Chapter Four: Arkansas Isn't That Bad, is It?

Chapter Four: Arkansas Isn’t That Bad, Is It?

Shortly after Mom collapsed, the Masons came into the room with guns from the past war pointed at us. “WHO ARE YOU?” They screamed at us.

“Nick Park, Alex Park, and Sandra Lee,” Nick replied. They lowered their guns.

“Parks, eh? Are you by any chance related to the same Parks who adopted our son?” The male asked. I looked at Nick.  The male looked down. “What happened to her?”

He paused for a few seconds, but the male raised his gun and pointed at him for persuasion. “Yes,” Nick finally muttered, “She collapsed.”

“Oh? Then you’re welcome anytime. Who are the girls with you?” He asked.

“This is my daughter,” He said, pointing at Alex then shifted to me, “and this is my granddaughter, Sandra. Alex, Sandra, this is  Richard and Ariana Mason.” He formally introduced us.

Mom finally woke up. “Where am I?” She asked.

“Ignore her, she’ll figure it out eventually,” Nick said.

I walked up to her and answered her question. “You’re at the Masons’ house, remember? You collapsed again.”

“I did?” I nodded, “Great. Wonderful.” She said with heavily embedded sarcasm in her voice.

I stepped forward, with my arm raised to shake their hands. Mom shook her head, so I stopped. “Not from around here, are you?” Richard asked.

“Nope. No where near here,” I replied.

“I can tell by your speech pattern. The word “Nope” came into populus mouths around mid to late century. Which means you’re from the future, aren’t you?” Richard asked.

I looked at Nick for help. “Yes, she’s from the future,” Nick replied to Richard. “Rick and Ariana know a lot about the Time Agency. In fact, he recruited me.” At my confused look, he continued, “Long story, I’ll fill you in later,” then signified that he was done with the topic, and I dropped it... For now.

“Can you help us revamp my Time Manipulator?” I asked.

“Is that what you came to us for? Clockwork repair?” Richard asked, then laughed. “Let me take a look,” He signaled Nick to give him the piece. He took a quick detailed look at it, and waved his hand for us to come closer. “I might be able to fix this, but it’ll take time. I’ve got some tools in my office. Come along, Park. Ariana, can you get to know the girls?” Ariana nodded, and motioned for us to follow her.

“So what happened to you?” Ariana left once the guys left the room.

“Oh, long story, Ariana. I can call you Ariana, right?” I said.

“Yes, please do. Are you Alex or Sandra?” She asked me.

“Sandra. This is my mother Alex,” i replied.

“Wonderful to meet you,” She said to Alex.

“So I’ve been seriously wondering, if you could travel in time and space, why did you settle in 1940s Arkansas?” I asked.

“We’re originally from here, and we just really like it. Well, he really likes it. I wish we lived in the early two thousands, so that I can talk to him wherever he was instead of waiting to talk to him when he reached a phone,” My great grandmother replied, “And we have the sock hops to look forward to in a few years.”

“As well as the Korean and Vietnam wars,” I said under my breath.

“Yes, we have those too. The hardest thing about things like that is keeping your mouth shut about what’s going to happen,” She said, “And not warning people you know go because you know what will happen.”

“You know, that’s one thing I never thought about when I was with the agency,” I said, “But I wasn’t there very long. I was only a low agent, barely getting in the field.”

“How long have you been on the field?” Ariana asked.

“Oh, a few months. Not that long,” I replied, waving it off.

“Really? Most agents die after a few months. And if they don’t die, they turn out to be the heads. I wonder what happened to put you on the run instead of the head of an office?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out as well,” I replied. I glanced over to Alex, and saw her studying her shoes. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Nothing that you would want to know,” She replied.

“Alex, tell me what you know,” I said as calmly as I could with my teeth grading away.

“I can’t. I just can’t tell you, Sandra,” My mother said, then ran to the guys. What the heck just happened?

“What?” I asked, flabbergasted, “What the hell just happened?” I vocalized my thoughts.

“Oi! No language of that such will be used by any self-respecting member of my family!” Ariana said.  

“Your family?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, I know that Nick is my son. Don’t tell Richard. He doesn’t know that Nick is our son,” Ariana replied.

“I can’t help but asking, how come you gave him up for adoption,” I asked, then thought it might be too personal, so I added, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Oh not at all. Actually, we’re quite used to that question.” she paused, then took a step up the first stair to the second floor of the tour. “Both of us were part of the time agency when I got pregnant, and neither of us wanted to give up the job, nor did we want to raise a kid in the dangerous conditions of the Agency. Trust me, once you’re in, you make enemies like a nun hits children.” She finished, when we got to the top of the staircase. “You aren’t religious, are you?” She asked, obviously trying to cover her grounds.

“Not at all. After being in the Time Agency, it’s kind of hard to believe in the existence of a God,” I replied.

“Shhh! You can’t be talking like that around here. Arkansas is clannish and religious enough, but you can’t say stuff about not believing in a God, much less their God.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve faced enough with the latter twentieth century discrimination. I’m not going to say that it’s anything like Arkansas, but I know enough to keep my mouth shut,” I replied.

She laughed, “I like you, Sandra, here we are in the media room.” As she showed me around the room, I noticed many things out of their time.

“Um...” I started, trying to think of a way to ask about the laptop computer and DVDs on the wall. “You have a laptop and a DVD collection in 1947?”

“Shhh. That’s my secret collection,” She said, then laughed. “I’m kidding, Sandy- I can call you Sandy right?” I nodded my approval. “They are souvenirs.” I went up closer to see which movies they had. Iron Man 3, Toy Story 1,2, and three, all of the Transformers, most, if not all of the Star Trek and Star Wars, Gone With The Wind, and a few other oldies that I don’t remember.

“Iron Man Three? I loved that movie!” I squealed.

“It’s my favorite of the Iron Mans. Richard gave it to me on our third anniversary,” She said with a Smile. “Actually, he illegally used his Manipulator to take me to see it in the theatres. Then on our fourth anniversary, he bought me the DVD.” She smiled, and looked excited for a second. She put a finger on her lips, then pointed in the opposite side of the room. “Come here, you’ve got to see this.”

She went over to a built in bookcase, and I almost instantly recognised it as one that opens to reveal a secret entrance to some secret corridor or room. She pulled a semi large leather blue book, then pushed in a skinny paperback book, and took out a purple book. The bookcase shifted, and revealed a mid sized room with a stereo the size of the one that my mother used to have in her bedroom when I was growing up. I laughed, and ran up to it, looking at the details, making sure that it was really there, not just my imagination trying to recreate a bit of my own time or something.

“You- You really have all this?” I stammered.

Ariana looked amused and excited as she nodded her blond head. She rushed over to some boxes marked 2000s and pulled out some things. I was too busy messing with the stereo system to take notice what she was pulling out.

All the sudden, Ariana cleared her throat. I turned around to see some of my favorite CDs. I took hold of them, and admired them. “Gotye, Killers, Muse, AC/DC, Journey, Coldplay? Wait, you like Coldplay?”

“Don’t tease me. Richard never lets me hear the end of it,” she said. I chuckled, knowing the feeling.

“You don’t know half the story. I got teased all the time at school for liking them. Well liking any of these.” I looked down and started digging for more names I recognised. “Journey, Stevie Wonder, 2Cellos, Interpol, Oh, I love Interpol. Shakira, 3 Doors Down, Police, Prince, All American Rejects, Green Day, Phillip Phillips. Really?” I looked up as I asked.

“Yeah, he has a great voice, but most of the time, I skip him,” she said.

“Me too. That, and his songs got extremely repetitive, especially on the radio- always on the radio.” I said, rolling my eyes, then laughing. “It’s so funny how we have the same interests.”

“We are biologically connected,” she reminded me.

“Yeah, but that’s not what I mean.” As I paused, she looked at me weirdly. “I mean, since you live in a complete different time zone, and nobody else even knows about them, and let’s face it, they probably never will know about them either because they live in an area that isn’t used to or even that exposed to popular culture.”

“We are exposed more than you think, Sandy.” Ariana used her mother voice. I smiled.

“You know what I mean,” I said. ‘’Do you like Imagine Dragons?’’ I asked.

‘’You kidding, right?’’ She asked. ‘’I loved that song, Radioactive.’’ I laughed.

‘’That was my favorite song for almost a month.’’ I smiled. ‘’Do you like OneDirection?’’

She shriveled up, covered her ears, pretended like she was burning, and shouted, ‘’That name isn’t allowed in this house!’’

I laughed in agreement. ‘’What about OneRepublic?’’

‘’Only that Good Life song.’’ She replied.

‘’Do you like Fun.?’’

‘’Not particularly, but that’s mostly because I haven’t exactly listened to them. Only that one song about putting something on fire or whatever it was.’’

‘’We Are Young,’’ I supplied.

‘’Yeah, that’s what it was, We Are Young.’’ She laughed as she pulled out another CD, a Queen CD. I ran over to look at it.

‘’Oh my God!’’ I exclaimed, ‘’You have a Queen CD!’’ She hit me on the back of my head the way Gibbs hit Tony on N.C.I.S. ‘’OUCH! What was that for?’’

‘’Using God’s name in vain!’’ Ariana mocked my voice. I pouted my face a little, knowing at some point, she was going to start laughing. More like I hoped that at some point in time she was going to start laughing.

A few seconds later, she finally cracked a smile, then full blown laughter. Her laughter forced a smile on me, and we were both laughing uncontrollably. Some time later, we heard a deep clearing of the throat, and we both turned around to reveal Rick and Nick.

‘’Care to share what’s so funny?’’ Nick asked.

‘’Not especially,’’ I replied, and both the guys gave me annoyed looks. They turned to Ariana expectantly.

‘’If she’s not spilling, what makes you think I will?’’ She asked.

‘’Easy answer, Ari, they’re guys. They think they rule the world.’’ I answered.

‘’Oi, we’re right here!’’ Richard said.

‘’We know,’’ Ariana and I replied simultaneously.

Author's Note

I don't know what to call these last two chapters... Maybe ya'll can help me name them...