On Schedule

Out of breath, Haley reached the intersection just as the railroad crossing arms were coming down. Frantically, she looked left then right before darting in front of a bright yellow freight train.

She opened one eye and then another, to find herself safely across the tracks. She stood in disbelief as the train continued to rumble by. The day had taken a drastic turn, given just a few hours ago she sat quietly at home listening to her favorite Captain and Tennille album.

She closed her eyes and focused on the songs she knew by heart and the tension from the scare slowly faded. But something seemed different. Parts of the melodies had changed. But how could that be?

And then it occurred to her: her compatriots were in corsets and powdered wigs. Heck, she was too. Her eyes fell upon a newspaper in the audience. She had time traveled to 1789. That's why all those familiar songs sounded so strange.

Her wig was scratchy and corset was upsetting her stomach. How was she going to get out of there? 1789 was a lot smellier than she had imagined. Maybe noses evolved she thought. “What dost thou thinketh” a gentleman near her asked.

Haley smiled demurely at the gentleman and fanned herself. These 18th century customs were so strange. “What extraordinary weather we’re having!” she said in her best British accent.

As she flirtatiously glanced down, she noticed the hem of her dress was tattered from the morning's events. It instantly transported her back to the moment that train merely missed her. What a day it had been.

For the first time in, who knows how long, she felt truly alive. This day had been more memorable, more thrilling, than any day she could remember. She was going to go back to those tracks tomorrow. She was going to recreate what had happened. she was going to live.

And live she did. She returned to the tracks year after year on the anniversary of her adventure. First with her husband, then her children and then their children. Each time like the first, the future and past folded together like a bow on a shiny new present.