Once in a Blue Moon (7 page)

* * *

Hunger pangs twisted
Melissa’s stomach, but that was okay. She’d lay there and starve to
death and no one would care; certainly not her family. They’d
proved that by deserting her.

If hunger didn’t kill
her off, maybe a wild animal would come by and eat her. Or perhaps
Indians would scalp and murder her. What did it matter? Her life
was over anyway.

Abject misery tightened
her chest and crumpled her face as she lay curled over her knees.
She wasn’t meant to be there; couldn’t handle this. Her legs
tingled, making her aware of the lack of blood flow to the lower
extremities. But why should she move? Her life was over. She would
just lay there and die.

She stretched her arms
out in front, over her head, palms on the ground, and wondered how
she’d ended up in this situation. It was probably all Richard’s
fault.

His western ways had no
doubt provided the lure, and fate had sucked them back in time.

Or perhaps it was
Jeremy’s fault. Hadn’t he tricked her into looking at the moon?

Or what about Jessica?
She’d goaded Melissa into joining the family on the lawn. If she’d
stayed on the porch, only her family would have gotten sucked back
in time. She’d have been fine. She stifled any guilt she had about
the thought. They would enjoy it here; she wouldn’t.

1887. She shuddered.
There was no fashion industry worth anything. No Hollywood. No
career. Nothing of any worth here at all. Tears flooded her eyes
and she gave in to self- pity. She wanted to go home, but how could
she get back? She didn’t even know how she’d arrived there in the
first place.

As
she lay there thinking about the moon and how it had pulled at her,
fear skittered through her and she shivered, but forced herself to
face facts. It was just like the bizarre guy on TV had said; the
moon had pulled at her, called to her. Melissa gasped, bolted
upright and tried to scramble to her feet. She fell hard, bruising
her backside, her legs unable to support her.
The weird guy on television had made it back
home
. Breathing heavily, her heart drummed
and hope rushed through her. How had
he
gotten home? She couldn’t
remember.

She straightened her
legs and gritted her teeth against the pain as blood rushed back
into her limbs. She needed to buck up and figure this out. They had
to get home. If she left it up to Richard, they might live here
forever. What she needed was more information about how the strange
man had returned. Why couldn’t she remember? She needed to talk to
Jeremy, fast.

Melissa started up the
hill. The long grass kept her high heels from sinking too deeply
into the soft earth, but the uphill walk was still no picnic and
she was fuming by the time she reached the top. Breathing heavily,
she stopped to view the cabin and her lips tightened. Cabin? It was
more like a hovel with its grass and dirt roof.

A thin line of smoke
emerged from the stone chimney. She swallowed and tried to push
back the sudden feeling of dread. It looked every bit as bad now as
it had in the future when Richard had coerced her into viewing the
dwelling. No doubt he was ecstatic and thought they were actually
going to stay in the disgusting dump.

Staring down at the
offensive structure, she vowed she wouldn’t stay the night; she’d
get home today. All she had to do was find out from Jeremy how the
strange man on television had returned home, then they’d do the
same. Immediately. Richard wouldn’t want to go, of course, but if
he chose to stay for a few days, that was fine by her.

She made her way down
the hill and instantly had to dodge what looked to be some kind of
animal feces. She wrinkled her nose. Disgusting. Absolutely
disgusting.

The kids ran out of the
cabin and Melissa lifted a hand. “Jeremy, wait!”

“Hi, Mom.” Jeremy
barely spared her a glance as he waved and ran off with Jessica in
the opposite direction.

“Wait! I need to talk
to you!”

Ignoring her, the twins
raced to the corral on the far side of the property, jumped up on
the fence, and started to pet a mangey-looking horse.

Incredulous that they
would touch an unknown animal, Melissa started to rush forward to
get them away from the beast, but was blocked by a goat moving into
her path. A goat with horns. It bleated and cocked its head to one
side, studying her, and she backed up a few paces. The kids
continued to touch the filthy horse.

“Children! Stop
touching that animal! Don’t touch anything!” She motioned at the
goat with her hand. “Go on, leave.” The goat didn’t budge. She
waggled her fingers. “Be gone.”

Keeping her gaze on the
goat, she walked around it only to have a goose honk at her. She
jumped away from the goose and realized she’d landed in the middle
of a group of chickens. They scattered noisily, the goose chasing
after them. Strangely enough, it appeared to be herding them.

From the cabin door, a
huge black dog started barking at her. Overwhelmed, she shook her
head. She’d thought this place was bad in the future? It was a
total zoo now. When she’d almost reached the kids, they jumped off
the fence and ran toward the line of trees.

Exasperated, she
stopped. “Jeremy!”

He didn’t so much as
turn.

“Jeremy!” She stomped a
foot, and her heel sunk into muck. As she watched the kids
disappear into the trees, the horse blew noisily in her direction
and she flinched, almost fell, and her foot came out of her shoe
and landed in mud. After she caught her balance, she wiped her foot
on a tuft of grass and threaded it back into her shoe. Tears filled
her eyes. She couldn’t deal with this. She really could not deal
with this.

She
scanned the trees, but couldn’t see the kids. She pulled her heel
free and walked to a drier patch of land and stood undecided.
Should she go after them? The goat ambled toward her and Melissa
immediately headed for the cabin. She’d find Richard. They’d have
one of those family meetings he was so fond of calling, handle this
quickly, and
get out of
there
!

Melissa walked toward
the cabin’s open door. Even with the dog’s racket, she could hear
male voices coming from inside. At the doorway, she hesitated,
somehow feeling that if she crossed the threshold she’d get sucked
in permanently.

The dog’s barking
turned to growling and Melissa finally walked into the cabin,
controlling the urge to kick the beast as she passed. Just let him
try to bite her.

Immediately, the small
room seemed to close in on her, the smell of greasy food and dirt
making her dizzy. She glanced around, her eyes adjusting to the
darkened interior. A small, unmade bed sat in a corner of the one
room cabin next to a bookshelf packed with books. The guy could
read?

There was a stove, a
ladder leading to a loft, a table--obviously homemade--with a chair
and a barrel pushed underneath at opposite sides. A small fire
crackled in the fireplace and the floor was dirt. Of course it
was.

Richard and the old man
stood examining one of the interior walls. Richard was bent over,
poking at the cracks and discussing...the perfect consistency for
mud, of all things. How appropriate. “Richard?” He didn’t appear to
hear her or even notice her presence. “Richard? If I might have a
moment of your time?”

He straightened and
smiled. “Hi, you doing okay?”

The old man shot her an
embarrassed glance then looked away. “You look, uh, tuckered out.
Are you recovered? Would you like to lie down? Maybe cover yourself
with a blanket?” He gestured toward the corner.

She looked at the bed
which was unmade, the sheets dirty and greasy, much like the old
man himself. She shuddered. “Thank you, but no.”

“You hungry?”

Again Melissa glanced
around. There seemed to be a rough- looking loaf of bread on the
table, but she didn’t see any real food. Not a protein shake in
sight. “I’m fine, thank you.”

The old man gazed at
the table. “I’m kind of hungry myself. It’s been a long time since
I had me some female cooking.”

Melissa stared. Surely the man wasn’t suggesting that
she
cook? She’d disabuse
him of that notion in a hurry. “I don’t cook.” She shrugged. “I
don’t even know how.”

A look of wide-eyed
shock crossed the weatherbeaten face and he forgot to avoid looking
at her. “I never heard of a female that don’t cook. You sure?”

“Positive,” Melissa
took delight in informing him.

The old man scratched
his head. “A women that don’t cook might be considered pretty
useless.”

Melissa gave him a
superior look. As if she cared what this dirty individual
thought.

From the doorway, the
dog started barking at her again, growling and showing his
teeth.

Melissa’s jaw tightened and she closed her eyes, sucked air
through her nose, then leaned down and looked the dog in its eyes.
“
Do not take that tone with me, or I will
kick your teeth down your throat and then I will find every bone
buried in this horrible place and I will grind them into nothing
and then I will do the same to you
!”

The dog backed down and
hung his head. He let out a whimper.

“Huh.” Amazement
colored the old man’s tone. “Never seen Zeke do that before.”

Melissa turned to face
him. “I have a way with animals.” She stared at him pointedly, a
warning.

Unexpectedly, the old
man laughed, and even more unexpectedly, Melissa had to resist an
answering smile. So the guy had a decent sense of humor. What of
it?

“Well, I got something
for you.” He walked over to a chest, opened it, pulled out a wad of
material, shook it out and presented her with...the ugliest dress
she’d ever seen in her life.

The designer obviously
hadn’t a morsel of pride or a bit of fashion sense. Faded, patched
calico that had probably started out bright red, but had faded to a
washed-out burnt-orange. Mismatched buttons in the back hung on
limp threads. The skirt was gathered unevenly onto the frumpy
bodice. Gathers! Whoever invented them must’ve had hips the size of
San Diego. Melissa shuddered.

“It should fit. My wife
was tall and thin and you’re about the same size.”

Melissa gaped at him.
She’d go naked first.

He laid the dress on
the table, then dug back inside the trunk. “And here’s some
material. Can you sew?” He sounded doubtful.

She straightened her
shoulders. “Yes.”

The old man continued
to look doubtful, but he nodded. “Good, you should be able to make
a dress for your girl with this. If you need any help with the
pattern, you could probably hire someone in town.”

Richard laughed, then
quickly muffled the sound with his hand.

Melissa glared at him.
“Yes, Richard. This entire situation is very humourous. Why didn’t
I see that myself?”

The kids ran into the
cabin. Jessica’s eyes were shining. “Dad, you’ve got to see
this!”

Richard grinned and
winked at Melissa. “That’s my cue to leave.”

“Wait. Jeremy. I need
to talk to you.” She grabbed his arm and held tight. After a moment
he stopped squirming. “Richard. Family meeting. Outside, right
now.”

Everyone started out
the door, including the old man, and Melissa slanted him a
narrow-eyed stare. “Family only.”

Richard smiled. “Well
technically--”

Melissa glared.

“Um...” Richard turned
to the old man. “Will you excuse us for a moment?”

The family trooped
outside, and Melissa led them to a spot by the barn. They sat on a
log and she stood in front of them. She brushed off her skirt, then
straightened. “Okay. I believe that last night the blue moon sucked
us back in time. Does anyone have a better theory?”

After a moment,
everyone shook their heads.

Melissa swallowed,
realizing she’d hoped they would laugh, shoot her theory down, tell
her she was crazy, and come up with a reasonable alternative.

She took a deep breath.
“When Jeremy and I were watching TV last night, we saw a strange
man claiming to have traveled to the past. He returned home
somehow. Jeremy, do you remember how?”

Jeremy shrugged. “He
just said something about another blue moon bringing him back
again.”

Melissa felt sick, no
longer sure she wanted to ask the next question. The old man came
out and joined them, fiddling with the nearby corral fence,
standing close enough to listen. She didn’t care anymore. She
needed answers. “How often do blue moons occur?”

Jeremy’s brows pulled
together. “I already told you that last night. Weren’t you
listening?”

“I don’t remember.”

Jeremy eyed her
accusingly. “You never listen to me.”

Melissa ground her
teeth. She didn’t need this right now.

“Jeremy, just tell me
about blue moons.”

Jeremy crossed his arms
and didn’t say a word.

Melissa snapped. “
We have to get
back! Today! Now tell me what you know
!”

Richard shook his head
at her, a look of disapproval on his face.

Jeremy crossed his legs
at the ankle in front of him. “So what? Now you’re interested in my
science presentation all of a sudden?”

The old man sat on the
log beside a glaring Jessica and simply listened.

Melissa took another
deep breath. “How often between blue moons, Jeremy?”

Jeremy smiled a not
very nice smile. “The average is usually two-and-a-half-years.
Sometimes three.”

Melissa gasped.

Jeremy smirked. “But
sometimes it’s closer than that.”

Melissa felt weak.
“What about us? What about now? Will we have to wait
two-and-a-half-years?”