Chapter 8

Elizabeth, exasperated, came around the corner and saw Buzz Hackett sitting stricken in the drawing room, Roger standing over him, looking guilty.

"What on earth are these loud noises, Roger?" she demanded.

"I don't believe it," Buzz wailed, clutching a small, thin book to his chest.

"We've just been glancing over the TV Guide for this week," Roger explained, his eyes wide, "and Mr. Hackett has realized that he is, indeed, here with us in 1971, rather than in 1967, as he had at first understood."

Elizabeth blinked, nonplussed.

"What? Of course it is 1971. I don't know what the two of you are getting up to around here," Elizabeth tossed fiery eyes at Roger, "but if you are quite finished consulting the afternoon programming of Star Trek reruns, I'd like to talk with you about your son."

"Reruns!" cried Buzz, violently twisting around to stare at Elizabeth. "Oh, no! You don't get reruns unless you've been cancelled! You're kidding me, Star Trek? Oh, what kind of world am I in?"

Roger told his sister indignantly, "I'm trying to find out about my son right this minute, but we could hardly proceed without knowing where we are—I mean, what year we are in." Roger quickly sat near Buzz and looked him in the face.

"Buzz, think. Did you see my son on the other side, where you come from? His name is David, and he went missing, supposedly after playing with that damnable dumbwaiter. He's a little boy. That is—well, he's thirteen now. Can you go back there and get him? Can I?"

Buzz looked at Roger tiredly. "I'm really sorry, man, but I don't know any David Collins. I didn't see anybody. I wish I'd never gone near that frigging dumbwaiter."

"Buzz," Roger blurted suddenly, "what month is this?"

"Month?" Buzz asked. "It's March. It's March—fourteenth, I think. Yeah, that's right, because this is Tuesday and Elly's birthday is Thursday. That's my niece. So, today's the fourteenth." He looked up at his interlocutor with some urgency. "Right?"

"Roger," Elizabeth muttered worriedly. Roger looked from Elizabeth to Buzz.

"Well, now, Buzz," Roger told him heartily, "It's summer over here on our side. Today is the twenty-third, I think—of June. It's Wednesday, June twenty-third, nineteen seventy-one."

"It is? Christ! Who's president? No, don't tell me, I don't wanna know! We still in Vietnam?"

"Ah, we are," Roger affirmed unhappily. "Look. Would you be willing to go into the dumbwaiter and see if you can find my son? Perhaps he is lost over there in your time, or—caught. Stuck." Roger's eyes began to fill. "He's been gone at least a day and a half now, and nobody knows what's going on. I am praying that perhaps if you venture back over there, he can return to us. … I don't know how all of this otherworldly mischief is supposed to work." Roger stood, and stepped away from Buzz. He closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. His sister came to him and put a gentle hand on his back.

"I suppose I'd better find Barnabas," Roger whispered, trying to swallow his tears. "He had mentioned that he was going to get into the dumbwaiter and see what came of it—"

"Don't you go into that room," Elizabeth warned.

"No, no. We haven't heard anything from upstairs, so I gather that David's not been located. Oh, Liz. Liz! I don't know what to do."

At that moment they heard the front door open, and Maggie entered with Dr. Veronika Liska.

"Maggie!" exclaimed Elizabeth. "You look much better! How are you feeling?"

Maggie smiled helplessly at Elizabeth and Roger. "I'm fine, much better, thank you. But I still don't understand what happened to me. Julia and Dr. Liska say that I was struck with a fever nearly the minute I got home? I don't remember a moment of it. I must have caught something on the plane! Mrs. Stoddard, I'm terribly sorry that this happened."

"Good heavens, think nothing of it, Maggie! I'm only glad you're restored to us once again."

"And David," Maggie exclaimed worriedly. "Is he still missing? Julia helped me remember that when I was in the hospital. Still no sign of him?"

"I'm afraid not," Roger confirmed.

Buzz Hackett came shambling out of the drawing room behind Roger, and Maggie noticed him.

"I beg your pardon—you have a guest," Maggie observed. "Dr. Liska and I didn't mean to interrupt!" Roger and Veronika smiled at one another across the foyer.

"Nonsense. This is Mr. Buzz Hackett, and he's been spending a little time with us. Anyway, we are all headed upstairs now to see whether we can find David."

"You believe, then, that he is somewhere in the house?" Maggie asked as she, Roger, Elizabeth, Buzz and Dr. Liska all mounted the stairs together.

"After a fashion. Well, I'm afraid it's a long story," Roger finished. Without further talk, the party took its way to the east wing room where the dumbwaiter was. Elizabeth tried to prevent Roger from entering, but he would not be deterred.

"Coming into this room isn't going to make me sick, Liz. I think Barnabas has practically isolated the problem to one of these dratted afghans. Anyway, we can test his theory now by my coming in here. And anyway, there is a doctor present." He smiled tiredly at his fiancée. The group had just filed into the room when they found themselves joined by Hallie and Elliot Stokes.

"I heard him at the front door," Hallie explained. "My uncle wants to help."

"I do, indeed," Elliot affirmed, stepping into the dumbwaiter room. "And who is this young man?" he asked, scrutinizing Buzz.

Roger introduced the two men and tried to explain Buzz's presence.

"I guess you could say I came out of the dumbwaiter," Buzz told them, "straight from Dumbwaitersville. But there's something really screwed up about it all, man, because on my side it's like 1967 and you are all trying to tell me that it's 1971 over here."

"Where are Barnabas and Julia, I wonder?" fretted Elizabeth as Elliot stared at Buzz. "I thought that we would find them working here."

The group milled about the room. Elizabeth took her brother aside and urged him to look around the east wing, to see whether Julia and Barnabas were somewhere near.

"Meanwhile," stated Dr. Liska firmly as Roger stalked off, "come away, Maggie. You've barely recovered and I don't want to chance your being exposed again to whatever this thing is—until the dumbwaiter itself has been ruled out as the source of contagion, let's err on the side of safety." Maggie looked apologetically about the room and started to leave with the doctor. But Roger's return stopped them.

"Veronika," he groaned, taking her by the arm. He put out his other hand to Maggie. Both women focused on him with concern. He looked incredulous and very pale.

"Oh, no! Sick again?" Veronika cried, putting one hand up to Roger's brow.

All the blood had drained from Roger's face, but he shook his head.

"There's a—" he stopped and swallowed. Then he looked into Veronika's eyes.

Elizabeth had hurried forward. "Oh, Roger, what is it!?" she cried.

Her brother turned to her.

"Liz," he murmured. "There's a—a young woman asleep in the next room. I've never seen her before."