~
As we walked, Caiyan explained my key was specific to my vessel. I needed it to make my vessel take me back in time. Anyone who had the gift could use my key to drive my vessel. That was why we needed to keep the keys concealed. They would also need to identify my vessel to be able to summon it.
I was about to ask for more information about what happened to my key when I found myself entering a town that looked like every western movie I had ever seen. Dust kicked up around our feet as we ambled down the dirt road into the center of town. A few people were milling about and turned to glance at the newcomers. Some tipped their hats to say hello, then they proceeded on with their business. Buildings lined either side of the makeshift street. Most of the buildings were single story and contsructed of wood or stone. Occasionally there were taller buildings, like the saloon. I was able to identify this building not from watching Clint Eastwood movies, but because the sign above the door read “Saloon.” There was a general store in the middle of town. There were two men sitting on a bench outside the store. Above there head was a metal sign that advertised block ice for five cents.
Caiyan led his horse up to a big trough in front of the store. The men gave admiring nods at Caiyan’s horse, as if he were a sports car. Caiyan tied him to a post, then turned to us and said, “Wait here; dinnae talk to anyone.”
He went in, leaving Gertie and me hanging around the horse parking lot. There was an iron pump at the end of the trough. The big brown stallion looked at me like, “Hey, chick, are you gonna give me a drink or what?” I gave the handle a pump, and water began streaming out of the pipe and into the trough. I swear the horse winked at me and began to drink.
“Amazing, how’d ya do that?” Gertie asked.
“I just lifted the handle, and the water came out.”
“Not that, how did you get the pants off that gorgeous hunk of man without even knowing his name?” Gertie said with a smirk.
“I didn’t get his pants off,” I stammered.
“Oh, yes you did. I know that look. Don’t even try to deny it. That’s the same look the heifers get when they return from the bull’s pen, a little shameful but completely satisfied.” She wagged a finger at me. “It’s so not like you at all, but I’m impressed.”
“Actually, it was a kilt. OK, I admit it. When I was eighteen years old, I had my first real journey back in time. I didn’t know what was happening. Jake had just kissed me for the first time, and I ended up sitting in the outhouse. I had worn the necklace Aint Elma left me to my senior prom. The necklace started glowing. The next thing I knew, I was in Scotland, ‘the year of our Lord 1568,’” I said, mocking the accent and adding a few air quotes. “Caiyan was knocking some guy in the head with a big rock, and then there was the whole queen thing.”
“He was knocking out gay people?” she asked, popping her gum.
“No, queen, like all hail the queen and queen mother, you know?” Gertie nodded her head in agreement. Her eyes were wide with excitement.
“Fifteen sixty-eight is the year Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Loch Leven. Do you think you saw her?”
I did a shoulder shrug. Gertie bounced up and down with excitement. Placing her hand over her chest as if the idea of seeing a queen meant the world to her, she said, “Do you realize what important events we could see?” She grabbed my arm. “Jen, think of the people we could meet!”
I thought about this for a moment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk my life to see someone I could look up on the Internet. I had already gone back in time twice, and both times I felt dazed and confused, not to mention that I got the breath knocked out of me. The horse swished his tail and continued to slurp up the water. Gertie reached up, wiping a bead of sweat that had trickled down the side of her face, and blew an enormous bubble.
“Hey, where did you get the gum?”
“I had gum in my mouth when we left. Back on subject,” Gertie directed. “So, when did you hook up with Caiyan?”
“It started to rain, and I got really cold. We found a barn, and one thing led to another, then he was gone.”
“You mean like poof?”
“No, I mean like I fell asleep in the hay and he left me before I woke up.”
“The cad.”
“Exactly.”
“How was it?”
I was saved, because Caiyan appeared carrying a couple of bedrolls and a knapsack full of camping stuff. He told us there was no room at the inn, but we could camp about a mile outside town.
“Camp? Oh my God! I don’t camp.” I had a vision of the last time I had gone camping. My Girl Scout troop had gone to the Ozarks, and I set my hair on fire trying to cook a s’more.
Caiyan stared at me, and for the first time I realized his eyes were green—not just any green but a deep emerald green that made my heart do a backflip.
“Can’t we just get back in our vessel thingy and go home tonight?” I asked helplessly.
“Not without your key. I’ll explain but not here. Let’s go, I need to see a man aboot a horse.”
Remarkably Gertie had stayed quiet during this squabble, and as I glanced at her, she was grinning. I decided I knew how Mary and Joseph must have felt. Tonight we wouldn’t even get the barn. Dang.
At the edge of town, there was a small stable in which a blacksmith was pounding on a piece of metal. He looked up as we entered his work area.
“Hey there, what can I do for ya?” he said as he laid his mallet to the side.
“Howdy. We need to purchase a horse,” Caiyan answered in a near-perfect Texas accent.
“I think the Hobbses’ farm might have a few mares for sale. You from outta town?” He looked at us suspiciously.
“Yes,” Caiyan said.
“They live down at the end of the road there.” He pointed toward the road. “I have shoed many of their horses. Take better care of the horses than the kids.” We thanked the blacksmith and walked down the road with Caiyan leading the way.