Authors: Jennifer Smith
“No,” Zula screamed. “What is wrong with you people? Who are you and why are you doing this?” She screamed as loudly as she could but it seemed no one heard her. Or if they did, they certainly paid no attention.
She hung by bound hands and feet to a thin log, with the ends on the shoulders of two very large men who carried her to, well, wherever they were going. Zula hadn’t a clue what was going on or why. She didn’t feel like herself either, and as she glanced around at the crowd, they weren’t dressed like they were twenty-first century Americans, unless they were in some play that required dressing up like Quakers or something similar. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it.
“Drown the witch!”
“Drown her!”
“Witch, witch, witch! Drown the witch!”
Zula could hear the crowd chanting and for the first time, she realized they were talking about her. She was the witch and they were taking her to Miller’s pond to toss her in. She knew this story because great-grandmother Zula was drowned, hanged, and burned at the stake for “laws against nature”. That was ancient history. How could Zula be in the middle of witch trials that had been over for nearly two hundred years?
“Be careful,” a voice whispered in Zula’s ear. “Be careful my daughter. You were warned.”
“Great-grandmother Zula,” she whispered. “Is this what you were warning me about? Grandmother?” There was no answer to her plea.
~ * ~
“What the heck is going on here?” Connor came to his feet, looking around. “And exactly
where
is here?”
Brushing himself off, Connor glanced around. He was in a meadow and in the distance, he could hear people shouting. He headed toward the voices, hoping to find some information that would help him get back home. Or explain why he wasn’t home right now. The voices were getting closer, and Connor picked up the pace to a jog. He had to find out what had happened to him. It wasn’t long before he could see a pond and the crowd getting closer to it.
“What are they do…?” It was then he saw the woman hanging on the pole between to large men. She was tied at the wrists and ankles, and it appeared they were going to throw her in the water.
“Hey!” Connor shouted, but no one paid attention. He broke into a run, hoping to help the woman, and as he approached the men, he could see the woman’s face. A face he knew all too well. Zula’s.
“Connor, help me,” she shouted, her eyes boring into his. “Help me!”
He ran faster but he wasn’t fast enough. The men set Zula on the grass at the pond’s edge, repositioned their hands and then picked her up and began to swing her back and forth. Then they let her go and she landed in the middle of the pond with a huge splash. Connor followed her in.
Swimming to the middle of the pond, Connor dove under, then, after a few moments, he came up for air. He took a deep breath and dove again. Finally, he found the pole with Zula attached and put his arm around her waist and pulled her to the surface. Zula gagged and choked, trying to fill her lungs with air. Connor pulled her to the shallows and began cutting her ties. It was then that the crowd stormed the pair and dragged them both out of the water to the grass. Connor and Zula were tied, and both were dragged to the town square.
“What is going on?” Connor shouted, still fighting against the hold a group of men had on him.
“I can’t tell you right now,” Zula sputtered. “I don’t know anything.”
Finally, they were thrown into a jail cell together and the door was locked. “Here, let me try to get the ropes off of you.” Conner pulled on the ropes and finally was able to untie Zula. Then she began working on his until she managed to remove the ropes around his hands and feet.
“I’m so sorry,” she told him. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t hold back the tears.
“It’ll be all right,” Connor said, pulling her close and holding her. “I don’t understand any of this. I was home in bed and started feeling sick and then I wound up here. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Zula sniffled and finally stopped crying enough to wipe her face on one sleeve. She looked up at him and took a deep breath, and blew it out. “You know my great-grandmother was a witch and suffered greatly at the hands of the villagers in her day. She told me to be careful and I didn’t listen, and now, for some reason, I’ve been pulled back in time in her place.
“She was the only one to survive being drowned, hanged, and burned at the stake. Now that you’ve rescued me from drowning, I’ll be hanged and burned at the stake unless we find some way to get back home.”
“I hope you’ll understand if I think this is all bull.”
“Then you explain how you’re here in a time not your own, with a woman who was being drowned for the crime of witchcraft?”
Connor looked away from her and perused his surroundings for a few moments. “I, uh,” he cleared his throat. “I can’t.”
“Me either. I didn’t know time travel was part and parcel of what was handed down to me from grandma Zula. Have you, uh, this is going to sound off the wall, but have you had any dreams with me in them that seem rather, well, too real?”
Connor looked at her for a moment and then grinned. “Yes, actually, I have.”
“Really fantastic sex dreams?”
Connor laughed out loud. “Yes. Really incredible sex dreams. Nothing like I’ve ever done in real life.”
“Me too. And I think that we are connected at the soul level and always have been. We belong to one another in this lifetime and in every other lifetime.”
“I don’t believe in that soul mate type thing.”
“Really? How’s your belief in time travel?”
“You got me there.” He picked up a small stick and made little drawings in the dirt floor. “Do you know how we can get out of this before you wind up on fire?”
“I don’t know.” Zula wiped her face again. “This is all new to me as much as it is to you.”
“Hey,” Connor cupped her face with one hand. “Don’t look so sad, we’ll figure something out.” He looked deeply into her eyes, then licked his lips as he bent in and rushed his lips over hers. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest so her breasts crushed against him. He took the kiss deeper, until he felt her body give in to his, then he pulled back slowly, carefully, and looked into her eyes.
“This feels familiar,” he said softly, and then kissed her again.
“It does to me too,” she said with a smile and kissed him back. “Don’t stop now.”
He held her and kissed her like he’d never kissed another woman before. And maybe he hadn’t. Maybe they were soul mates and she’d been his and he had been hers through every lifetime. Maybe that’s why he had the dream of her, he knew her that well in every lifetime, making love to her was easy.
“One question.” Zula pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Why did you never try to kiss me or sleep with me after all those dates?”
“I wanted to, I just didn’t want to jump into anything too fast and ruin it. I know that hot fires burn out quick and I knew the first time I ever saw you that it would definitely be a hot fire. I was hoping to get to know you a little better before we began having sex.”
“Good answer.” Zula laughed and wrapped her eyes around him while her lips came to meet his. The world began to tilt and swirl around them, and then it was suddenly very quiet and they landed with a thud. Opening their eyes, they were in Zula’s house, with Thad rubbing against them.
“We’re home!” Zula said.
“Yes. Yes, we are,” Connor said. “Now, take me upstairs to your room so you can show me you did in those dreams.”
Zula laughed and gathered up her skirts. “I guess you’ll just have to catch me.” She leaped to her feet and headed upstairs with Connor right behind her.
Thad meowed loudly. “Oh come one, you silly cat. Let me find a can of tuna for you while my granddaughter and her man hammer out a few details.”
~ End ~