Time Enough For Love
by AZ Story Guy
Chapter 2
Levi started to shake all over. His eyes literally popped at the site below.
His eyes had not betrayed him. There was no truck. There was no grove of trees. The smoke came from a stream engine. A train sat on steel rails at a water tank. He could see people on the train; he saw a man pouring water into the tender.
Levi just stood there gasping in disbelief.
"What the fuck....!" he said to himself, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...........!!!"
Levi fell to the ground shaking as he looked at the panorama below. A noise behind him caused the boy to spin around. Hairs on his neck stood up at the sight. Up on the mountain side at the mine shaft was a head frame. A building. Supplies were stacked all around the shaft. People were busily working. He heard their voices.
"What the fuck is going on?" he said to himself.
Levi tried to remember what had happened. The boy had no way of knowing that his event in the cave had left him with a short term memory loss. All he could remember was entering the cave to do some exploring and then suddenly his mind was blank.
He DID know that what he was seeing defied logic. The mine site. He had just visited it a couple of hours ago and cried over the thought of the cute cowboy's body lying under tons of rock. Now people were working there like the cave-in had never happened.
"Wait a minute!" he thought, "It hadn't happened because.... It HASN'T happened!"
Levi knew he had to get down the hill to the train. The ancient steam engine - except it didn't LOOK ancient! - and it's passenger cars and people was starting to leave. They could tell him what was going on.
"Unless I'm crazy!" he thought.
He started to run down the hill. The steam engine let out a loud blast of its whistle as it crept forward.
"NO!" Levi screamed, "DON'T LEAVE ME!"
Faster the boy ran. Closer. Ever closer.... The train pulled off the side track and onto the main line. A man exited the last car and threw the switch. He re-boarded the train. Another whistle blast. The train started to move.
"FASTER DAMNIT!" Levi told himself.
He was almost to the bottom of the hill. The train spun its huge iron wheels and got a grip on the rails. It started to move. Faster.
Levi saw he wasn't going to make it. He got to the bottom of the hill but the train was at the far end of the track. He turned to run. Tired. So very tired. Levi wasn't a jock. Just a skinny runt teenager.
"NO!!! PLEASE DON'T GO!!!!" he cried.
The train was moving away. He thought he could see people looking at him as it made its departure..
The boy knelt down on the rails and started to cry.
"What the fuck.... Where am I?" he cried more and more.
Sitting there at the intersection of the road and the rails, he didn't hear the approaching wagon.
Four horses were pulling a load of supplies to the mine. Levi was a small target on the road. The wagon crested the hill at the rail junction and was feet from running over the teen when a strong pair of hands grabbed the boy and yanked him out of harm's way.
Levi felt like he was flying through space as he hit the ground. At first he was pissed until he saw the wagon go flying by. Then he realized what had happened. He turned to face the person who had saved him.
"It" was a literal mountain of a man bearish looking, towering over Levi.. In funnier times Levi would have laughed at the thought of having sex with a guy that fit this man's description. Way over six feet tall; maybe 235 pounds. Bearded like that proverbial "man in the mountain," and dressed in the same manner. A "coon skin " hat, some kind of funky hand-made pants and shirt. Mounted on horseback with a mule trailing behind, the man looked like something out of an old black and white television western.
"Are you light headed boy? Sittin' in the middle of the road a-like that?" the man growled.
Man and boy stared at each other.
Levi didn't know whether to be thankful or afraid.
The man looked at the boy and a thought briefly flashed through his mind.
"Maybe....!" he thought to himself.
"Uh.... Sir.... Could you please tell me where I am?" Levi said in a tiny voice.
The sound of the boy made the man think of......
"No!" he thought, "I got more trouble now at home than I need... But.... maybe if I get rid of.....!"
"About 2 miles from Gold Strike if you follow the road," the man growled, "Or 1 miles if you follow the tracks... But as dumb as you are I think a-maybe you should stick to the road!" the man barked.
"GOLD STRIKE?" Levi exclaimed.
"Boy.... Don't you know where you are at? How in tarnation [Note: Used from the Eighteenth Century to express anger or annoyance] did you git here anyways?" the man exclaimed.
Levi had to think fast.
"I... Uhhhhh.... I got left behind from the train!" he lied.
"Well hike yurself down to town and you can pick up another one in a couple of days....!" the man replied.
Then with a sinister grin he added, "....Unless you want to wait at my place until the next one comes through. We can flag stop it and you can board from here!"
Levi looked around and saw nothing.
You LIVE here?" he asked.
"Down that there path!" the man pointed to a well worn foot path taking off down a sharp ravine.
"Uhhhh... I think I'll head into the town!" the teen replied.
"You sure look funny for someone from these parts. Do you have any kin in Gold Strike?" the man asked.
Levi's mind was moving fast. He took a chance.
"Oh.... Mrs Holloway!" he replied.
Levi hoped the man didn't know the woman.... if she even existed. Levi was trying to recall the details he had read about Gold Strike, and "Holloway" was the name of the town's teacher.
"Oh yeah.... The schoolin' woman....!" the man grumbled, "Well you better git on 'cause you sure do not wanna be wanderin' around here after dark!"
Levi hadn't thought about that; the deserts of Arizona are full of creatures that like to sting, bite or just plan EAT other small "animals" like him! Especially at night!
"Thanks! I'll be going now!" he said.
Levi kept a wary eye on the man as the two parted company and headed in opposite directions. Striking southward, Levi opted to follow the rails.
"I know I drove through here a few hours ago!" he said as he hiked through the narrow canyon, "And it sure as fuck didn't look like this!"
Stopping to drink some of his precious water supply, Levi's mind kept playing over what had happened to him.
Pieces of his memory were starting to fill in.
"There was a storm! A BIG fucking storm! And lightning. Lots of it! And I.....!" he thought.
"Wait a minute! It's not possible! Is it?" he kept asking himself.
Somehow this all had to be a big practical joke. Maybe Charles had something to do with it.
"Yeah! Charles can do anything!" the boy chirped. He pulled out his phone again and waited.
"No service!"
"FUCK!!! FUCK!!! FUCK!!!" he screamed.
His words echoed off the canyon walls.
The Southern end of the canyon loomed ahead.
"If this is a joke then I'm about to find out who's responsible!" Levi thought, "And I'm gonna kick their ass too!"
Levi laughed at that thought. He couldn't kick anyone's ass. If he could, then Ryan wouldn't have raped him twice.....
He winced at the memory. Somehow Levi thought he would lose his "cherry" to someone kind of special; not to an asshole who just need to get off....
Levi's bad memories of Ryan quickly dissipated from his mind as he exited the mouth of the railroad canyon. "Dissipated" was too mild of a word, His thoughts blew up like at atomic bomb as he started down the grade towards Gold Strike.
There, in the distance, sat the town. Not the ruins he had visited earlier in the day. The town was there in real life: Buildings. People. Horses. All the trappings of a small western pioneer town, Circa 1900.
Levi stopped dead in his tracks. The shakes came back again.
It was true. The idea had earlier flirted with his brain but he had dismissed it. Now he could not longer deny the truth.
"I'm here!" he said to himself, "I'm back in....time? What the fuck? 1900 or something?" he said to himself.
Dazed and confused, he tried to recall when the town had existed. Pulling out the pages he had printed before leaving Phoenix, he reread the details.
"Gold Strike... Established in 1890.... the mine blew up in 1912 and then the town died a fairly quick death....!" he thought, "Judging from the shit I saw going on at the mine, It looks like they're getting ready to do some more mining... so that would mean this must be around.... 1912..... the big explosion came in August of 1912....." he read, "AUGUST? Like NOW? What date..... !"
He looked for the date....
"AUGUST 29th?" he exclaimed, "That's in four days!"
Levi was still too stunned from everything that had happened to put the pieces of the puzzle together. His mind raced at the possibilities.
"Traveling through time?" he thought, "A wormhole?"
Levi had seen so many movies about both: Stargate, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Dr. Who, The Time Machine, Twelve Monkeys, The Terminator series.... He listed off all the movies where time travel or wormholes had been a part of the plot.
"But those are FUCKING MOVIES!" he yelled to no one, "They're all shit from Hollywood; none of that stuff really happened! And I'm fucking stuck here in god knows what time.... I bet they don't even have indoor fucking plumbing!"
That thought made Levi cringe.
"I don't think I'm gonna like it here!" he said to no one.
Thinking more about his current dilemma, it occurred to Levi that maybe he was here to save the town. To keep the mine from exploding.
"There has to be a fucking reason why I'M the 'LUCKY' one who got drafted for this shit!" he again yelled out loud.
The phenomenon that transported Levi over one hundred years back in time hadn't gone completely unnoticed by the locals. Since there were only about one hundred fifty people living near Gold Strike, it was amazing anyone had seen the teen's arrival. Most who had seen the Levi's appearance had no idea what hey had just witnessed.
On top of the mountain holding the caves and the Wildcat Mine, there had been a sudden, blindingly bright bolt of blueish light. Much like the one that had struck in the cave just before Levi left "his" world. Unlike Levi's departure point, there was no pelting rainstorm or menacing clouds at his arrival destination. The sky was a bright summer blue. No clouds were to be seen anywhere.
The blueish bolt of light caught the attention of a couple of the crew at the mine. They briefly wondered what had just happened before being ordered back to work.
Passengers on the afternoon train headed for Prescott had also seen a flash of light. It was a topic of curiosity for a few of the more intellectual travelers before being forgotten as the conversations moved on.
Two Gold Strike residents saw the lightning flash and, of all the people in the vicinity, they were the only ones who knew something significant had just happened.
In town, Hok'ee, the half Navajo, half Anglo hired hand of Edith Holloway was stacking logs at the Holloway House when he saw the lightning discharge. Hok'ee was once a shaman in his tribe. He knew the lore of the Wildcat Mine and its tragic past.
Hok'ee stared at the distant mountaintop and broke into a Navajo chant.
Mrs. Holloway paused from hanging her laundry on the line.
"Hok'ee! What ever is the matter with you?" she asked.
Mrs. Holloway knew the young man all too well. Now around age 28, Hok'ee had been a part of the family for over twelve years. Edith's husband had purchased the young boy for some horses, flour and corn. The boy was not wanted by his tribe because of his half-breed, or Mtis, heritage,
Edith Holloway was a cut above the typical pioneer woman. Originally from back East, she was highly educated and possessed of many talents needed on the frontier. Deeply in love with her husband Robert Louis Holloway, she followed him from one wild adventure to another. The couple always managed to come out ahead (financially) in all of their enterprises until Robert took ownership of the Wildcat Mine. The Wildcat proved to be the end of the line for Robert Holloway.....
The couple had tried for years to have their own child and without success. When Edith learned that Hok'ee was "for sale" by his Tribe, she begged Robert to "do something!"
He did, and soon the Holloways had their own "son." Edith wasted no time in raising Hok'ee (the name means "abandoned one" in Navajo) to the best of her abilities. Being a teacher by trade, she made sure the young boy learned as much as he could to function in a late Nineteenth, early Twentieth Century world.
Hok'ee was not stupid. He was quite intelligent. That fact, and his "half-breed" status, earned him a great amount of enmity from some of the "locals." At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Native Americans were treated worse than the recently freed slaves. The "lucky" Native Americans died in valiant battles against the Anglo conquerors who had swept across North America on a tide of "Manifest Destiny." The unlucky ones were rounded up and resettled on "Reservations."
Hok'ee escaped both fates by the luck of a bartered deal. He ended up with a loving family settled in the backwoods of frontier Arizona. When Edith's husband died in the Wildcat explosion, Hok'ee vowed to remain with Edith and help his adopted Mother manage the Holloway House.
Edith made enough money for the both of them to survive. Her talents came from teaching the town's children, offering services as a seamstress, and selling her exquisite pies, fudge and brownies to a local population used a diet of sodium-soaked hard tack, beans and biscuits.
The Holloways had been one of the first settlers at the Gold Strike town site. Robert Louis Holloway had partitioned the land at Gold Strike into lots and then rented or sold these lots to the eventual store owners and residents. Edith received monthly rental payments on those remaining rental lots which netted her a tidy sum every month.
Hok'ee hired himself out for manual labor and received the brunt of grunt jobs the Anglo settlers did not want to do. Gold fever had swept the town. In addition to the Wildcat Mine, wanna-be prospectors swarmed all the nearby dry stream beds in search of easy diggins'.
The day Levi arrived on the mountaintop, Hok'ee turned after breaking into his Navajo chant, and announced to no one (or anyone) who happened to be listening, "HE has arrived!"
Mrs. Holloway looked at Hok'ee, then at the mountain, and shook her head in confusion.
The other Gold Strike resident who saw (or perhaps sensed) Levi's arrival was a boy.
Tall, lean and strong as an ox, sixteen year old Curtis Jay Jones was splitting logs at his homestead just down the hill from the mine.
It wasn't really Curtis' homestead; it belonged to a man known only as "Trapper." Curtis had lived with the man since he was twelve. Curtis' parents had died from the many diseases that swept across the pioneer West. At age ten he was placed in an orphanage in Prescott. For two years Curtis fought with the guardians at the home as well as the other wards.
Curtis was not like most other children. He had an early rendezvous with puberty which made him the butt of jokes from the other boys. Curtis was not savvy enough to realize that the other boys' jokes were borne out of jealousy. Because of the continual taunts, Curtis learned early how to fight. He always won. The other boys always lost. Some quite badly.
By age twelve Curtis had enough; he ran away one cold wintry night. Not a smart plan at all... In the early 1900s there were no police or social service workers to go looking for a missing boy. Especially when that boy had been a big pain in the ass....
So Curtis lived by stealing food and anything else he needed to stay live. One night he tried to steal from a hulking figure of a man. Trapper caught the boy and slammed him against the ground.
"Stealin' my food, boy?" he growled at the youth.
Curtis shivered in the cold but stood his ground.
"I need to eat. Yur a lot bigger than me... one missed meal will not hurt you at all!" he barked to the man.
Trapper looked at this beanpole of a boy with amazement. No one talked back to Trapper. He thought about cracking the boy's skull wide open and leaving him to die in the night. No one would know who did it.
There was a stirring in Trapper's loins. The boy was.... Well.... "He would do!" the man thought.
Trapper had a woman once; no one knew if she was his wife or not. They had moved from town to town. Usually involved in conning or outright stealing from anyone they thought was an easy mark.
Trapper's woman had died a few years earlier from influenza. The man missed her "company." Ten dollar whores weren't the same. Looking at the ragged boy lying on the ground, Trapper thought "why not?"
"You wanna live with me?" he asked the boy, "Do what I say, take care of me, and I will feed you and see that you have a place to live."
The young boy didn't understand the nuance of Trapper's "take care of me." If he had, he should have run a thousand miles away. The boy was cold and hungry. He agreed.
That night Trapper raped the boy for the first time. It was a pattern than had continued until present. Now sixteen, Curtis was by any standards those of the early Twentieth Century or the Twenty-First Century, one hot teenage boy. He was also Trapper's boy. As Curtis had grown, Trapper had become more fond of violating the boy as often as possible. Curtis got nothing out of the arrangement. Well, nothing emotionally.
Trapper maintained his dominance over the boy, and enjoyed the unbelievable sensations from fucking Curtis' perpetually tight ass. Trapper would fuck Curtis once, twice, or even three times a day. The man didn't care that Curtis had grown (parts of the young teen had REALLY grown!) and had needs beyond the spontaneous orgasms brought by Trapper's constant anal violations.
To say that Curtis gained nothing from being violated on a daily basis was not completely true. From the first time Trapper had taken Curtis' cherry to present, the boy HAD felt pleasure in being fucked. Those feelings had grown as the boy matured. Trapper noticed how Curtis responded to his assaults, and used the boy's growing enjoyment of being violated to shame and degrade the teenager. However, it was getting more difficult to control the boy. As Curtis matured, it was clear to Trapper that the teen was growing into his role as the man's "woman." In other words, Curtis was, by contemporary (Levi's) terms, a "power bottom." Whether this was Curtis' true sexual inclination, or simply conditioning because of his living arrangement with Trapper, was unknown.
Nevertheless, the man knew that Curtis was growing more restless and rebellious. It was just a matter of time until the boy took off and left Trapper alone. That would not be acceptable.
Trapper wondered where he could find another willing young boy.... He had seen one earlier in the day. The kid was definitely new to the area. Trapper admired the boy's grace and beauty; that was why he had pulled the boy out of harm's way just before a wagon loaded with mining supplies had almost crushed him like a bug....
Curtis was finishing splitting the newest pile of logs when Trapper returned from town. Sweat glistened from his 140 pound frame. The young man had not an ounce of fat on his entire body. Obesity was unknown amongst frontier youth. Curtis' body was chiseled, lean and tough. His biceps were subtle but hard as granite. Broad shoulders and a flat, rock hard stomach tapered down to a trim waist. In contemporary terms, Curtis had the perfect detail of a "swimmer's body."
Years of walking to town left the boy's legs well muscled and taut. His head was topped with an unruly explosion of untamed light blonde hair that flapped and waved in the breeze. Bright blue eyes shone out from a face that looked much younger than his sixteen years.
Like most boys living on the edge of civilization, Curtis knew nothing about sex. His first wet dreams had brought him immense pleasure while living at the orphanage. That pleasure turned to shame as he was admonished by the guardians for soiling his bed. Curtis noticed that his cock was growing like a weed. Not only was it growing, but it seemed like his beautifully cut cock was hard most of the time. He did not understand the changes taking place in his body.
One day while lying on his bed at the orphanage, Curtis discovered the joy of masturbation. It wasn't too long after that when another boy caught Curtis in the act. That brought more condemnations from the guardians. And more fights with the other boys. By the time Curtis ran away, his cock was an impressive seven inches long. Other boys his age (twelve) or even older had much smaller endowments. The boys called Curtis a "freak." Curtis would respond by bloodying a nose or breaking a tooth or two of his tormentors.
Than came Trapper. The man saw the beauty in Curtis' slender, youthful body. He didn't care about the boy's cock at all. All Trapper could focus on was tapping that tight virgin ass. Despite being a hulk of a man, Trapper was not well endowed. He barely measured out at 5". To compensate for the older man having a much smaller cock, Trapper used shame to control Curtis. He ridiculed the teen and labeled him a "freak" for possessing a truly beautiful cock.. Curtis was shamed into submission. Fortunately for Curtis, Trapper's small endowment made the first few times he was fucked very easy to handle. As the years passed, Curtis' ass could devour Trapper's cock with ease.
Curtis didn't understand why he experienced such pleasure from getting fucked. He had no idea what a prostate gland was. He had no understanding of the erotic nature of the anus and how easily it could be stimulated. That ignorance, combined with Trapper's ritual humiliation, destroyed the boy's self esteem.
The man and boy ended up at Gold Strike a few years before the last opening of the mine. Trapper did make the boy attend school. There was no concern or devotion to his young companion. Trapper was only marginally literate. He needed someone who could read, write and perform basic math skills. Curtis attended Mrs. Holloway's classes and graduated from the eighth grade with top scores. Mrs. Holloway had hopes she could continue to work with Curtis because he showed real promise.
Trapper had other plans. Curtis had outlived his usefulness. It was time for a change.
As Trapper rode into the homestead, he gruffly asked the boy if all the wood was cut.
"Yes!" came the boy's reply.
"Unload those supplies for me now then!" the man barked.
Curtis heaved bags of flour and grain onto his broad shoulders and took them inside the house.
"House" was a kind expression for where the two lived. It was little more than a stone and wood hovel, hastily slapped together by Trapper. There were numerous cracks in the stone walls that allowed the cold winter winds to swirl through. It also allowed numerous biting and stinging insects a chance to explore the innards of the dwelling.
Curtis would try to patch the cracks with adobe but it was a never ending chore. The two doors and windows were equally drafty and poorly fitted. Inside, there was only one large room with a small stove in the center of the building. A tiny bed barely allowed for the two inhabitants to sleep together. And they did sleep together. Every night. Curtis was resigned to Trapper fucking him before going to sleep, and then more often than not again during the night. In the winter it wasn't so bad; at least the heat from their sex (and Trapper's huge body) kept the boy warm.
There were no amenities in the house. Trapper didn't have time for such niceties. He was either busy panning for gold in the dry wash adjacent to their property, or killing animals for their pelts and meat, or getting drunk in one of Gold Strike's numerous saloons.
The floor was dirt. Cold in the winter and, if by some unfortunate chance, the soil was exposed to water, it turned into a mucky goo. Drinking and bathing water came from the nearby water tank on the rail line. Trapper had Curtis haul bottles of the precious liquid to the home every week. In the summer, Curtis would bathe and swim in the water tank. The boy hated being unclean but there weren't many options in his environment. Winters were another story. The water in the tank would often freeze over. If he felt brave, Curtis would dive in the near 32 degree liquid and quickly emerge to dry off.
Trapper didn't care about bathing. That made his daily sexual liaisons with Curtis less than pleasant.....
Curtis finished unloading the supplies. As he stacked the final provisions on the shelves, Trapper pinned the boy down on a table.
"I need some of this!" he growled as he grabbed the boy's ass.
Pulling down Curtis' jeans, Trapper grabbed his cock, spit on the head, and slammed it in the boy. Curtis let out a grunt as the small cock bottomed out in his ass. Curtis' own cock was rock hard and dripping as Trapper began sodomizing the boy.
The man saw Curtis' cock spasming and it pissed him off.
"You god damned freak!" he growled, "You are enjoying this......!"
Curtis couldn't help himself. He was a teenager loaded with hormones His reaction was natural but Curtis didn't understand his developing sexuality.
As Trapper released a load of his cum in Curtis' ass, something in the boy snapped. It was time for him to leave. To get as far away from this house and this man as possible. Curtis knew Trapper was bigger than he was, but the boy also knew he was a lot stronger and faster than the man thought. He was going to have to plan his escape carefully. The boy knew Trapper could kill him on a whim if the thought crossed the man's mind.
As Trapper finished fucking Curtis, the boy's mind jumped back to what he had seen on the mountain top that day. Somehow he felt that the lightning display meant something to him. It seemed to tug at his subconscious. The boy had no idea how right he was...
Levi looked at the sprawling hovel that constituted "Gold Strike." He was still having problems accepting that this was not some cleverly concocted ruse by Charles. Actually, Levi knew that was not possible. Charles could pull off a lot of neat things but what he had seem so far defied the man's skills. The contrary reality, that he, an eighteen year old city boy from Phoenix circa 2014, was standing on the edge of a real, genuine early Twentieth Century town, was too much to accept as real.
Taking a deep breath, he said to himself, "Here goes!"
The boy strolled into town. As he walked, he became aware of his own appearance. Frosted tips with jet dark brown hair, skin tight skinny jeans and a black T.....
"Boy do I ever look out of place!" he laughed to himself.
The railroad into town joined with one of Gold Strike's few "streets." A narrow, rutted trail, Levi had recognized it from when he first arrived a few hours (and 102 years!) ago. The boy saw several houses along the street. "House" was a kind word for these structures. They radiated the appearance of having been hastily thrown together in a few hours, if not days. The first actual "building" Levi encountered was the railroad depot and Western Union office.
"Excuse me, sir!" he said to the man, "Could you tell me what day it is?
The man stared at the odd looking boy peering through the window.
"Yur not from 'round here, are you?" he asked.
"No sir!" Levi replied.
"Funny lookin' hair you got there. What a-happened to it?" the man asked.
Levi's mind raced. What would be a good answer for that one?
"Uh.... It's starting to turn gray on me sir!" the boy answered.
"Shame... You don't look old 'nuff to have that problem yet!" the man answered.
Then he laughed out loud, "At least you still got yurs. My hair started leaving a-me when I was only about twenty!"
"Anyways.... It'd be Sunday, boy!" he continued.
"No sir, it's Monday.... What's is the date?" Levi pressed.
The man looked annoyed as he glanced away from Levi and then back.
"August 25th, boy... and it IS Sunday. I was in church this morning!" he answered.
"The year, sir?" Levi asked.
The boy was confused. He knew it was Monday but....
"Wait! It is August 25th but in what year....!" he thought to himself.
"Boy I got messages to send and receive... I really gotta get on with my business!" he said gruffly.
"Please, sir!" Levi asked.
"Why it is 1912, son...!" the man barked, "Are you stupid or what?"
Levi's body shook when he heard the answer. It made sense now. He had left on on Monday morning, August 25th 2014.... but August 25th in 1912 must have been on a Sunday...!
"It's fucking true!" he thought to himself, "I'm a long fucking ways from home!"
That thought struck Levi like a bullet. No, his actual "home" was only about 75 miles away. But.... One hundred years ago? Or actually, One hundred years into the future....?? There would be nothing at his current homesite except cactus!
"You all right, boy? You a'look a might pale!" the man asked.
"No sir, I'm fine!" Levi replied.
The actuality of hearing what he had suspected left Levi looking a bit shell shocked.
"Thanks for the information, sir!" Levi said, "Oh... Is that.... a.. uh TELEGRAPH?"
The man raised an eyebrow as he reappraised the boy.
"How'd you a-know that? The man asked, "
"This here's a mighty fancy piece of work, boy! I kin talk to Prescott or even Phoenix with just a few taps on the key!" the man beamed at his technological prowess.
"Yeah I and I can call London on my smart phone!" Levi thought to himself, "...In about a hundred years!"
"Well if yur a-here for the mine opening, all the boardin' houses are full up!" the man chortled.
Another thunderbolt hit Levi.
Where the fuck am I going to sleep?" he thought.
"Thank you sir!" Levi said as he walked away.
The clerk's eyes were drawn from Levi's Nike Air Max back pack to the boy's tight little ass hugging his skinny jeans.
Staring at Levi, the man wondered how the boy "ever got hisself into those jeans... They look a might-bit small on him!"
Levi continued into the "heart" of Gold Strike; he quickly recognized the road he had driven over earlier that day. As he surveyed his surroundings, Levi quickly ascertained that most of Gold Strike was either churches or saloons.
"Guess they get drunk and fuck on Saturday and then ask God to forgive them the next day!" he laughed to himself.
Keeping to the shadows, he ventured onward. As the afternoon turned to early evening, Levi knew he was going to have to find a place to crash. And he was HUNGRY!
"Who the fuck knows what they eat here!" he thought out loud, "Fuck I'm dying for a Subway or KFC!"
Even if there were a room or place to rent for the night, Levi knew he was screwed. The teen always had money on him; he had $300 in his wallet right now.
"Yeah!" he mused, "I can see whipping out a 'C' note printed in 2008! That might just make the locals a bit curious!"
Levi figured he was going to have to crash some place clandestine for the night. Food was another matter. He had some energy bars and some Hershey chocolates in his back pack but he wanted something solid..... "Like a huge combination pizza!".
"Find a place first, then look for food!" he thought.
Scouring the upper end of the town, he found some freight wagons parked behind the Feed and Dry Goods Stores. Climbing in between the various crates, he found a fairly secluded spot.
"This will have to do!" he thought to himself, "Now to find something to eat!"
If any boy ever had a tape worm, it would have been Levi. He could eat like a shark and not gain a pound.
"No fat, no muscle either!" he thought, "Not like Tyler!"
The thought of his hunky jock friend made Levi's cock hard.
"God I wish you were here now!" he thought, "At least you'd blend in here. I feel like I have a fucking neon sign painted on my back!"
Levi leaned against the crates in the wagon and felt the outline of his fat cock stretching down his right leg. He began slowly massaging his fuck stick.
"Bullshit!" he breathed to himself.
Levi peeled down his jeans and "Little Levi" sprang up and out into the early evening air. Levi expelled a wad of spit onto his cock and started to move his hand up and down. Faster. His body was stiffening to the feelings. Faster yet. It wouldn't take long now.
The boy slumped down on his tight eighteen year old ass and leaned forward.
"Fuck I'm hungry and this will have to do!" he laughed to himself.
His tongue lapped at "Little Levi's" flared cock head. A wave of precum was sucked into the boy's mouth. Levi leaned further over and easily swallowed half of his 7" cock.
"MMMMMMMMPPPPFFF!" he moaned out loud.
Precum was pulsating out of his rod. The boy lapped it up like candy. He pressed down further, taking in almost three quarters of his entire cock. Levi felt his balls pulsating against his body as he gulped, swirled and washed his fuck stick.
Thinking about Tyler made the boy thrust harder, sending more of his cock down inside his own body. He knew the feeling all too well; a huge cum shot was building in his bull-sized nuts.
Tyler's image flashed through his brain.
Tyler.... Tyler and his seven inch cock... Tyler fucking Levi.... Levi screaming for more
"Harder Tyler! Fuck me like a bitch!" the boy cried inside.
"MORE!!!! "HARDER!!!! "MAKE ME EAT ALL OF YOUR CUM!!!!!!" flashed through his mind.
"TYLER!!!!.. TYLER!!!! ...... OH FUCK!!!!!" Levi moaned.
"TYLER!!!!!!"
Then it happened....
"TYLER!!!!"
Levi saw HIM.... In his mind as he worked his fat adolescent cock to a violent eruption....!
The boy in the picture. The 1912 school picture. A tall lean looking boy with an infectious smile.....
"OH GOD!!!!!!" Levi moaned as his fuck stick cut loose with wave after wave of cum.
He couldn't speak with a mouth full of cock and spunk.
He couldn't cry out with shot after shot of jism invading his mouth and throat.
Levi came and came harder than he ever had in his eighteen year life. The image forcing the biggest orgasm of his existence wasn't Tyler. It was Curtis. The boy from 102 years ago. The boy who died in the mine explosion.
"That was it!" he thought as he fought to keep from choking on his own cum.
"That's why I am here! I have to save him!" Levi cried as he released the still-dripping cock from his thoroughly fucked mouth.
Exhausted, Levi slumped down on the floor of the wagon. Now it made sense to him. He didn't know how or why it had happened, but there was only one explanation why he was HERE in this time and this town. He had to keep Curtis from dying a pointless death.....
Levi curled on the rough canvas and tried to go to sleep. It came with difficulty at first but he finally dozed off into a deep slumber.
MONDAY AUGUST 26, 1912 DAY NUMBER ONE
Morning arrived soon enough for Levi. His stomach growled as he arose from the makeshift bed. Memories of the night were fresh in his mind. Sometime during his sleep he had to use the bathroom. Levi stumbled around in the darkness until he found an outhouse.
"Gross!" he mumbled as he did his thing.
It was too dark to see so he carefully switched on his flashlight.
"Are you fucking kidding me? No toilet paper?" he moaned quietly.
There was nothing except an old Sears catalog lying on the bench next to the toilet seat. Levi cleaned up as good as he could and exited with haste from the disgusting building.
"I can't believe people lived like this!" he mumbled silently.
On the way back to his secret sleeping spot, Levi passed a horse trough full of water. Surrounded by darkness, he froze and listened for sounds. All he could hear were voices at one of the nearby saloons.
"I guess some things never change!" he thought as the cacophony of drunken men echoed in the distance.
The boy stopped and rummaged through the contents of his back pack.
"Yessss!" he hissed.
A roll of toilet paper, a toothbrush, tooth paste, deodorant and, of all things, a small douche.
Charles had told Levi over and over that when traveling in the desert to always pack like "you won't be back for days."
That way, the man told Levi, if "shit goes South," you'll be ready to cope with any emergency.
"Too many people drive into remote areas with out even a bottle of water or food for a day!" Charles cautioned Levi, "And the sorry thing is, those people end up as a sad, tragic and insignificant news story on page ten of the paper!"
Levi took Charles' advice to heart. His Tacoma was loaded with food and water. Unfortunately, the truck was a hundred years away....
The boy had stuffed a lot of other goodies in his pack. After cleaning himself up and lathering on some spice deodorant, Levi took stock of his supplies. One half bottle of water; four candy bars, his GPS and phone, the roll of TP, his personal hygiene items, his flashlight, a pair of extra socks and some first aid supplies.
"Not much but it's better than nothing!" he thought.
Hok'ee could not wait for darkness to fall. The fireball on the mountain had been a sign. He knew that beyond a certainty. As soon as Mrs. Holloway had gone to sleep, Hok'ee prepared a site for his meditation. Building a small fire, the man ingested some peyote and soon moved into a trance.
Despite there being no wind or breeze, the fire in the pit soared up into the night sky. Embers were wafted into the air. The embers told Hok'ee everything. In his dream state, the Native American was in communication with the spirit world. The spirits revealed to him that he had to find the new arrival in Gold Strike. A tall, thin boy with "ice tipped" hair. This boy was one of two spirits that needed to be united; they were preordained, destined to be coupled together.
One of the two spirits lived in Gold Strike, and the other... the "iced boy"..... was from...... Hok'ee's eyes widened as he learned the truth.....
In his vision, Hok'ee saw the boy with the "iced" hair. He saw the boy's makeshift bed. He smiled as he saw the boy perform autofellatio on himself. It reminded Hok'ee of when he had been with his tribe. How the other braves had come to him regularly for sex. Homosexuality was not spurned in his Native culture. Braves had sex with each other regularly until each took their own woman. Then that same-sex contact was supposed to cease.
For one brave, it did not. He had a woman yet he still came to Hok'ee for sex. That brave also happened to be the son of the Chief. When it became known that Hok'ee was still having relations with the brave, Hok'ee was rejected by his tribe.
Hok'ee's vision came to a end. He slipped into the darkness in search of the boy.
Levi slept soundly after ingesting his own spunk. His mind wandered into a dream state where he encountered a shadowy figure.... That figure emerged into the boy's consciousness and Levi saw a towering Native American standing at his side.
The man spoke, "Do not be afraid, brave one!"
"Who are you?" Levi asked.
"My name is not important now. I am here to help you find who you are searching for....!" Hok'ee replied.
"Were am I?" Levi asked.
"Where you need to be!" the man answered.
"Huh?" Levi grunted.
"More will become clear to you today," the main explained, "Take this...!"
He produced some paper currency and coins for Levi.
"Your money will not work here. This will help you to get food and water. You must be at the General Store at 9:00!" Hok'ee said.
"How the fuck can I tell the time?" Levi shot back.
The man smiled at the boy's openness and spirit.
"There is a time piece at the railroad depot. It is located next to the store. Be there promptly at nine!" the man explained.
Then the man suddenly disappeared.
Levi awoke and shot upright in his makeshift "bed."
"Man, even my fucking dreams are whacked out!" he said to himself. Then he felt it. Clutched in his hand was a five dollar bank note (Ed note: Five dollars in 1912 had the equivalent purchasing power of almost $100 in 2014!) and some shiny coins.
Levi looked at the coins in the faint night's light.
"They look like..... gold?" he said to himself.
Then he thought, "Was that a fucking dream or.....?"
The boy tried to go back to sleep but that was elusive after the encounter with his new benefactor. As soon as the sun peaked over the hills, Levi was stirring and ready to vacate his "secret spot."
"Who knows what someone would do if they found me here!" he thought to himself.
Climbing out of the wagon, Levi became aware that the good people of Gold Strike were already stirring.
"Well it's not like they were up late watching 'The Walking Dead' or 'The Colbert Report!'" he laughed to himself.
Then Levi recalled the dream he had the night before. He reached in his pocket and the money was still there.
"What the fuck?" he thought.
Now that he was fully awake, Levi started thinking, "It had to be a dream....!!! But if it was, where the fuck did I get this money?"
Then he recalled the Native American man's admonition to be at the General Store at 9:00.
A chill went though the boy's spine.
"Someone knows about me and they're either helping me or setting me up!" he thought.
Levi wandered out onto one of the few streets in Gold Strike. The sun was already beginning to warm the day up. Reaching into his backpack, he removed his phone and began discreetly taking pictures of the town.
"Charles will never believe this unless I can prove it to him!" the boy thought.
He wondered if Charles would be pissed when he found out about the unauthorized nature of his little outing. Then Levi had a sobering thought.
"No one knows where I was planning on going.....!" he realized to himself.
"What the fuck could they do anyway? Even if someone went to Gold Strike, or where the town was.... or IS......!" the contradictions were confusing the boy, "All they would find is my truck but not ME!"
Levi broke out two candy bars. Only one remained. His stomach was dying for real food, but heeding the advice of his night visitor (or the image of a dream he wasn't sure which it really was!), Levi decided to forgo looking for food until after the "required" appearance at the General Store. For that matter, Levi wasn't even sure what people ate for breakfast in this time.
"Damned sure not Pop Tarts or McDonald's!" he laughed to himself.
Nine o'clock was almost there so Levi meandered to the General Store. It would not be accurate to say that Levi's mere appearance in town didn't raise some eyebrows. Yet Levi was just one of many odd characters inhabiting a town that thought it was on the cusp of an easy fortune and renewed good times. While some people may have looked askance at the teen, no one stopped or hassled him.
Right on time, Levi entered the store. Like everything else in this "time," the store had its own unique smells. So far Levi had already noticed (it was unavoidable!) that Gold Strike had its own set of odors. From the stench of sewage to the manure in the corral to the rank body odor of unclean men in the town's numerous saloons, Gold Strike presented an unappealing presence.
The General Store had a different category of smells. New things: spices, leather, fresh tobacco, candy, cookies, hard tack, flour, grains. All these products and more combined to make the store one of the few refreshing places the boy had seen since arriving in Gold Strike.
Levi quickly became lost in looking over the merchandise.
"WOW! If only I could haul this junk back to Phoenix..... to my time... I could sell it and make a fortune!" he thought.
Then he laughed at the realization that he was already worth more than the entire newly formed state of Arizona; or for that matter, Levi's financial acumen was probably greater than that of the entire United States circa 1912.....
Lost in his meandering through the crowded store, the boy failed to hear the door open as another person entered.
"Well, Curtis! You're in town bright and early this morning!" the store's proprietor announced.
"Good morning Mr. Thurgood.... I was wondering if Trapper's order came in yet?" the boy replied.
"CURTIS?" Levi's mind rang like a five alarm fire.
He whirled around and stared over the shelves and saw the picture of an angel. It was him........!!!!
Levi's pulse raced and he broke out in a cold sweat. It WAS the boy from the school photograph. He didn't have to look at the picture to know; the vision of this handsome frontier boy had long been seared in his mind.
Levi looked at the boy as he stood at the counter.
"Fuck he's a thousand times cuter than the picture!" Levi thought to himself, "What the fuck am I supposed to do? Walk up to him and say 'Don't go to work in the fucking mine 'cause you're gonna die?'"
"I can't let him just walk out without saying SOMETHING!" he thought.
Curtis captured Levi's total attention. Standing at 6' 2" with the fluffiest, most unruly looking blonde hair, the boy radiated an innocence that made "little Levi" spring to attention.
"Not now!" the boy cursed his overcharged hormones.
The last thing Levi wanted was for "little Levi" to lose it and gush out a load of creamy spunk......
Levi angled himself to see more of the boy from the past.... or, as it now was, in the present.
Deep blue eyes that Levi thought radiated with energy.... a small nose.... kissable, cute, thin lips.... maybe 140 pounds and...
"Holy shit!" Levi gasped to himself, "What a fucking hot ass!"
Levi's gasp made the boy turn in his direction. Just then the door opened and another person entered. Curtis looked away without really concentrating on Levi.
"Good morning Mrs Holloway!" Curtis said.
Edith Holloway glided up to the counter and exchanged pleasantries with Curtis and the store owner.
"So that's his teacher!" Levi thought, "Shit! I'm actually seeing history unfolding before my eyes!"
"Sorry Curtis... The goods aren't here yet... Maybe on today's train!" the store keeper announced, "But Edith! I have quite an order for you in the back!"
"Thank you, Amos!" she replied to the store keeper.
Levi knew he had to do something to draw attention his way. Before he could figure out WHAT that something might be, fate handed him an opportunity.
"Do you have anyone who can load it for me? My wagon is right outside but Hok'ee is down at the livery stable... His horse lost another shoe AGAIN!" she said.
"I'll be happy to help!" Curtis announced.
"Oh thank you Curtis! You ARE such a gentleman!" Mrs. Holloway replied.
Levi cleared his throat, "I'll help too!" he announced.
He was shaking like a leaf. In his "own time," Levi could corral a boy he had never met and in less than five minutes have that boy's cock in his mouth. This was different. He wasn't in his "own time." He thought he might as well be on the Moon.
"Why thank you young man! I don't believe I have seen you around here before. Are you new in town?" she asked.
Levi could feel Curtis' eyes checking him out. Not in a sexual manner; but rather the boy was looking him over to determine...... what?
Then Curtis snorted in derision and spoke, "Look at that funny hair! Looks like he got stuck in an ice storm! He sure ain't from 'round here!"
"Language, Curtis!" Mrs. Holloway replied, "And attitude too! You know we are all from somewhere else, young man!"
"Sorry Ma'am!" he said.
"We all need to get along with each other in life's journey!" she laughed, "And you are?"
"Uhhh... Levi Aaron Roberts!" Levi replied.
"And are you new to our town?" she continued, "are you going to be enrolling in my school this fall?
No, Ma'am, I'm afraid not. I'm eighteen.....!" Levi replied, "And I'm just here from Phoenix!"
"That is a GOOD place to be FROM!" Curtis snorted again, "And you darned sure do not look no eighteen to me!"
Levi looked at the boy. Why was he being so unfriendly?
"I kinda like it!" Levi replied, "It sure has more to it than this place!"
Mrs. Holloway laughed and then glared at Curtis, "Well I certainly cannot argue with that..... But Gold Strike will be famous some day... I just feel it... After the mine gets up and running again, prosperity will be just around the corner!"
"As for you, Mr. Jones," she said, staring at Curtis, "I would think a little more civility and politeness would be in order for people visiting our town!"
Curtis blushed and dropped his head.
"Anyway... I really appreciate you two fine young men offering to help me.... And for that.... If you would like, I can certainly set two extra places at the table for supper today!" she offered.
"Thank you Ma'am.... But Trapper expects me back as soon as I can!" Curtis replied.
"Trapper!" That name brought a frown to Mrs. Holloway's face. Levi saw her displeasure the minute the name rolled off Curtis' cute tongue....
"Thank you Ma'am!" Levi replied, "I was wondering.... I haven't eaten since I got here and I was also wondering if you could tell me where I might find a room to stay or something!"
Levi was suddenly glad he had that five dollars and change in his pocket.
"Oh my Lord! You poor thing! No wonder you are SO thin! You must come back to the Holloway House with me... I have plenty of extra rooms and you look like you could use a good breakfast!" she exclaimed.
Curtis snickered at the way Mrs. Holloway was fussing over the "new kid in town."
"I can pay, Ma'am!" Levi offered.
"Nonsense! Consider your meal a payment for helping me out with my order. And if you could drive the wagon back to the house......" she replied.
Levi looked outside. It was a wagon. A REAL wagon. With two horses attached at the front. Just like he saw in the movies.
"Uh.... I never drove a wagon before!" he stuttered.
"Probably never rode a horse either!" Curtis joked.
Levi shook his head "No."
"Really? Are you dumb or something?" Curtis said.
Levi tried to give the boy a "tough" look. It didn't work. Levi was never able to bluff or project any machismo when needed....
"Order's ready!" Amos announced.
"I kin drive your wagon back to yur house, Ma'am!" Curtis interjected.
"Young man! If you keep mangling the King's English like that, I'll have you back in my school again this fall!" Mrs. Holloway admonished.
This time it was Levi's turn to snort derision at the frontier boy. At the sound, Curtis whirled to face Levi; the two boys' eyes locked. Levi's emerald green eyes stared at Curtis' intense blue orbs. Levi thought the boy was going to come back with a retort; instead the two boys continued to stare it seemed like down into each others souls. The glances felt like an eternity but in reality it was only a couple of seconds.
In those two seconds Curtis felt something strange... compelling.. alluring.. magnetic..... about this very different boy. Inside his heart and brain were colliding. He had no idea why he felt the way he did about the boy, but suddenly any avarice or hostility melted as the two took stock of each other. Curtis didn't know it, but he had just taken the first step on a long path towards falling for the teen with the "iced" hair.
Curtis cracked a smile at Levi; a toothy, friendly smile that, even though the two boys were a century apart in time, said, "It's okay dude!"
"Let's git the wagon loaded " Curtis said to Levi.
"Language, young man!" Mrs. Holloway interjected.
"GET! Let's GET!" the boy laughed.
Levi smiled and raised his hand to "fist bump" the boy; then he realized that wouldn't make any sense to Curtis.
"Cool!" Levi chimed.
"Cool? You said you was from Phoenix... It's not cool there and it's hotter than Hades out today!" Curtis replied.
Mrs. Holloway cleared her throat. LOUDLY. Curtis turned and apologized.
The boys started to load the Holloway goods onto the wagon.
"You really cannot ride or drive a team?" Curtis asked.
"A team?" Levi replied.
"Of horses! Are you sure you are not dumb or something?" Curtis replied.
Levi bristled at the boy's needling.
"I 'm not 'dumb,' I can't ride a fucking horse or drive a wagon but there's a whole shitload of things I am really fucking good at!" he said.
Curtis' eyes flew wide open at Levi's reply. Something about the way the boy said what he did; not just the profanities, but the actual tone or inflection in Levi's voice sent goose bumps all over Curtis' body.
He stared at the boy.
"I.. Uh....I am sorry!" he offered, "I was just... Well..... You are different than any one I have ever seen before!"
"And I suppose there's a shit load of guys our age in this hole?" Levi replied.
Again the boy's voice drove new feelings through Curtis' body.
Uh... No... Pastor Owens' boy Elias... He is...uh seventeen.... that is it 'cept for a bunch of kids hereabouts! Uh.... Are you really eighteen?" Curtis answered.
"Yes I am!... And you're sixteen!" Levi replied.
Curtis was shocked. He looked at the boy, "How did you know that?"
"Your name is Curtis Jay Jones and you just finished Mrs. Holloway's eighth grade class!" Levi offered.
The boy set down the bag of flour on Mrs. Holloway's wagon and stared at Levi.
"Are one of those fortune tellers who can predict the future? I saw one once in a circus in Prescott.....!" Curtis asked.
Before Levi could answer, Mrs. Holloway appeared, "Curtis! I see your name is on the sign-up sheet for the reopening of the mine!"
Levi's head snapped at that mention.
"Yes Ma'am!" he replied.
"As much as I want all my students... or former students.... to get a good job.... I think you should reconsider that option. You know that mine is.... Well.... I think it is dangerous. I really wish you would......!" she said.
"Sorry Ma'am but I need the money.... Trapper and I both need it!" he said.
Again the word "Trapper" and instantly Levi saw Mrs Holloway frown.
Mrs. Holloway turned and went back in the store.
"Who's 'Trapper?'" Levi asked.
This time Curtis frowned and looked at the ground.
Levi was starting to notice that NO ONE seemed to like whoever this "Trapper" was...
"He is someone I live with!" the boy said softly.
"Oh like your parents....or a relative!" Levi started to say.
"My parents died a long time ago!" the boy sniffled.
Levi wanted to hug the boy so badly. Something was WAY wrong here but Levi couldn't figure it out.
"Come on... I will drive the wagon back to Mrs. Holloway's place!" Curtis said.
He told Mrs Holloway they were leaving. She said she would be home shortly. Levi climbed up on the wagon (almost falling off in the process), making Curtis laugh at the boy's plight. He reached down and offered his hand. Levi felt the boy hoist him up like he was no heavier than a feather. Blood flowed through Levi's (and "Little Levi's") body; he was dying even more to reach out and cuddle, to hold, this boy so badly......
On the short ride to the Holloway House, Curtis noticed Levi's back pack.
"What is that?" he asked.
It's my back pack!" Levi replied.
Then Levi realized that his pack was something that wouldn't be invented for almost another fifty years.
"It's what I keep my stuff in!" he explained.
"Stuff?" Curtis asked.
"Traveling stuff!" Levi replied.
"What is it made out of? It sure is a funny looking material!" the boy exclaimed.
"Oh... It's probably nylon or some polymer!" Levi answered.
"Pollie....what?" the boy asked.
"SHIT!" Levi thought, "They don't have plastics or anything yet!"
"It's something new!" Levi said, hoping that would kill the subject for now.
Arriving at the Holloway House, both boys climbed down off the wagon.
"Looks like yer outgrowing yer pants too!" Curtis exclaimed.
"Huh?" Levi answered.
"You have gotten too big for them like I have mine!" Curtis replied, "Yours are tighter than mine.... but mine are also gittin' too short!"
Levi realized Curtis was checking him out in his own fashion. He looked at the boy and couldn't believe he actually recognized the jeans: they had the historic and very familiar "Levi Strauss" tag on the waist line.
"Mine are supposed to fit me like they do..... They're called 'skinny jeans!'" Levi replied, "And where... How did you get a pair of Levis?"
"Too many 'Levis!'" the boy chortled with his attempt at humor.
"Huh?" Levi replied.
"I met a Levi from the General Store today. The Levis pants I got a year ago. !" Curtis smiled at the boy.
"Trapper almost killed me when I spent thirteen dollars on them!" he continued, "And that was last year and I am already too big for them!"
"But your jeans... They... uh.... kinda 'hug' yur body like real close!" Curtis was stumbling with his words.
Levi realized the boy WAS checking him out and very.. confused about what he was seeing.
Levi turned to face Curtis.
"They're supposed to fit like a glove!" Levi smiled at the boy.
Curtis' eyes roamed up and down Levi's body. Levi knew enough about boys to know he was being cruised. Very innocently so by a boy who had never seen anyone like Levi in his life. The latent sexuality of it made "little Levi" wake up. If Levi had been in Phoenix, in "his" time, he would already have Curtis buck naked and begging......
"Things are a lot different where I came from!" Levi offered, "But most importantly.... It's you I need to talk to....!"
Levi wondered if he had overplayed his hand.
"Me?" the boy croaked.
"Yes.... You..... I.... uh.... we need to talk about.....!" Levi started to explain.
At that moment Mrs. Holloway arrived in a carriage followed by a man on a horse. A tall man. A dark complected man. Levi almost shit his skinnys. It was the man from last night. The dream man... The man who gave him the money and told him to be at the General Store at 9:00.....
"Thank you so much Curtis for helping out.... Trapper was looking for you in town!" she frowned, "I think he's been drinking again!"
Curtis mumbled something under his breath.
"I have to go!" he said.
Levi tried to catch the boy's attention.
"Maybe later we can.....?" Levi started to say.
The boy had already walked off. Levi was crestfallen.
"Well, young man... Are you still interested in breakfast?" she asked.
"Yes Ma'am!" he answered.
"Oh.... This is Hok'ee... He's a member of the family.... Hok'ee, would you please unload the wagon?" she asked.
The man looked at Levi; his eyes pierced right into the boy's brain.
"Things will fall into place!" a voice said in Levi's mind. Or was it a thought? He looked at the tall Native American man and felt a flush of confidence and assurance.
"Come on inside and let me show you the wonders of the Holloway House!" Edith said.
The boy and the lady left Hok'ee to empty the wagon. Hok'ee watched Levi as he walked away. His eyes were drawn to the teen's supple, tight figure highlighted by a compact, round little ass. Two perfectly formed, firm globes of potent boy flesh were encased in a form fitting pair of jeans that left nothing to the imagination. Hok'ee felt an immense stirring between his legs. The same stirring that had earned him the envy, the enmity and the expulsion of his former tribe.
Edith took Levi on an extended tour of the Holloway House. It was designed and built by her late husband, who had been killed a few years before in the first Wildcat Mine disaster. The House was an engineering marvel for it's time, and certainly for Gold Strike.
Laid on a solid foundation, Robert Louis Holloway had tried to make his wife's stay in this hostile land as comfortable as possible. The House had a cellar where the temperature was always at least fifteen degrees cooler than above ground. It had an ice box, which was the newest convenience sweeping the country. Since there was no electricity in Gold Strike, there was no way to keep food cold. That's where the icebox came in. It was an insulated box designed for cold food storage. The ice was delivered by the train on a regular basis.
The Holloway House was built to accommodate the prevailing winds in the vicinity. As a result, it was comfortable for most of the summer. The two stories featured high ceilings with shuttered windows to keep out the winter cold. A massive dual fireplace in the center of the House also vented warm air to the upper floors.
As a result, the Holloway House had semi-warm conditions through the entire dwelling. Most other houses of the era had substandard or no heating at all.
Lighting was provided by Kerosene lamps but Mr. Holloway had installed a carbide lighting system before his death. Carbide lighting was better than Kerosene lamps and didn't have the powerful stench of the fuel. It was a tricky system to maintain but Mr. Holloway had managed to teach Hok'ee the "ins and outs" of preserving its operation.
Mrs. Holloway was proudest of the fact that the Holloway House had running water. Cold only, but nevertheless there was a sink in the kitchen. Levi opined that all the house needed was an indoor bathroom. Mrs. Holloway amazed him by showing the teen a fully functional indoor bathroom compete with a tub and toilet.
The water was supplied by a windmill, pump and cistern that delivered the liquid. Waste water was carried out of the House and dumped into a four hundred foot shaft of a nearby abandoned mine. Mr. Holloway had taken piping from the old Wildcat Mine and built the system from scratch. The fixtures; the sinks, tub and toilet, were shipped in from Kansas City and were the talk of the town.
Levi was impressed with what he saw.
"But what about hot water?" he asked.
"Oh I can't see how we could ever have that inside!" she replied, "Other than heating the water on a stove and using it as needed."
"Really.... All the houses where I live have hot water too.... And electricity as well!" he replied.
The Levi realized he was overstepping his current "reality."
Mrs. Holloway looked at the boy.
"Really? I would love to hear more about where you live!" she exclaimed.
"Just in Phoenix!" he replied.
"Well I have met people from Phoenix and there's not much to it. It is only a sleepy little town in the desert!" she replied.
"Are you kidding? It's the sixth largest city in....!" Levi stopped short.
He was so into conversing with his new acquaintance that he kept forgetting where he was....
Mrs. Holloway looked at the boy again.
"Go on, Levi... You were saying!" she paused, "There is something different about you... Really different... It is like when I first saw you.... You... Please do not misunderstand me... But you.... do not really belong here, do you?"
Levi turned beet red.
"No Ma'am...!" he replied.
Thinking quickly, he tried to answer with a hint of his reality.
"I am... Uh.... 'Out of time!'" he explained.
"You mean you have to leave? But you only just arrived!" she said.
Levi shook his head "No."
"I mean time like... the passage of reality....!" he said.
Hopefully that would silence the discussion. Levi didn't know Mrs. Holloway's inquisitive nature. Levi had piqued it; Mrs. Holloway was determined to discover more about her new guest.
The way to do that, she thought, would be over a hearty breakfast. Levi did look like he could stand to gain a few pounds.
"So what would a hungry young man like you like for breakfast?" Mrs. Holloway asked, "Even though it is pretty late in the morning for that meal.... I always think a good breakfast will bring a great day!"
"Uhhh.....!" Levi stuttered.
He had no idea what kind of food was common for people living in this time.
Mrs. Holloway seized on the boy's hesitance.
"Well what do you like to eat back in Phoenix?" she asked.
"Oh some 'Hot Pockets; or 'Pop Tarts' or maybe I'll go to 'Mickey Ds' and get a 'Sausage McMuffin!'" he chimed in before stopping short.
Levi realized he might as well be speaking a foreign language.
"Well that does not make a lot of sense to me but I can make some pancakes or maybe some eggs and bacon!" Mrs Holloway offered.
"Awesome!" Levi jumped at the offer.
As she whirred around the kitchen, Mrs Holloway spoke fondly about her husband; about how he had such high hopes that the Wildcat Mine would be their ticket to an easy time as they grew older. Then came the terrible tragedy. The explosion. The loss of so many fine men.
"Natives and others who have lived her since the mid 1800s have all said the mountain is possessed by demons. It is supposedly haunted!" she told Levi.
"I doubt that!" Levi replied, "It's probably just fate, or fortune.... Uhhh... more accurately MISFORTUNE..... I read in school about mining in the pioneer days and people just didn't have the knowledge about working with explosives. The technology was new. They didn't know the geology well enough.....!"
"'Pioneer days?' This is 1912.... We have all the latest innovations in modern gold mining!" She replied.
Levi realized he had committed another mistake and in so doing, revealed more about himself than he thought prudent.
Mrs Holloway smiled, "Nevertheless, You are very observant and intelligent! I don't get an opportunity to talk with many young men like yourself!"
She continued about how the new reopening of the mine was going to be different. At least she hoped so.... It would vindicate and validate her husband's vision and give a new life to the town. Failure of the mine would certainly spell the end of Gold Strike. Most of the other mines had played out their offerings. Only "Trapper" still managed to eke out some kind of living on his claim, which was located just below the Wildcat itself.
"If the Wildcat fails, then I will probably lose the house and everything. If the town dies, all my rental income from the lots will die as well. I do have a deal with the company running the operation; they have paid me my required down payment to start production... But that's a fraction of what might be revealed in actual recovery from the ore itself!" she told the boy.
Mrs. Holloway turned out to be an excellent cook. She served Levi a helping plate of pancakes and some fresh eggs and bacon.
"Maple syrup 'imported' all the way from back East!" she beamed.
Even milk and sassafras tea... Levi was impressed. The food tasted really different than anything he had ever eaten before. Fresher, somehow.
"Probably no GMOs, hormones, growth additives or pesticides!" he thought to himself.
Levi had another dilemma facing him. As he listened to Edith talk about her hopes for the mine, he realized he already knew the answer. The mine was going to fail. Just as it had before. Only this time it would take not only the town he really didn't care about that but Curtis as well. And, of course, Mrs. Holloway would indeed lose everything.
"So!" he thought to himself, "Do I tell her or not?"
It was one of the oldest conundrums relevant to the topic of time travel. Levi recalled discussions about the subject in his science classes. They went like this: Suppose you went back in time, met yourself, killed yourself..... Then what? Would you then alter would you then disappear - from all time lines? Or if you kept your parents from marrying or giving birth to you...? Would you then exist to even make the time travel trip? Or what if you went back in time and assassinated Adolph Hitler, or saved John F. Kennedy from being assassinated? How would changes like those effect the existing time line of the "current"world?
The more Levi thought about the subject, the more his brain started to fry. The worst possibility regarding time travel was that it was immutable. Time; history itself; could not be changed. It might be possible to travel back in time and witness history being made, but actually changing the order of events was not possible. In such case, a time traveler was nothing more than a passive observer. No matter what the traveler tried to do to change past events, time would always correct any disturbances so the historical order remained unchanged.
If that were true, then Levi would be able to do nothing to save Curtis from an unpleasant death.
The knowledge that Levi had about the pending failure of the Wildcat Mine was much lesser in scale than the life of Hitler or the death of Kennedy, but it still presented a dilemma. What effects would tipping someone off about the future do to the existing time line? Even a very small change could snowball into much larger events.
Suppose the Titanic, which sank just months ago in his "current" time line, had sailed a few minutes later or earlier? Would it have struck the iceberg and sank? If not, then a lot of people who were supposed to be dead by the current time line would still be alive. How would their lives change the events that shaped history?
Levi was only eighteen years old but he was a very intelligent eighteen year old. Topics like this intrigued him. Now he was sitting in the driver's seat.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" he thought.
Curtis was the most pressing subject on his mind The boy had no family. No relatives that he knew of. He lived with what Levi was starting to think of as an ogre of a man. Curtis' death in the Wildcat Mine would have no impact on future events.
On the other hand, Levi thought, what if Curtis did live, and went on to do something in Levi's world that changed history? What if bringing Curtis back, or forward, to Levi's time caused events in the future to change?
In a nutshell, that was the conundrum about time travel.
"Don't fuck with things; leave them the way they are," he thought.
Levi laughed to himself.
"It's fucking irrelevant. Time travel isn't even possible!" he thought.
"Then what the fuck am I doing here?" he added to his thought.
Levi was jarred out if his thoughts by Mrs. Holloway.
"You look so very distant!" she exclaimed, "Are you all right?
Levi paused, "Yes.... I was. thinking about... things!"
"Well whatever you were thinking about certainly has not hurt your appetite.... You ate a dozen of my largest pancakes and three eggs as well!" she beamed.
"So tell me a little bit about yourself!" Mrs. Holloway continued, "How did a very.... unusual eighteen year old like you end up here in Gold Strike?"
Levi's mind raced. What to say and what not to say....
"And you are very unusual Levi!" she continued, "I do not mean that in a cruel or biting fashion... Your clothes, your appearance... They do seem otherworldly!"
"I came here in search of a friend.... a guy I know!" Levi said.
He tried carefully to parse his words.
"Oh... Maybe I can help you find him.... Does he live here in Gold Strike?" she asked.
"Actually you already helped me to find him.... It's Curtis!" Levi explained.
Mrs. Holloway reflected on the boy's words. She was certain that the two boys had just met that morning....
"Do you know Curtis from somewhere else?" she asked.
"Uhhhh" Levi replied, thinking of the museum article he had read about Curtis' pending death in another Wildcat Mine disaster, "Sort of......!"
Mrs. Holloway was puzzled by Levi's strange answer.
"Well he lives with a terrible man.. They all call him 'Trapper,' and if I were not a lady I would call him much worse than that!" she explained.
Edith continued to tell Levi what she knew about Trapper. How he was a con man, a thief, a liar, a drunk, and probably much worse.
Levi was starting to think maybe he had made a mistake in falling for Curtis.
"And Curtis is his son?" he asked.
"Oh Heaven's No!" she exclaimed, "I do not know how the two of them came to be together....!"
She cleared her throat and looked very uncomfortable.
"There is talk... among some of the more unsavory men in this town... that Trapper abuses Curtis for his own..... pleasure!" she said.
Suddenly the lady looked very sad. Like she knew about something that she was powerless to stop.
Levi felt a flush of anger course through his body.
"HE'S FUCKING HIM!" Levi thought to himself.
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