The Air Ship, The Time Jump, and The Mummy

The Airship, The Time Jump and the Mummy!

Yezall Strongheart

Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved

The soft rustle of my petticoats was the only noise in the room.   I sat peering out a second floor window with my knees in the seat of the chair resting my torso over the head rest in a very unladylike fashion.   Who could blame me?  I awaited the grand entrance of my Uncle Hiram.

The stories that surrounded this man were nothing short of astounding.  Many a night, after dinner by the fireplace, my father would tell us of the adventures of his brother Hiram.  Uncle Hiram was employed by the government, The Union of States.   He was a mercenary of sorts; it was his job to bring down whatever evil threatened us at the moment.  Father said there was never a shortage of evil.

“Miram! What are you thinking?” My father whispered in disgust.  He quickly set down the tea he was holding and ran to my side, righting me in the chair. “Your mother is right behind me, if she had caught you sitting like that…” he let the sentence drop.

I smiled on the outside and laughed on the inside.  Poor momma and poppa, they wanted a girl so bad!  I was named after my Uncle, only changing one letter.  What did they expect?  I loved the long lacey gowns mother and I dressed in, the many petticoats, even the hats!  But my heart was filled with a desire to see foreign lands, have exciting adventures, and dabble with mystery and danger.  Not what your normal girl of twenty two, in the year 1863, would wish for herself.   I have refused every suitor up to this point as I saw it as the closing of a door.  My goal was to leave with my Uncle.

Mother entered the room with the swooshing of her gown.  “Miram, I heard your father, what have you done now?” 

With a soft giggle, I joined them at the table to have tea. I kept a watchful eye on the window, expecting any moment to catch sight of my Uncle.  “Nothing Mother, I’m just excited is all.  How long do you think Uncle Hiram can stay?”

The last time they had the pleasure of his company was many years ago.  I was a very young fifteen, impressionable, yes, but one look at Uncle Hiram’s full mustache and he had my attention!  Dressed much like my father, very dapper, and yet slightly different.  Uncle Hiram had gaiters with lots of brass buckles and straps to hold his nicely tailored pants leg in place.  Around his waist was a wide belt that had a holster on one side that housed a rather large gun.  The snug vest he wore had a chain that ended in an upper right-hand small pocket; in the pocket was a timepiece.  The timepiece was worthy of mention as it was able to tell the time on all the major continents at the same time, even when he time jumped.   The jacket around his shoulders had a military look to it with many brass buttons, applets on the shoulders, gold piping.   His ample mustache covered a good bit of his mouth and when he spoke, it danced in several directions at once, which always made me giggle.  His kind warm eyes drew you inside to his equally warm spirit, all in all a very pleasant man topped off with a tall hat with various tools perched around the ribbon of it.

“We just happen to be on the way, I believe he will have to leave early in the morn…”  My father’s words caught in his throat as his gaze crossed the window I had been looking out of.