"Remember, on Monday your historical biographies are due. Any questions?"
One hand is slowly raised in the back. "Dr. Townsend, how long do you want these reports to be?"
Pam Townsend tries to roll her eyes without any of the students noticing. When are these kids ever going to learn not to let these things lie on their desks till the last moment? She musters up a smile. "Eight to ten pages. And no fiddling on the margins."
A few shy sniggers are given in reply. A bell announces the end of the last hour. The students file out of the classroom. Pam packs her bag for a fun weekend of grading chapter exams.
-oOo-
Pam slows down on her bike as she reaches her building, when out of nowhere two men jump out in front of her. She manages to stop without hitting them. She, however, looses her delicate balance and catches herself on her left foot, hopping around a bit to find a new equilibrium.
"What the ...! What are you guys playing at? Jumping in front of a moving bike like that? You could have gotten hurt! I could have gotten hurt!"
The man and the boy pick themselves up and throw her a couple of apologetic smiles.
"Sorry about that. We, er, we didn't see you coming," the boy says. "We should look both ways before we cross the street."
"Right?" Pam swings her leg over the racing bike so she can stand in a more comfortable position. "Is this some kind of revenge? I could never find Waldo as a kid, and now I almost run over him."
"Are you calling me Waldo?"
"Hey, kid, you're wearing the red and white t-shirt. Don't blame me for your choice of fashion. And I certainly don't want him to blame me for that." She nods her head at the man in a pirate's suit. "You do know Halloween was last week? What did you do? Check your calender for the wrong week?" She addresses the man.
"Something like that."
"Whatever. Could you let me pass now? I've got better things to do than talk in the street to a couple of nutters."
The two step aside so that Pam can pass.
"Where are we, Bogg?" the boy asks.
"Don't know, Jeff. The omni seems to be dead. Dials are all stuck between dates."
"Hey," Jeffrey calls after Pam, " do you know what day today is."
Pam turns around, here bike slung over her shoulder. She pulls up an eyebrow. "You sure? Oh, of course, you missed your Halloween party. It's the fifth of November."
"And the year?"
"Year? 1998." Pam quickly turns around, before they ask her anymore questions, but then she remembers spotting something from the corner of her eyes, and she turns back to them. "What's that?" She nods towards the omni Bogg is holding in his hand.
"Er, that's a pocket watch, nothing special."
"Aha, and it tells month and year, but not correctly. Can I see?"
"Nothing to see." Bogg closes the omni and puts it on his belt.
Pam cocks her head to read the engraving and her mouth falls open in surprise.
"Wait here!" She throws her bike against the gate and runs into the building.
"I think she's a bit of a nutter herself," Bogg says to his friend.
"Yeah."
Moments later Pam comes running out again holding a book. She opens it and shows Jeffrey and Bogg a picture.
"That's that thing, isn't it?"
Bogg takes the book from her hand and closes it. On the cover is a single V. Voyagers! On the bottom of it a name: Phineas Bogg. His name. This is his guidebook.
"My guidebook! You've found it!" He picks up Pam and twirls her around.
"Uh, you can put me down," Pam says tapping him lightly on the shoulders.
"Right, of course." Bogg puts her gently back on her feet. "Got a little bit excited. I thought I had lost my guidebook for ever. Where did you find it?" Excitedly he starts flipping through the pages.
"Garage sale, years ago."
"This is so wonderful." Bogg pats her on the shoulders as if she was an old friend. "Look, kid, schematics, now I can finally clean the omni properly. Get it to stop getting stuck in automatic. Do you have some tools?"
"Who? Me? Of course I have tools."
Bogg looks at her expectantly.
"What? You want me to give them to you?"
He nods.
"All right. Why not? I must be crazy." Pam picks up her bike. "Follow me."
Bogg and Jeffrey follow Pam into her apartment, where she parks her bike in the spare room and directs the two of them into the living room.
"I'll get you those tools, and I'll put the kettle on as well, shall I?"
"That would be nice," Bogg replies.
Rolling her eyes at herself for the people she lets into her house Pam puts the kettle on and digs up her tools from the spare room.
"Hey, Bogg, November fifth, that's your birthday, right?" Jeffrey nudges his friend.
"It is. And I just got the best birthday present ever." Bogg pats the guidebook.
"Bet ya we didn't omni in here by accident."
"Hey, I got back my guidebook. I don't care what the reason is we omnied in here. Thanks," he says to Pam when she gives him a Tupperware box with an assortment of screwdrives. He immediately sets to work on opening the omni.
Pam fetches a tea tray. She sets herself at the living room table with them. After a couple of minutes of silence and blowing in their teas, she has to ask them:
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jeffrey Jones, and that's Phineas Bogg." Bogg grunts something. "You have to forgive him. He has a limited vocabulary and used most of it earlier in the street." Bogg grunts something else. "And you are?"
"Pam Townsend. Crazy woman." She nods determinedly. "But, er, different last names, so I guess he's not your dad."
"Bogg is more like my guardian." Jeffrey looks at him for a moment. Bogg blows some dust from the cogwheels inside the omni and laughs to himself. "My folks died last year."
"I'm sorry to hear." Pam gives him an encouraging smile. "I also lost my parents when I was a kid."
"Do you still miss 'm?"
"Hmm, it's not so much that I miss them, but that I miss about them." Jeffrey gives her a puzzled look so she elaborates "When my parents died I was five. I never got to know them. That's what I miss."
"I see." Jeffrey nods. "Do you have any memories of your folks?"
"A few. But I'm not sure whether they are real memories or stories I made up by the pictures in the family album."
"I'm sorry to hear."
"What about you?"
"My folks died when I was twelve. Car crash. I have no photo album anymore so I know all my memories of them are real." He smiles a reluctant smile.
Pam and Bogg look at him and then at each other. Pam opens her mouth to say something about Jeffrey's cynicism, but Bogg shakes his head indicating to her to let it go.
"But I'm glad I got to know my folks. I'd hate it if I never had gotten to know them. Sorry, I didn't mean to ..."
"That's okay. I hate it too. Hey, look on the bright side: we're also not going to remember puberty as that time as a terrible teen always arguing with our parents."
"Oh, I wouldn't have gone through puberty like that."
"Yeah, right," Bogg says without looking up from his chore. "You're very argumentative."
"Only with you, Bogg. My folks are much more understanding."
Bogg gives him a hurt look.
"Bogg, I ..."
"Who wants a refill on their tea?" Pam jumps up in an attempt to change the subject. Bogg and Jeffrey quickly hold up their cups as a way out of an awkward moment.
Pam also produces a roll of cookies and she and Jeffrey engage in a lengthy debate on the best way to dunk cookies while Bogg works on the omni.
"That's that," Bogg says as he closes the omni. "Good as new. I hope." He closes the guidebook. "Kid, we're good to go. Pam, thank you very much for your hospitality."
"You're welcome. I'd say drop by any time, but you'd probably take that very literaly." Pam slaps Bogg on the shoulder just as Jeffrey reaches out to take the omni. His thumb collides with the triggerbutton.
-oOo-
They land with a thud.
"What the ...!" Pam shouts as she falls on her ass. "What happened? Where am I? What is this?" She looks around. She finds herself sitting on a grave and jumps up with a scream.
"Looks like a cemetery," Jeffrey says dusting himself off.
"No kidding, duh," Pam replies. "How did I get here? Just a moment ago I was sitting at my living room table, now ..." She raises her hands to show her surroundings. "This is far from anyone's living room."
"We voyaged," Bogg says, checking the omni for date and place.
"Voyaged?" Pam gives him an odd look. "Is that a funny word for tripped? Did we trip? Did you slip something in my tea when I wasn't looking?"
"We didn't slip anything in your tea. We voyaged. The omni triggered and we traveled through time."
"I'm tripping. I'm on drugs. I must be. One moment I'm in my living room, the next I'm at a cemetery." Pam is starting to freak out. "I'm on drugs. What will the neighbors think? What if they call the police? What if I get arrested? I'll get a police record. I'll never be able to get another teaching position." Pam rambles on and walks away from the Voyagers.
"Do you think she'll be all right?" Jeffrey asks Bogg.
"I hope so. Hey, would you like to tell her we're in 1946 now?"
"No! 1946, red light?"
"Of course. Any thoughts?"
Jeffrey throws him a look. "Sure, lots, but none that will solve that red light."
Pam still wanders around, heavily gesticulating. Jeffrey decides to go round the cemetery reading headstone to see if any of those jog any memories. Bogg waits for them both to return.
Pam is the first to come back. She stops a few feet in front of him.
"I'm not on drugs, am I?"
"No," he answers in a calm voice.
"Then what happened?"
"Jeff triggered the omni when you slapped me on the shoulder. We voyaged. As a result, we're in 1946 now."
"1946?" Pam cocks her head forward, but quickly recovers. "Okay. Take me back."
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't? Do you need to boy here too?" Pam looks around for him. "Jeff, oo-hoo, come here!" She waves at him.
"I mean, I can't because the omni only goes up to 1970."
"Then how did you end up in 1998 in the first place?"
"I don't know. The omni sometimes malfunctions. I picked him up in 1982." Bogg motions to Jeffrey.
"What? Why? This is what you do? You travel through time and kidnap people? Then what do you do? Leave them at some other place in time?"
"That's not what happened. I ..."
"You kidnapped me, and I demand that you take me back right now."
"I can't." He gives her a wry smile. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Take me back. Take me back, right now." Pam starts to hit Bogg on his shoulders and chest with her fists. He takes her wrists to make her stop.
"I'm sorry."
"Now what?" Pam gives up her resistance.
"Guys! Come here! I've found it!" Jeffrey beckons them.
Bogg lets go of Pam and runs to his friend. Pam raises her hands in wonder and then decides to follow him.
"Look." Jeffrey points at a headstone.
Norma Jeane Dougherty, born June 1, 1926, died July 10, 1946.
"Yes?" Bogg asks.
"Norma Jeane Dougherty? That's Marilyn Monroe," Jeffrey replies.
"You're kidding, right?" Pam says. "Marilyn Monroe died in 1962. Suburban housewife's cocktail."
"A what?"
"Sleeping pills and alcohol, or something like that. That." Pam points. "That is another Norma Jeane Dougherty altogether."
"Probably not," Bogg says.
"What do you mean?"
"It's not just time travel we do. We also correct history."
"You what?"