Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) (9 page)

"Are you ready to go?" Mark asked.

Mary Beth nodded.

"I'm ready."

Mark allowed Mary Beth to pass, put a hand on her back, and guided her toward the exit. The two took four or five steps before Jimmy called out. The couple turned around.

"Did you forget something?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "I forgot to ask your lady friend a question."

"What's that?" Mary Beth asked.

"How did you know the score? Did you fix the game or something?"

Mary Beth felt her stomach drop. She took a deep breath, pondered a reply, and finally uttered words she thought might get two time travelers out the door.

"You're an intelligent man, Mr. Smith. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out that someone like me couldn't possibly manage something like that."

"I suppose," Jimmy said.

Mary Beth took another breath.

"Is that all?"

"No. I have one more thing."

"What's that, Mr. Smith?"

Jimmy scowled.

"Don't come back."

Mary Beth returned his stare.

"I won't."

Mary Beth turned around again and walked briskly to the exit. She placed her hand on a sticky doorknob, threw the door open, and left the building several steps ahead of Mark. He joined her on a busy sidewalk a few seconds later.

"Are you all right?" Mark asked.

"I'm fine," Mary Beth said. She shook her hand. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

"I don't. What's wrong?"

"I touched something gooey on the doorknob."

"Let me get something," Mark said.

"No. I'll manage. I'll just use the papers in my purse."

"OK."

Mary Beth reached into her handbag, pulled out three scraps of paper, and wiped the sticky substance off the palm of her right hand. She didn't even want to think about what it was.

A moment later, she pushed the scraps together, wadded them into a ball, and tossed them into an open trashcan a few feet away. Then she took Mark's arm and gave him a smile.

"Let's get out of here," Mary Beth said.

"You got it," Mark replied.

Mary Beth clutched her purse as she and Mark walked a block to a curbside parking spot, the Edsel, and their siblings. She could feel her anxiety decrease with each step. Though she had thoroughly enjoyed her brief time in Nevada's largest city, she was more than ready to leave.

She opened a door to the Edsel, jumped in the car, and waited for Mark to do the same. A moment later, she settled into her seat, placed her handbag on the floor, and gazed out the front window at a city on the move.

Mary Beth saw more people walk up and down Fremont than she had the previous night. She saw businessmen in suits, women in dresses, teens in shorts, and other tourists in a variety of attire walk into and out of casinos, shops, and attractions. She saw a slice of society.

Mary Beth did
not
see something else. She did not see a man with a deformed ear rise from a bench near the Fourth Quarter and pick up her trail. Nor did she see him take note of the Edsel, part of its license plate, and all of a MAULERS BOOSTER sticker affixed to its bumper.

She did not see him return to the garbage can, retrieve a wad of paper, and pull it apart. She did not see him find – and keep – a receipt showing the complete titles of three books purchased at a bookstore in Hollywood, California, on June 2, 2017. In her haste to leave Las Vegas, Nevada, on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, she did not see a thing.

CHAPTER 14: MARK

Los Angeles, California – Monday, March 23, 1959

Sitting at a candlelit dining table in the Painted Lady, Mark sipped some wine, dabbed his mouth with a cloth napkin, and gazed at a woman who had been on his mind for three days.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

Mary Beth smiled.

"I did not. Your mother's bed is lumpy."

Mark and Ben laughed. Each knew the claim was true. Donna Ryan slept on a mattress that was at least two years past its prime. Despite pleas from her sons to upgrade to something better, she refused to give it up. She refused to give up anything she had shared with her husband.

"How about you?" Mary Beth asked. "Did
you
sleep well?"

"I did," Mark said. He grinned. "I usually do in my own room."

Mary Beth shook her head.

"You're as bad as your brother."

Mark laughed again but did not respond. He had nothing to add and knew that he and the others had more important things to discuss than lumpy mattresses.

"What did you and Piper do today?" Mark asked.

"We walked around the neighborhood," Mary Beth said.

"Did you see anything interesting?"

Mary Beth cocked her head.

"Everything is interesting when you're stuck in the past."

"Are you stuck?" Mark asked.

Mary Beth looked at him thoughtfully.

"I don't
feel
stuck. I feel like I'm in limbo."

Mark turned to Piper.

"How about you? Do you feel the same way?"

"I do," Piper said.

"Do you want to go back to 2017?" Mark asked.

Piper took a breath.

"I haven't decided."

"I understand," Mark said.

Piper looked at her host.

"I'm glad you do. This is really hard."

"What about you, Ben?" Mary Beth asked. "You haven't said much. What do you think we should do? What do you
want
us to do?"

Ben did not answer right away. He lowered his fork to his plate, sighed, and then studied Piper for a moment, as if trying to decide whether she was worth any future aggravation.

"I don't know, Mary Beth. I don't."

"That's an honest answer," Mary Beth said. "It's not a helpful one, but it's honest. We have a lot to think about. We have a lot of options to consider."

"Do we?" Mark asked.

"Do we what?"

"
Do
we have a lot of options? It seems to me we have only three."

"Please explain," Mary Beth said.

Mark looked around the table before offering an answer. He wondered what each of the others really thought about turning a time-travel weekend into something more.

He suspected that Mary Beth wanted more. He had suspected that from the moment she had put a hand on his arm and told him that he was "nice" and "interesting." He could not believe that a woman who had had so much fun in Las Vegas was ready to walk away now.

Mark was not as sure about Piper and Ben, who sat across from each other at the table. He guessed that they wanted to do more time traveling but not necessarily with each other. They had not wanted to do much of anything with each other since Saturday morning.

Mark gazed at the frowning teens for a moment and then turned to the woman who wanted him to explain his statement. He gathered his thoughts and continued.

"I think our options are pretty clear," Mark said. "We can travel to 2017, stay here in 1959, or say goodbye and return to our respective times."

"Can't we all just come and go as we please?" Mary Beth asked.

"We can't if we want to keep our discovery to ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Mark said. "Ben and I can't travel to the future without friendly assistance. We don't live in this place in 2017. We don't know Geoffrey Bell or his wife. If we traveled again to June 2, 2017, we would have to return within hours. We would have to return before your parents or the Bells came back to the house or risk losing access to the tunnel."

"What about us?" Mary Beth asked. "Couldn't Piper and I visit 1959 – and you two – as often as we wanted? I have a crystal."

"You're right. You do have a crystal. What you don't have is permanent access to the tunnel. Unless you plan to move to L.A. and bring the Bells in on our little secret, you have only a day or so to do more traveling. Didn't you say the Bells planned to return on June 3?"

"I did."

Mark frowned.

"Then there you have it."

"What if Piper and I stay here – in 1959 – for the rest of the week. We could stay here until your mom comes home on Sunday," Mary Beth said. "How does that sound?"

"That sounds nice," Mark said in a soft voice. He looked wistfully at Mary Beth. "Any option that gives me more time with you is a good one."

Mary Beth blushed and smiled.

"It appears we've found a solution."

"What if I wanted to do more?" Piper asked.

Mark looked at Piper.

"What do you mean?"

Piper took a breath.

"What if I wanted to stay longer than a week in 1959? What if I wanted to do more than take road trips to Las Vegas or go shopping or go to the beach? Could I do that?"

"I suppose you could."

"Really?"

Mark nodded.

"You would have to find another place to stay, of course. I don't think my mom would want to share her bedroom," Mark said with a laugh. "Other than that, I don't see a problem. It's not like your parents or the Bells would notice you were missing. You would be able to return to the morning of June 2, 2017, as if you had never been gone."

Mary Beth joined the conversation.

"What are you getting at, Piper? Do you want to spend a month here? I thought you didn't like the fifties and wanted to go back to the future."

"You're right," Piper said. "I
did
want to go back. Then I started thinking about the money you won in Vegas and the fun we could both have here."

Mary Beth fixed her gaze.

"Be more specific."

"I will," Piper said. "I will right after I ask Ben something."

"What's that?" Ben asked.

"Where do you go to school?"

"I go to Midway High in South Pasadena."

"Is it a good school?" Piper asked.

Ben leaned forward.

"It's a great school. It's just four years old."

"How do you get there?"

"I drive. It's about fifteen miles."

"So you commute?" Piper asked.

"I commute," Ben said. "Normally I take the Bird. Today I took the Edsel. Now that I have my car back from the shop, I'll drive it to school tomorrow."

"Can you take me?"

"Can I take you to
school
?"

Piper nodded.

"I want to go to your school tomorrow. Can you take me?"

Mark smiled.

"If Ben won't, I will."

"Thank you," Piper said.

Mary Beth stared at her sister.

"Why do you want to go to Ben's school?"

Mark laughed to himself. He guessed where this was going.

"I want to enroll," Piper said.

Mary Beth widened her eyes.

"You want to
enroll
? Are you crazy?"

Piper laughed.

"No. I'm as sane as I've been for days."

Mary Beth furrowed her brow.

"Then explain what this is about."

Piper sighed.

"It's about wanting to make the most of an opportunity."

"Haven't you done that already?"

"No, Mary Beth. I haven't. I went to Nevada. I rode in a car for several hours, ate cheap food, and played the slots. I didn't make the most of anything."

"So what do you want to do?" Mary Beth asked.

"I want to have an
experience
," Piper said. "I want to do the things I've done for the past four years, but in a different time. I want to take classes, make new friends, and go on dates. I want to jump into the fifties headfirst."

CHAPTER 15: PIPER

South Pasadena, California – Tuesday, March 24, 1959

Piper pinched her side as she walked through the sunny campus. She pinched her side to remind herself that the letterman sweaters and poodle skirts she saw outside Midway High School were not costumes for a musical but rather the everyday attire of real human beings.

"Can you believe this place?" Piper asked. "It's like
Pleasantville
in color."

Mary Beth laughed.

"You wanted this, remember?"

"I did. I do," Piper said. "This is so cool."

"I agree."

Piper slowed her step to take it all in. To her left, boys with crew cuts talked, laughed, and slapped backs. To her right, girls with ponytails giggled, gossiped, and clutched books. Boys gawked at girls. Girls gawked at boys. A few couples strolled the grounds hand in hand.

Piper did not see Ben. She had not come with Ben. He had left the Painted Lady that morning to attend his usual classes. Mark had volunteered to drive the girls to MHS, wait in the Edsel while they met with the principal, and then take them home. He had nothing on his afternoon slate except an engineering class that he happily skipped.

A moment later, Piper and Mary Beth approached the school entrance, opened a double door, and entered a lobby with a gleaming checkered floor. Several girls in sweaters, skirts, and saddle shoes manned tables along two walls and raised funds for a variety of causes.

Piper walked to one row of tables and saw students selling raffle tickets for the science club, the debate team, and a senior trip to San Diego. Other students collected money for Waylon West, a custodian who had broken his hip and required surgery.

Piper stepped to the last table, opened her purse, and retrieved one of twenty five-dollar bills Mary Beth had given her Monday night. She had asked for the cash after the four time travelers had made a quick trip to 2017 to collect the sisters' belongings and other essentials.

Mary Beth watched as Piper straightened the bill, smiled at the girl managing the janitor's recovery fund, and dropped the banknote in a jar. She chuckled when Piper turned around.

"That was nice of you."

Piper grinned.

"I'm feeling generous today."

Piper walked toward the opposite side of the lobby and saw even more giving opportunities. She smiled as she approached the first station and saw pictures of a boy named Tom Cain and a girl named Sue Finn. Each wore a paper crown. The couple vied against four others for prom king and queen. Students voted for couples by placing money in one of five jars.

Piper winced when she gave Sue's photo a closer inspection. Sue looked a lot like Sarah Benchley, a high school classmate who had died in a car accident in April 2017. Tom looked like a boy who needed a friend. Piper put a five-dollar bill in Tom and Sue's jar and moved down the line, a step ahead of an older sister who undoubtedly wondered what she was doing.