Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) (33 page)

"What are the alternatives?"

"There are none," Mark said. "There are none if we want to see Mom again. We have to go back. If we can find a place to hide in the house, even for a few minutes, we might have a chance. The men will have only minutes to find us before the police arrive. I'm sure our neighbors called the cops when they heard the first shot."

"We're in a mess, aren't we?"

Mark chuckled.

"Think of it as a challenge."

"I prefer challenges on the tennis court," Ben said.

"I'm sure you do."

"Did Piper say anything else to you?"

"She did," Mark said.

"What?"

"She said, 'Tell Ben I miss him.'"

Ben smiled sadly.

"I guess that's something."

"It is. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it is. Piper will never forget you. She'll think of you and your time together for the rest of her life."

"You seem sure of that."

"I am."

Ben gazed at his brother.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any regrets?"

"What do you mean?" Mark asked.

Ben sighed.

"Do you regret opening that drawer?"

"No," Mark said. "That's the funny thing. I don't."

Ben smiled.

"I believe you."

"I wouldn't trade the last six weeks for anything, Ben. I'm happy for the first time in years. I have a purpose. I'm alive," Mark said. He put his hand on his brother's arm and laughed. "Now I just have to find a way to stay that way."

CHAPTER 56: MARY BETH

Mary Beth gazed at her "kissing cousin" through glistening eyes, gently squeezed his hand, and laughed when her nose began twitch. Even in a hospital room filled with the odors of cafeteria food, bodily fluids, and disinfectants, she could pick up a whiff of La Brea Avenue.

"You
smell
," Mary Beth said.

Mark chuckled.

"I haven't had a shower since yesterday."

"That's all right. You look like a dream. That's all that matters."

Mary Beth soaked up a sight she hadn't seen in more than three days. She didn't care that Mark Ryan hadn't had a shower. She didn't care that he hadn't changed his clothes. She cared only that he was here, at her side, on what would likely be a difficult day.

"How are you feeling?" Mark asked.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Mary Beth said. "It's amazing what painkillers can do."

Mark smiled.

"Are you going to be able to walk out of here tomorrow?"

"I hope so. I took a few steps this morning without falling."

"That's good."

Mary Beth smiled and shifted her attention to the far side of her room. She saw Ben and Piper sitting in facing chairs, holding hands, and gazing at each other with sad eyes. They had done little else since Mark and Ben had entered the semi-private chamber at a quarter past one.

Mary Beth studied the teens for a moment and then returned to Mark. She noticed that he seemed happy but physically spent. She wondered how
he
had survived the weekend.

"Did you walk here?" Mary Beth asked.

Mark shook his head.

"We took the Metro. It was kind of nice."

"Was it nicer than your Edsel?"

"
Nothing
is nicer than my Edsel."

Mary Beth laughed.

"Your brother might disagree."

"He does," Ben said from twelve feet away.

Mary Beth looked at the tennis ace.

"Are you eavesdropping, Ben?"

"No. I'm gawking at your sister."

Mary Beth giggled. She started to say something to Piper but stopped when she saw her sibling pick up her buzzing cell phone. She watched with interest as Piper stared at the screen.

"Is something up?" Mary Beth asked.

"I don't know," Piper said. "I've been summoned to the waiting room."

"Are Mom and Dad back?"

"No. I have to go though."

"OK."

Piper released Ben's hands and rose from her chair. Then she looked at Mary Beth with eyes that revealed concern, curiosity, and perhaps a trace of anxiety.

"I shouldn't be long," Piper said.

Mary Beth nodded.

"Take your time."

"I just might."

"What about me?" Ben asked.

Piper smiled.

"You're coming with me."

Ben laughed.

"You're the boss."

Piper grabbed Ben's hand and pulled him from his chair. Then she opened the door, motioned for him to walk out first, and glanced again at her sister.

"Don't go anywhere."

Mary Beth smiled.

"I'll do my best.

Piper gazed at Mary Beth and Mark and then followed Ben into a hallway that had become busier and noisier in the past half hour. Then she shut the door and left a college graduate from 2017 and a college senior from 1959 to themselves.

"I wonder what that was about?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Mary Beth said. "Maybe she wanted privacy."

"I hear that's in short supply."

"You have no idea."

"That will change soon enough," Mark said.

"I imagine it will."

"What are your plans for the next few days?"

"I'll fly back to Huntsville tomorrow, of course. Then I'll probably rest another week on the couch at home," Mary Beth said. "I doubt my parents will let me do more than watch TV, eat ice cream, and play with my cell phone."

"I played with one this morning at the homeless shelter. One of the residents let me borrow his to call Piper and play a few games. It's an addicting device."

"That's the understatement of the century."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked.

"I mean that's all anyone does in this time. They make calls and send texts and play games with their phones, but they don't personally interact. That's the thing I miss most about the fifties. People actually talked face to face. They did stuff together."

"You sound wistful and nostalgic."

"I am," Mary Beth said.

"Would you go back if you could?"

"I might. Depending on the circumstances, I might."

"Would you go back if you could take your parents, your sister, and maybe a half dozen other people?" Mark asked. "Would you go back today?"

"I'd go back in a heartbeat."

"Are you serious?"

"I am," Mary Beth said. "If I could bring my closest relatives and maybe a few other things, like a modern medical guide, a history book, and my grandma's banana cream pie recipe, I would go back this very minute."

Mark looked at her with moist eyes.

"That's what I needed to hear."

"Don't cry. I know it's hard. I've done nothing but cry and mope and feel sorry for myself the past two days. I want things to be different. I just don't know how to fix this."

"I know."

"Are you ever going to tell your mom the truth?" Mary Beth asked. "Are you going to tell her that Mary Beth and Piper McIntire were more than just two girls with fashion sense?"

Mark took a deep breath.

"I might. I might break open a bottle of whiskey some Saturday night and tell her everything. I think she would like hearing more about you. She adores both of you."

Mary Beth met his gaze.

"I'm going to miss our conversations."

"You'll find someone to talk to," Mark said.

"I'm sure I will. Whether I find someone who listens is another matter. You're the best listener I have ever known, Mark Ryan."

"I try."

Mary Beth started to respond but paused when her nurse, a young African-American woman, came in the room, picked up her tray, and left. The nurse left the door open.

"What about you?" Mary Beth asked. "What are your immediate plans?"

"I'll finish school. Then I'll look for a job," Mark said. "I would still like to get on at JPL. I think my mom would like that. She would like me close."

Mary Beth clasped his hand.

"What about personally? Are you going to be all right?"

Mark forced a smile.

"Is anyone all right after losing someone like you?"

"That doesn't sound reassuring," Mary Beth said.

"I'll be fine," Mark said with manufactured cheer. "If I can get through the next twenty-four hours, I'll have the best life your Vegas winnings can buy."

Mary Beth smiled.

"Did Piper give you the money?"

Mark nodded.

"She did. Thanks."

Mary Beth paused to consider his words.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean when you said, 'If I can get through the next twenty-four hours'?" Mary Beth asked. "Are you expecting some trouble?"

"I don't know," Mark said.

"Those men won't still be there, will they?"

"They might."

"What will you do if they are?"

"You don't want to know."

"Mark, what are you—?"

Mary Beth stopped when her cell phone buzzed. She picked up the device, read a text from her mother, and dropped the phone to the floor.

"What's the matter?" Mark asked.

"My parents are coming back."

"What?"

"They forgot something. They just left the restaurant."

Mary Beth pressed her temples as her head started to pound.

"I can leave and come back," Mark said.

"No. I don't want you to leave," Mary Beth said. "I want to know what you're going to do if those men are still at the house."

"You don't want to—"

"Mark!"

"We're going to get a gun, Mary Beth."

"No!"

"We
have
to!" Mark said.

A familiar voice rang out.

"You don't have to do a thing."

Mary Beth glanced at the door and saw a ghost.

"Mrs. Ryan?"

Donna Ryan smiled at her son as she entered the room.

"You don't have to do a thing, Mark."

"Mom?" Mark asked. "How did you get here?"

Professor Bell, Ben, and Piper followed Donna into the room. Bell grinned. Ben beamed. Piper smiled through a veil of tears.

"I'll explain the how and when and why in due course, Mr. Ryan," Bell said. "I'll explain it all. I'm Geoffrey Bell, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

Mark hesitated.

"You too."

Mary Beth gripped the sides of the bed as her head started to swim and her body grew weak. She looked at Bell, Donna, and finally her sister.

"Piper?"

Piper stepped forward. She stopped at the edge of the bed, took Mary Beth's hand, and spoke to her sister in a soft, loving voice.

"They get to stay, Mary Beth. They get to
stay
."

Mary Beth gazed at Piper and then at Mark. She looked to him for answers but saw only bewilderment, enlightenment, and finally a smile.

In a matter of seconds, hopes had replaced fears, happiness had displaced sadness, and a never-ending nightmare had become an impossible dream. Mary Beth pulled Mark in, gave him a hug, and then turned to face the others.

This was real, she thought. It was real. She smiled and took a breath. Then she wiped away a tear as a burden lightened, the truth took hold, and a trickle became a flow.

CHAPTER 57: MARK

Huntsville, Alabama – Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Mark looked at three things and tried to decide which was more impressive: his host, his beloved, or the view from Geoffrey Bell's seventh-floor hotel room. All three inspired.

Bell continued to deliver. For nine days he had helped Donna, Mark, and Ben adjust to both 2017 and the sovereign state of Alabama. He had seen to their needs, dealt with their concerns, and answered several of their many inquiries. He planned to answer the rest of their questions and offer them a glimpse of the future today.

Mary Beth continued to amaze. She had recovered from her nearly fatal wound and resumed a wide range of activities in her hometown of two hundred thousand.

She sat next to Mark on one of the two sofas in Bell's suite. Ben, Piper, Donna, and Jeanette Bell occupied the other. Each managed cups of coffee that sat on tables in front of the couches.

Professor Bell did not sit. He stood in front of a picture window that offered a glorious view of a 363-foot-high rocket. The Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle, the signature exhibit of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, loomed over its lush surroundings a quarter mile away.

"Do you like the view, Mark?" Bell asked.

Mark laughed.

"I think you know the answer, Professor."

Bell smiled.

"I do. I know the answers to many questions, including questions you have asked for days. I intend to answer those questions this morning and perhaps make some sense of a situation that remains unsettled and fluid."

"I appreciate that," Mark said.

"Have all of you had breakfast?" Bell asked.

Mark and Mary Beth nodded. Donna and Ben did the same. Mrs. Bell, an attractive redhead with a warm smile, simply looked at her husband with amusement.

"I haven't," Piper said. She glared at Mary Beth. "My sister yanked me out of the house before I even had a chance to grab a glass of orange juice."

Bell laughed.

"I left some pastries in the kitchen. Please help yourself."

"I may do that," Piper said. "Thank you."

Bell looked at the group as a whole.

"Does anyone want to get things rolling?"

"I do," Mary Beth said. "Why are my parents not here?"

Bell smiled.

"The answer to that question is as simple as is it complicated. I did not ask your parents to join us because I don't want them to know about the tunnel. That is particularly true with your father. As a military man, he might feel obligated to report our little secret to the government. The government could then confiscate my property and use time travel for ignoble purposes."

"I understand," Mary Beth said.

Bell looked at the other couch.

"Do you have something, Ben?"

"I do. I'd like to know how you knew we were in trouble," Ben said. "It's not like we sent any signals or left any clues."

Bell chuckled.

"You did though. You left a big clue. I knew something was up the moment I walked through my home a few hours after the shooting and noticed a newspaper on a living room table. It was a copy of the
Los Angeles News
from March 21, 1959."