The Portal

Chapter 13

     After a great weekend with Harv, David returned to the cave and walked out from it feeling a lot better than he had the first time he went in there. There was no sickness and no dizzy spells, which led him to believe that his trip had caused minimal change in the timeline. As he emerged from the cave, Ricky was there waiting for him with a bottle of orange juice.

     "Thanks," David said as he opened the bottle and took a swig. "Did I cause any grand paradoxes?"

     "Not that I'm aware of." Ricky replied, "But then again, only the traveler can tell the difference when they get back."

     "Well everything looks the same here," David said looking at the house.

     "So where did you go?" Ricky asked, curious.

     "I went really safe," David confessed, "I stayed here on the grounds."

     "How far back did you go?" Ricky inquired.

     "To nineteen seventy-one," David replied, "May 21st to be precise."

     "Interesting," Ricky said, thinking about it. "Mom and Dad's wedding?"

     "Yeah," David confirmed, taking another swig, "And why didn't anyone tell us how awesome Grandpa was? Harv is the man!"

     "Shit," Ricky said, "You two probably got along very well."

     "We went to the range," David told him, "Shot some clay pigeons."

     "Not surprising," Ricky said, shaking his head.

     "There may have been some changes," David continued, "Especially considering grandpa's will. I wouldn't be surprised if he left all the cool stuff to his favorite Grandchild."

     David stood there as new memories came to him, but it was just a mild rush like one would feel after jumping into a pool of cold water. After the initial shock, David quickly recovered.

     "Yup," David said, as he now remembered. "I got all the cool stuff."

     "Good for you," Ricky said, laughing. "As long as Dad still got the house, nothing else mattered."

     "I figured as much," David said as he started to walk back to the house with his brother. "Listen man, we need to talk about something."

     "What's up?" Ricky asked.

     For the next few hours, David went into detail with regards to the Foundation and the few encounters he and Harv had with them. He also included the meeting with the man in charge, Ferguson. Since Harv let it slip about the key, it was evident that the men that attacked Ricky was working for this foundation and that they were getting closer. Ricky sat there and said nothing as David told him everything that he managed to find out about this group that was apparently trying to find out how their family could travel back in time. It was also clear that Ferguson wanted to be able to time travel as well and didn't take the reality that not everyone could use the Portal.

     "He's not the first one to look for it," Ricky told him, "And chances are he's not going to be the last."

     "I'm surprised they haven't shown up at our front door." David honestly replied, "But there's a good chance they backed away because Harv and I stood up to them."

     "I'm sure that duo would make many shit themselves," Ricky confirmed, "It's lucky that the first time they confronted us, they just happened to approach what are clearly the toughest men in our family; the alphas."