Back From The Past

    Who ever thought we would be going back to that? I mean I can hardly remember how it all happened. It's been in excess of 30 years since CrowMac was a teenager, and through some sort of bioelectrometabolic reaction, he had been transferred back into history, notably onto a Georgian cotton plantation, and as a slave. Later his story was backed by the receipt of a 100 year old letter from a friend he had met while he was there. As an adult, CrowMac, then Crow had been identified as one of only two people who had the ability to travel back through time, but at a cost. You see, I am the Mr. Mack who had adopted CrowMac and was his teacher on the Navajo Reservation. But I regress.

    This particular morning, when the dogs were let out, they found their way into the garage and then pawed and chewed themselves into a box of Crow’s personal documents.

    After a while, when the dogs did not return to the patio door, I began to worry. I mean I was taking care of Linda’s dog, Rex while she was visiting friends in Phoenix, and I knew that I’d be in real trouble if I couldn’t find him. I began to search around the yard and into the garage where I found the mess the that the dogs had  made and then I received the call that I had begun to dread.

    “Hi Linda! How is your visit?” My words fell from my mouth like water.

    “Is? I left Phoenix over an hour ago and I enjoyed my stay there. How was Rex? Did he behave?”

    “Yes, as always.” I wasn’t volunteering any more information than necessary, in fact I had no more information at all to give her with the exception that her Rex was missing and that I had no idea where he was.

    “You sound pretty nervous,” she announced. “What’s going on?”

    “Nah... Nothing,” I stammered. “How much time, I mean when will you arrive?”

    “That’s a funny question to ask, and why are you so nervous? I am in Benson and I will see you in a minute or two.”

    Without thinking, I just hung up the phone. “It doesn’t make any difference. I’m kaput anyway. I’m cooked, I’m done, I’m a dead man.”

    I began rummaging through the mess the dogs had left when I found this photograph of Laurel and Hardy, an old post card with not only the great comedians themselves, but also two dogs, and the dogs looked just like Rex and Jack. 

    "That's when I heard Linda’s Jeep pull up into the driveway, and miraculously, I felt a nudge against my calf at the same time. Just as Linda walked into the garage, I turned to see Jack, and Rex with Jack's toy in his mouth. Both were wearing wildly wagging tails. 

    “There’s my boy!,” Linda purred

    Rex dropped Jack’s toy as I tucked the old card that I had found into my waist band. Linda gave Rex a good petting, and we chatted for a minute or two. Then Linda whisked Rex into the Jeep. She waved as she left the driveway with Rex sitting next to her, and drove down the street toward 4th street.

    My heart was still racing as she drove away. I pondered at all that had happened in such a short time. Then I pulled the photograph from my waistband and verified that the dogs in the photograph did seem to look just like Rex and Jack. At the same time I turned to see Jack as he walked toward me. I touched his side and looked at the card again.

 “I wonder,” I asked myself. “I just wonder.”