Chapter 8

"I don't think I'm either one. You never reported ether of them missing ... missing long enough to warrant a report. I am 14 you know."

Wendy and Wendolyn both nodded sagely. "She's right ... she doesn't fit."

"When were you 14?" asked David.

"1956," the 14 year old said, "It was my first time using the watch."

"It's 1996, that would make you 54."

"But the police records say I'd be 35 ... missing 21 years. That means I'd have to been kidnapped ... or fucked up using the watch in 1975 ... and there is a missing persons report."

"Who made the report?" David asked.

"David J. Austin and Gwendolyn Austin."

"Just J? No middle name?"

"J only, why?"

"I never just use my middle initial ... I always use James. And Gwendolyn is my daughter with Kimberley. Gwennie is not old enough to be married." David said. His brain bubbled and boiled, toiled and troubled and he had a lightbulb moment. "Did the police inform your parents?"

"That's how I ended up here." She reached up and scratched her head.

"Itches?" asked Too.

"Yes," she said, "But there are times when my head feels like it's about to burst and I can't scratch that itch. I scratch the itch I can reach."

"So ... how do we find out where your real parents are?" Wendy, David's wife, asked.

"Ask to see the original report?" young Wendy suggested.

"Let's do an Ancestry Search first," David suggested.

They all moved to the den where Wendy booted up a Sony PCV90 with Win95 and searched Search Engines ... Excite seemed to be the most comprehensive.

A straight search for David J. and Gwendolyn Austin revealed an obituary:

AP release. Uganda: In an ever more violent world, UNICEF, announced today the death of one of their sterling lights, Gwendolyn Wanzor Austin. Miss Austin was in an UN designated relief convoy when the peaceful mission came under rebel rocket attack somewhere in Central Africa (location withheld). Also dead in the attack was Doctor David J. Austin, UK, Doctor Anthony Albreight, UK., three Dutch United Nations Peacekeepers and two local drivers.

Miss Austin is survived by a missing daughter, Wendy.

Wendy Austin, aged 14, made national news when, during a sudden and violent thunderstorm, she disappeared on the way home from school. Her whereabouts are one of the centuries mysteries.

"Mummy!" Bursting into tears, Wendy fainted.

"She doesn't have an English accent, David," Too said, "Keep looking."

Historical Records: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: Among the the missing at Pearl Harbor, Nurse Wendy Austin.

"Too old," said the senior Wendy. "Keep looking."

"Too?"

"Mom?"

"Where is Mr. Porter?" Wendy never calls Too's husband by his first name.

"Off on one of his wild goose chases," Too said. "He's sure he found a 1931 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe in a barn near Denver."

"Here's one," David said,

New York Times Archives: Among the American citizens lost on the Lusitania, David J. and Mrs. Gwendolyn Austin. May, 7th 1915. Survivors include Miss Wendy Austin, 14 years.

"Found another,

Clinton County Republican News: Saint Johns: David J. and Gwendolyn Austin in the Steel Hotel arson fire. The Austins were visiting Mrs. A.B. Crane.

Wendy moaned. She sat up and a couple of drops of blood seeped from her ears.

"That's not good," Too said.

"We'll take her," said the Powers that Be.

"Who is she?" asked David, Wendy and Too, in a jumble of voices.

"No time," said Seven. The Powers ... and young Wendy blinked out.

"For a bunch of Gods they sure are rude," Wendy said.