A Bend in Time

A young man and his friends travel through time to save Earth from destruction.

    I remember the entire adventure as if it happened yesterday, though it happened years ago.  It was the first Monday after the end of school, June something-or-other, and although I didn’t have to get up early, I did anyway.  Force of habit, I guess.  Anyway, I had no definite plans for the day, and I wasn’t expecting to be involved in any life-changing event, because that sort of thing never happened to a twelve-year-old boy growing up in Dorsey, Pennsylvania.  Besides, it was summer, or close to it, and for me, life couldn’t get any better.
    Like any other day, I opened my bedroom window and checked out the weather.  I saw bright sunlight, blue skies, a wispy cloud or two high in the sky, and I a gentle warm breeze passed through my tousled brown hair; it was going to be a fabulous day for doing nothing, or so I thought.
    “Luke, are you up?”
    It seemed an odd thing for my mother to call from outside my door.  Of course I was up.  Who did she think was stumbling around in my room and opening the window?  Santa Claus?  Wrong time of year for that.
    “Yes, Mother.  I’m up,” I shouted back.
    “Oh.  Okay.  Well, I’ll be going out soon.  Would you like breakfast?”  She asked in a softened voice.
    “Sounds great, Mom.  I’ll take three eggs over easy, a well-done steak, and potatoes.”
    My mother had a weird laugh: it sounded like  a nervous hiccuping.  “I was talking about oatmeal.”
    If I told her once, I told her a million times: I hate oatmeal.  I mean that the stuff tastes like cardboard.  Still, I really can’t get mad at my mom; she’s been under a lot of stress since she and my dad divorced.  Besides, I knew I could throw a half bag of sugar in the bowl and sweeten up the oatmeal.  “Okay, Mom.  I’ll be down in a minute.”