Saturday morning arrived with overcast skies and
rain-washed windows. With one eye open,
Sam glanced at the electric clock with its glowing red numbers.
Mmmmm… 9:21… Do I have to get up?!
He rolled over and snuggled under the covers when a thought flashed in his
mind. Get up! You have a mission to
accomplish. A dare involving Mrs.
Steers and time travel!
Sam dragged himself out of bed. His feet landed on a cold wood floor. Another day for a warm sweater. He breakfasted on sausage, scrambled eggs,
and toast with strawberry jelly.
Meanwhile, Emily tapped away on her laptop working on her new book.
"Any plans today?" said Emily not skipping a
beat on the keyboard.
"I'm
working on my history report," said Sam.
"I'm going to ask Mrs. Steers if she has some books I might be able
to use."
Emily stopped, turning to look at him. “I thought you
asked her the other day about some books?"
"I started to, but she started talking about this
and that... and we lost track of time..."
"Don't bother her if she's busy. Promise
me."
"I promise," said Sam.
"I'm heading to the market later and then over to
Veronica’s Bakery. If they have any
fresh cake donuts, do you want some?"
Emily had stopped tapping and was looking over some papers next to her
laptop. Sam looked at the plastic bag
sitting across from him filled with a variety of candy from last night.
Cake donuts! Lots of chocolate! Should I say yes? Sam ran his hands around his waist then
tugged his waistband to see how tight they were, but he couldn't resist his
favorite – freshly-made cake donuts.
"Yes, please," said Sam, giving into
temptation.
Finishing his breakfast, he stacked his dirty dishes
in the sink and sat down to read about the fascinating subject of his report,
Jack the Ripper. Not the killing part, but the mystery behind his real identity. Pulling his notebook out of his book bag, he
began to jot down a few notes. Sam took notes about the victims, locations, and
the numerous suspects.
"Which one of you did it?" muttered Sam as
he looked over each photograph of the potential suspects.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
His mom continued to type.
"Ah, dammit!" Startled, Sam looked up from his book. Seldom
did he hear his mom swear. Emily started
thumbing through her papers, some cascading to the floor. She was getting frustrated.
Maybe now would be a good time to talk to Mrs. Steers
about her supposed time-traveling. Sam
fetched his cloth traveling bag from the hook on the back of his bedroom door. He opened his closet door and felt around
under his sweaters for the box with the 1888 London newspaper. Removing it from its storage box, he stared
at it for a moment, then a thought came to him.
What if we really did go back in
time? I could leave this, but it wouldn't
be any good if fingerprinting hadn't been invented… The police would find it
and solve the mystery someday by matching up the fingerprint to the suspects…
But it's not mine to give away... What would Mrs. Steers think if I gave
something of hers away?
Sam was torn between being honest and potentially
bringing to light the true identity of Jack the Ripper. After a few minutes, he made his
decision. He tucked the paper gently
down into the inside pocket of his shoulder bag and then stuffed in the
notebook he used for taking notes and two sharp pencils, then headed to the
door.
"Mom,"
said Sam quietly. "I'm going
downstairs to see Mrs. Steers about borrowing some books."
"Okay, honey."
Emily hardly budged. She remained
focused on shuffling through pages of notes then returned to typing. Tap… tap… tap…
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Aarrrggg. Does he see Jack?
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