Chapter 2
The trip begins
Kitty waited. It was soon 2000 hours, but neither Jim or Amelia came. Then, she saw a shadow. It was Jim.
"Well! It's about time," Kitty said. "You made it with a few minutes to spare."
"I just don't want to get in trouble… like Amelia," Jim said.
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.
"Well, she said that she wasn't going to come with you."
"Oh, really?" Kitty said. She snapped her fingers and a rather large tiger came out from the tree. "Now, watch Jim, while I fetch the Captain," she said. Then she walked over to the Dopplers house. She rang the door bell, and the puppy boy opened the door.
"Get your mother, right now, or all hell is going to break loose," Kitty said.
"MOM! IT'S FOR YOU!" the boy yelled.
"What are you yelling for, Benjamin?" the feline said. Then she saw Kitty. Kitty´s stare made Amelia feel no more than three centimeters high.
Delbert, as if summoned, appeared, carrying her bag. "Here are your things, Amelia," he said. The kids then hugged their mother and Delbert gave her a quick kiss. Then he showed her out the door.
"But…" began Amelia but the door closed.
"I do hope you are ready for a long journey," Kitty said. Then she grabbed Amelia's tender ear and dragged her down to the oak tree.
"Ouch! OK, OK! I promise to go along nicely! Please just let go of my ear," Amelia begged.
"Nope," Kitty said. "You didn't listen to me, and now you have to face the painful consequences. It's not my problem that you didn't want to listen."
When Jim saw Amelia being drug along by her ear, he laughed softly. "It's so weird to see you being the weak one, Amelia," he said.
"Kindly shut it, Mr. Hawkins," Amelia said while Kitty was still was holding her by the ear.
"Have we learned our lesson?" she asked and pulled Amelia down by her ear until she went down on her knees.
"Quite! Yes, we have!" Amelia said.
"Good," Kitty said and finally let go of her ear. Amelia quickly felt her ear to see if it still was in one piece.
"Now to get to my world," Kitty said. "We must do one thing." She moved aside one of the branches of the tree. On the tree behind that branch was a sign like a hand. Kitty laid her hand on it, and soon they heard a voice. "DNA match positive. Welcome, Kitty Petro."
Then a portal much like the one on Treasure Planet appeared there. "We must walk through into the portal," Kitty said and looked at both Amelia and Jim. They looked back at her, then looked at each other and stepped through the portal.
Once through the portal, Kitty led them to a big room. It was enormous… five times the size of any football stadium. There was a stair that went up where there were millions or billions of doors. In the middle of the room there was a statue. One that made both Jim and Amelia stare. It was a six meters high statue of Amelia in her Captain's uniform (Except for the hat) with her hands clasped behind her back. Kitty smiled as Jim noticed. That was a rare smile.
Amelia just whistled. "That's some statue," she said.
"Look down there… at the foot of the statue," Kitty said and pointed a finger to a plate located there. On it was a little poem, which read:
I hate the way you talk to me
And the way you cut your hair
I hate the way you drive my car
I hate it when you stare
I hate your big dumb combat boots
And the way you read my mind
I hate you so much it makes me sick
It even makes me rhyme
I hate the way your allways rigth
I hate it when you lie
I hate it when you make me laugh
Even worse when you make me cry
I hate you when you are not around
And the fact that you did´nt call
But mostly i hate the way i dont hate you
Not even close
Not even a little bit at all
"What does all that mean?" Amelia asked.
"That you must let the past be the past, and that not all those you hate are all bad," Kitty said.
"Like who, for example?" Amelia asked.
Kitty simply whistled and soon a person stood by her side. Amelia scowled and went quiet. But Jim whispered low: "Silver?"
"Aye, lad," Silver said. "Just here on a visit from the future."
Then another person appeared seemingly from nowhere. It was Amelia, well… another Amelia.
"Three years today," the other Amelia said. "Three years since I arrived here. Oh, and by the way," she said moving over next to Silver. "Tag! You´re it!" she then pushed him gently and ran for her life.
"Ah, now… that's hardly fair, Amelia lass," Silver said and ran after her.
"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" Jim asked.
"Yep! They're playing 'tag'," Kitty said.
"They're what? How? Amelia asked quietly and watched Silver jump on her future self and tickle her.
"I got those two to become friends," Kitty said. "You will see soon enough how," she continued before Amelia asked how again. She whistled yet again, and soon the future Amelia and Silver came over by her side. "Amelia, take these two to their room. Silver, you can do whatever you please." Future Amelia dragged both Jim and Amelia up the stairs.