Aim to Engage 2023

19 Grandfather Time

"Why doesn't it look like I remember?" I muttered the question to myself as I stepped out of my Uber ride from the airport. Grammie and Grandda weren't exactly young. Heck, I wasn't young anymore. My own children were in university.

The house was a gingerbread Victorian. Each detail painted a different color, with a harmonious welcoming aura. Not quite traditional though. It was built into the hillside on a multi-acre estate surrounded by an elegant sandstone and wrought iron fence. The gate stood open as usual.

Why was I wondering what this house hid? I've never questioned how my grandparents supported their lifestyle, or why there was always more than enough money. It didn't seem to matter what the emergency was, they always had our backs. My mother's siblings, all of my cousins and the fifteen great grands, were comfortable too.

"You're not a kid anymore, Gustaf."

My wife's practical nature was usually a boon, but today I just wanted to be a kid again. Go exploring through the many levels of the house and find that secret door. I knew it was there.

"Malina, just for once, please let's have an adventure. Give it up and be my guide. The one who remembers everywhere we've been and how to find the way back. Like it was before we married." I kept my voice even, hoping to appeal to her ultra-organized side.

"Well, if you put it that way, I'll do the mapping." She pulled out her cell phone, and found her way to her special app. She used it at work, when they found abandoned buildings in the middle of the desert. Forensic archaeology was her calling, and lucky for her, the FBI agreed they required her skills.

"Grammie said the door on the garage level is open. I can never believe they live this way." I grabbed the gargoyle knocker and rapped it three times. The signal we agreed on as a family. Everyone used the same knock to let Grandda know who was out there.

A disembodied voice echoed through the hallway when we let the door click closed behind us.

"Welcome Gustaf. Luncheon will be served in sixty minutes. Level three dining room. The formal one."

"We'll be there. We want to explore a little down here first. Okay?" I responded.

"See you later then." I heard the distinct click of the end of his transmission.

"I think there's way more to this house than we know," Malina commented.

"You too? The rooms we've always used don't add up to what I estimated the outside dimensions are. I want to find the secret door. It has to be down here, in the passage behind the garage. Down this way." I tugged her to the right.

"I never thought you noticed." Malina quirked her elegant eyebrow, and her green eyes sparkled.

"I'm not totally blind, you know," I grumbled.

"You could have fooled me." Her voice held a dry giggle, and I knew she was teasing. It was a long standing joke between us.

I pulled my flashlight out and pointed the intense beam along the inner wall. I was looking for cracks or unusual lines indicating a hidden door.

"Hey, Gustaf. This doesn't add up. The four car garage is only one hundred and twenty-five feet long. We're already past that," Malina said.

"Kind of thought so. I've been counting my steps."

"Wait a sec, point your light in the corner there."

We were at a dead end anyway, so I did as she asked, following the direction she was pointing in.

"I see it." I traced the crack she spotted in the corner up and across the top of the wall and down the other side of a very wide doorway.

"Question is, where's the trigger?" Malina asked.

"Either a pressure sensor, or a tiny hook embedded in one of these little cracks. Like right there." I stopped my light over a slightly wider gap, "Do you have a nail file, or maybe a hairpin? I'll bet you can snag the mechanism with one or the other."

Malina pulled a barrette out of her hair. She always used one to keep her bangs out of her eyes when she was serious about what she was doing.

"Spring metal and it's skinny too. Let me see what I can do. Keep the light trained on it."

I know the click was quiet, but it sounded like a gunshot to me. The door slid to the side on silent wheels. Inside the room was bright. Wheels and cogs ticked around gears with chains and pendulums in several places. From the ceiling, natural light cast sharp shadows on the floor.

"Do you remember the doomed glass bubbles behind the dinning room. Grammie used to tell us they were fairy hills."

"Never thought anything of them. Just thought they were for light on another level. What is this place?"

I could see goosebumps on Malina's forearms where she pushed her sleeves up out of her way.

"Universe Central Time. And not the Prime Meridian time zone you know by UTC." Grandda's white Santa Claus beard moved with his words.

"How, what, who...." The words sputtered and stuttered from my mouth.

"Ah Gustaf. There are more things in heaven and on Earth than anyone can comprehend. I am Grandfather Time. And since we will need a new Father Time to take over when my life ends as it must, I'm glad you found our little secret."

As I tried to recover my wits, Malina wandered to the other side of the room.

"What's this?" she asked as she slipped into and oddly shaped chair with a joystick on the armrest.

I didn't know Grandda could move like that. He got to Malina just before she pushed the joystick forward and placed his hand around the base to hold it still.

"Don't touch that!"

"Sorry, sir," Malina's military training responded to his sharp command. My wife looked up at him and eased out of the seat.

"This is a model 2B-1200 time machine. For when dimensions tear, and we have to repair."

So many odd occurrences suddenly made sense.

"Does anyone else know?" I asked.

"Your Grammie. I believe you have inherited the gene as well. Your daughter too."

"What gene?"

"The one for extra-long life. Training Father Time is a pain in the, well you know." Grandda's blue eyes twinkled as he delivered his news. "By the way, Malina, we'll be altering your genome to match as well. Gina will be the first Mother Time in over twenty millennia."

Malina slid to the floor, and I caught her before her head could strike the floor. I wished I could follow her and wake up from this nightmare.

"There's no choice for you, son. I gave you the gift of normal for as long as I could." Grandda tugged the bottom curl of his beard. "Your fate has always been here. I can promise you one thing. You'll never be bored."