Chapter 11

Barnabas and Julia had taken their way back to Collinwood, determined now to rescue David, only to find him already home.

For a while, the drawing room was bedlam. Hallie wept, Elliot shouted advice, Roger was torn between leaping for joy and raving for vengeance. Their nightgowned guest was silent and, one might hope, entertained. Maggie rushed to David and held him. Elizabeth, in a moment of disorientation, flew past Julia Hoffman to place a call to Dr. Fleischmann, a doctor who hadn't attended Collinwood since the 1940s.

Finally, David and Harry were sent upstairs to wash up and get changed. Julia told them sternly to return to the drawing room immediately so that she could examine them. Mrs. Johnson was alerted to bestir herself and make some hard-boiled eggs and her famous boiled toast for the returned travelers.

Though both insisted that they were unhurt, Julia carefully examined David while the others questioned Harry. Then, when David was declared sound, except for a bruised cheek and bruises on his shoulders and arms, he changed places with Harry, who was deemed fit save for some bruised ribs. Harry couldn't remember how that had happened.

"I remember what happened to me, though," David told them. "I got in the dumbwaiter that night to take a ride. I figured it would take me to the kitchen, but I ended up outside, right in the middle of the night, and I was at Collinwood but everything was wrong. There was a cottage where there shouldn't be one. I was stupid and went to investigate and I saw two men arguing. I snuck around behind them and followed them around. They had a big fight and were acting like they hated each other. I thought I was hidden pretty well, but the younger one must have seen me. He grabbed me but I got away from him. I climbed a tree and spent most of a day there, not coming down til nighttime. I was so hungry! All I had with me was my flashlight and the—screwdriver." David went pale again.

He told of being cat-called, taunted, and stalked through the woods. At one point, the elder of the men had decided to try to lure David with food, leaving a dish of baked chicken by the front door of the cottage and then skulking half out of sight in the doorway to catch him if he came forward, but David had resisted.

"I didn't dare go near the dumbwaiter," David explained. "One time it got really quiet. It was the middle of the night again. I threw a rock at the dumbwaiter as an experiment and—the minute the rock hit, both men came out of nowhere, trying to find me, thinking that I was right there. That scared me to death.

"Finally, I came down out of the tree. I was trying to get my courage up to approach the dumbwaiter and try to get in, but I didn't feel brave enough. I just couldn't make myself do it. Then I heard the noise of the dumbwaiter descending, and that decided me. I saw the carriage come down into view, and I just ran for it. It bumped to a stop and the door opened, and I didn't know who was in there; then I saw that it was Harry. He was shocked to see me. Before I could yell at him to let me in, those guys grabbed me. They meant business."

"They were going to carry him off," Harry supplied, taking up the story. "Those guys were dead serious, and furious. I yelled and tried to grab David, and one of them socked me. They pulled David right off the ground, but I fell halfway out of the dumbwaiter and grabbed his ankles, and I wouldn't let go, and they wouldn't let go, and we were like this big human chain that was struggling around and going nowhere.

"We finally managed to fall back into the dumbwaiter. I was in the back and had David around the waist, and David was hitting at one of the men who wouldn't let us close the dumbwaiter door and get it going—he kept blocking it with his hand. We couldn't leave, and I tell you, those guys were wild. I kicked the younger one right in the face and that stunned him. He just sat on the ground like he couldn't get his senses back. But the first guy, the big old guy, just wouldn't let up blocking the door and trying to grab David. Then David took out the screwdriver and started to hit the guy's hands. We screamed and yelled, but the guy wouldn't back off.

"David," Harry interrupted himself, turning to the teen, "I don't think it was your fault that he lost part of his finger. It must have happened when we were slamming the dumbwaiter door over and over again. That was his fault, not yours."

Holding tight to his father, David still looked sick. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I never meant to do that. And now I'm really scared, because if we thought those guys were mad at us before, now they're going to be even angrier, and—" He swallowed, turning his eyes to Roger. "Father, can we do something to shut down the dumbwaiter forever?"

"I still don't understand this," Roger cried. "We have to call the sheriff at once and tell him that there is a pair of murderous hooligans marauding around the grounds of Collinwood! We'll protect you, David. We'll have those two jailed and tried as kidnappers and attempted murderers!"

At this point, Barnabas and Julia intervened. Recommending that David go off to eat dinner with Hallie and Maggie and spend time in the comfort of their company, and that Harry go and rest, they took Roger aside. Elliot joined the discussion. Roger found it pretty hard to believe that there was a time warp within his very own walls like some personal Bermuda Triangle, but there it was. If Roger could comprehend Buzz Hackett and his visit from a Collinsport of 1967, he was going to have to accept the idea of thugs from parallel time as well.

"Good Lord—before we forget—we've got to get a pair of rubber gloves," Julia gasped, "and grab that godforsaken afghan before it disappears again!"

"Hey, listen," called Buzz Hackett from behind them. "Can you come up and let me use the dumbwaiter to go back where I came from? Time for me to blow, man. I'm sure of it."

Elliot looked at him. "We can do that, yes," he affirmed. "Roger, go take dinner with young David and reassure him that all will be well. Barnabas and Julia and I can go and oversee Mr. Hackett's departure and then place the davenport back into the dumbwaiter again so that it can't be used. First a quick stop in the kitchen for a pair of rubber gloves."

"Yeah, okay," Buzz Hackett agreed, turning to leave. Then he came back and held out a hand to Roger. Roger clasped Buzz's hand in both his own, and shook it.

"Thank you," Roger whispered, "for a phenomenal breakfast. I wish you well, Buzz."

Buzz grinned tiredly. "Yeah. Thanks, daddy-o! It hasn't been too bad. Keep at cruising altitude and all that, you know? And I really hope you find a babe, right? Babes can do wonders for a guy's life."

Roger turned red. "I believe I've found one," he said, "and you're right. They can do wonders."

"If that's the way out," someone else observed in a low voice, "I'd like to go as well."

Julia turned and then gasped, her hands flying to her cheeks. Barnabas' jaw dropped.

"Barnabas!" Julia cried. She rushed forward and clasped Roxanne Drew by the upper arms. "She spoke! Oh, Barnabas, she's free! The Angelique of parallel time is dead! Roxanne's free!"