their breath.
Crammer continued to dog me, trying to get the ball.
I ran for the hoop, bouncing the ball. He tripped me from behind. I went down hard but held onto the ball.
Gunfire, mortar exploding all around us.
I stood, still holding the ball under my arm.
We were cut off in the jungle. I was a medic, working on a wounded soldier. More gunfire from the edge of the clearing, Kabilis went down, bleeding bad.
“Brindley!” Crammer said. “Come on.” He tried to swat the ball from my arm.
I passed it behind myself, to my other hand.
We fought the Viet Cong all night, losing three of our men, plus six wounded. What happened to Kabilis?
I tossed the ball to Crammer and went toward the bleachers, where I sat with my head in my hands.
“Charley.” The coach sat beside me. “You okay?”
No, something’s wrong with me.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Johnson,” the coach said. “Bring that exercise pad. I think Charley better lie down for a few minutes.”
Pad? iPad! That blue doctor, in the hospital, said there was an iPad in the loft of a round barn.
The bell rang for the end of the class. The school day was over.
“You sure you’re all right?”
“I’m good, Coach.” I stood. “Don’t worry. I was just…um…thinking about my Spanish assignment.”
On the sidewalk, I waited for the bus, trying to sort out my thoughts.
So many weird things. Some guy in a hospital room, dressed in a light blue suit. He’s the one who told me about the iPad in the loft of the round barn. An iPad is a computer. What’s a computer?
Someone came to stand behind me. I glanced around; Crammer.
I hope he starts something about his place in line. This time, he’ll be the one on the ground.
“Where did you learn to play basketball?”
In the Marines, I wanted to say. Wait a minute; I was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force. How did I get in the Marines, and in Vietnam? Where the heck is Vietnam? Oh, yeah. Southeast Asia.
“Um, I’ve got four brothers. We play ball in the backyard.”
“You going out for the team?”
“I don’t know.”
I saw Patsy and Melody come out the double doors of the school building. I waved to them. They waved back, smiling.
Crammer turned that way. “Friends of yours?”His expression looked like he’d just gotten a whiff of something rotten.
“Yeah,” I said. “They are.” I walked toward the girls. “You can have my place in line,” I said over my shoulder.
“Hey,” Patsy said.
“Hi. Which bus do you girls ride?”
“Um…three,” Melody said. “But we walk home.”
“How far is it?” I asked.
“About two miles.”
“That’s a long walk.”
“Better than riding the bus,” Patsy said.
I looked toward the place where bus number three would pull up. Ember stood in line, talking to Henry Witt.
“Let me guess,” I said, “Ember and her gang like to serenade you on the bus?”
Patsy nodded.
The four school buses pulled up, and the kids began to file on.
“I’ve got to get home to start on my chores,” I said.
“Don’t forget lunch,” Melody said.
“Right. See you two in the bleachers tomorrow.”
I found Mom in the kitchen, working on supper. I kissed her cheek.
“How was school today?”
“Good. Very good.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “I’m going to start on chores. I have a lot of homework tonight.”
“I thought you hated homework?”
“I have some interesting assignments. History and poetry.”
She stared at me for a moment, then smiled. “Can you gather some eggs for me?”
“Sure.”
I grabbed the egg basket and headed outside. On the porch steps, I stopped to look across the backyard, past the clothesline and beyond the blacksmith shop. There stood our barn. It was huge because Dad stored a lot of hay for the winter. It was also different than most barns; it was round.
How’d that blue doctor know about our round barn? And if there really is an iPad in the loft, everything just got a lot weirder.
In the barn, I climbed the ladder.
Wow, tons of hay.
I glanced around the huge loft.
Surely, they left me a clue; otherwise, I’ll never find it.
Lots of old harnesses hung on the walls. Cobwebs everywhere.
Spiders have been at work here for decades.
An old coal oil lantern, broken doubletree, leather mule collar stuffed with straw…all covered in dust and cobwebs.
Wait a minute.
I waded through the hay to the lantern. It was perfectly clean; no dust, no spider webs.
That hasn’t been here very long. A lantern lighting the way?
I cleared the hay, down to the floorboards–and there it was: A cardboard box, just about the right size. And two more boxes.
Inside the first one, I found an iPad.
I sat back against the wall, stunned.
That guy at the hospital, he said I’d find the computer here.
So, that was a dream?
I was seventy-nine years old, dying. He knew I’d end up here, my home when I was fourteen. I’m in my body as a teenager, but I have all my memories and knowledge of seventy-nine years!
This
