to bed with a kiss and a reassurance that he would get Willow to bed after they watched her new favorite movie: Lightyear on Disney+. Emberlee snuggled into her comfy bed and was almost instantly asleep.  

It felt like she had slept for weeks when she heard her phone ringing, reaching for the nightstand, her hand found only air.  She forced her eyes to open.  She was no longer in the bed she shared with Mack, in fact she was no longer in their house! She gently rubbed the sleep from her unfocused eyes and instantly recognized where and when she was.  She was sitting on her futon couch with her laptop at her feet.  She remembered this morning, unlike the Emberlee who was just now waking up six years in the future, she wasn’t as scared, she just hoped that she would be able to find her way back into her future. 

She wandered in her past and smiled as she relived the stress of trying to find a job, for she knew that she’d find the job later that day and her husband a few days later.  Now what could she do to insure that the Emberlee of this time saw that job posting?  

She returned to the couch and grabbed the computer from the floor, scrolled through the listings and hi-lighted the one for Savanna Early College High School. Then she willed herself back to sleep with all her thoughts and energy on her family, almost desperation filling her.  She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, praying that when she opened them, she would have returned to 2022.

Emberlee woke to the tiny hands of her daughter, Willow, pulling the afghan off her while she lay on the couch. She had made it home and the Emberlee from the past had also made it home.  The only thing she lost was those few hours the past her spent here in the future.