Gift of Time Part 1
GIFT OF TIME PART 1 – May 7, 2024 – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Author’s Note: This is the first of a two part story. The second part of the story will be posted October 26.
Horace Grant showed up at his son’s house unannounced, as usual. The timing and purpose for his visits were unpredictable. They were never more frequent than six months apart, and he had stayed away for as long as two years.
He was lucky to find his son’s family at home, but luck was typically on Horace’s side. He stood on the porch in the evening’s fading light wearing boots, knee length shorts, and a sweater, as if to say no matter what weather he faced, he would suffer through it. His thick hair and full beard were gray, but he was still as strong and solidly built as he had been at a much younger age. His sunburned face made him look like he had barely returned from a mountain summit or sail across an ocean.
“I wish we knew you were coming,” his son, Paul, said after a hug and pat on the shoulder. “What if we were out of town?”
“Then I would have settled down and waited.”
“On the porch?”
“Why not? I’ve waited for trains and camel caravans in much worse places.”
Paul rolled his eyes. “Alright, Dad. Don’t start with the stories just yet. Let me call Eliza and the kids.”
Paul shouted into the house that Grandpa Grant had arrived and everyone should hurry to greet him.
“You want something to eat?” Paul asked his father.
“No, I’m fine.”
“You know that I’m always glad to see you. So what brings you around this time?”
“I finished a job in Thailand and I’m on my way to West Africa. I thought I’d check-in. See you and the kids.”
By that point, Paul’s wife and two children, Amber and Theo, had joined him. Horace pulled his grandchildren in for long hugs. They both had reddish-brown hair and the same sky-blue eyes as their grandfather. He raved about how tall they had grown.
“I can only stay a few days,” Horace announced. “I’ll sleep in the backyard in my hammock, the way I like it.”
“You sure you don’t want a bed?” Paul asked. He added under his breath, “Or a hotel room?”
“No, you know I like sleeping in the open air.”
“It might get cold at night.”
Horace laughed like he was being challenged. “I think I can handle springtime temperatures in Indiana.”
Two huge, industrial-grade trunks sat on the porch’s floor near Horace’s feet. Both were labeled “Heavy”. He picked up one and Paul the other and they rolled them through the house on the way to the backyard.
“You got here during kind of a busy week,” Paul said as he tugged a trunk. “I need to go into work every day. And tomorrow we’re celebrating Amber’s birthday.”
Horace smiled at his granddaughter who followed behind him. “That’s exactly why I’m here.” His words sounded convincing to everyone but Paul.
Storytelling dominated the rest of the evening. Horace insisted the others serve as an audience as he first hung his hammock outside and then reclined in a high-backed chair in their living room. He talked about his recent stay in Thailand where he arranged deals between American friends and Thai friends. This kind of translating and matchmaking seemed to be how he made the money that he only entrusted to banks in Switzerland.
When he described treks aboard elephants through the Thai and Cambodian jungles, each action-packed sentence ended with a cliffhanger. Amber and her little brother sat on the floor entranced by encounters with tigers, snakes, and monkeys inside vine covered temples.
“We were in search of exotic plants that could treat incurable diseases. That’s how I met the Hoka people. None of them had ever seen a phone. They thought it was a magic rock that could transform into other objects. I traded them four knives for a jumping spider whose bite makes your whole arm go numb for an hour.”
“What did the Hoka look like? What did they wear?” Amber asked in innocent amazement.
“Their leaders wore a cloth that looked like pure gold. They made it from a yellow kind of bamboo, pounded into thread.”
“You really should write some of these stories down,” Amber’s mom interjected. “They sound like they could be in a movie.”
Under his breath, Paul muttered, “I’m sure they already were in the movies he watched before he showed up here.”
“Hey Dad,” Paul said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “If you were carrying around phones in Thailand, how come you never used one to call us or send a picture? We would love to see what you’re up to.”
Horace acted genuinely remorseful. “I guess I didn’t think about that. Usually the reception was pretty spotty, but that’s no excuse. I’ll send more pictures next time.”
Paul smiled smarmily and replied, “We’ll look forward to it.”
Amber woke up the next morning to happy birthday wishes from every family member but her grandfather. He was nowhere around the house, but his hammock and trunks were still in the backyard. He was still gone when she returned from school, but she gave his absence little thought because she and three of her friends spent the late afternoon at an ice-skating rink as part of her birthday celebration. When she returned home for presents and a party, Horace was there admiring the decorations. He introduced himself to all her friends and said they reminded him of a beautiful dancing troupe he met while hiking through France.
Amber’s mom unveiled a birthday cake and Horace ordered everyone to stop what they were doing. He rushed to the backyard and returned holding a sword.
“Cakes are cut with a sword at all royal birthday parties,” Horace said importantly. “Amber looks and acts like a princess, so we should cut her cake with this.”
“Was that in one of your bags?” Paul asked in alarm. “Is it clean?”
“Of course, it’s clean. But to ease your mind, I’ll wash it.”
Horace ran the sword under a stream of water from the kitchen sink and dried it with a towel. He handed it to Amber who laughed as she awkwardly hacked into the cake. The sword absorbed so much attention, the onlookers nearly forgot to sing the Happy Birthday song.
After Amber’s friends left and the family was sitting around the leftover cake on the kitchen table, Horace announced he had a special present for his granddaughter. He pulled from his pocket a wooden box that easily fit in the palm of his hand. He slid off the lid to reveal three small objects inside their own compartment. The first object was red and round, the second blue and oblong, and the third green and hexagonal.
“I’ve met many magical people during any travels,” Horace said mysteriously. “They live in hard-to-reach places and only give up their secrets to those they trust. Each of these pills contain magical power. The red came from Brazil, the blue from the Sahara, and the green from Nepal.”
“What do they do?” Amber asked with widening eyes.
“The red one allows you to relive an entire day. It sends you back in time. The blue one sends you forward in time an entire week. You skip everything in between. And the green lets you wake up anywhere in the world you wish.”
“C’mon Dad,” Paul protested. “Don’t fill up her head with this crazy stuff.”
“I swear this is true. Their power is real.” Horace turned his attention directly to Amber. “For your twelfth birthday present, you can choose one.”
“I don’t like this at all,” Paul interrupted. “If those pills have any power, it’s probably because they’re psychedelic drugs. I don’t want them near my daughter.”
Horace flashed an angry look at his son. “Do you really think so little of me? You think I would give my own granddaughter something dangerous?”
Paul mumbled to himself and acted very sheepish. Horace told Amber she would have a couple days to think about the pills and decide if she wanted one. Then he closed the wooden box and left the kitchen for the backyard.
From the moment her grandfather unveiled the pills, Amber remained transfixed by their possibilities. Few people had ever made the kind of decision Horace proposed. Amber stayed up half the night thinking of pill shapes and colors. The next day, her dad refused to talk about them. Her mom was more imaginative with their possibilities. She sat in Amber’s room for an hour wondering how she might use them.
“I guess the red pill would be the ultimate eraser. If you had a terrible day or something horrible happened, you could go back and fix it. But it would be like an insurance policy. Not a lot of fun.”
“What about the blue pill?” Amber asked. “Would you completely disappear for a week or just forget everything that happened?”
“Who knows. But it sounds like another insurance policy. Not fun, but maybe it keeps you out of lots of suffering if you have a week of tests or a visitor you don’t like.”
“Or maybe you want to speed up time because you just can’t wait until something good is supposed to happen. Like Christmas or the end of school.”
“I don’t know if I’d waste it like that. The more I think about it, the more fun the green one sounds. To just wake up anywhere. That’s a lot of freedom. But how would you get back? And what would you have with you?”
“It would be much better to have two green pills. The second one for the return trip.”
“You’re right.” Amber’s mom suddenly seemed to come back down to earth. “And remember, this is all fun to think about, but it’s hard to believe they could be real. You should treat them as a fun memento from your grandpa.”
Before school the next day, Amber found Horace in the kitchen making a version of fried eggs he learned in Turkey.
“I’ve decided on my present,” Amber told him. “I want the green pill.”
“Excellent choice. That’s what I would choose too. I’m having a pendant made for it. That way you can secretly carry it around. I’ll give it to you as soon as the pendant’s ready.”
“How long will it take?”
“Not long at all.”
Amber returned home from school that afternoon intending to ask her grandfather about the pendant. He was not inside the house or in the backyard. She noticed that his hammock and luggage trunks were gone. Amber’s mom claimed she did not see him leave. Her dad acted unsurprised and said, “Your grandpa has never been good with goodbyes.”
Amber was worried she would never see her promised present when she walked into her room and saw something on her bed. A delicate gold chain lay on top of a handwritten note. Amber picked up the gold chain and found a circular gold pendant attached at the middle. A single blue jewel decorated the front of the pendant and its back rotated open to reveal a hollow compartment. The red pill was inside.
“This isn’t right. I wanted the green one,” Amber said to herself. She picked up the note and read her grandfather’s neatly printed words.
“Dear Princess Amber,
I’m sorry I could not leave the green pill because I need to use it. A life-or-death emergency came up in Thailand and I have to get back immediately. I hope the red one is a close second choice and you’ll keep it safe.
Love,
Horace”
Amber showed the pendant and note to her parents. Her dad sarcastically said, “Oh sure, he magically returned to Thailand. Whatever you do, never swallow that red pill.”
Amber’s mom said, “It’s strange he didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t see him pack his things. One minute he was here cooking eggs, the next minute he was gone.”
“I told you he’s bad at goodbyes,” replied Amber’s dad. “If you haven’t noticed, he’s not like normal people.”
Amber put the gold chain around her neck and used the attached clasp to connect the two ends. It fit perfectly and the pendant tingled against her skin. She continued to remove it to admire the small red pill inside.
At 10 pm, just as Amber was getting ready for bed, her dad’s phone rang. When he answered, Horace was on the line and wanted to start a video call. After a few seconds, the phone was handed to Amber. Her grandfather’s image appeared on the screen. He stood on a sunlit street corner as swarms of people passed on bicycles and motorbikes. Signs in the background showed words in a foreign language.
“I’m outside Bangkok right now. It’s morning here,” Horace said, looking around. “Did you get the pendant?”
“Yes, I’m wearing it,” Amber replied, grabbing her necklace as proof.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t leave the pill you wanted. At least you have the other one.”
“Are you okay? Was there an emergency?”
“Yes, but that’s taken care of now. Crisis averted.”
“When will we see you again?”
“Sometime soon.” As Horace answered, he turned his attention to a man speaking angrily in a language Amber did not understand. Horace answered him and then said abruptly to Amber, “I need to go.” The call ended.
Amber looked up from the phone to find her parents staring back at her. “He’s in Thailand. He took the pill to get there. It worked. It really worked.”
“Hold on. How do you know he didn’t fly there?” Amber’s dad asked skeptically.
“Would there be enough time?” Amber asked.
“Sure,” her dad replied. Then he grabbed his phone and looked up flight times between Evansville and Thailand. “Hmm. Maybe not. This says at least 16 hours. When did we last see him?”
“Probably fourteen hours ago,” Amber’s mom answered.
Amber’s dad scratched his head. “How do we know he was actually calling from Thailand? That call could have come from anywhere and your grandpa had lots of time to fly there.” He continued to speculate over where Horace was. He guessed as far away as Hawaii.
Amber did not wonder. She knew her grandfather was in Thailand and had used the green pill to get there. It worked and it meant the red pill in her pendant worked too. She nervously stroked the pendant with her thumb. It was now hers for a reason. Sometime in the future she would need to relive a day. It was now up to her to decide which one.
Be sure to read the second part of the story posted October 26.
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