“Hello, Horton residence.” Steve had no idea who it was on the other end of the phone, all he knew was that she sounded way too young to be Mrs. Horton.
“Uh … yeah, can I speak to Alice Horton?”
“Who may I say is calling?”
Steve hung up.
“Shit, shit, shit.” He stepped away from the desk and paced a moment. He couldn’t have been more out of sorts. The Bradys and Hortons were friendly, but that didn’t mean Steve had the entire Horton family tree committed to memory to sort out the possibilities. And he didn’t have time to play phone company this time, either. Steve was in Mr. Thompson’s office with the door closed while Marcus kept watch.
He tried again, and this time Alice Horton was on the other end.
“Hello?” Her voice was neutral, and it was the most youthful version of her he’d heard to date, but it was definitely her. Steve took a really pregnant pause before speaking, but she was silent while she waited for him.
“Yeah, hello, Mrs. Horton?”
“Yes, this is she. Are you the one who just hung up on my granddaughter?”
Color rose in Steve’s cheeks as she scolded him from 2,000 miles away. Which was a real stitch, because he was pretty sure he was older than she was right now.
“Yes, um. I’m sorry about that, I …” He took an anxious breath. “… I wasn’t sure if I had the right number.”
“Yes, well, I’m Alice Horton. And you are?” There was something about the tone of her voice that made Steve feel like she was testing him. He hoped it wasn’t wishful thinking.
“Well, that’s the thing, um, you don’t know me, but—I think you might—have—a message? For me?”
“You’re that young man, aren’t you?” A thrill went through Steve as he stumbled for a response. “Well let’s just find out, now. Tell me, young man, do you remember Stockholm?”
“Yes! I—Oh thank God, yes, I do!”
“Why I … that’s not the answer,” Alice mumbled.
“Twenty questions!” Steve corrected himself with a smack to his forehead. “What is this, 20 questions?!” When this time it was she who was silent, Steve started to panic. “Please, Mrs. Horton, that’s got to be the answer. Kayla left you a message for me, right? My name is Steve Johnson. I’m calling because Kayla Brady left me a message with you. Right?” Alice sighed into the phone. He couldn’t see Alice turn her head to see if Julie was listening, and he couldn’t see the unsure look on her face as this much older boy was asking after her friend’s ten-year-old. But Steve sensed her hesitation and was at wit’s end. “Please. I can’t take this, Mrs. Horton. You’re our only hope.”
“Calm yourself, child. Yes, that’s right. You’re calling all the way from California?”
“Yes,” he responded with relief. “Is she ok? Is Kayla alright? Please, Mrs. Horton tell me. I don’t have a lot of time. Is she alright?”
The tone of Steve’s voice squeezed at Alice’s heart. He sounded lost.
“First I want to know what you want with Kayla,” she replied with a deceptive sweetness that was nothing short of mama bear. You know she’s just a little girl.”
Steve felt an unsettling sense of discomfort. “Did you ask Kayla?.”
“I’m asking you.” Not so sweet now.
“Look, Mrs H., I know what this looks like.” Alice’s eyebrows went up at Steve’s use of ‘Mrs. H.’ “But, Kayla and I … we’re not exactly who you think we are. We are stuck in … something. I can’t say any more that you would understand, but—all I’m asking is that you give me Kayla’s message. I need to know she’s ok. Please, I’m begging you.”
“Alright, don’t beg. I listened to you. Now I want you to listen to me.” Steve looked toward the closed door and knew he was on borrowed time, here. “When Kayla came to me with all this, I had half a mind to call the police knowing some stranger was out there trying to talk to her. She’s just a child. But she was very persuasive.”
And she was. It was eight weeks ago that Kayla had arrived unannounced at Alice’s house.
“Why Kayla Brady,” she’d said upon opening the front door. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hello, Mrs. Horton. I brought the girl scout cookies you ordered.”
“Did I?”
“Yes, um … here they are.” Kayla couldn’t have sounded less like a girl scout.
“Trefoils. I just—I don’t remember ordering them. I’m more of a do-si-dos type.” It was a leftover package from the previous year that somehow hadn’t gotten eaten by four hungry kids, mainly because no one liked Trefoils. “Well, thank you, dear. What do I owe you?”
“Actually, ah, may I come in? I wanted to talk to you.”
“Yes, of course.” Kayla was in the door before she could finish that sentence. She walked into the foyer she’d been through so many times before within many timelines. Some of the furnishings were going to remain the same for decades, some wouldn’t make it into the next year. None of the photos currently on the mantle were going to make it into the next millennium. If it were any other jump, Kayla would have been intrigued to take in the history. This time, however, the history was a burden. It was wreaking havoc on her psyche to be in this body in this house in this situation in this time. So, she just wanted to get done what she had to get done.
Mrs. Horton was surprised when Kayla walked right into the living room and sat herself down on the long couch. Alice followed and sat beside her. When Kayla looked up, the older woman was concerned to see a very unchildlike look in Kayla’s piercing, blue eyes.
“Kayla? Are you quite alright?”
“No. I’m not. That’s why I’m here.”
“What is it, dear? I thought you were here to give me the cookies I ordered?” Kayla glanced away and wrung her hands. “You’re not really here to give deliver cookies are you?”
Kayla shook her head no. “I’m in trouble, and—”
“Trouble?!” she gasped as she put a very concerned hand on Kayla’s shoulder
“Not that kind of trouble, Mrs. Horton!”
“How do you know what kind of trouble I mean if that’s not the trouble you say?”
Kayla just skipped right over all this. “Me and a very important … friend … are in trouble. And I think one day very soon he’s going to be calling you for help.”
“He? This friend is a boy?”
“Yes. He’s a little older than me.”
“Is he from school? Do I know him?”
“Not exactly.”
“Who is this boy?”
“His name is Steve. Steve Johnson. You haven’t met him—yet—and he’s … he lives in Los Angeles right now.”
“He’s a friend of yours, you say? This Steve Johnson?”
“Yes, a very important friend.”
“Well, why not ask your own mother or father, Kayla? If he’s in trouble, then good heavens, why couldn’t they call his parents for you?”
“He … doesn’t have any parents.”
“He’s just a little boy, how can he not have any parents?”
“It’s not important, I just—”
“Kayla. Answer me.”
“He’s older than me,” she sighed with impatience. That tone did not get by Alice, and the unlikelihood of it didn’t anger her; it intrigued her. “He lives in an orphanage.” This was more than Kayla wanted to disclose, but it was hard to evade Alice’s questions.
“Well I—,” Alice wasn’t sure what to say. “How much older than you is he?”
Kayla didn’t like where this was going. “Not much.”
“How much?”
“F … Five years.” Alice visibly blanched.
“That’s not a boy. That’s not a friend. That’s a young man.”
Kayla stood up in utter frustration and paced to the window. “What am I going to do?” she whispered to herself, barely able to control the tears that she’d been crying for days. “All I need you to do is give him a message for me when he calls. That’s it. Can you just do that for me?”
“What is this trouble?”
“Can you do it or not?” Kayla’s tone did not fit what Alice knew of her at all.
“Young lady. If you want my help, you’d better tell me exactly what’s going on. Now come back here, sit down, and explain to me how you know this young man and why he is going to call me instead of your parents. Because it sure sounds to me like a very young girl has been taken in by someone up to no good.”
“I know what you think, Mrs. Horton, but that’s not what’s happening.” Kayla went and sat back down. “What you’re thinking? That’s exactly why I can’t tell my parents or Kimberly or Roman. They’ll think the worst, and I’ll never have another chance while I’m here, because I’m not in control of my life. Believe me,” Kayla beseeched her, “I want to explain this all to you. You have no idea how badly I need someone to confide in and tell everything to. But I can’t do that. Right now I only have myself. And you,” her voice broke. Alice was truly stunned at Kayla’s affect, and it took a lot to stun Alice Horton. What I can tell you is that Steve and I trust you. We’ve always trusted you.”
“But—why, he doesn’t even know me.”
“Oh yes he does,” Kayla insisted taking Alice’s hand in her own. “We both know you and have so much faith in you.” Alice’s brows rose all the way into her hairline. “You don’t understand, right? I sound insane? I know. But that’s why we’re here. You’re our secret-keeper.”
“Am I?”
“You are. So I’m trusting you to keep this secret and pass on the message to Steve when he calls.”
“And what if he doesn’t?” she asked humoring Kayla.
“He will.” Alice held her chin thoughtfully and narrowed her eyes at the young girl sitting in front of her speaking like she was a 30-year-old woman.
“And I can’t tell your parents.” Kayla shook her head. “I don’t like that very much. It’s not right.”
“I swear to you, if there were any other way, I wouldn’t ask this of you.”
“And this is only a—message, you say.” Every question was formed as a statement, but Kayla responded to them anyway.
“Yes. That’s all. Verbal communications. Nothing else.”
Verbal communications. That was quite a vocabulary. Kayla was mildly encouraged to see the twinkle in Alice’s eye; she was concerned, but she was also completely fascinated.
“You love a good mystery, Mrs. Horton,” Kayla jumped onto that fascination. “I trust you to love this one.”
Finally, after a very long beat, Alice let Kayla make a small dent. “What kind of message, exactly?”
Kayla let out breath of relief. “Thank you! Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me. If I don’t like what I hear from him, all bets are off.” Kayla stiffened. “I mean it, Kayla,” Alice pointed at her. “One false move from that boy, and I’m calling Caroline. Is that understood?” Kayla nodded. “Now what’s this message?”
That was two months ago. And when Kayla left that afternoon, Alice wasn’t sure really what to expect. Kayla was either very disturbed, or very much not. The former should have led her to out the girl to her mother; but for reasons that weren’t clear even to her, Alice chose to stay mum and see how this played out. Now this boy was, actually, here on the phone, apparently. And she wasn’t sure if she was more surprised that a phone call hadn’t come sooner, or that a phone call, now upon her, had come at all.
“Now, I agreed,” she told Steve in no uncertain terms, “that I would pass on Kayla’s message if and only if you passed muster with me.” And the fact that the very first thing Steve did was ask about Kayla’s welfare boded well for him. “So far you’re doing alright. But if you want that message, you’re going to have to give me more than Kayla did.”
“What, uh, do you wanna know?”
“Steve. Kayla seems to have matured far beyond her years. She told me that—, Alice paused in the clipped style Steve was so familiar with, “—that I was the secret keeper for the two of you. I promised to pass along her message only if I thought I could trust you. So, now I’m asking you. Who are you and why are you sneaking around like this?”
Kayla was right. They did trust her. He told Marcus about time travelling, and that turned out ok. But Steve’s gut was screaming not to go that far with Alice. If Kayla had told Mrs. H. that we were travelling through time, she wouldn’t be giving me the third degree. Alice had helped them along this journey before, but he had faith in his wife’s judgment. In his desperation, something Marcus said flew into his head.
“Kayla and me are kind of like pen pals. It’s um … a program. At school.”
“Mm-hmm,” she replied unconvinced.
“Uh, but it’s over now, ya see, and so we’re separated again.”
“Again?”
“Right now. We’re separated by all these miles and time.” It wasn’t a lie. “I can’t – I mean, we can’t talk to each other. All I want her to know is that … that I know that.”
“And why do you need me to tell her that, why can’t you just tell her yourself in another letter?” Steve could feel his window of time closing and sensed that this was his very last chance before he got caught. He could always go find a payphone and try again, but his nerves were shot, and he just couldn’t think beyond this moment.
“You know how your husband’s a doctor?”
“Of course, I do.”
“He learns new things about medicine every day. One day there’s an epidemic, and the next day they cured polio. We didn’t know about ‘em before, but then we do, ‘cause we’re making discoveries every day. But when Dr. Horton started, curing polio was fiction. Imagine what it was like a hundred years ago, people didn’t even know there were germs, so to them this would all seem like voodoo.” Alice didn’t say anything, but he could practically hear his arguments landing with her. “Ya know, like, It’s a Wonderful Life?” Kayla’s fear that she would be an old maid hit him hard. “Maybe one day, with enough faith, angels leading us to realize what we have before it’s gone won’t be fiction, anymore, either.
Alice was somewhat speechless. What he’d said was striking.
Now Steve started talking very fast, his desperation about to overtake him. “I can’t mail her a letter outside the program, her parents won’t understand, and we’re too young to fix this, but if she told you you’re our secret-keeper, then you must trust me enough, ‘cause you’re talkin’ to me, so please can you just trust me enough to tell me the message before they kick me off this phone?
“I must say, you sound … like a decent boy. How long have you lived at this orphanage?
Steve tried to keep it together as he started hearing something outside the door. “Ten years. I was put up for adoption when I was five.”
“Your parents are alive?” Alice was aghast at this.
“Yeah.” Alice should have been questioning this absurd line of discussion, but instead her heart broke a little.
“I’m very sorry” was all she could say. And he could tell from her tone that she really was.
“Thanks, Mrs. Horton. It’s ok, but so do you believe me, then?”
“That you’re pen pals? No,” she said very matter-of-factly. Steve thought he was going to pass out. “But I believe in you. I don’t know why,” she added, basically, to herself, “but I do.”
“You do?! Thank you!”
“Yes, and Kayla, too.”
“So she’s alright? How is—she—is she doing ok?”
“She looks like a regular girl. She acts like the world is caving in.” Steve was bereft at this. He couldn’t believe how long she’d been all alone. “Now listen carefully. Kayla says that she will be mailing you a letter as soon as I tell her that you’ve arrived. I don’t know what that means, but she says you will. Is that right?”
“Yes.” His adrenaline was about off the chart. “See?” he said tightly, “Pen pals.”
“Be that as it may, or may not, she says no matter what to one, stay where you are, two, wait for her letter, and three, have courage.”
Steve smiled with some of the most poignant sadness he’d ever felt. His guilt was going to devour him, because she was alone for so long in a time that she had no influence over her own situation. And here she was taking charge and making sure she was there for him as best as she could be whenever he got there. “Ok,” he sighed deeply. “What else?”
“Well, that’s all there is.”
“That’s it?” his disappointment very clear.
“Yes, that’s the message. Now I’m supposed to pass on a message back to her when I tell her you’ve arrived, and it’s the answer to just one question. She wants to know if you’re ok.” It was quite interesting to her that it was the same question Steve had asked of Kayla.
Steve audibly swallowed. “Yes,” he said. Yes, I’m ok.”
Alice tutted her tongue. “You know what, young man? I don’t know you at all. But I think you’re fibbing to me. I think you’re not fine at all, are you?”
He shook his head and let the tears well up in his eyes. “You tell her I’m fine. And that I—that I—have courage.”
Now Steve heard the unmistakable voices of Marcus having a very loud conversation with the director’s secretary.
“I have to go, Mrs. Horton. Thank you for the message. When are you going to tell her?”
“Just as soon as I can.”
“Today?”
“Steve? Are you going to get adopted?” Steve couldn’t have been more shocked at this question. All he could do was answer it.
“No.”
“You be good, now,” she replied very softly. “I’ll tell her. It won’t be long.”
“Mrs. Horton. Thank you.”
“What the hell are you doing in my office?” Mr. Thompson was in the doorway, and Steve hung up quickly. “And on my phone?!”
“I tried telling them you and me wanted to talk about the detentions.” The director glared from Marcus to his secretary, who insisted Steve was in there when she got back to her desk. “Right, Steve?” Marcus said to him significantly.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s right,” Steve agreed while trying to focus.
“You think I just fell off the turnip truck? You were sneaking a phone call to some girlfriend.”
“No he wasn’t!” Marcus tried covering. Badly. “Really, it was to … that place.”
Marcus’s spectacular failure here woke up Steve, who immediately took over.
“See, Mr. Thompson, I was thinkin’. Instead of sending us to detention all the time, we were thinkin’ we could get part time jobs.” Marcus’s eyes widened at this off-script suggestion. “Well, there are a couple stores across the street hirin’, and we’re both pretty handy.” Marcus was shaking his head vigorously behind Thompson and his assistant’s backs, which Steve ignored. “See, workin’ with the public could maybe teach us something. Help me with my anger. I was just gonna call around when you walked in.”
“You really think I’m going to let you two off grounds like that? You’re wards of the state, I’m responsible for you.”
Steve suddenly felt very angry. Maybe if the director had thought of this all those years ago, Steve would have found some self-worth instead of being angry and less-than all the time. Maybe his life would have been a lot different. And with that thought his stomach rose into his throat. No! We can’t make this kind of change on purpose like that. No jobs last time, no jobs this time.
“Ya know, what, you’re right, Mr. Thompson. We’re too young, nevermind! Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.” Steve chuckled amiably. “I’m … not really thinking, am I?! Come on, Homey, we gotta get to class.” Marcus didn’t know which way was up. One minute it’s jobs, the next minute Steve is backpedaling like his life depended on it.
“One damn minute, you two. Why are you acting so weird?”
“Stevie can’t help it, Mr. T.,” Marcus said. He’s from the future.”
“Mr. T?! Steve laughed. “I forgot we called him that. One day you’re not gonna wanna be called that anymore.”
“See, from the future,” Marcus said.
“That’s enough of that, MARCUS,” Steve said through gritted teeth. “Sorry, just ignore everything I’m saying, I think I have the flu.”
The director pointed at his assistant and then pointed to her desk. She took the non-verbal cue and went to it. Then he pointed to each of them and said, “Out.”
“Steve, what the hell was that about?!”
“What was that about? That was me saving our asses from your sorry excuse for a cover story!”
“What did you want me to do, stop them from coming in?”
“A warning woulda been nice, man! And you could’ve let me do the talking instead of saying I was from the future!”
“Oh come on, they didn’t believe me.”
“Well, let’s not tempt them, ok?”
“Fine, but no more volunteering me for a job, I’ve got enough to do getting you where you need to go.”
“Ok. Sorry about that. We can’t get jobs, anyway?”
“Good. Why?”
“It’s not what we did the first time.”
“Ah. Go poof faster.”
“Somethin’ like that, yeah. So, what’s my next class?”
“See, you don’t even know what to do, I’m responsible for you now. You’re not a ward of the state, you’re a ward of me.” Steve smiled. “What?”
“Thanks, Homey. Thanks for takin’ care of me. What’s my next class?”
Steve filled Marcus in on the basics as they walked to the Literature class they had together, during which he paid just about zero attention. Instead he went over the conversation with Alice Horton in his head and realized there was still a lot he didn’t know. How long had Kayla been there before she’d mailed that letter. Did the other him try to figure any of it out? When was Alice going to be able to give her his return message? He would have done anything for a cellphone to text her right now.
Steve’s heart ached. He wanted to jump away right now. He thought through the insane bundle of jumps between 2004 and here. Was there any rhyme or reason to this? Were they here in 1971 because of the last four years they spent in LA? Of course, we are, Steve admitted to himself. There was no question in his mind, this jump was instability, period. It was the worst kind of punishment for living their lives according to their own will and not the will of the originally written timeline. But then he thought of where he was. Relative safety with not one but two people able to look out for him. It could be worse, they could be on the run from the senator’s attempted murder rap.
Dude, that wouldn’t have been worse, he backtracked to himself, it would’ve been a lot better. Yes, they would have been on the run, but knowing now what they didn’t know then, they could have disappeared themselves and waited out the jump. Steve remembered Kayla’s insistence that these jumps were like arcs and that the slipstream just might be adjusting.
The bell rang. Marcus dragged his best friend from one class to another, sometimes then running not to be late for his own class. Finally at 3:24pm school was over for the day, and Steve had homework he had no intention of doing. Unfortunately, they had one more place to go. Detention.
“We just did this yesterday,” Steve complained.
“We’ve got it the rest of the week thanks to you.”
Steve didn’t even bother asking for details, he just accepted it and moved on to the next 40 minutes on his ass. On the bright side, it was another ancient filmstrip, and he felt a little boyish joy in the laughter he and Marcus shared in how ridiculous the thing was.
The next day was Wednesday, January 9th. Alice Horton showed up to surprise her friend, Caroline, with a basket of warm donuts just in time for breakfast. Caroline was delighted, and Roman and Bo, nearly ten years apart, along with their father, all attacked the basket like starving people. Kimberly declined, saying they weren’t good for her figure. Kayla had been sitting quietly at her spot at the table eating her cereal and milk, her face as sullen today as it had been for the past eight and a half weeks. Caroline had told her friend, Alice, that something was wrong with her youngest daughter and had thought maybe she was hormonal a little earlier than Kimberly had been. So, Alice made a big to-do of saying how she’d been looking forward to cheering up this dreary winter day. Everyone in the family noticed when Kayla’s eyes lit up the moment Mrs. Horton came in the door. Bo was grateful that his big sister was smiling, Kimberly was glad her little sister wasn’t being a drama queen for the first time in months, and Roman wasn’t sure what to think, and also his third donut was delicious. Caroline was convinced that the anticipated sugar rush was a sign of hormones, and Shawn just observed quietly, as his daughter eyed not the basket of donuts, but Alice.
“You know,” Alice announced to the room. “A friend of mine called me from very far away. It had been so long since we’d—talked. You know how expensive it is to call long distance all the way from Los Angeles.” Kayla was staring at Alice. Her lips were parted slightly, her blue eyes locked onto Alice’s of the same color. “I’d been so worried how they were doing all this time since we last talked.”
“How long had it been?” Caroline politely returned the small talk.
“Oh, let’s see now, beginning of November, so … just about two months.” Kayla swallowed. She was afraid to move a muscle. She didn’t even blink for fear that she’d miss a cue from Mrs. Horton and be left wondering if she was talking about Steve or not. “I was so relieved to hear – that they were doing just fine. But I’ll tell you, I didn’t really believe it.” Kayla’s heart sank.
“Oh no?” Caroline asked.
“No. Poor dear. They seem … lost right now. Lonely. Like … an orphan in a storm.” Kayla was rapt and continued her hard stare right into the lifelong Brady family friend. Shawn watched his daughter.
“Saying you’re fine for the benefit of a friend is not the same as being fine. So we talked. And I told them everything they needed to hear. Now all they can do is wait for the next port in that storm.”
“That’s terrible, Alice. Do I know her?”
Alice turned sweetly to Caroline. “Not yet. But I think you’ll meet one day.” Alice sighed. “It just reminded me that it’s important to reach out to friends. Tell them you matter to them.” Then she shifted just her eyes back to Kayla and blinked with a very imperceptible nod and got up from the table.
“And so you brought us donuts,” Caroline gushed. “Thank you, you’re important to us, too.” Then she hugged Alice with appreciation.
“Well now—I … I believe you have four kids that have school. Reading, “she looked at Roman, “arithmetic,” she said to Kimberly, “writing,” she finally directed meaningfully to Kayla.
“Recess!” Bo added.
Alice and Caroline laughed, Roman grabbed his brother and gave him a nuggie, which Bo wasn’t happy with, and Kim kind of dismissed it all but grinned anyway.
“A’right, enough o’this, now, the lot of ye,” Shawn said with an amused smile. “You two better get goin’ or you’ll be late,” he said to his older son and daughter. “Kayla,” he directed to the two youngest, “ye help yer little brother with his books and get goin’, yerselves.”
Kayla moved toward the back bedrooms with Bo, but it was like she was on automatic. And she kept looking back over her shoulder to see if there was anything else Alice could communicate to her like some kind of telepath. But that was all there was. Alice had fulfilled her promise as secret-keeper and broken eye contact with Kayla.
“Why are you such a weirdo?” Bo asked his sister as he got his school bag together.
“We can talk about it later, Bo,” Kayla answered absently.
“Talk about what?”
“What you said. Ask me after school.”
“Ask you why you’re a weirdo?”
Kayla finally heard her brother’s words and pointed into his room with impatience. “Just get your stuff together and let’s go.”
Bo shrugged and scowled but did what she said. She knew that Bo was missing his big sister and that her personality change was affecting him. But her deep depression prevented her from caring with enough consistency to do much about it in these past two months.
Kayla walked out the door with her little brother in tow, and thought about every single word that Mrs. Horton had said. Shawn took one more donut from the basket and watched them go. He sipped his coffee and studied her very carefully. And it did not get by him that it was the first time since this whole thing began that he’d seen Kayla smile.