As I'm sure you can imagine, the next few days seemed boring and uninteresting compared to Monday. Before travelling back in time to 1882, going into town, walking around, sitting on a bench, all sounded like great options of how to spend the day. But now? Now that we knew there was a more interesting and exciting choice? Well, all of that just seemed so underwhelming. After all, this time-travelling thing was new and exciting, how could we not want to go back more than once? WOW! It still feels weird saying that we time-travelled! Anyway... we all texted each other over the next few days — we couldn't stop talking about what happened. We were still in disbelief and processing everything. When we went through the alley, we had only explored a couple of blocks and wondered what else there was to see. Did they have a local fair? What other types of stores were there? What about farms? A blacksmith? We had so many questions! But the one, BIG question that we all had was... should we go back? And if so, when? Would we tempt fate a third time opening the alley? Would we try walking further into town in 1882? We planned to meet-up on Saturday to discuss all of this. That Saturday, we all met-up at our favourite ice-cream parlour. It was a beautiful sunny day, with cloudy breaks and a slight breeze. It was a perfect day to walk around and enjoy the outdoors.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm curious to go back." Philip was the first to admit that his curiosity was getting the best of him.
"Yeah, me too," Amy agreed, adding, "but is it safe for us to travel through time? Especially more than once?"
"Clara, did the store owner mention if Helen wrote about any side effects from travelling through time so many times?" Sara asked a very good question, but I didn't know if my answer would calm her.
"Nope. I just remember her saying that Helen wrote about feeling kind of jet lagged. Well, Helen described it a different way obviously, but it essentially sounded like jet lag. It was like what we felt the next day after the first time we went."
"Would we dare try it again?"
"I know what you're saying Amy, but I have an idea." Jamie decided to share his thoughts on the matter. "Why don't we go back to that spot in front of the store and see if the alley will even re-appear again. If it doesn't show, then it'll mean that we can't go anymore."
"And if it shows?"
"If it shows, then we can decide. What do you guys think?"
"This idea is coming from skeptical Jamie?" I was pretty surprised to hear this idea coming from him!
"I know. I'm the most skeptical person out of all of us. So the fact that I'm suggesting this should tell you something, right?"
"You know what? Jamie makes a great suggestion!" Amy seemed to be on board with this idea. "We can go back to the store and see what happens. It's not like we're forced to go in."
After much discussion, and A LOT of back-and-forth, that I'll spare you from, we decided to go back to the store and see what happens. Even with all that discussion, I already knew that if the alley appeared, we were going to go back. We were all WAY TOO CURIOUS not to!
The walk there was pretty quiet. I figured we were all just wondering if it was going to work. Me, I was wondering who was going to be the first one to approach the alley if it appeared. Who would be the first to say, 'Let's go'? When we finally got there, we all stopped, looked at the store and then looked at each other. I was first to break the silence.
"So, we're here. Shall we do this? See what happens?"
They all looked at each other and with a simple nod of their heads, they all gave me the go-ahead.
"Ok, here it goes."
I know we had already done this before; we already saw the alley and had already walked through it. But we couldn't help but still feel a bit nervous about it. I know we didn't really have a reason to be nervous, but we were. We also were excited to see what else we could discover. I mean, imagine if you were in our shoes. Would you expect it to happen EVERY time? Or would you try it with the expectation that the last time it worked might have been a fluke? That's what was going through our minds. Anyway, back to it. I pulled the pin on my watch and slowly turned it as we watched the storefront... And there it was. The front of the store started to wave back and forth, like a reflection on water, as it began to disappear and transformed into the alley. It was amazing to see! Especially since it was MY first time seeing it as it happened. I couldn't believe my eyes! Already knowing the answer, I looked at the four of them and asked...
"Well, shall we?"
They, again, all nodded (I had expected them all to agree to go in), and we all headed toward the alley. It was exactly as it had appeared the last time — cobble-paved path, brick walls, arched ceiling. We were calmer this time as we walked through, but I did wonder if we'd end-up at the same spot again? Was it going to be 1882? Was it going to be the same day? A different day? A different year? Or era? Of course, I didn't tell them all of this because I didn't want to scare or worry them. I just hoped for the best but expected the worst. We continued to head toward the other end of the alley. The distance felt shorter this time. As we walked through, we remembered what happened to our clothes, and decided to pay attention this time. When we thought to look down at our clothes, they had already changed. We figured it must have happened when we were about half of the way there. We didn't feel anything as our clothes changed, but thought, in that moment, that it would have been really cool to witness. When we finally got to the other end of the alley, we walked out onto the sidewalk, right in the same spot where we were the last time. The street was the same, so were the buildings. This time, instead of going left, we went right. We wanted to explore a different area. There was a tailor, a hat maker, a seamstress, the local grocery store and even a candy shop. We even walked by a blacksmith making horseshoes.
"I wish I had my phone with me so I could take photos and videos." I whispered to them very well knowing that having our cell phones with us, and using them, would have caused chaos and probably would have caused problems for us. Not being able to have them was definitely for the best. Especially for me since I LOVE taking pictures and videos, specifically of things I know I won't see again for a while, or things I'm seeing for the first time. Can you imagine the reaction if someone saw a cell phone in 1882? We'd definitely stick out like sore thumbs. As we walked around, looking at the different types of stores, I wondered... If I bought something in 1882, would it disappear when we got back? Or would it survive the trip? I don't think I have to tell you that I had fully intended to find out.
Not that I didn't love Muskoka and the current time we were living in, but there was something about being in 1882 that was... I don't know... how can I describe it? Different is too obvious of a word because... well... it was EXTREMELY different. It doesn't even need to be said. I don't know what word to use. I didn't know then, and to this day, I still don't know. Anyway, this time we kept an eye on the time, remembering that the time there was about 3 hours ahead of our real time. We had a much more leisurely stroll this time around. People who we passed by smiled and/or waved, some even said hello. The majority of them seemed very friendly! It was kind of like Muskoka in present day - people there also tend to be friendly and wave hello as they walk by. Anyway, as we strolled through the streets, I had an idea, and a curiosity.
"Guys, I was wondering... if we buy something in this era, I wonder if it will survive the trip through the alley into our era."
"You know what Clara, that's a great question! Now that you mention it, I'm wondering the same thing!"
"Sara, you mean to tell me you hadn't thought of this before Clara mentioned it?"
"No Jamie, it didn't cross my mind. Why? Did you?"
"Actually, I did."
"Well why didn't you say anything then?"
"Because Clara beat me to it."
"Guys, guys, relax." Noticing that they were both getting each other frustrated for some reason, Amy tried to calm them down. "You don't need to get upset with each other."
"You're right Amy. I'm sorry Jamie. I shouldn't have gone after you like that."
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad with you. It's not a big deal that you didn't think of it before."
"Well, now that we've all calmed down and apologised. I have an idea, if anyone wants to hear it."
"Sure, what's your idea Philip?" I had one too, but I was curious to hear if he had the same one, which I was sure he did, I just decided to give him the credit for thinking of it.
"Well, I think I see a sweets shop right there after the bakery.", he told us as he pointed it out to us. "What if we go in and buy some candy and chocolate bars. Whatever we don't eat now, we can take back with us, and what we do eat, we save the wrappers."
"Philip that's a great idea! Actually, I had the same thought. But I'll let you take the credit."
"Gee, thanks Clara."
We both found the friendly humour behind our comments as we waited to hear what Amy, Sara and Jamie wanted to do. But I saw no reason for any of them to say no to it. Eventually, they agreed. We all thought it would be cool if it worked. When we walked into the store, they had so many candy and chocolate options, some we never even heard of, that we wondered how we were going to choose.
"Oh my gosh! Look at the options!"
"Amy, how am I going to choose?"
"I don't know Sara. Pick the ones you think you'll like the most? Or you could go with the ones you've never had before?"
Sara has a pretty sweet tooth, so being in that sweets shop was very difficult for her. She especially likes to try different and new flavours, even those that come from different countries. She was looking around at all the different options, and I could hear her mumbling to herself,
"Should I buy this one? Oh, maybe this one? Ooh, this looks good! Oh, I don't know!"
We didn't want to spend too much time there — we thought that the store clerk would find it weird, plus we wanted to walk around a bit more. So, after I chose what I wanted, I went to help Sara pick. I suggested to her to buy 2 items she knew she'd like and 2 that she never tried before. Amy, Philip and Jamie also made their choices and once we were all ready, we paid for our candy and chocolate, and left the store. I couldn't wait and had to try one of the chocolate bars I bought.
"Oh my gosh, this is so good! And it doesn't taste as sweet as I thought." I was perfectly happy with my choice, and I was sure the others were going to be just as good.
We all seemed pretty happy with what we bought, and we enjoyed some of it as we walked around a bit more. We were really enjoying walking around, taking in the surroundings and uniqueness of the time period. We even spotted a bench under a tree in the local park and decided to sit there for a while as we observed the people who walked by, getting an idea of daily life back then and different roles of men and women at the time. It was so interesting, and even relaxing, that we didn't want to leave! None of us seemed to be worried about the time... until we heard the clock tower toll 8 times.
"It's 8 o'clock!" We all realised that we had stayed longer than the last time, and that 8 o'clock there, meant that it was probably 5 or 6 o'clock back at home.
It also meant that we had to hurry back to the alley to head home before it really became late. We walked back to the alley with a little bit of a quicker pace. Thankfully there weren't too many people around since the sun had almost set completely and I guess not many people wanted to be out late back then. Those who were still out didn't seem to even pay attention to us, or the fact that we looked like we couldn't get to our destination quick enough. When we finally got to the alley, we stepped in and walked back to our time. As we walked back, we saw our clothes change back to our 21st century clothing, one piece at a time. I was so amazed by it, and so worried about getting back, that I didn't even pay attention to how long it took us. The next thing we knew, we were back on the sidewalk. I pushed the pin in, and we watched the alley disappear and the storefront reappear once again. When we checked our pockets, the items we bought at the sweets shop were still there! Unchanged and intact! We couldn't believe it but were really happy we decided to buy them to take them back with us. Happy to be back, but also missing 1882, we headed to our cottages.
That evening, my parents didn't ask too many questions, thankfully. When it came to telling them about our afternoon, I could only tell them that we bought some ice-cream and that we went into a sweets shop and bought some candy and chocolate bars. I also told them that we walked around for quite a bit, which also was technically true. Thankful that they, once again, seemed happy with my recount of the day, I finished my salad, and when everyone else was also finished supper, I helped my mom clean-up. That evening, I spent it writing in my journal. I wrote about everything we did, everything we saw, and what we bought. I also wrote about our clothes, how they changed to 19th century clothing and then back, and how the things we bought in 1882 survived the trip through the alley. As I wrote in my journal, I realised that I had officially become Helen. I was doing the same thing she did. But how could I not write about it in my journal! I couldn't just go about my day as if nothing extraordinary happened. I normally like to keep a journal account of things I do, especially when it's something different from my normal outings, and this was DEFINITELY different! I intended to write about every detail that I could remember, and I'm sure you'd do the same.