By, Liam Cuddy
(To read Issue 1, visit http://www.niagarawire.com)
“What’s gotten into you?” Mr. Walsh asked holding his wife’s arm as she regained her balance.
“Tom… Tom it was… it was incredible.”
He glanced over to his son who was still jumping up and down with excitement, he then directed his gaze towards the time machine which sat still, steaming in their backyard. He escorted her inside and sat her down by the kitchen table. “Rebecca, what are you doing? You’re feeding into his delusions. It’s not helping our case.”
She shook her head. “Tom, I’m not feeding into anything. It’s real. The thing works, it’s– it’s–”
He rolled his eyes and began to pace about the kitchen. “I don’t have time for any of this. He needs to get involved in something like basketball or hockey. None of this hocus pocus space-man stuff!”
She stood up, clearly agitated. “Tom I saw it! I saw everything. In a blip of a second I was looking across the old schoolyard at a girl who was climbing the jungle-gym behind the slide! I saw her, and I knew right away I was looking at myself. Before I could even move I was looking down on a hospital bed, watching this older woman trace the crayon drawings on her birthday cards! It said happy 98th grandma, and I knew, I just knew it was real. I could see my beginning and my end, the good, the bad. I could feel the energy pulsing through my–”
“Enough!” he yelled, throwing his hat down. “I was never allowed to do any of this stuff as a boy! I would have been run out of town! I’m calling Rick. He’s gonna come down here and haul that literal piece of garbage back to the junkyard where it belongs.”
She stood up and pointed a finger at him as he lifted the phone from the wall. “Don’t you dare. Go try it for yourself! You’ll see what I mean!”
He looked at her as if she were crazy right before dialing the number into the phone. “This is for his own good Rebecca.”
She nodded with disgust. “Have it your way.” with one quick gesture she spun around and raced out the door towards Robby and the dumpster.
“Mom! Did you see it? I made sure to–”
“We need to go Robby. We need to go right now, come on.” she said, swinging open the hatch on the side of the dumpster.
“But what about–”
“Hurry!” she demanded.
He crawled into the dumpster with her and began to hurriedly twist and jab at a series of glowing knobs and buttons. She took over and set the dial to 1979.
He looked up at her with concern as his hand hovered over the large blue button. She rubbed his shoulder with care and gave him and understanding nod. “Trust me, Robby… we’re gonna fix this.”
With that, he slammed his hand down on the button, and they were gone in an instant.
Niagara Wire 