Drifting Along the Infinite Spring

Chapter 3 Pt 1 - Against Her Better Judgement

September 20, 1985 [2]

The ball bounced down from the pavement then back up as the boys fought for the rebound. A bird hung from the bottom of the swing set's frame as above, two girls competed to swing the lowest. Martha took in and let out a deep breath of the hot, dry air as she dangled, upside down, from her school playground's pull up bar. She'd made it a habit during recess because of its calming effect. The figurative made literal, you could say.

After her first reawakening in bed, Martha stayed under for another year and a half before her second. She'd been swimming in the public pool and took in a fair amount of water from the shock, causing quite the scene. The CPR she received from the sixteen year old lifeguard with bad breath and a peach fuzz mustache had been disturbing in too many ways to count. And for all her trouble, an hour later – flash of purple, nausea, then to nothing. A year later, at the age of five, she came back and stayed.

It had taken a couple of months to fully get her bearings and adapt to walking around in a five year old body. Then again, the body was constantly growing and, as such, the world around her was constantly shrinking. It was a fascinating and overwhelming experience. She knew, however, that it was nothing compared to what James must have gone through during his first regeneration. As frightening as it had been for her, she knew what was happening. But James... James...

He was in Illinois, perhaps on a playground for recess as she, living another life unaware of her initiation. She'd thought to call him, but couldn't remember his number. She remembered the name of his street, the name of his town... She remembered her French from high school and the naming conventions for polyatomic ions from college... But not numbers.

'You'll think this is new age mumbo jumbo, but if I clear my mind and wait for the numbers to come to me, they usually do,' he'd told her a lifetime ago. But so far, they'd kept away.

She'd tried dialing an operator to find his number but there was no record. Unlisted... Thanks a lot, James. Then again, how could he have foreseen this?

She pinched her eyelids tight and tried to push him from her mind.

But the pull was too strong.

Could she travel to Illinois? Not by herself, obviously. Maybe she could convince her father to make a trip. Maybe... But even then, Illinois is a big state... his town, a big city... How would she-

"Martha, Martha!" a classmate cried, breaking her from her hopeless plotting. "Martha!"

She opened her eyes to find two girls standing, upside down, in front of her.

"Yes?" Martha answered with a child's voice she still hadn't gotten used to.

"I said that she would get in trouble and, and she said, she said a curse word at me," the girl named Claudia began. "And then she made a fist-"