STALKER

Chapter 31 - 20th October, 1942 Belgium part 1

Hours of searching maps old and new, genealogy/family history databases had come to nothing. The place is lost to time. It made me sick thinking why there was so little information, it's not a good sign. All I knew about the farm was that it was west of Toeneren. There was only one spot I could jump back to on the Willem farm. and the was the barn. It was the target point. The spot I only saw briefly in a dream. I wasn't comfortable with the uncertainty. I hoped that if the dream was like every jump I made or the pistol, the memory was a permanent part of me and therefore real in that time and space. I had to trust my abilities.

I very much wanted to see John again, and stir the pot a little when it came to his relationship with Jules. For some reason, the idea of giving him a birthday present excites me. The fact that he is only turning 22 and that his life is full of responsibility and danger boggles my mind.  I admire him.  That at that age he'd been fighting in a war for nearly two years, and was the wireless operator on a heavy bomber, flying bombing missions over Europe may as well be as surreal to me as time travel. I can't even imagine me and my mates doing anything like that, not even on our best day. I don't know what it is, the fact we share DNA, whatever it is...I can't hate the guy. To be honest, I like him, at least the young version of him that looks and feels so much like my dad and brothers. It's bizarre that I want to impress my young granddad but there it was.

I went the whole hog to make a good impression. I had my hair cut short and smoothed it back, very Humphrey Bogart. I even shaved properly. I'm wearing an old black cable jumper my Grandmother knitted years ago. A dark shirt underneath the jumper, black trousers, and my old school shoes. Nothing screams wrong decade, wrong century. As usual, I have my satchel which is holding a nice bottle of champagne, minus modern labels, with a cork instead of a cap; his present is wrapped in brown paper and string. I had to disfigure the front page of the book slightly. Accidentally, on purpose spilling ink on the publishing details, blotting out the publishing and copyright dates....1961; my full charged mobile, one way or another I intend to get some video of John and Jules. And of course my cigarettes case and matches.

Before I left I checked the weather, surprise, surprise it's going to be freezing. I dragged on my coat and cap, and pulled on my gloves. I wished one day I would jump to somewhere warm and sunny. I put on John's watch and signet ring, I was hoping for some reaction to these. For them to spark some curiosity in him.

I had one last look at the photo of his birthday. I checked the background so I had some idea of what to look for. The family shot was taken directly in front of a house, most likely their farm house. The two elders sat on chairs at the front and the three boys at the back. I couldn't keep my eyes away from the faded face of Martin. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel seeing him, knowing what was going to happen.

I went out into the hall, braced myself and then I was gone.

....

Jumping is always a little disorientating and I fell back against the wall and waited for the usual sensations to pass. I was becoming accustomed to the intense trembling and rapid heart rate on landing, it passed quickly. I looked around and the barn was exactly as I had seen it in my dream.

Rays of dull sunlight fell across the floor and dust clouds swirled in the beams of light and settled softly. The were two stalls and a long stone trough on my left. Farming tools and old machinery lined the other wall. The smells were something I definitely wasn't used to...a little to earthy for a city boy. It was freezing as I expected and I could see my steamy breathe every time I exhaled. The cold and smells aside the most pressing thing was finding somewhere to hide until I worked out exactly where I was in proximity to the house. A ladder leading to the hayloft was to my right. I climbed up quickly and moved to the front of the building. I pried open the transom window just enough to get the lay of the land.