Chapter 8

“You all know about Junior ... time traveler?”

“Yes...” that was as a spoken chorus. Everybody knows about the General Admiral and her ‘bubble’.

“Four years ago I spent 5 years in New Zealand building boats with Surprise,” I said it as the fact it was.

“What?”

“In New Zealand, I’m 14 ... no ... wait... 15. I wonder what I look like?”

Surprise said, “Probably like an improved version of Sultry ... your grand mother. She was 17 when she married granddad. You would be smarter than my Mom ... and she was no slouch.”

Mr. Edwards turned to Surprise, “You believe that? She’s ten.”

“Fifteen in Onerahi. We built Farr 3.7 sailboats. The shop was just off the end of the Whangarei Airport 06/24 runway ... outside the fence, of course.”

Before he could scoff, I said, “Between Weir Cres and Beach Road. The address is 260 Beach.”

And Surprise said to me, “The shop is gone. You know I sold the business to another boat builder. As soon as we taught a 3.7 building crew our techniques they moved our line to their facility and sold the land to airport. They were wanting to clear the approach to the field.”

I said, “The phone number is (09) 436 0047 ... in case you’d like to call.”

He did.

It was a long conversation and Mr. Edwards began to look fierce.

He hung up ... looking rather shocked.

“Well?” Surprise said.

“He remembers you fondly,” Mr. Edwards said to Surprise. “But ... he wants to know what you...” Mr. Edwards looked at me, “ ... did to win his sons heart and why you ran away?”

“Who me? I din’t do nuffink,” and twirled a toe on the floor.

“He said ... and I quote, ‘The poor kid is 17 and won’t even look at another girl.’ He also said, ‘We thought it was just a crush ... you were 9 and he was 11 ... he should have gotten over it.’

“Wait a minute... 4 years ago you spent 5 years in Australia? How does that compute?”

“Simple,” I said. “Milliseconds pass when the watch is used.”

Surprise agreed... “Milliseconds. We flicker. If you aren’t watching you missed it.”

“How can that be?” Mr. Edwards said “ ... time is universal.”

“Nope,” I said, “Time is variable.”

“Depends on where you start,” Surprise said.

“Or where you go.” I said. “Junior knows.”

“What do I know?” said Junior.

“Hi!” we said.