The Pocket Watch (3 page)

“Aye.”

“I will be able to speak and understand whatever language the other person speaks. I can stay for up to sixty days and come back to my own body at any time simply by saying the word ‘cellphone’ but I must say it before the sixty days are up or I will stay there for the rest of my life.”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Ye’ve summed it up nicely.”

Maggie puzzled over the idea for a moment before asking, “If sixty days wherever I am is only one minute here, a whole year there is only about six minutes here.”

“Aye, that’s right.”

“So that means if I stayed there and lived another seventy years only seven hours will have passed here during which time she will have been simply sleeping soundly in my bed. What happens then?”

“When her own body dies, she will pass on just as she was intended to and having come to the natural end of yer life, so will ye.”

“But if I have saved her life, she will pop back into her body sixty days later without knowing what happened?”

“Nay, child, she won’t. Her time is up, very likely through her own folly. Ye will have extended her life only so long as ye are in her body. When ye return to yer own body, her body will die and her soul will pass on.”

Maggie examined the timepiece again as if it held some answer for her. “And you promise to let me get you some help tomorrow.”

“Only if it doesn’t work.”

“Okay…uh…” Maggie paused, she had just unburdened her heart to this stranger, who in return had offered her a trip to the past but Maggie had never even asked her name.

“It’s all right, Maggie. My name is Gertrude.”

Once again Maggie was astounded that the woman, Gertrude, seemed to hear her thoughts. “Okay, Gertrude. I will try it. I should be going now but we’ll meet back here tomorrow.”

Gertrude smiled. “Until tomorrow then.”

Maggie gave her a little hug and rose to leave. “Until tomorrow.”

As Maggie was walking away, Gertrude called, “Sleep well, Maggie.”

“Thank you, Gertrude. Same to you.” Maggie reached the top of the stairs before she realized she had never given Gertrude her name. She turned back around, “How did you know my…”

Gertrude was gone.

Chapter 2

Perhaps Maggie was the delusional one, because she spent the whole evening thinking about traveling back in time and swapping souls with someone. At least it was better than crying over Elliott. Maybe that was all the old woman was doing, giving her a distraction on this most difficult day.

Still, she decided to call Paige for a chat. Although she hadn’t intended to, she found herself telling her little sister the whole story. Only, she didn’t mention the way Gertrude had vanished.

Paige was fascinated by it all. “Well if it is a delusion, she has certainly developed it well. It is more likely she’s just having one over on you, but it is fun to think about. I wonder how many times she has given that watch away.”

“I don’t know. She seemed very serious. She promised to let me help her find psychiatric help when I meet her tomorrow.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“Get her help? Of course.”

“No, are you going to try it? Wearing the watch to bed, I mean.”

“Well I have to if I am going to shed light on her delusion.”

“What if it works?”

“Oh, Paige, come on. It’s not going to work.”

“Magdalena Mitchell, you have absolutely no sense of imagination.”

Maggie laughed. “All right. If it works, I will have a fascinating story to tell you in the morning.”

“Unless you fall in love and decide to stay.”

“Oh please.”

“I know you think that the old woman is delusional but I want you to listen to me—I mean really listen not just smile and nod. If by some crazy chance it works—”

“It won’t work, Paige. It’s impossible.”

“But if it does, and if you do fall in love…stay.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“No, Maggie, please listen. I know you. I know you will worry more about me and dad but don’t. We can manage without you and I want you to think of your own happiness for once.”

“Paige, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Well my darling sister, I may be. On the other hand, if you don’t wake up in the morning, while I’ll be sad and miss you forever, I will know someone worthy earned your heart.”

“Paige stop it. This isn’t real, there is no such thing as soul exchange and even if there were, the chances of me falling in love are nil.”

“Because you’re still brokenhearted over Elliott? Maggie, you’re hopeless. He didn’t deserve you. Oh gosh, I didn’t know how late it was. I have to go now, hon, I have to get ready for my date.”

“Have fun.”

“I will. Hey, how about taking Dad to the diner for dinner. If you get stuck in the past it’s your last chance to have their cheese bread.”

“I said, stop it.”

Paige laughed. “Love you lots, Maggie. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Love you too.”

As silly as she felt doing it, Maggie took her dad out to the diner for dinner as Paige suggested. She did love the cheese bread.

Before retiring, she gave him a hug and kiss goodnight.

He was in his chair watching the news. “I’ll see you in the morning, honey. Do you mind if we go to an early Mass? I need to work in the lab for a while.”

“That’s fine, Dad. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“I love you too, Maggie.”

When she was ready to get in bed, she got the watch out and held it in her hand. “Okay, here goes nothing. Remember, my ticket home is the word cellphone.” She slipped the chain over her neck, feeling a little silly, and went to sleep.

~ * ~

It felt as if Maggie had awakened instantly, and she was absolutely terrified.

It had worked.

She wasn’t in her bed in New Jersey. She was on the back of a horse, in a flat out run no less. Other than a sedate pony ride as a girl, she had never ridden a horse. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she screamed pulling back hard on the reins. That was supposed to stop a horse wasn’t it? 

It stopped him all right. The animal seemed as scared as Maggie at suddenly having a screaming crazy woman on his back yanking at his reins. He snorted and reared on his hind legs throwing Maggie backwards. She landed flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her. Perhaps from instincts she had honed in a self-defense class, she had tucked her head forward as she fell. This kept her head from hitting the ground harder than it might have otherwise. The horse ran forward about twenty yards or so, dancing, snorting and tossing his head just as another rider arrived.

Maggie lay on the ground struggling to draw breath, but the other rider, a man who appeared to be wearing a dress, dismounted and went to calm the frightened horse without sparing her a glance.

“Easy, lad, easy now. Ye’re all right.” His voice was gentle and soothing.

The horse tossed his head and pawed at the ground.

“Wheesht now, lad.” After a few moments the horse calmed a bit and the man was able to catch the reins. He stroked the beast’s neck, continuing to croon to him.

Once Maggie was able to draw shallow breaths she did a quick mental assessment of her injuries. Her whole body hurt but she could move her extremities without pain. She rolled to one side and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Her head swam a little and she groaned in pain. She stayed in that position for a moment, waiting for the discomfort to subside. She suspected she had a cracked rib or two and perhaps a mild concussion, but she didn’t think she was seriously injured.

The man strode toward her, leading the horse.

She felt like she should say something, but as she looked up from her kneeling position and saw his face, all conscious thought fled. He was gorgeous. Dark-haired and well over six feet tall, every inch appeared to be solid muscle. However, the feature capturing her attention was his stormy gray eyes. Eyes which, at the moment, held nothing but contempt, his gaze piercing her like daggers. He was clearly livid—
with her
.

“What in the name of all that’s holy do ye think ye were doin? Ye haven’t been here long, we’ve never ridden this direction and ye know nothing of the terrain. I only asked ye to slow down for yer own safety and that of yer mount. But instead of heeding me, ye kicked the poor beast into a gallop.”

She had never been the brunt of such intense anger. “I-I’m sorry.” Her voice sounded strange to her.
Well of course it does Maggie, it’s not your voice
.

“Ye’re sorry?” he growled through clenched teeth. “Ye have no idea how close ye came to killing yerself and the horse, do ye? That wee rise ye were charging up there drops sharply into the river on the other side. If ye had topped it going at that speed ye both would have been killed. While I’m not sure ye would have been any great loss, this is a fine horse who doesn’t deserve to die by the actions of a foolish, defiant woman.”

He stood over her like an avenging angel. She tried to speak. “I-I…”

“I don’t want to hear yer selfish excuses. Are ye hurt?”

Stupid question.
Does anyone fall off a horse without getting hurt?
Ah, well, perhaps huge men who appeared to be hewn from granite did. “I don’t think so.”

“Get up then. We’ll have to walk back to the keep. Yer beast is winded and terrified.”

Maggie was terrified too. Who was this man?
Cellphone, cellphone, just say it
. The old woman wasn’t delusional. Maggie had no idea where, or perhaps more importantly,
when
she was. Things were happening too fast for her to process much, and yet she had registered the fact that he had said
keep
. That was part of a castle. She could stay long enough to see a real castle before she went home. How could she miss that? And walking was good. She wouldn’t care if she never rode a horse again.

“I said get up. Is something the matter with ye?”

“N-nay.”

“Then do it.” As irritated as he sounded, he offered her a hand.

Accepting his help, she stood and was nearly overcome by dizziness. She put her head in her hands and groaned.

“Ye said ye weren’t injured.” He said.

As furious as he was, and it sounded as if he had every right to be furious with her, she was touched that he showed her any concern at all. “I must have hit my head. It doesn’t hurt,”
much
, “I just got a bit dizzy standing. I’ll be fine.”
Because as soon as I see the castle, I will cellphone-home
.

His brows drew together.

“Really. I’ll be fine.”

He gave a single nod. “Then we’ll go.” Without another word, he turned and walked away, leading both horses and leaving her to follow.

As she walked, she tried to process her surroundings. He wasn’t actually wearing a dress, it was a full-sleeved, dark brown linen tunic, which was belted at the waist. It stopped at his knees, exposing his muscular calves. His shoes were leather but were open over the top of his foot and held on with laces.

She wore a similar garment but hers was white and reached the ground. She had another sleeveless garment over it that fit snugly to her waist before flaring out. It was a rosy color with elaborate embroidery at the neck and hem. The undergarment next to her skin felt like silk. She lifted her skirts to see her shoes. They were a buttery soft leather with pointy toes, held on with a lace at the ankles. She smiled, remembering how her mother hated wearing “pointy toes” because she believed life was too short to wear uncomfortable shoes. These shoes however were soft and didn’t hurt her feet.

She had the sense of weight pulling on her aching head. Rubbing the spot that hurt, she realized she had an exceeding long braid down her back. She’d always wanted long hair like this but she had no idea how heavy it would feel.

Back to the problem at hand, based on their clothing she guessed she was somewhere in Europe in the middle ages. Her clothes suggested that she was from the upper classes. Gertrude had said she would go back at least a hundred years but Maggie was fairly sure she was five hundred years or more in the past.

The sky was a mass of gray clouds. Not the kind that signaled a coming storm, just a dull day. They walked up a long, gently sloping hill, the land around them lushly green between the rocky areas. The topography told her she was probably in northern or Western Europe as opposed to the Mediterranean region.

Very soon Maggie found herself breathless and struggling to keep up. She was reasonably fit and normally this wouldn’t have been a difficult walk for her. Again she had to remind herself that this wasn’t her body. Perhaps the person she had become was not used to exercise. Then again, she had been thrown from a horse minutes ago. It didn’t help that the man’s strides were long while Maggie herself was at least five inches shorter than she had been in the twenty-first century. Whatever the reason was, she couldn’t maintain this pace. She had a stitch in her side and breathing deeply hurt—definitely a cracked rib. She stopped to catch her breath. Her companion, whoever he was, didn’t seem to notice immediately.

Yeah, you go on. I’ll get there…someday. If I can figure out where “there” is.

As if he had heard her imagined sarcastic quip he stopped, turned around and glared at her. “Is there a problem, Margaret?”

Ah, her name was Margaret. Nice to know. “Nay, no problem.”

“Then why did ye stop?”

“Ah…well…that. I suppose there is a wee problem. Ye walk very fast. And I—” She coughed, unable to suppress a grimace of pain. Even though the accident wasn’t her fault, strictly speaking, she still felt responsible and didn’t want to complain. “—I’m sorry. I can’t quite keep up. I know this is my fault, but would it be possible to—” He scowled at her, clearly still angry, “Never mind. I’ll try harder.”

The look of shock on his face caught Maggie off guard. “I-I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

He frowned at her, for the first time looking more confused than angry. “Nay.” After considering her for a long moment he said, “I’ll walk more slowly.”

She gave him a weak smile, “Thank ye.”