Read Part One || Read Part Two || Part Three
You can’t be afraid to make mistakes. You will know failure. But unless you continue to reach out, you will never know success. (Benjamin Franklin, 1752)
“This is incredible, Wilbur!” Orville was doing that hop-skip-walk thing again, where he was so excited he couldn’t keep his feet on the ground. This time I completely understood his excitement, though. It was incredible!
We had just enjoyed an afternoon of tea with Benjamin Franklin in Boston, Massachusetts in 1719. I had to shake my head and try to clear my dazzled mind a little as I tried to take it all in.
We still had to get back to Des Moines, Iowa, 1912–where we’d met a girl named Amelia Earheart–and go around the mound to find the other tunnel that would take us back to Columbus, Ohio where our Aunt Hilda lives in our time in 1880.
“I know how you feel,” I answered. “Benjamin Franklin. Hey! Remember that book of quotes that our big brother keeps in his office at the print shop? I’m pretty sure I remember reading the same exact words that Ben just told us when he was talking about how many times his experiments didn’t work.”
Orville asked, “That thing about not being afraid to make mistakes?”
“Yeah. He never gave up on anything, did he? I mean, I remember from History class that Benjamin Franklin discovered a lot of stuff, like the thing with the kite and the lightning, and bifocal spectacles.” I spoke thoughtfully as we walked off the road into a wide green meadow carpeted with tiny blue periwinkle flowers. “Until we met him today, I never knew how many times his ideas didn’t work before he figured out how to make them.”
Orville said, “Ben sure is a go-getter. Never gives up…” My brother slowed to look around the meadow with a furrowed brow. “Will? Do you remember where the Traveler’s tunnel is?”
“It’s just a ways up, closer to those two big oak trees.” I pointed straight ahead and in a flash Orville dashed across the meadow headlong toward a pair of giant oaks. Jeez! Couldn’t he ever just walk somewhere instead of rushing around like a swarm of bees was chasing him?
I jogged along after him, but I didn’t have to worry he’d leave without me after all. As I approached the twin oak trees, I saw Orville staring at the ground, moving in circles around a hole no bigger than a rabbit could squeeze into.
“How are we supposed to get in there?” Orville asked.
“Well, we got out of it, so we have to fit back in.”
I walked around the hole a few times, then bent down to look inside.
My brother loomed over my shoulder. “What? Are we supposed to believe we’ll fit, and the hole will oblige? Like if you believed you could fly you wouldn’t hit the ground when you jumped out of the hay loft? Bro, that didn’t work when I was ten. What if it doesn’t work this time?”
Orville was actually nervous instead of leaping into action for a change. It made me feel a little more brave than my normal cautious self.
“Maybe believing is all it takes.” With that cryptic statement, I stuck my foot into the little rabbit hole. Suddenly, the sunlight disappeared as the abyss pulled me inward!
I couldn’t even catch my breath to scream, which was probably good, as I couldn’t imagine sounding too manly. I fell so fast that it wasn’t hardly a fall, more like I had been shot out of a cannon. Wind whistled as it rushed past my ears, sticking my hair straight up. I don’t even know if there were flashing lights that time, since I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
The only thought in my mind was: This is going to hurt.
I was braced for impact when it was all… over. It felt like I had stepped gently down onto a pile of pillows. One second I was hurtling downward through space; the next I was standing still.
Before I could get my befuddled brain together enough to realize I needed to move out of the way–bam! Orville slammed feet first onto my shoulders, sending us both crashing to the ground. We groaned, struggling to stand when suddenly–bam! Something crashed down, slamming us back to the ground!
A chattering voice by my ear said, “By George! That was astounding! Amazing! What an incredible experience!”
I had an elbow in my gut, my legs were pinned down and someone’s finger was poking me in the eye. And to top it all off, I was pretty sure that the yammering voice that would not stop talking belonged to none other than our new friend, Ben.
After a few minutes of struggle, where we managed to untangle ourselves from the muddled heap of arms and legs, I confirmed my suspicions.
“Arrg! Ben! What are you doing here?” I shouted as I tugged him and my brother through the hanging vines out of the dark tunnel into the sunlight of Des Moines, Iowa, 1912.
“Yeah, Ben,” Orville said, “why’d you follow us?”
Ben grinned. “I do say, boys, I couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me by! What an experiment! What an investigation! How could I just wave good-bye and let you two go off Traveling through space and time without trying to find out what it’s like for myself? I couldn’t resist, my dear Wright brothers. Tell me you’re not mad?”
When he put it like that, there really anything I could say. Orville and I knew exactly how strong the pull was, and we hadn’t even tried to resist. How could we deny a fellow adventurer and inventor? But I did wonder if we were going to be in any trouble for not keeping the secret of the Adena mound.
I didn’t have to wonder long.
As the three of us stood talking next to the tunnel entrance, a loud booming shout nearly startled us out of our skins.
“Wilbur! Orville! What. Have. You. Done?” Signore Andreas, er, Andrew Vickers stood there with his fists on his hips and a ferocious frown marring his dark brow. “Your gift of Traveling was to be kept secret. You cannot take just anyone you meet to the tunnels! How could you bring someone else to the mound?”
Andrew was furious. Orville and I stuttered as we tried to come up with an explanation. Even Ben was at a loss for an excuse that would satisfy our Adena guide.
He was really giving us quite the tongue lashing when he was interrupted by the sound of a girl’s laughter.
“Oh, Andrew! You really must learn to control that temper. You’re going to give yourself a stroke,” said the girl. Amelia Mary Earhart – Millie- stood just behind Andrew in a defiant pose that mimicked his own, hands on hips and chin lifted proudly.
I didn’t know whether to feel caught or like she was our savior. Either way, I could tell Orville was glad someone had stepped in.
Mille said, “Quit yelling at those boys. From what I overheard, their friend found your tunnel the same way I did: we both followed someone. So calm down and tell me how it works. I want to Travel, too!”
Andrew’s angry scowl transformed into a sheepish grin. He knew he couldn’t rightfully hold Orville and me accountable for letting Ben follow us when he’d slipped up and let Millie sneak up on him. The big Adena guide shook his head while the group of us awaited his response.
“No one had permission to Travel except the Wright boys . You four stay here. Don’t move! I need to go talk to the Adena Council about this situation before anyone else Travels.”
With that, he turned and walked through the hanging vines into the tunnel.
Ben, Millie, my brother and I looked between ourselves for a minute.
Then I saw Orville grin, an impish expression I well knew.
“Orville, no!” I stated firmly, “You heard Andrew. We stay here and wait for him to come back.”
“Who says we won’t be back before him?”
Ben added, “Why yes! We could enjoy on a bi of adventure and be back before he even knows we’re gone.”
Orville turned. “What do you say, Millie? Care to Travel?”
Orville didn’t have to coax very hard. Even I was catching the Travel bug, so instead of trying to talk them all out of it, I suggested we go find the other tunnel entrance so we didn’t bump into Andrew going the same way.
I marveled as we tromped through the underbrush around the ancient Indian mound: four teenagers from different times and places chatting happily and filled with excitement and anticipation.
I kept my eyes open for the other tunnel, the one Orville and I had exited when we first arrived in Millie’s time, but there was no sign of it. After we circled the entire mound without finding another entrance, my brother led the way as we started climbing and searching uphill.
At the very top, we didn’t find a hole, but we did find a small circle of stones that looked like an old campfire. We were covered in sweat and discouraged by then.
Millie stood looking down at the stone circle thoughtfully. She held a canteen filled with water in her hand, about to take a swallow. I was parched myself, and wanted to ask if she’d share a drink. Then she stretched out her arm, tipped the canteen and poured all the water out into the stone circle!
“Why did you do that?” I demanded, “You’re the only one with water and we’re all thirsty!”
“Wilbur, just wait. Look!” Orville pointed down at the rock-ringed puddle.
The water started to swirl round and round like a whirlpool. As the four of us stared in amazement, the little puddle and the circle of stones grew larger before our very eyes.
The water gleamed as though filled with diamonds and stars in spiraling patterns. The center of the whirlpool sank downward, hollowing out into a vortex of flashing white sparkles.
Millie spoke almost reverently as she said, “It’s one of the tunnels.”
She looked around at the three of us standing there, and smiled mischievously with an expression just like the look I had seen too many times on my brother’s face.
Millie giggled. “Ladies first!”
She stepped over the stones and dropped straight down into the whirlpool…
~*~
To Be Continued…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cathy Jones lives on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. She loves the beach, reading every type of book ever written, inventing delicious recipes, and making up tall tales.