"It was a dream, Stickers. You know that..."
Sally reached across the table and rest her hand over his, meeting his gaze with concern.
"Yeah." He muttered. "I do." Looking away, he brushed his free hand beneath his nose and leaned back in the chair of the kitchen table before regarding her quietly for a moment. "I kind of wish it weren't..."
"If only life were that simple, right?" She squeezed his hand, getting up from the table as she collected their glasses to refill their drinks. She attempted to sway the topic in another direction, asking how the flights had been, how had the hotel service been. Did he recognize anyone from the talk show studio they'd recorded in?
And she loved him, she loved that he did his best to take her lead. He answered her questions, in detail, and not just short or distracted answers. He was invested in the conversation, truly wanting her to know that he wasn't just offering up words she wanted to hear.
It crept back in as soon as there was a lull in the conversation, though. Try as they might, it always came back.
"I thought it was supposed to get easier with time." Lightning passed a hand over the back of his neck and then leaned his elbows on the table, clasping his hands in front of him.
"In a perfect world." She shrugged one shoulder, only able to provide a sympathetic half grin.
"But what if you could-"
"I know what your answer to that question is, but the real question is if it were possible, should you?"
"It's 2019, Sal. We're no closer to that kind of science than when Doc was my age."
"There might be a reason for that."
"We've been to the moon, and sent rovers to Mars and have pictures of galaxies-"
"That's physical science, Lightning. Those are all tangible things-...this...this is time-"
"You know legalities-"
"Of the American justice system, not horology."
"Excuse me?"
She sighed and pressed her fingertips to her forehead. "The study of time. Horology, is the study of the measurement of time..."
There was a brief silence between them before Lightning spoke again.
"Studying a clock has a name..."
She cracked a smile, and shook her head fondly before continuing. "This isn't the movies."
"It might as well be."
Sally sighed, pulling her hair up because she knew it would be a furnace outside, and kissed his cheek before gathering her things. "Don't spend too much time on Google."
"Who uses Google, it's all Bing these days."
"I love you." She patted his shoulder. "But I draw the line there. In this house, we use Google."
For hours he searched the internet, something had to be out there somewhere.
It was well past midnight when he somehow found himself on a private messaging board. He'd done a lot of fake profile creating to get that to work, but it was just like creating another email for a free trial of Netflix, right? All he'd been able to follow was that those currently online were discussing probabilities, factors, and unknown variables. None of it made any sense to him but they seemed to know what they were talking about. He'd watched the conversation in silence until the question was posed, if a prototype were actually to be built, who would be the test subject?
He decided to try his hand at it. Typing a response and sending before he had the chance to back out. Biting his lip, he muttered when the forum went completely silent.
"Come on..."
Finally someone was typing.
You've only been in this chat for an hour, how do we know you're not with authorities?
Authorities? What kind of question was that?
He stared at the screen a moment, brow furrowed and hands rested on the keyboard before he replied.
I would just like a chance to experience it.
Don't we all?
He supposed they had him there, he could plead and beg but he really had nothing to offer.
He'd looked up the profiles of some of those present in the chat, MIT grads, engineers, physicists with any number of qualifications he didn't understand. There was nothing he could help with.
Lightning glanced back up at the previous messages. He wasn't the authorities, far from it, but if they were afraid of publicity they couldn't exactly approach a bank...
I believe you're in need of a sponsor.
He'd never hide something like that from Sally, and she'd told him she didn't believe some guys he met in an internet chat room were building a time machine.
"I don't like this." She shook her head, sitting in his car with him at the butte. "But you're a grown man. You can make your own decisions."
"If it's a smooth test run, you can come with me next time."
He could tell that piqued her interest, and she finally grinned in his direction. "Really get to see this place in its heyday..."
That excitement was short lived, though, and her expression became concerned once more. "Stickers, you can't jump back and forth to different time periods and not have some kind of repercussions..."
"These guys have it all figured out. I don't really understand it all, but I don't have to know the specifics, just follow the rules they give me."
"I can expect to get you back at least, right?"
He leaned over to give her a quick kiss. "Of course you'll get me back."
"So I just have to keep this on me at all times?"
It looked like a small remote, or more like the key fob to a vehicle. It seemed straight forward enough. Lightning turned it in his hands, brows lowering at the tumbler style lock system on the side.
"Month. Day. Year." A young man pointed out, he couldn't have even been in his mid twenties. "The other side is coordinates, once both are set, press the green button."
"Coordinates." Lightning echoed skeptically. "You expect me to-"
"We've taken the liberty to preset them." A second child piped up. "You told us where you wanted to go on these different test runs, so all you have to do, is enter the predetermined locations." He held out a small card with a list of places Lightning had mentioned wanting to visit. All he had to do was enter a number, one through five that were labeled on the card.
"Am I allowed to talk to anyone...touch anything?"
"It's 2019, Mr. McQueen-"
Why was it always Mr?
"-that has been figured in to the equation."
He blinked a few times when there was no further explanation and gestured vaguely. "And?"
"And he means-" The other explained. "Without actually explaining himself, that once you've reset the date and press the green button, you essentially erase whatever just happened while you were in that moment of time. It will revert back to whatever events had originally taken place."
Lightning stared at the fob in his hand, a smile spreading slowly. "That's incredible."
"We do have doctorates in our fields of study."
"Yet you're probably fifth on my list of doctors I'd trust my life with."
"The first?" He was questioned sarcastically.
With a wide grin, Lightning double checked the card in his hand to make sure the location was correct and gave a mock solute as he stepped to the side where he'd been instructed to stand during the test runs.
"I'm about to go see him."
He was afraid to open his eyes. Lightning could tell he was no longer in some kid's mock up of a lab, but he wasn't sure where he was.
There was a breeze, he could tell that much...it rustled pleasantly through the trees and combated the effects of the sun as it beat down. Finally chancing a look in either direction, he looked up and down the road he suddenly found himself standing on.
They couldn't have programmed it a little better...?
He should probably just be grateful it had worked, and he wasn't spread across the galaxy in a million pieces...
He'd dressed as plainly as possible, hoping that wherever he might end up, at any given time, he'd be able to blend in. The last thing he needed were a bunch of questions he couldn't answer.
It struck him suddenly as he started down the road, that what money he had wouldn't be acceptable here, if this had actually worked.
All he had was the shirt on his back...
"I didn't think this through very well..."
He continued walking, keeping to the shoulder of the road and in the shade as the afternoon sun beat down. More than once someone had slowed beside him to ask if he wanted a ride, even a farmer on a tractor had motioned if he needed help. He'd declined each time, so used to the rule of thumb back home that it was just safer not to accept a ride from strangers.
It had to have been at least an hour, but coming over a small ridge, Lightning hesitated briefly before starting again. He'd been here before, he recognized this stretch of road, though it certainly hadn't looked like this at the time.
The roadsides were manicured, tree branches swaying gently in the breeze and speckled shadows dancing along in time. Wrought iron lamp posts dotted the walkways of the community he could see further up the road. The sign over the building closer to him, and set a little out of town, was brightly painted in comparison to how he knew it.
The Cotter Pin.
He brushed his palms on his jeans, biting back his own nervousness and took a deep breath as he continued down the sloping road.
The closer he got to town, the more real it all became. Cars passing were certainly not of the current styles, distant chatter mixed with the sounds of town. He couldn't distractedly check the time on a cell phone he hadn't brought with him, so he instead looked at the fob he played with in his hand.
Thomasville, 1952...
He shoved the fob in his pocket when he heard a group of people noisily exit the establishment he'd only ever visited once, and his gaze suddenly rested on a dark Hudson pick-up parked to the side. The driver's side window was rolled down, and the driver spoke to someone leaning over the door.
Lightning had taken a seat on a wooden bench in front of The Pin and watched from a safe distance. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he looked in the direction of town, studying the truck as best he could. There was no way that could be anyone other than Smokey. Even decades younger, his tone and mannerisms didn't seem to have changed much.
Which meant the man with his back to Lightning was most likely Doc...
Lightning had rehearsed. Over and over again, he had practiced what he would say in a situation like this. Heart pounding, he brushed his palms on his jeans again and stood up. Everything he'd ever planned to say had left him, impulse taking over.
"-can't get in this week at all."
"I can skip a week."
"You say that now."
Realizing he'd been noticed, Lightning inclined his head faintly in response to Smokey, who had met his gaze before gesturing to the other and motioning toward him.
He was so young, painfully young, as he turned to face Lightning with a questioning look.
"I uh-" He cleared his throat awkwardly, everything he'd intended to say had fled and he said the first thing he could think of. "I'm just passing through, was hoping to find a place to stay a few days."
The Hudson brothers looked toward each other before both commenting at the same time.
"There's the hotel."
"Hotel's just up the road."
Lightning nodded, unsure what else to do, afraid he might be staring...
"I don't really have a car..."
"I'll take you."
Lightning blinked a few times, watching as such a young version of his mentor slapped the driver's side door of a pristine version of Smokey's pick-up. "I'll meet you at the house."
"Don't be late." Smokey huffed.
"When am I ever late for a meal."
"Good point."
Lightning swallowed thickly as he was motioned to follow the other, biting his lip harshly when the pick-up left the lot to reveal The Fabulous Hudson Hornet paint job.
He wasn't expecting an invitation and slid in to the passenger seat, staring wide eyed as the other pulled a pair of familiar looking aviators from the visor overhead.
This was happening. It was really happening, or he was dreaming and would wake up back in that hotel room again.
He realized he'd been spoken to and shook himself mentally, the expectant look directed toward him was too familiar. If he seemed cagey to the other, it at least wasn't being commented on...
"Sorry? Oh- I had wanted to make it to the race-"
"Was last week."
"Right." He improvised. "I had car trouble." He'd have to remember everything he said, he couldn't change his story after this...
The ride from The Pin to the hotel was far too short, and he found himself opening the door to the Hornet slowly, thanking the other.
"Don't mention it-?"
"Lightning." He rephrased at the raised brow. "It's a nickname."
Before getting out of the car, Lightning shook the hand offered in his direction, remembering the drive back from a particular race in California.
"Jesse Hudson."
