Cassia

Three - Two Years Ago, in the Spring

Bart had wanted to call Debbie the morning after the lecture to tell her about meeting the author who had spoke the night before. He’d had discouraging words for Bart. “Interest in local and regional history hasn’t risen much in the last decade,” the man had said. It seemed that his dream of a career of an author of local and regional history would be over before it began.

After hearing that Bart needed a sounding board. But he didn’t have time to call. His father had recently died, and there were still things that had to be done. He also had to make phone calls and put an article in the mail. It was late in the afternoon before he had time to call.

He looked at a clock. Debbie’s classes were done for the day, but Jason wouldn’t be free for an hour or so. She would almost certainly be in her room reading.

We don’t need to talk for very long, Bart told himself. I can just let her know what the guy said, and see if she’s got some time later for a longer discussion.

He dialed the number to her room. The phone rang six times, and no one answered. He dialed the number to the main dorm phone. It rang twice before a young woman answered.

“Is Debbie there?” he asked.

“Who?”

“Debbie. Debbie Robbins.”

“You sure you have the right dorm?”

“Yes. I tried her room, and no one answered.”

“What room?”

“Two-fifteen.”

“There’s no Debbie Robbins in two-fifteen. Sorry.”

That’s nuts. Maybe I ought to go over there.

Bart drove to the campus. When he got to her room and knocked, he only found Debbie’s roommate, and she gave him the same run-around that the woman on the phone had. Suspicious but not yet nervous, Bart went to Jason’s dorm room. Not only did his roommate not know Jason, but he didn’t know who he was.

Okay, now I’m worried, he thought as he left the dorm. Alright now, think this through. Go back to where they were yesterday. Start with Heimbach, and work your way back.

Bart drove to Heimbach’s house. He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. The professor opened the interior door but not the screen door. “Yes?”

“It’s me, Bart. I’ve been trying to find Debbie and Jason. When did they leave last night?”

Heimbach pressed his lips together. “I think you’d better come in, Bart.” Once Bart was inside Heimbach motioned to his couch. “Sit down. I need to show you something.”

“Professor, what’s going on?” A strange feeling came over him as he sat down. He idly wondered why he hadn’t come to the professor’s house armed.

“Please, give me a moment.” Heimbach went to a closet to one side of the living room. He picked up something, then turned and walked towards the couch. Bart was slightly surprised that the object was a fair-sized glass ball. Heimbach set the ball on the coffee table in front of the couch. He edged around the table then sat down on the other end of the couch.

“What’s that?”

“Your explanation. Look.”

Heimbach spoke something that Bart couldn’t understand. The interior of the ball seemed to come alive. Bart saw the image of a small town along a river in the middle of a prairie. The buildings in the town grew in size, like the opening of a movie. A line of people came into view walking into one of the buildings.