The Portal

Chapter 8

     The tone of their conversation that afternoon was a lot less stressed, and David chose not to push it aware that the point had been clearly made. He paid attention as the old man lectured him about time paradoxes and what he should do to prevent them from happening in his future travels. While he was tempted to record the lecture on his phone, David instead too hand notes since he had already shown the old man too much regarding the small piece of tech. He was never the most prolific student when it came to paying attention, but David made sure to keep up because this information could save his life or put others at risk if he wasn't careful. Like his training in law enforcement, every detail was scrutinized and looked over with caution to make sure that mistakes didn't cost them or someone else their life.

     David was sure that if he took this time travel lecture as serious as he did his earlier training, it would be collected better and remembered when it was all hitting the fan. When the afternoon was finished, his mother called the men to come in for supper. As his father had promised, mother had made chicken and dumplings this time. It was well received as David inhaled his first helping and asked for more. His mother had made extra, aware that her boys were big and thus likely had bigger appetites. Dad brought beer in and they all had a great time talking about their day. His father told Ricky about how David handled the nosy cop that came over in the morning, and it was funny to hear the old man detail how he saw things.

     "I had never seen a cop run away that quickly before," his father said, chuckling as he thought about it. "I mean he really leaned into him hard, it was impressive to watch."

     "I believe it," Rick concurred, "I saw him shoot someone a few days ago. The man was all business and thankfully is a very good shot."

     "I'm ranked first in my state," David said, not trying to brag, "With both the pistol and shotgun."

     "A trained killer," her mother suddenly blurted out.

     "Excuse me," David said as he took exception to it, "The point of my training isn't to kill bad guys, but to serve and protect the people. To be the man that stands between the evil men and the good people who can't defend themselves. I've used tasers, pepper spray and even martial arts to bring criminals down without harming them. Guns are only a last resort."

     Things went quiet after that exchange until the table cleared. David hadn't meant to be so rude to his mother, but her comment had taken him by surprise. He made up with her later in the night before going to sleep early. David still couldn't stay in his own room, as everything around him was just too distracting. He chose to take the pillows down to the couch again, and crash in the television room. David slept comfortably and even slept deep into the morning again like he had the night before. When David woke up, he strolled into the den offered to talk more about the portal but his father declined.

     "We are going to church," his father informed him, "You gonna get ready?"

     "Not really," David said, scoffing at the idea. "I'm not religious."

     "You're not?" David's Dad said, not a fan of that answer.

     "Fraid not," David confirmed, "I'll pass and hang out around here. And don't you dare push the younger me to do it when he gets back from camp, as that will actually have the opposite effect on him."

     His father didn't seem pleased about this, but let it go. "If you could tidy up the kitchen for us while we're gone, that would be helpful."

     "I can do that," David said, taking the olive branch despite his disbelief in the phrase's origin.

     "Thanks," his father said as he left the room, "I'll see you when we get back."

     "No problem," David said as he left the den as well. He'd didn't like the tension between the two of them just then, but it was one of many things the younger version of himself was going to challenge his father on, the old man just got a sneak peek into one of them. He was not an easy child to raise and David knew that, but he was good where it counted. It was something that he hoped his father had noticed when speaking with him the last few days. He watched Ricky and his parents all leave the property to head for church, which he was happy to pass on. David hadn't said the A word to his father, afraid that finding out he was an atheist might have upset him a great deal. Non-religious was the furthest he was willing to say at the moment. He was afraid that if his father knew, he might take it out on his younger self.