Clockwiser (14 page)

“No, I don’t. I’m sorry for what happened at the Common. For what I did. It was a mistake.”

Willie rejoined us before Nate could respond. I grabbed the syrup and milk jug from the fridge, as Nate flipped the final pancake on the grill and brought a plateful to the table.

“Electricity?” Willie said. “It makes that...” he pointed to the fridge.

“The refrigerator,” I prompted

“The refrigerator cold, and the frying surface hot?”

“Yes.”

“It provides energy for a lot of other things, too,” Nate said, dishing out. “Afterwards I’ll let you use my razor.”

Willie’s hand went to his chin, scrubbing the golden bristle growing there, and then he clasped both hands in front of him and bowed his head. I glanced at Nate. Willie was accustomed to praying before meals.

“Why don’t you go ahead, Willie,” Nate said.

“I’d be honored.” He cleared his throat and said grace.

Willie was obviously starving and he wolfed down several pancakes and a glass of milk before the comments started again. “This is delicious. I’m impressed Nathaniel, I’m not used to seeing a man cook a meal.”

“Call me, Nate.”

“My apologies. Nate.”

Nate smiled politely, at Willie and then at me. A pit formed in my gut. I could tell that he’d only pushed down his anger at what I’d done. He hadn’t truly forgiven me for it.

“In our time, domestic duties are shared between sexes,” I said, wanting to break through the tension between Nate and me. “Men can work at home if they want to and women can work outside the home.”

“As equals? I suppose that explains the, uh,” Willie’s face flushed rosy with embarrassment, “unusual female attire.”

I glanced down my sleeveless tank and Capris.

“You’ll come to like it, my friend,” Nate said with a smirk.

Willie chuckled. “I imagine it could grow on me. But on to more serious matters. How do I get back to my time? My family must be extremely worried.”

Of course, his family had been dead for over a century, but I didn’t point that out. Instead I explained what I knew, that he had to be touching me skin to skin when it happened. I didn’t tell him how difficult it would be to get back, since I had almost no warning going from present to past. Unless we tried to trigger it again on purpose, like last time. Only, I didn’t think public speaking would work twice; I just wouldn’t be as nervous the second time around. We’d have to come up with something new. But what?

“Do they know I’m gone? Where do they think I went?”

I swallowed hard before answering. “Yes, they know you’re gone.”

Willie sat back and gasped. “They’ll think I’ve deserted!”

I nodded slowly. “Probably.” Unless Tim was able to come up with some kind of credible story. Which I doubted.

“That’s a disgrace! And a crime!”

“I’m sorry.” I said softly.

“Wait. It’s been..oh, my.” He suddenly looked stricken. “They’re all dead now, aren’t they?”

“In our time, yes,” Nate said, “but not in yours.”

“Right, good,” Willie said, as if that brought him comfort. “I really need to get back before too much damage is done, then. Before my mother sets to grieving.”

Nate cleared his throat. “I hate to eat and run. I have to work and I don’t think my boss would appreciate if I didn’t go into work again today.”

I helped clean up, clearing the table as Nate loaded the dishwasher and wiped the counter.

“You do a lot of woman’s work,” Willie said from his seat at the table.

“It’s not woman’s work,” I said. “It’s just work.”

Nate left us alone in the kitchen. We heard the bathroom tap running along with the swishing sound of Nate brushing his teeth.

Willie shook his head. “It’s all just so incredible.”

Nate knew how unlikely it was for me to trip two days in a row, which was why he was so nonchalant about leaving me. Either that, or he really didn’t care if he went back with me again.

I actually wondered if he’d leave without kissing me good bye, but he did come back for a quick kiss. Willie was there, so maybe that was why it was all I got.

Or maybe not.

My shoulders slumped as I watched him leave. Moments later the sound of his rusty ’82 BMW’s motor revving filtered through the screened front door. Then it disappeared as he drove away.

Willie drummed his fingers on the table. “You and Nathaniel aren’t siblings.”

Right. Totally forgot about that. Even in our tense state, it was pretty obvious that Nate and I didn’t act like brother and sister. And we lived in different homes with different parents.

“No, we’re not. It’s kind of a long story.” I went into the whole account about how Nate had asked me to dance on a dare, and how I’d accidentally taken him back.

“Like you accidentally brought me here,” Willie mused.

“At the time we didn’t even know each other except by reputation. I had no choice but to bring him with me you your farm and pass him off as my brother.”

“I see.”

“And,” I rushed ahead, “we didn’t become more than friends until much later.”

“After Robert Willingsworth proposed?”

I stared at him. Of course he would remember that train wreck. “Yeah. After that.”

The kitchen seemed awfully quiet while Willie studied me. I wondered what he was thinking. Was he completely freaked out? Did he just want to climb back into bed and hope this would all disappear?

Apparently not.

He stood and rubbed his hands together. “Well, since I’m here,” he said. “Teach me about the future, Cassandra.”

Chapter Eighteen

CASEY

The best way to teach a teen the ins and outs of the twenty-first century? The mall.

I thought Boston on the first day would be a bit much, so I decided on the mall nearest to here. It wasn’t exactly small potatoes. It had two floors, with a food court on the second. I had a flashback from a previous winter, my birthday actually. Nate and I had just returned from a trip, and Jessica caught us together at the food court. She was so jealous she went public mean-girl on me.

And Nate broke up with her right there in front of everyone.

In his defense, she deserved it.

Willie and I walked to the bus stop near Nate’s house. It had a route that went directly to the mall.

The bus was half-empty when we got on, and I let Willie have the window seat.

“I just can’t believe all these buildings. There’s almost no raw land left.”

“There are still farms around here, but they’re smaller,” I said. “There are more if you get farther away from the city.”

A black guy took the seat opposite us. He wore a blue sports jersey that stretched over a very large stomach; his head was shaved bald and he had white ear buds in his ears.

Willie leaned over to whisper. “What did that guy
eat
?”

I shrugged. “We have fast food now.”

“
Fast
food?”

I thought of the food court. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you.”

“What’s he got in his ears?”

“Oh, he’s listening to his iPod.”

Willie raised his eyebrows. I dug through my purse and took out my phone. “We can store music in small devices like this. I tapped my music icon and a random song come through the small speakers.

Willie wrinkled his nose. “That’s music?”

“Yup. Get Nate to show you MTV later.”

“What’s that?”

I could tell I’d be answering a lot of questions today. Wouldn’t hurt to share some of the load with Nate. “Ask Nate later. He can give you the rundown on the TV.”

Willie stopped with the questions for a while; I think he had a lot to process already.

The bus pulled into the mall parking lot. Willie whistled as we walked to the main entrance. “Wow.”

I smiled. It was kind of fun to show off the future.

The mall was crowded with people--kids out of school, tourists, shoppers--on the lookout for summer specials.

Willie was taking it all in.

“It looks like we didn’t have to worry about the Irish,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“In my time there is a social concern about immigration, especially the Irish and non-British Europeans.”

I watched all the passing faces. African Americans, South Americans, and Asians mixed in with the white populace. “This is what Americans look like now.”

When we got to the center of the mall, Willie stopped to stare up at the second story ceiling. A railing ran around the circumference of the upper level shops. People stopped to lean against them, and looked down at us.

“Incredible,” Willie said. “Every doorway leads to another store?”

“Yeah. There are endless ways to spend your money.”

We came upon an electronics shop that had dozens of flat screen TVs of every size flashing a western movie at a scene were everyone was shooting guns and falling to a dusty end.

Willie stared wide-eyed. “Is it real?”

“No, it’s acting. Those aren’t real bullets and that’s not real blood.”

“Acting?”

“Like a play, but they can film and broadcast it now.”

We passed by
Forever21,
and I dragged Willie in to visit Lucinda.

“Hey there,” she said when she saw us. Her brown eyes sparkled when they settled on Willie. “Wow, you look great.”

Willie’s face turned ten shades of red, “Oh, thanks. Nate lent me these.”

“You totally fit in now, you know? You’d never guess you...weren’t from here.” She waved her hand. “So, what do you think?”

Willie still had that medicated, stunned look. “Uh, it’s...interesting.”

He watched one of the other customers flick through a rack of t-shirts along the wall and went over to do the same. Most of them had graphic images of icons like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe on the fronts.

Lucinda leaned over and whispered, “He’s adorable.”

I pursed my lips. “He’s not on the market.”

“I know that. Geez, Casey. I can still admire the packaging, can’t I? Even if it’s a foreign product.”

“Okay, fine. Then I agree.” We watched as Willie checked out a rack of necklaces that had pewter pendants hanging from them, mostly skulls. His face twisted in alarm.

“He’s cute,” I said. “And charming. I see the appeal.”

Other girls in the store had noticed, too. A couple huddled together close by, giggling.

Lucinda feigned anger and whispered under her breath. “Hey, stay away. He’s mine.”

My stomach growled.

“I’m taking Willie to the food court. Wanna come?”

“Can’t. My break’s not for another hour.”

I caught Willie’s eye and motioned for us to go. He said goodbye to Lucinda and she gave him a flirty wave. I shook my head at her and nudged Willie toward the escalator.

Willie tensed. “The steps are
moving
.”

I took his arm. “It’s okay. Perfectly safe.”

Okay, it was kind of embarrassing the way he hung on to me for dear life, and it occurred to me he might be afraid of heights. How would a guy from around here in the nineteenth century even know he was afraid of heights? No tree or barn roof was ever this high off the ground.

“Almost there,” I soothed. “Now look down, watch your step.”

Willie stumbled onto the solid ground of the second floor. He straightened out and smoothed his shirt, looking embarrassed. I grabbed his arm and pointed him in the direction of the food court.

“You wanted to learn about the future? Well, here’s where you learn about the future of food.” I waved an arm like Vanna White. “We have Japanese, Indian, Greek, Mexican, and American, aka, McDonald’s.”

I tried to describe what a Big Mac, fries and a milkshake were and finally gave up.

“The best way for you to understand is to taste it for yourself. Wait here.”

I left Willie since I knew he didn’t have any money, made an order for two McDonalds’ classic meals, and paid with my debit card.

“You don’t use paper bills to make purchases anymore?” Willie said when I returned.

“Oh, you can, but it’s just easier this way.”

“But they didn’t keep your plastic card.”

“No. There’s a magnetic strip...” I stopped, realizing I wasn’t even sure myself how it worked. “My card talks to my bank and the store’s bank. When I make a purchase, the money goes directly from my account to theirs.”

“I don’t understand,” Willie said. I pushed the burger in front of him

“Take a bite, and it won’t matter.”

I bit into mine at the same time as he did. Our orders were identical, but Willie made noises like he’d died and gone to heaven while eating his.

“Oh, my goodness.” He nibbled a fry, sipped his chocolate milkshake and made more “yum” noises.