The Not-So-Boring Summer's Day

Just playing around, I was considering the "Time Travel" Contest but it's growing longer than anticipated so who knows?

Constance was bored.  Sitting in her new room in a new house in a new town with no new friends, that was all she could think; bored. "We cant move in the middle of summer, Mom!" she had campaigned furiously, "If I haven't been to school there I'll have no friends and all summer will suck!" Her mom was less than convinced and so here she sat in an ancient house in a small town in southern Georgia.  With nothing better to do she decided to unpack the boxes surrounding her.  Where to start, where to start, she pondered to herself; shoes or make-up? The fashion magazines she was obsessed with or her huge collection of handbags? Concluding that clothes were the quickest way to get boxes out of her way she made her way through the maze of her belongings to the enormous closet in her converted attic bedroom.  After finally, finding the string to turn on the light Constance realized that the space was much dirtier than she had anticipated.  While washing the walls down though, she discovered something curious.  "Why is there a piece of paper coming from under the wall" she wondered to herself.  Naturally, being a curious sort of person she pulled on the tiny corner that was visible.  As she slowly forced the page out into the open she realized two things; one, the faded, yellowed page was very old and two, she wasn't bored anymore.

 

It was a single page from what appeared to be a long lost diary or journal.  The script was handritten, small and almost indecipherable with all of its unfamiliar curliques and embellishment.  Squinting, Constance could just make out the words:

 

Friday September 13th, 1850

 

"Wait, isn't today Friday September 13th too? That's a weird coincidence."

 

Dear Diary,

 

Well, it's finally completed.  We put the final touches on the hideaway room, closed up the wall under the stairs and put the rope ladder in the hidden part of the attic.  If any slaves come our way we will be ready.  I can't believe we are actually going to be a part ofthe underground railroad! 

 

"Our house was part of the underground railroad?!? That's pretty cool I guess."

 

I wonder what the slaves will be like when they come, will they be excited or tired?  Hopeful or depressed? Healthy or injured?  When Mr. Hooker first asked Daddy if he would consider doing more than just morally opposing slavery I didn't think he would actually go through with it!  It seemed like such a fun idea that Daddy would never agree with it, but he did, eventually, thanks to Mother for that persuasion.  After talking to Isaac I realized today just how lucky I am to have parents that aren't like a lot of the South, treating the negroes like property and not people.  Isaac said that just last week his Father caught a slave stealing some of the radishes he supposed to be picking and he cut off his thumb! I couldn't imagine not having a thumb! Isaac said that he would tell the slaves that he's able to sneak away and talk to about our hiding space and so we might have some company soon!  In other news Isaac finally asked me to officially court him! He spoke with father and he said it was alright with him so long as Isaac did not walk in his father's steps and continued to do and believe what is right. Just last week-

 

"Wait, that's it?" Constance turned the page over and found no more writing but a drawing of what looked like a rough map.  Unfamiliar with the area it meant nothing to her but her curiousity about the whole ordeal was officially piqued.  Peering at the wall that the page had appeared from under she noticed that there was one section of wall that looked different from the rest and had a crack running all the way around it in the shape of a very short door.  Running to her room to find the box with the Swisss Army knife from her last boyfriend in it Constance started prying away at the crack.  Eventually she noticed the whole piece moving slowly out towards her and was able to pull it out of the way.  Moving the long forgotton access had stirred up clouds of hundred year dust and she coughed as she tried to peer inside the new chasm in her closet.  Wishing for a flashlight she started creeping forward feeling her way as she went, looking for the rope ladder from the diary entry.  Unfortunately for Constance the access down was not directly in front of the opening though, and she somehow found herself falling down into a black hole.  It felt like she fell forever before she landed with a soft thud on a dirt floor.  Knocking her head against the wall Constance passed out.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

When she awoke in a small enclosed space with no light Constance was confused, "Where the hell am I?" she wondered.  She started feeling around for her Swiss Army knife for some small measure of comfort.  When it became apparent that she was not going to find her knife on the ground she ventured to carefully stand up in the dark space and started feeling along the walls.  On the third wall she found what must have been the rope ladder she had missed on the way down, only if felt new and strong. "Wow, rope must hold up pretty well over time," she thought to herself as she started her ascent.  "I can't believe I fell into a hole in my own closet, Mom'll never let me hear the end of this one."  Constance didn't even think to wonder why there was no light filtering down from the open access in her closet until she reached the top of the rope ladder and hit her head.  "How can it be closed if I just fell through it?"  Pushing tentatively on the ceiling she felt it start to give on the right hand side and concentrated her efforts there.  As it started rising she slowed her movements and tried to peek out through the crack but still, there was no light.  "Did I sleep all day?" Seeing nothing amiss except the darkness she emerged from the hole in the floor unharmed but for some bumps and bruises and plenty of dirt.

 

Looking around Constance quickly realized that something wasn't right.  "Where's all my stuff?" Behind her she could see moonlight streaming in what should be the closet window but looking forward she realized that there was no closet, or bedroom for that matter just a big open attic full of old furniture and trunks covered in white sheets.  Creeping across the wie open space to the opposite window that faced the road she peaked out.  Unable to believe her eyes she just stood there for a moment, staring across the street where that big apartment complex was supposed to be.  Instead she was looking at a dirt road and field after field of some kind of crop.  She looked as far as she could in every direction and other than a few barns and what looked like deserted and abandoned shacks she saw no other houses.  "Holy crap, what have I gotten my self into this time?'

 

Seeing no other alternative and being encouraged by her rumbling stomach she headed towards the stairs.  Slowly easing down them she kept her ears pealed for any human sounds.  Hearing nothing she ventured down to the upstairs hallway.  Amusingly, and in the situation scarily, the bottom step still squeaked when she stepped on it. Smiling she turned to the right and almost screamed.  Standing not two feet in front of her was a similarly shocked girl about her age, dressed in the frilliest and fanciest white nightgown Cnstance had ever seen. The girl's eyes grew big and frightened, "Shhh! Follow me," she grabbed Constance's hand and pulled her back up the attic stairs, this time skipping the bottom step.  When they reached the attic the girl let go of Constance's and stared, "Who are you?' she questioned.

 

"My name's Constance, who are you?"

 

"Abigail. This is my house, what are you doing here? I know you're not a runaway slave.  I could tell my father and you'd be hung for tresspassing."

 

"Hung?! This is MY house! Well, it will be... I think" Constance trailed off.

 

"What? What do you mean?"

 

"What year is it?"

 

"1850, why?"

 

"Holy crap, I've gotta sit down."  After finding appropriate seating the girls resumed their visual inspection of eachother. 

 

"So how did you get into my attic?" started Abigail.

 

"When I started it was MY attic!" exclaimed Constance still in shock, "Let me start by saying that when I woke up this mornnig it was Friday, September 13th, 2002."

 

"No way! That is impossible, why are you lying to me?"

 

"I'm not! Trust me, let me finish."  Abigail nodded hesitantly and Constance proceeded with her story so far,"Like I said I woke up and it was 2002.  We just moved into this house from out of town and I was cleaning the closet, oh, there's now a closet over there," she gestured vaguely to that end of the attic, "and I noticed a corner of a piece of paper sticking out from under the wall.  I pulled it out and it was a page from a diary, now I'm assuming it was yours, from 1850.  It talked about the new hiding place you had for runaway slaves-"

 

"No one knows about that!  Just my family and Mr. Hooker and Isaac!" Abigail interupted.

 

"I didn't say that!  This is a long time in the future, it was a page form a diary dated September 13th, 1850 and it was torn out and had a map drawn on the back.  Anyways, after I read it I figured there must be a secret entrance so i pried open the wall and accidently fell down the hole and hit my head.  Next thing I know I'm waking up and I'm here. Honest to god truth."

 

Abigail looked incredulous, "You mean to tell me you just traveled through time? That's impossible."

 

"I would have said the same thing until it happened."

 

"Well there's no way you could have gotten those ridiculous clothes anywhere around here so i guess I'll have to believe you for the time being anyway, what other choice do I have?  Wait here, let's start by getting you some normal clothes."

 

"And food?" I asked hopefully.

 

"Alright," she laughed in return and disappeared with a smile.

 

After eating and changing into a matching frilly, fluffy, and, it turns out, itchy and scratchy nightgown I summed up the courage to ask about the hiding place, "So, do you get very many people traveling on the underground railroad?"

 

Author's Note

This is the first... ANYthing I've written in several years..... don't be TOO critical please? I've kind of hit a road block so I figured I could get some feedback and then get back to it..... what do you think?

V 2.0 Update: I added more detail to clue in the girls' ages and changed the ending... hopefully it flows better now and is more open to continuation, hopefully that wil help my writer's block! :-)

Reviews

[emily]

This is awesome. I was just going to drop by and scan this but then I saw what it was about and I got really excited because I LOVE this time period(if you read The Attic you understand). But anyway, this was really enjoyable read. It was really pleasant and innocent and totally historically accurate, which is something that I totally appriciate. It's good to see someone get back of the Horse after YEARS of not writing (I can't even imagine it)! Keep it up!

[E. A. Fielder]

I really love this story, it did drag me in. I wonder though, how old is Constance? also I wonder how did Abigale, a child, know anything about the underground railroad or even fully understand it? It's a really great story there just needs to be some clarification. For instance you can reveal their ages with out saying the number. You already said Abigale looked to be about the same age as Constance so maybe you could describe Constance's room to reaveal what age or age group she might be in. Keep writing!