OMG, A CUL8R Time Travel Mystery (9 page)

“Even during football season?”

“I’m too busy to do much of anything between August and November.  Stocking keeps my muscle tone up, the fat off and gets me time off to chill when the sun’s up in the summer.  I picked the store close to the beach for that reason.”

“Pretty smart.”

“Are you going to look for a job?”

“I didn’t
work back in Friendswood.  I don’t know what I’ll do now that I’m living with my aunt.”

“Friendswood?”
Austin smiled.  “Is that a real place?  It sounds like someplace where the Smurfs would live.”

“
No Smurfs, but it was founded by Quakers.  They moved there because the other towns around permitted dancing and they didn’t approve, sort of like that movie
Footloose
.  Yeah, it’s pretty wild and crazy there.”

“So you’re a Quaker?”

“Do I look like a Quaker?”

“
Never seen one.”

“
Well, you still haven’t.  I was home schooled though.  My mom was a teacher before I was born, so she was kind of a taskmaster.  But I didn’t hate it.  I could have been a senior, but I’ve decided to take it a little slower.”

“Upper classman,” Austin teased.  His
expression turned serious.  “Listen, I don’t talk about this much, but my mother died when I was just eight years old.  I barely remember her, and yet I miss her every day.”

“I’
m sorry.  I didn’t know . . .” Kelly looked at him in surprise.

“Believe it or not, it gets better over time.  I know it doesn’t seem like that now.”

Kelly ducked her head to keep from letting him see her tears.  Somehow knowing he had gone through this, too, made it hurt more.  His sympathy was more sincere and heartbreaking than anyone else’s.

“My mom died of cancer,” he went on.  “She was only thirty.  Everyone tried to be so nice, but unless you’ve been there, you just don’t get the huge hole
left in your life.”

“My parents were killed by a drunk driver,” Kelly said so quietly, he had to strain to hear.  “They were coming home from the
farmer’s market, and he just slammed into them, head-on, at an intersection.  He was driving one of those big Hummers, and he just ran right over them.”

Austin reached out and took her hand and squeezed it.  He didn’t say anything, but his quiet presence encouraged her to continue.

“I didn’t see their car . . . you know . . . after.  I couldn’t.  I was home alone when the doorbell rang and a cop was standing there.  He didn’t have to say a word.  Somehow I just knew it.”

“People never know what to say,” Austin spoke softly.  “For a long time every
time someone looked at me, I knew they were thinking, oh, that poor little boy with no mom.  My dad tried to fill in, but he never remembered to bring snacks to Little League or to make a gingerbread house at Christmas.  It’s the little things, you know . . . that you really miss.”

Tears dripped off her cheeks and splashed onto their hands, still interlocked.  “The hardest thing was to walk around the house and see their things just sitting there, waiting for them to come home
,” she admitted.  “Mom’s favorite flip-flops by the backdoor, the remote control lying on Dad’s chair, Mom’s robe hanging on the back of the door of her bathroom, Dad’s aftershave.  I’ll remember it . . . always.”

“Yes, you will.  And you should.  But you’re strong, and every day will get easier. I
f you ever want to talk or anything . . . I’m just two doors down.”

“That’s really sweet
, Austin.  Thanks.”  She reached for a napkin and dried her eyes.  Beneath the fringe of her bangs, she looked around to see if anyone had noticed her crying like a baby, but everyone seemed to be involved with their own group.  Austin gently released her hand.

Keeping his tone light, he channeled the conversation away from their missing parents. 
“I don’t know what you said to Scott, but he’s really impressed with you, and that doesn’t happen often with him.  Besides me, he really doesn’t have any other close friends.”

“
That’s what he told me.  But I don’t see why not.  He’s super nice and really smart.  He even has a little sense of humor . . . mostly dry and sarcastic, but funny.”

The server delivered their pizza and refilled their drinks. 
Kelly’s heart felt lighter than it had for days.  It had been good to talk about her parents, especially to someone who truly understood what she was going through.  She was even able to laugh as Austin did his best to cheer her up.  They talked and chatted until there were only crumbs left on the pan.  Feeling a little bloated, they returned to the beach, picked up their boards, waded into the water and paddled north to Bowditch Point Park.

With the boards and paddles secured
on the stallion’s rack, they headed back home.  Kelly glanced at the radio clock. “Listen I better not be late again getting home.  Can we skip stopping at the high school today?”

“Sure, it’ll be there tomorrow.
  You don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with your aunt.  I’m sure that’s pretty weird.”

“Yeah,
right.  I feel bad for dropping into her busy life like I did.  It must be really strange to live all by yourself one day and the next to have a teenage girl in your lap.  It’s just going to take a while for both of us to get used to me being here.”

Austin
stopped in front of Scott’s house, and they walked through the gate to the backyard where Scott was standing on the roof.  “Hey, how was the boardin’?” Scott yelled down.

“I had a blast,” Kelly shouted up as she smiled.  “Zoey said to say hi.”

Austin whispered, “Scott knows better.”

“
I’m sure,” Scott called back.  “She doesn’t have a clue that I even exist.”

“
What are you doing up there?” Austin asked.

“
We found a note that the radio was set up for the low frequencies only.  I went on-line and learned what I needed to make the ideal low frequency antenna.  It got a little more involved, but I’ll have it done by tomorrow . . . I hope.”

“I need to get home and get ready for work
, so we’ll meet tomorrow morning?” Austin asked.

Austin and Kelly both nodded.

“Okay, see you guys at ten.”

Kelly
walked with Austin back to his truck where she retrieved her wet towels. “Thanks . . . for everything.”

“
Sure.  Any time.”

Kelly
could hardly drag herself up the sidewalk to the front door.  She was really starting to feel her muscles protesting the extreme exercise.  Her aunt’s car was in the drive, so Kelly was glad she had gotten home early.  She shut the door behind her.

“Hello Aunt Jane,” she called
as she headed to the kitchen for a drink of water.

“Hi Kelly,”
Jane answered from the bar stool at the kitchen island.  “What did you do today?”

I hung with Scott and then went pa
ddle boarding with Austin at Fort Myers Beach.  It was a lot of fun, but I’m starting to feel the pain.”

“Austin?  Is that the high school quarterback
who’s always in the newspaper?”

“I guess
so.  He
is
a quarterback.”

“How did you meet him?”  Jane frowned.

“He’s Scott’s best friend, and he lives the next house down.”

Jane shifted on her bar stool
a little.  “That was going to be my next question.”

“I know.
”  Kelly smiled.  “You’d have a ways to go to match mom in that category.  She could drill information out of someone without them even knowing it.  Of course, she did it with cookies.”

“Did you have lunch?”

Yeah, we ate pizza at Citrola’s near the pier.”

“Oh
, they have good pizza.  I guess we should talk about an allowance.  As you know, the money from your parents’ estate will be in a trust until you turn twenty-one.  It was all detailed in their wills.  They wanted to make sure you would go to college, but they also wanted to make sure you had money to live on.  I have to tell the probate court what your allowance is going to be.  What do you think?”

Kelly was
surprised to find she could discuss this with her aunt without breaking down.  The talk with Austin had been cathartic, and she was better able to face some of the less-comfortable facts.  She had no idea how much money they were talking about or how much she would need.  “I have so many questions.  Can I think about it?”

“
Of course.  We have a little time.  I’ll give you $50 now, and we’ll talk this weekend.  What do you want for dinner?”

“
If you don’t mind, I’m going to grab a bowl of cereal and wash my hair and go to bed. I’m really beat. Is that okay?”

Aunt Jane smiled. 
“I’ve got some work to do tonight, so that’ll be fine.”

After her Special K with bananas and
a hot shower, Kelly towel dried her hair and pulled on a set of short pajamas.  Her computer sat, quietly tempting her to get on and jump into a game.  But every single muscle in her body was aching.  Even her fingers hurt.  She stood in front of her mirror and stretched her arms and legs in every direction to try to work the soreness out.  The muffin top was still there, but surely she had made progress toward making it go away.  With a yawn, she crawled into bed and fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

CHAPTER
SIX

THURSDAY

It took every ounce of her resolve, fueled by another look in the mirror at her chubby waistline for Kelly to force herself to do laps.  She had been so tired, that she had slept through her macaw alarm,
if
he had shown up today.  Aunt Jane was long gone by the time Kelly made it downstairs.  The muscles in her shoulders and legs ached so much, it hurt to reach into the cabinet for a cereal bowl.

But, oddly, after about ten laps, the cool water and the exercise worked out the worst of her soreness.  In spite of her late start, she
was still the second to arrive at Scott’s lab shortly before 10 a.m. Figuring she was expected and after being there the two prior days in a row she went through the gate and opened the lab door rather than knocking.

“Hey Kelly
,” he greeted her.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Are you limping?” Scott studied her curiously.

“Austin’s
Kon Tiki adventure nearly killed me.” Kelly grabbed and rubbed her left thigh.  “I know why you stayed back.”

“Kon Tiki?  Isn’t that a little dramatic even for a girl? 
How far did you go?”

“We started at the
Bowditch on the northern end and paddled to the Fishing Pier, then back.”

Scott looked impressed.  “That’s about
a mile each way.  How was it?”

“The boarding was
n’t all that hard.  I fell only twice, which I think was pretty good.  It’s a lot different than surfing.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“I used muscles I didn’t know I had.  But don’t say anything to Austin about that.  I don’t want him to think it was too hardcore my first day out.”

“
So, you’re going to go back?”

“
Yeah, I enjoyed it.  I’ve just got to get into better shape, I guess.”

The door open
ed and Austin entered.  “Hey guys.  Man, I was sore last night stocking shelves.  I thought I was in shape to board a couple of miles.  How about you, Kel?”

“
I thought that football players were tough guys.”  Kelly smiled and winked at Scott.

Austin gave her a suspicious look.  “Are you telling me that you aren’t sore today?”

She laughed.  “I’d be lying if I did.  But it was a lot of fun.  I want to do it again . . . just not today . . . or tomorrow.”

Scott had lost patience with the discussion. 
“When you old folks can stop talking about your aches and pains, I’m ready to get to work.  I was at the antenna thing until midnight.”

“What did you do?” Austin asked.

“I redid the antenna on the roof of the shop and made it exactly the length needed to match the radio’s tuner.”

Kelly noticed Austin wasn’t
following Scott’s explanation.  “He meant the three to five kilohertz frequency band that Edison figured spirits communicated on,” she tried to clarify, although she only knew the facts, not the science behind them.

Scott looked at Kelly and raised his eyebrows and
nodded.  “That’s right.  I think we’re all set.  The tubes are hot.”

“I thi
nk Kelly should do the talking,” Austin commented.  “That girl or whatever she was seemed to respond well to her.”

“Okay.”  Kelly sat down near the microphone.

As the Spirit Radio vacuum tubes glowed red, Kelly could feel the heat radiate from them. Just like before, the static and whistles and scores of voices began to fade in and out as conversations began and ended mid-sentence.  It was like walking through Grand Central Station at rush hour and trying to pick up on a single voice from the crowd.