Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) (19 page)

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I am," Piper said. "This is so much fun."

"I'm glad to hear that," Mary Beth said.

Piper again looked over her shoulder.

"I would so love to meet a celebrity in person."

"So would I."

"Do you think we will?"

"I wouldn't rule it out," Mary Beth said. She smiled. "This
is
Hollywood, after all."

CHAPTER 31: MARK

Los Angeles, California – Thursday, April 9, 1959

Mark knew he was in trouble the second he saw her hand go up. He had expected Mary Beth to follow the lecture closely. He had
not
expected her to participate in the question-and-answer session that followed. He braced himself for the worst when Professor Austin Ballinger, author of six time-travel novels, called on the pretty brunette in the second row.

"First of all, thank you for coming to campus," Mary Beth said. "It's not every day I have the chance to hear someone speak on a topic as exotic as time travel. This has been fun."

Ballinger reached for a glass of water on his lectern, took a sip, and then returned his attention to the complimentary young woman. He folded his hands and smiled.

"I'm glad I met your expectations. Do you have a question?"

"I do," Mary Beth said. "You said a minute ago that time travel is still a product of science fiction and will remain so until science catches up to fiction. Is that correct?"

"That is correct," Ballinger said. "I think we will eventually develop the means to send people forward in time, but I believe that moment is decades, if not centuries, away."

"Do you believe in other possibilities?"

"What do you mean?"

Mark looked around the small lecture hall and saw that Mary Beth had grabbed not only the professor's attention but also that of a hundred other people. He wondered whether she had been this inquisitive in her classes at the University of Alabama.

"I mean supernatural possibilities," Mary Beth said. "I mean time portals and time tunnels and other things that exist outside the boundaries of science. Do you believe in
them
?"

Ballinger grinned.

"As a writer of science fiction, I believe in many things. I am a man who is open to nearly every idea and possibility. As a professor with advanced degrees in engineering, physics, and mathematics, I am from the Show Me State. I am a man who believes what he can see or smell or hear or touch. I am a skeptic of the first order."

"I see," Mary Beth said.

"You seem disappointed."

Several in the audience laughed.

"I guess I am," Mary Beth said. "I was hoping you could comment on other possibilities. I would like to believe that time travel is not something that only our descendants will see."

Mark smiled and shook his head. He wondered how long Mary Beth would toy with an expert who clearly had no clue. He now hoped she would do it all day.

"I would like to believe that too," Ballinger said. "I would like to believe we will someday stumble upon something magical, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. If a time portal or a time tunnel or something similar existed today, we would surely know about it."

Mary Beth sighed.

"I'm sure we would. Thank you for taking my question."

Ballinger nodded at Mary Beth and then scanned the audience for more raised hands. Failing to see any, he took another sip of water, shuffled his papers together, and smiled.

"Thank you for inviting me to speak today. I hope to do this again."

Faculty, students, staff, and members of the public rose to their feet and applauded as Ballinger smiled, waved, and then put his papers in a leather portfolio. When the speaker took his leave a moment later, the attendees stepped toward the aisles and slowly filed out of the hall.

Mark laughed.

"You sure know how to keep a guy on his toes."

Mary Beth grinned.

"Did I make you a wee bit nervous?"

Mark nodded.

"You did at first."

"I just thought I'd spice things up," Mary Beth said. "I don't have much use for people with little imagination. He's an author, for crying out loud."

Mark chuckled.

"He is. He's an author who will probably have a time portal or a time tunnel in his next book. I suspect you've convinced him that time machines are passé."

Mary Beth offered a warm smile.

"Thanks for telling me about this lecture. This was a nice change of pace from shopping in Pasadena and watching soap operas at the motel."

"Then maybe I should take you to my engineering classes."

"Maybe you should."

Mark nodded, put a hand on Mary Beth's back, and guided her toward the center aisle. He started to ask her a question but stopped when he saw a man and a woman approach the passage from the other side. Both fixed their eyes on the twenty-two-year-olds.

The thirtyish couple reached the aisle a few seconds later, stopped, and waited for Mark and Mary Beth. They smiled when the two finally joined them in the aisle. The man spoke to Mark.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I wonder if I could trouble you for a moment. I would like to ask your lady friend about something she said to the lecturer."

Mark turned to Mary Beth.

"Do you have a minute?"

"Unless you're taking me to lunch right now, I have all day," Mary Beth said. She gave Mark a playful glance and then turned to the man. "How can I help you, Mr.—?"

The man offered his greetings.

"I'm Joshua Bell."

Mary Beth shook his hand.

"I'm Mary Beth McIntire. Do you have a question for me?"

"I do," Joshua said. "When you spoke to Professor Ballinger, you asked about the 'supernatural possibilities' of time travel. Is that an interest of yours?"

"It is."

"How did that interest come about?"

Mary Beth smiled at Mark and then answered the question.

"It came about through reading. I read a lot of fantasy novels. I find magic portals far more interesting than time machines and would like to believe they are real."

"I see."

"I also like learning about things science can't explain or rule out."

"I'm the same way. So is my wife," Joshua said. He stepped back and looked at the attractive flaxen-haired woman behind him. "This is Julia."

"It's nice to meet you," Mary Beth said. She turned slightly. "This is my friend Mark Ryan."

The couples exchanged greetings.

"Are you students here?" Joshua asked.

"Mark is. He's still a student," Mary Beth said. She grinned at the undergraduate and then turned to Joshua. "I graduated from the University of Alabama last semester."

"I thought I detected an accent."

Mary Beth laughed.

"It's pretty hard to hide around here."

"I believe it," Joshua said.

"How about you?" Mary Beth asked. "Are you affiliated with the university? Are you a student or a professor?"

Joshua shook his head.

"I'm afraid I'm none of the above. I'm an attorney."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Mary Beth said. "You don't have to be a student or a professor to have an interest in time travel. I assume that's why you're here."

"It is," Joshua said. "I came here to see Professor Ballinger speak because I wanted to learn as much as I could about the subject. I have sort of a personal interest in it."

"Oh?"

Joshua nodded.

"My grandfather believed in time travel. He wrote about it extensively in a diary and in private letters to his brother and his wife. He wrote about time tunnels and portals and many other things that make no sense to me."

Mark looked at Mary Beth and saw uncertainty in her eyes. He could see that she had made the same connection and did not know how to proceed.

"Tell me about your grandfather," Mark said. "Did you know him well?"

"I didn't know him at all," Joshua said. "He died when my father was a child. I know only that he was a professor at this university and once lived in a mansion in West Adams."

"Have you shown his papers to others?" Mary Beth asked.

"Oh, no. People might think me mad if I did that. It's one thing to peddle time travel as science fiction. It's another to suggest, even through old letters, that it has already been done."

Mark took a breath.

"So what do you plan to do with your grandfather's writings?"

"I plan to keep them," Joshua said. "I plan to keep them to myself, learn what I can about this strange and mysterious subject, and perhaps decide on a course at a later time."

"I think that's a wise decision," Mark said.

Joshua looked at Mary Beth.

"What about you? Do
you
think that's a wise decision?"

Mary Beth smiled.

"I do, Mr. Bell. I think the best way to preserve your grandfather's legacy and reputation is to protect his papers and proceed slowly."

"That's what I think too," Julia said.

Mary Beth laughed.

"Then there you have it."

"I suppose you're right," Joshua said.

"I know I am."

Joshua smiled and sighed.

"I'm sorry to take up your time. You've both been very helpful."

Joshua shook two hands and then guided his wife forward. He disappeared with her through a nearby exit a moment later.

Mark looked at Mary Beth and saw the traces of a grin.

"What are you thinking?"

Mary Beth chuckled.

"I'm thinking that Percival Bell was quite a man."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he mastered something that experts deny is real. He left behind papers and mysteries his own family can't decipher," Mary Beth said. She smiled. "He also brought four strangers together, including two standing right here. That's the best thing of all."

Mark couldn't deny that.

Percival Bell had started a story that was still being written. He had laid the groundwork for fantastic possibilities. He had made it possible for two lonely souls to find each other and their siblings to find common ground. He had changed lives.

Mark smiled at Mary Beth, took her hand, and led her to the exit. As he did, he left the lecture hall, time travel, and Percival Bell behind. He did not care about the possibilities of tunnels and portals. He did not care about letters. He cared only about the person at his side.

CHAPTER 32: BEN

Pasadena, California – Saturday, April 11, 1959

The journey from the front seats to the back was seamless and swift. Two people locked in a passionate embrace slid into the larger, softer, more comfortable part of a covered 1959 Ford Thunderbird convertible like honeymooners transitioning from a doorway to a bed.

For the next forty minutes, Ben Ryan and Piper McIntire kissed, wrestled, and explored with reckless abandon as dozens of their Midway High School peers did the same. Most had come to the Rose City Drive-In to experience exhilarating freedom and escape the prying eyes of their parents. Few had come to see
Up Periscope
or
Rally Round the Flag, Boys!

Ben and Piper had pushed the boundaries of passion three times since concluding that Ben was not boring. They had put aside doubts, fears, and the realities of time travel and simply enjoyed each other like two people on the cusp of adulthood.

Ben shifted his weight from his right to his left as he tried to get comfortable on a bench seat designed to accommodate vertical and not horizontal passengers. He succeeded only in pinching the side of a young woman pinned between his six-foot frame and an uneven seat.

"Ouch!" Piper said.

"Did I hurt you?" Ben asked.

Piper nodded and then scolded him with a smile.

"You broke my rib and probably a few other things."

Ben chuckled.

"I won't ask."

"Don't," Piper said.

"I'll try to be more careful."

"Do."

Ben smiled and then dropped his head to kiss the sassy brunette in the white blouse and the rumpled blue skirt. He had smiled a lot since joining Piper in the back seat. He had found her petulance and sense of humor as intoxicating as her pert nose and deep blue eyes.

He brushed back her hair, kissed her soft lips again, and tried to get comfortable when he heard someone pound repeatedly on the foggy driver's side window. Slowly, reluctantly, and with some irritation, he sat up, reached for the handle, and rolled down the window. He needed only a second to identify the awful people who had interrupted a beautiful moment.

"Hello," Sally Warner said. She stepped in front of Wayne Bridges, stuck her head through the open window, and grinned. "We're just checking to make sure everything is OK."

Ben stared at Sally.

"Everything is OK."

"That's good. We heard that some lecherous seniors were in the area and wanted to make sure that none had troubled my good friend," Sally said. She glanced at Piper and widened her grin. "Has anyone troubled my good friend?"

Piper sat up, looked at Sally, and raised a brow.

"You mean in the last thirty seconds?"

Sally laughed.

"Yes!"

"Then I can safely say that someone has," Piper said.

"I'm sorry if we interrupted anything," Sally said. She smiled. "We just couldn't pass up the opportunity to say hello and tell you that we were going to the concession stand."

"I'm so glad you did," Piper said.

Ben looked at Wayne and saw him shrug. He didn't have to guess who was behind the couple's decidedly untimely visit.

"Can we get you anything?" Sally asked.

"Yes," Piper said. "Get me some privacy. It's on the candy shelf."

Sally grinned.

"I'll look for it. I hear it's hard to find, but I'll look for it."

Piper laughed.

"You do that."

"I will," Sally said. She waved. "Toodle-oo, you two."

Ben rolled up the window as Sally and Wayne left the scene and walked toward a gray cinder-block building about fifty yards away. A moment later, he returned to his seat, his date, and a situation that had once seemed so promising. He smiled at the lovely disheveled woman at his side.