stopped at the curb, kissed his daughter good-bye, and continued on toward work. As she walked up the path to the house, Courtney had a vague sense of unease. Something felt off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Mom? Mom!” she yelled when she got into the house.
There was no answer. Courtney realized it was already past nine. Her mother always left for work by eight.
“Dinner’s ready for defrosting, sweetheart,” came her mother’s voice from the living room.
“You’re still home?” Courtney yelled back with surprise.
Courtney’s mom called, “Throw it in the microwave for me?”
“Now?” Courtney yelled back. “It’s too early!”
Courtney’s mom called out again, “I’ll be working late tonight, so don’t wait for me, okay?”
Huh? Courtney walked into the living room saying, “What are you talking about?”
When she entered the room, she looked around for her mom… and froze. There was something on the desk that wasn’t there when she’d left earlier. It was the desk where they normally kept their ancient computer. The computer was still there, but it wasn’t ancient. It was a wide high-tech screen showing the image of Courtney’s mother.
The image said, “When I got to work, I saw there was a late meeting scheduled. Sorry. Let me know as soon as you get this message. I hope school wasn’t too rough. Such a tragedy about the Dimonds. I love you.”
The screen went blank.
Courtney didn’t move. She knew that computer screen was not there when she left a few hours before. Even if it were, how was her mother able to leave a video message? From work! That was impossible. Stranger still, how did it know enough to play itself when she came into the house? Courtney wouldn’t normally be home until after three. What was going on?
Courtney felt her cat, Winston, rub against her legs. Courtney looked down… and screamed. It was a cat all right, but it wasn’t Winston. Winston was a short-haired tortoiseshell. This cat was black, with yellow eyes and a little tuft of white on its chest. Courtney dove onto the couch. Instantly the image of her mother appeared again, as if Courtney’s scream had triggered it.
“Dinner’s ready for defrosting, sweetheart. Throw it in the microwave for me?”
Courtney looked at the strange cat who was sitting on the floor staring at her.
“How did you get in here?” she yelled at the animal.
The cat purred and said in a strangely metallic voice, “I live here!”
Courtney screamed.
“Dinner’s ready for defrosting, sweetheart. Throw it in the microwave for me?”
Courtney jumped up and ran out of the room, headed for the stairs and the safety of her bedroom. She’d only made it up halfway when the ring on her finger came to life.
“No!” she shouted, as if it would make a difference.
She yanked the ring off and threw it on the floor near the front door. She plunked down on the stairs, hugging herself, watching the ring grow, the lights flash, and the music play. Compared to everything else that had happened that day, this magical event was run of the mill. Courtney closed her eyes for the final, bright moment. When the lights were gone, she looked to see that Bobby’s next journal had arrived. This one looked like the last few. It was a brown envelope that she knew would contain the small gray pages with Bobby’s handwriting.
Courtney dragged herself down the stairs and approached the journal slowly. She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to read it. She didn’t think she could take any more. But she had to. It was her job. She was an acolyte. She took a breath, bent down, picked up the envelope, and…
The doorbell rang.
Courtney jumped and yelped. She had no idea if somebody could get a heart attack from being surprised too often, but if it was possible, she figured she was due. She quickly picked up her ring and hid the envelope in her backpack with Bobby’s previous journal. The doorbell rang again. She looked out the window next to the door to see who it was and saw a young guy she didn’t recognize. He looked about her age, with longish, unkempt brown hair and a yellow sweatshirt that looked too small for him. It wasn’t because he was fat, either. If anything, he looked pretty built. She wondered why he would wear a sweatshirt that was so ugly and way too small. She went to the door and called, “Can I help you?”
“Is Courtney home?” the guy asked.
“Who wants to know?” Courtney asked.
“She’s expecting me,” the guy answered.
“I am?” Courtney said, and opened the door.
The first thing that hit her was how handsome the guy was, in a rugged kind of way. The next thing that hit her was that the ugly yellow sweatshirt had the words cool dude printed on the front in red seventies-looking cheesy lettering. She knew that sweatshirt! It was the shirt Mark always kept at the flume in case a Traveler came to Second Earth. That meant this handsome guy was a Traveler, but who could it-
She looked more closely at the guy. She hadn’t seen him in over a year. He had changed. He had grown up. He wasn’t a little kid anymore.
“What’s with the stunned face?” the guy said. “I told you I was coming home.”
“Bobby!” Courtney shouted and threw herself into his arms.
The two stood there, holding on to each other. Courtney cried. They were tears of joy and pain and loss and love and pure emotional release. Bobby was home. Things would be better.
“Don’t want the neighbors talking,” Bobby said as he maneuvered Courtney back into the house. “I hope your parents are at work.”
“They are,” Courtney said, tearing herself away from him and wiping her eyes. “You’ve changed,” she said.
“In a good way or a bad way?” he asked.
“Oh, good,” she said. “Mostly. But you look tired.”
“Yeah, that’s one word for it,” Bobby said.
“What happened on Quillan?” Courtney asked. “With the Grand X?”
Bobby frowned. “Didn’t you guys read my last journal?”
Courtney grabbed her backpack and pulled out the envelope. “I just got it like five seconds ago!” she said.
Bobby shook his head in wonder. “Amazing. I sent it ages ago.”
“I don’t get the whole relative time thing between territories,” Courtney said.
“Join the club,” Bobby said. “So what happened?”
The expression on Bobby’s face turned dark. “It’s all coming apart, Courtney. Everything. I want you to read the pages, then well talk.”
“I will,” she said. “Come in, sit down.”
She pulled Bobby into the living room. The two sat on the couch, facing each other. Bobby looked around the room and smiled. “This house is exactly like I remember it. It’s good to know some things don’t change.” He pointed to the big computer screen and said, “Other than that bad boy. That’s a little high-tech for your dad, isn’t it?”
Courtney didn’t know how to answer. She was as clueless as Bobby.
Bobby spotted something else and said, “Hey! Who’s that? What happened to Winston?”
Sitting in the doorway was the cute black cat, staring at them. It stood up and said, “My name is Doogie.” With a flick of its tail, it turned and strutted off.
Bobby and Courtney sat staring at the animal for a good thirty seconds before Bobby said, “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”
“Something’s happened, Bobby,” Courtney said nervously. “Something odd. I don’t even know how to explain it. That’s not our cat.”
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “And it talked. That’s like…not right.”
“That’s not the half of it,” Courtney said. “There’s so much to tell you I don’t know where to begin!”
“Where’s Mark?” Bobby asked. “Doesn’t he usually have the ring?”
Courtney wanted to cry, but didn’t want to show weakness in front of Bobby. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to get a grip.
“I guess that would be the other half of it,” she answered. “I don’t know where he is.”
