3

Tim Shaw spurred the horses down Main Street as he returned Amanda to Tate's studio. The two-story cottage was set back from the street and seemed hidden behind the apple trees in the front yard as he took her hand and headed to the door. They rapped hard on the white oak door and listened for stirring inside. Amanda gasped nervously suspecting Tate to have taken off, but yet she was a bit surprised as he answered the door.

"Mr. Shaw," Tate grinned as if nothing had happened. "What a surprise."

"You're not surprised at all." Tim grinned cockily as he escorted Amanda back to this house to inspect her accusations of what had happened here.

"Mr. Tate, you know why I'm here. Amanda," He turned to her. "Come on in, nothing's going to hurt you here."

"I don't know why anything should happen to anyone as pretty as Mrs. Harris." Tate pretended to continue painting.

"The last time she was here, she saw you create a man."

"She saw me do what?" Tate chortled unconvincingly.

"She saw a sketch you drew come to life."

William listened from the closet he had been tossed in. He had had weird dreams before of secret agents and costumed heroes and extremely beautiful women, but never before anything close to this. The realism was astonishing, the surrealism... Was missing. Usually he could will himself into the Batman to go jumping over rooftops or fly through the air as some Man of Steel, but this, like most every other dream he'd ever had before was more real than anything he thought he'd ever experienced. His clothes, the things in this closet, they were older and more out of date than anything he'd ever imagined and the detail! The bottom of the closet was cluttered with boxes of blank canvases and paint-encrusted rags and all sorts manner of debris. He wondered what his old camp counselor Angus MacGyver would do as he checked the doorknob. Seconds later, the door was yanked open. The man with the gun looked like family physician Doctor Timothy Shaw but a much younger version of him. The same woman as before screamed.

"That's the man," She insisted. "That's the man he created!" She began weeping.

"You really created him?" Shaw asked.

"Yes."

"The way you created her?"

"Yes." Tate admitted again.

"How'd you do it?" Shaw blindly waved the gun. "What happens?"

"I don't know, it just happens." Tate answered as Shaw grinned to William.

"Draw me one." Shaw gripped William's arm tightly. Still feeling a bit of the pangs of his illness, William looked around and tried to think. He wasn't sure if he liked or understood what was occurring.

"Draw me one right now!" Shaw insisted.

"I can't!" Tate dramatically turned away. "I'm not going to draw anymore."

"Maybe not now, but think of the possibilities…" Shaw glanced over Amanda silently weeping.

"I'm thinking of the possibilities and it terrifies me." Tate looked back.

"Well, it doesn't terrify me." Shaw grinned as the opportunist he was.

"In fact, it rather intrigues me. This creature here fascinates me. In fact, if you don't draw me one, I'll have to take this one with me."

"No!"

"Yes!" Shaw waved again with the gun as William reacted. Remembering enough of his sister's self-defense movements and how she practiced on him without his permission, he grabbed Shaw and flipped him over. Amanda started screaming once more as he raced for the door and ran out with shots being fired. He tossed over a picture behind him as he ran for daylight, jumped over a hedge and ran harder than he'd ever done before. Shaw pushed Tate aside and chased after him.

Dodging carriages and men dragging carts, William hesitated. What happened to the town! Dirt streets, the buildings looked newer, old buildings he had watched ripped down were back. The Collinsport Historical Society was back into a one-story courthouse. All the women wore long skirts and the men were in old-fashioned period clothing. None of them bothered to notice him as he ran through the middle of town.

Shaw fired at him as he ducked. Charging down the middle of the street, he wanted to try to follow his instinct to return to the Old House, but first he had to avoid getting shot at by Dr. Shaw's grandfather. Knocking over displays of fruit and merchandise among the storefronts, he tried to lose the younger Shaw with the gun. He finally removed the jacket binding him and threw it away as he saw the old wrought iron fire escape in the alley next to Trask Mortuary. He jumped up and remembered climbing this to look at girls from the roof with his cousins Jamison and J.R. and started ascending up to the flat roof. Tim Shaw was a few steps behind as he climbed up after him. William wondered where he was as he realized the building next door proved to be missing. It hadn't been built yet.

"Okay you..." Shaw reached the roof. "Come along and I..."

"Say hello to Batman!" William grabbed some barrel hoops and threw them like Frisbees as Shaw jumped for the roof to miss them. The gun skidded from his hand as he looked up. He watched the artificial young man he had been chasing take a running leap and jump off the three-story roof!

William grabbed the banner strung across the street announcing the Summer Days Festival and rode it to the street below. His weight ripped through it as it slowed his descent enough to keep him from breaking his legs. The landing nearly knocked the wind out of him though as strangers looked oddly toward him and tried to ignore the spectacle. Dodging another carriage, William took off down another alley and entered on Parker Street beyond Main Street. He slowed down trying to catch his breath trying to be inconspicuous. He leaned back to one of the buildings and looked around trying to restrain his racing breath. Ahead of him, he watched another man in period dress dump a newspaper into a public wastebasket and went to retrieve it. He checked the date...

"August 5, 1897."

"1897!" He screamed out loud and got a few looks. He tried to think as he began wandering. He looked behind him carefully as Shaw emerged from the alley with the gun. Looking for someone running away from his sudden arrival, he didn't think to check the young man strolling and reading the paper down the street from him.

"Think, Collins, think..." William mumbled to himself. 1897! Somehow, someway, he was back in time. What was there now? Judith Collins was in custody of Collinwood now after the death of her grandmother, the widow of Gabriel Collins. Her older brother was Edward, Uncle David and Aunt Carrie's great grandfather. There was also the youngest son Carl and Benjamin Collins who was off at college during these events. And then there was...

Quentin! Uncle Quentin's ancestor! According to his Uncle Quentin, he, his mother and father would be here with Aunt Julia from the present trying to solve the secret that kept his uncle's ancestor haunting the estate in 1968. He once thought it was a wild story his uncle had told him to scare him, but Quentin had always insisted it was true. It had to be. It was his only chance. Somehow, it all almost tied together except for a few things. They had used the so-called stairway through time in the basement, but then, how'd he get here? He hadn't used any so-called staircase. Either way, he had to get to Collinwood. He had to think up a cover story to get him in unless he could find either of his parents and convince them, but could he be sure the tales of his Uncle Quentin were true? He looked across the street and saw a familiar face. Her face suddenly proved all those crazy stories his Uncle Quentin told were true!

"Mom!" William raced across the street to Angelique Bouchard. She was also dressed in the period and leaving the drugstore with a parcel at a inconspicuous pace. "Mom!"

"Excuse me," She looked at him with an odd look. "But I believe you have me confused with someone else!"

"No, mom, it's me!" He looked at her. "I traveled back too from the future!" She just scoffed and ignored him.

"Mom, please," He insisted as he told her about herself. "Your ancestor was Angelique Miranda DuVal. Your husband is Barnabas Collins. You hate Halloween and love cooking. You..."

Something struck a cord in the opportunistic white witch and she whirled back intriguingly. The things he said, the things he implied. She stared into the young man's strange brown eyes as her mind reached out to her spirit guides and his own ungated memories. She suddenly felt a barrage of memories she was yet to experience and joys she wanted to have. In dream-like images, she saw herself giving birth, singing with motherly love and happily married to her Barnabas! It was too incredible and too unlikely for her to accept, but she wanted to accept it and experience it for herself! Her hands reached to his collar to see if he was real and felt a necklace underneath. A gold necklace exactly like the one she was wearing now! That was her proof! She was unconsciously linking to her future self and rising in hysterical joy to see everything she wanted coming true and what she needed to do to get there! Her heart felt heavy as pang of joyful emotion charged through it.

"William!" Her voice uttered as tears fell from her eyes. "My... my... I have a son!" She gripped him tightly as tears of joy rolled down her face...