The Portal

The tone of their conversation that afternoon was a lot less stressed, and David chose not to push it aware that the point had been clearly made. He paid attention as the old man lectured him about time paradoxes and what he should do to prevent them from happening in his future travels. While he was tempted to record the lecture on his phone, David instead too hand notes since he had already shown the old man too much regarding the small piece of tech. He was never the most prolific student when it came to paying attention, but David made sure to keep up because this information could save his life or put others at risk if he wasn’t careful. Like his training in law enforcement, every detail was scrutinized and looked over with caution to make sure that mistakes didn’t cost them or someone else their life.

David was sure that if he took this time travel lecture as serious as he did his earlier training, it would be collected better and remembered when it was all hitting the fan. When the afternoon was finished, his mother called the men to come in for supper. As his father had promised, mother had made chicken and dumplings this time. It was well received as David inhaled his first helping and asked for more. His mother had made extra, aware that her boys were big and thus likely had bigger appetites. Dad brought beer in and they all had a great time talking about their day. His father told Ricky about how David handled the nosy cop that came over in the morning, and it was funny to hear the old man detail how he saw things.

“I had never seen a cop run away that quickly before,” his father said, chuckling as he thought about it. “I mean he really leaned into him hard, it was impressive to watch.”

“I believe it,” Rick concurred, “I saw him shoot someone a few days ago. The man was all business and thankfully is a very good shot.”

“I’m ranked first in my state,” David said, not trying to brag, “With both the pistol and shotgun.”

“A trained killer,” her mother suddenly blurted out.

“Excuse me,” David said as he took exception to it, “The point of my training isn’t to kill bad guys, but to serve and protect the people. To be the man that stands between the evil men and the good people who can’t defend themselves. I’ve used tasers, pepper spray and even martial arts to bring criminals down without harming them. Guns are only a last resort.”

Things went quiet after that exchange until the table cleared. David hadn’t meant to be so rude to his mother, but her comment had taken him by surprise. He made up with her later in the night before going to sleep early. David still couldn’t stay in his own room, as everything around him was just too distracting. He chose to take the pillows down to the couch again, and crash in the television room. David slept comfortably and even slept deep into the morning again like he had the night before. When David woke up, he strolled into the den and offered to talk more about the portal but his father declined.

“We are going to church,” his father informed him, “You gonna get ready?”

“Not really,” David said, scoffing at the idea. “I’m not religious.”

“You’re not?” David’s Dad said, not a fan of that answer.

“Fraid not,” David confirmed, “I’ll pass and hang out around here. And don’t you dare push the younger me to do it when he gets back from camp, as that will actually have the opposite effect on him.”

His father didn’t seem pleased about this, but let it go. “If you could tidy up the kitchen for us while we’re gone, that would be helpful.”

“I can do that,” David said, taking the olive branch despite his disbelief in the phrase’s origin.

“Thanks,” his father said as he left the room, “I’ll see you when we get back.”

“No problem,” David said as he left the den as well. He’d didn’t like the tension between the two of them just then, but it was one of many things the younger version of himself was going to challenge his father on, the old man just got a sneak peek into one of them. He was not an easy child to raise and David knew that, but he was good where it counted. It was something that he hoped his father had noticed when speaking with him the last few days. He watched Ricky and his parents all leave the property to head for church, which he was happy to pass on. David hadn’t said the A word to his father, afraid that finding out he was an atheist might have upset him a great deal. Non-religious was the furthest he was willing to say at the moment. He was afraid that if his father knew, he might take it out on his younger self.

David not only cleaned the dishes from breakfast, he proceeded to vacuum the floors, dust the living room, and even mow the lawn, all which happened to be the chores that his Dad was always making him do as a kid. With the kids at summer camp, David thought it would be a nice gesture for his parents. He hated doing these chores when he was a kid, but the nostalgia of it made the chore this time around a lot more fun. He was also a big man, and that made the task far easier to complete as well. He was raking up the grass from the front lawn when his parents and Ricky drove back to the house. Time had flown by while he was working away.

“You didn’t have to do that,” His father called out while he was stepping out of the car.”

“I wanted to,” David called back, “It had been so long since I had, I wanted to do it again to see how it felt.”

“I get the feeling,” his Dad replied, “I did the same thing when I visited the house back in the past.”

“I can’t explain why,” David said, “I just wanted to do it.”

“Old habits,” Dad explained, “The body and mind love to do things that are routine, they give us a sense of comfort.”

“I guess that makes sense,” David said, glad to hear it wasn’t his love for chores that made him do it. He paid a maid to clean his place up because he was just too busy and too lazy to do it himself. He always told his coworkers that it was his way of putting more capital into the economy, which was partially true.

David stayed outside and continued to clean up the yard until Ricky came out shortly and was tapping his watch.

“It’s time to go, brother!” he called out. “We’re out of here in less than four minutes!”

“Alright,” David said as he put the rake down. He was confident that his Dad could finish up, as the job was nearly done.

David went back into the house to say good bye to his family. He gave his mother a big hug and before he could hug his father, the old man handed him something.

“This brought me luck on my travels,” he said, giving him a coin. “I hope that it will do the same for you on your travels.”

David took the coin from him, but couldn’t recognize what it was. “Thank you. I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life.”

“It’s just a coin, David.” His Dad chided back, “Don’t get so mushy.”

Before David could reply, his father cracked a smile and everyone in the room had a good laugh at his expense.

“Leave the room please,” Ricky said, “We’ve got only two minutes.”

“Just relax David,” his father told him, “Deep breaths.”

“Alright,” David said back to him, trying to relax. “It was good to see you again. Can I do it again sometime?”

“Sure,” his mother replied, “After you give me a few grandkids.”

“Ouch,” David replied, “No pressure.”

“Good travels son,” his father said as he hugged him. “Be safe.”

“I’ll be alright,” David said, gesturing to Ricky. “Can’t speak for this guy though.”

David could hear his parents laughing as they stepped out of the room and he looked over at his brother.

“Concussion grenade, remember?” his brother reminded him. “The purpose of that flash is to hide our escape back to the cave. Do a check for everything because you have twenty seconds.”

The only items David was concerned about were his keys, his cell phone, and the wallet that held his badge. Once he confirmed those items were present, everything else was immaterial. Seconds later that flash suddenly appeared and like the first time he was in the cave, David could feel that strong wind sweep over him again like it had when he left the cave. When he opened his eyes, David and his brother were back in the cave. The sudden change had shaken David up so much, that his first urge was to throw up... but he was able to control the urge.

“You alright, brother?” Ricky asked him.

David looked around and he could still see the sun shining in from the other side of the cave. “How long were we gone?”

“We never left,” Ricky reminded him, “But only two hours have passed.”

“Whoa,” David said, his stomach still feeling a bit oozy. “I need to sit down, maybe get a drink.”

“You don’t want a drink,” Ricky said, as he grabbed his brother and helped him walk out of the cave. “Trust me; what you need is vitamin C. Let’s get some orange juice.”

“So, that’s why you have so much of it in your fridge,” David said, as it was all starting to make sense.

It took them only a few minutes to get back to the new house, which David was thankful for at that moment. The idea of walking miles back would have been brutal feeling the way he was at that moment. Once they were back in the house, Ricky got David to sit down in the living room while he ran off to the kitchen to grab some OJ. David sighed deeply before looking around the room to see if anything had changed. Everything was the same, especially the urn that he had spoken to the first time he was there.

“Hey Dad,” he called out to the urn. “Sorry I couldn’t buy you that phone.”

“Who are you speaking to?” A voice called out.

David looked over and smiled, “Hey Gail.”

“Nothing’s changed?” She said as she looked down at him. “What were you expecting?”

“Good point,” David said, clearly placing too much pressure on people. “Can you answer me a question, when did Dad die?”

“About five years ago,” Gail replied, “He was a nice guy.”

David looked back at her and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she asked him.

“Ten years,” David said, “He got another ten years.”

“He did?” Gail said, “You did that?”

“He sure did,” Ricky said, as he returned with the orange juice. “He’s suffering from mental fatigue. Get me a bucket cause he’s going to lose his lunch when the new memories come back to him.”

“I’m sorry... that new what?” David asked, as he sipped his OJ. Before anyone could respond, there was dull ache that started to cloud his head and he sat there for a few minutes holding his head as if were stuck by a migraine with little or no notice. “What the fuck??”

Moments later, the pain slowly subsided and David drank the rest of the OJ in his glass just so he put the glass down.

“Damn, that was weird.” David said, as he tried to stand up. Ricky walked over and stopped him from doing it.

“Give yourself a few moments,” Ricky said, as he grabbed the glass. “I’ll get you some more juice. We will retain the memories we had before we traveled back, but if the changes you make create a new narrative... your memory is going to update with the new details. You’ll still remember how things were but also remember the new stuff as well.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that I have a headache now,” David said as he sat back and tried to relax. “I could have used a warning about that little whammy, bro!”

“Sorry man,” Ricky said as he came back with a fresh glass of juice, “This is one of those things that you can’t really explain until you experience it. You’re going to learn most of this stuff is learned on the job. There’s only so much we can prepare you for.”

“Fair enough,” David said as he drank down more juice. He normally wasn’t a juice guy, but Ricky was right about how it was making him feel better. He still wanted some vodka but resisted the urge to ask again.

“Stay here for a short while,” his brother continued, “We’ll talk more when your head clears up.”

David sat on the couch and memories he didn’t have started to flood back into his head as if his brain was being recorded. Visions of more time with his father, being there with him at Ricky and Gail’s wedding which neither of them attended the first time popped back into this head. Now the memory of attending mom’s funeral with dad appeared as now it was his mother that passed away first and not the other way around. His Dad had quit smoking and instead of dying of cancer a decade earlier, it was heart disease that eventually took him down but not before getting a lot more memories with his boys. David looked back up at his brother who was nodding as he just got the same upload.

“It hurts more the first time,” he confessed, “This all gets a little easier the more you do it. These changes hit closer to home, so that might also be why it rung your bell a bit. Sometimes there is no change in memory, especially if we change something that occurred before we were born. You’ll get used to it little brother, let’s go out and get some air.”

Ricky reached down and helped lift David from the couch. David put his glass back down on the table as he walked out the door and into the sun that was still shining which freaked David out a bit. In his mind over two days had passed but it was still the same day Gail had driven Ricky back to the house.

“Ricky,” Gail called out from door, “Dinner is in two hours, so no more than one trip if you go again.”

“Yes dear,” Ricky said, laughing at how well his wife knows him.

“You want to do this again?” David asked, “We just got back!”

“Calm down,” Ricky said, as he started to walk him towards the shed. “The last trip was educational, like going to school. This one is all about having fun and unwinding. But we need to get changed.”

They walked into the shed but instead of garden tools and the usual stuff you’d expect to see in there, Ricky has what was a massive walk in closet. There had to be at least a hundred different outfits, and they were organized by year rather than by their size. Ricky grabbed a few outfits from a specific period and passed one of them to his brother.

“Put these on,” he ordered, “and we’ll get going.”

“Where the hell are we going?” David asked.

“Relax,” Ricky said, “This is just for fun. A trip that will help you unwind. But leave the phone behind, we’re going to be in public and can’t risk someone seeing it this time.”

“Alright,” David said as he put the phone down on the counter in the shed. He didn’t like leaving it behind, but if they were going to be surrounded by strangers, it wasn’t a good idea to have that screaming or vibrating in his pocket.

Once they were dressed, they looked pretty snazzy in their outfits. They felt like suits but were considered more custom to the person. David didn’t like the suspenders, but chose not to gripe. After they left the shed, Ricky led him back up to the cave and to the Portal.

“Take my hand brother,” Ricky said, as he seemed excited.

“Why are you so excited?” David said, confused. “Haven’t you done this many times already?”

“I’ve been saving this date just for you,” Ricky admitted, “This was a time travel that I just didn’t want to do alone.”

“Okay, lead the way.” David said as he reached out and took his brother’s hand so they’d travel to the same spot in time.

David closed his eyes and this time waiting for the breeze to wash by him and once it did, there was noise again. A lot of noise, as David let go of his brother’s arm and proceeded to look around. They were in New York, but it looked so different than the time he had seen it.

“I know where we are,” David said as he looked around, “What’s the date? When are we?”

“The date is April fourteenth,” Ricky answered.

“What year?” David asked.

“Nineteen forty-seven,” Ricky replied, “We’ve got to get going. The game will start with or without us.”

“The game?” David asked, “We’re going to see the Yankees?”

“Nope,” Ricky replied, “We’re going to see the Dodgers.”

“We’re in New York!” David argued, “Not Los Angeles.”

“David,” Ricky said, still smiling. “The Dodgers didn’t move to California till fifty-eight, which means we’re going to Ebbet’s field.”