Vanishing Alley

-16-

     The first few weeks of university went as well as I had hoped. My professors seemed pretty nice and my schedule wasn't too bad. As per the advice of my parents, and the program councillor, I made sure not to over do it with courses and so I didn't fill up my schedule. I didn't want to have so many courses that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the workload and then fail any courses, or the year. As the months went on, I slowly started to make acquaintances with those who were in my classes, having group assignments helped with that because it forced me to talk to them. We weren't getting together outside of school or anything, but we did hangout during school when we had breaks at the same time, in between classes, or on days when we were there for lunch at the same time.

When we shared stories about the summer and how we each spent it, I of course didn't tell the about the watch or the alley. I just mentioned that I spent the entire summer at our cottage in Muskoka with my friends of 15 years. I also mentioned that we were able to spend the whole summer there because my parents were teachers and luckily they had all summer off. Sam, one of the people I had English Literature with, told me that he spent 1 month in Scotland and Ireland. He was born and raised in Toronto, but he has relatives in both countries and him and his family decided to split their time between the two so that no one would be jealous of the others. Also, they were able to take the train from one to the other. He showed us pictures he took while he was there and they both looked like beautiful places. They were in the country side, out in nature and away from the bustle of the city. Oh, and Sam was also very good-looking. Actually, he kind of reminded me of William. You remember him right? I met him in 1882? Sam had the same piercing blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He was also very fit and so kind and caring. You could tell he was humble because he didn't walk around with an attitude like he was God's gift to women, and he treated the rest of us in the group with respect. Yes, I know, at that point I hadn't known him for too long, but I could tell.

Anyway, in my English Literature class was also Yasmine. She told us of how her parents came from Iran before she was born. She remembers them telling her, when she was about 12 years old, that they learned they were going to have a baby during the start of the second year of their marriage. They recounted how excited they were to start their own family, but seeing the economic and political situation, they were also worried about the future their child would have. That was why they had started to apply to come to Canada a few years before. Her father was coming to Canada to work for a few months at a time to start building a life here for his new family. Luckily, they were granted permission to come during her mother's 2nd month of pregnancy. She also told us how grateful she and her parents, younger brother and sister are to Canada for allowing their family to come. She was very nice and helpful. Whenever I needed help with my part of the project, she sat with me in the cafeteria, student lounge or library and helped me until it was done. In turn, I did the same for her. Actually, we all helped each other. We were all in the same class, in the same group, working on the same project and so we all helped each other. Thankfully I wasn't put with people who were going to leave the entire project, or most of the project, to me. I was very happy with my group and very happy we became friends.

As the school year went on, the semester advanced and before I knew it, it was exam time. We had exams in December during the 2 weeks before Christmas Break. I remember studying so hard for those exams. Some days Sam, Yasmine and I even met up at the library to go over some elements of the course that maybe one of us didn't understand. Needless to say, I was very happy to see the Christmas break come around. I was so tired, it was a good thing I didn't overload my schedule. I don't think I would have made it.

One day, while I was relaxing on the couch watching TV, I looked down at my watch to see the time, and yes, I still wore it. My watch said it was 3pm, but the seconds hand wasn't moving. I remember thinking 'Great! My watch stopped. Now I have to change the battery, but I hope it doesn't take a battery that I'll have to go to a jeweller for.' Not because it would have been a big deal, but simply because I didn't want to spend too much money on a small battery. I decided to open it up to see the battery that was already in there. I, very carefully, lifted the cover on the back and set it aside. Then, with the same thin knife I used to open it, I removed the battery. I was very happy to see it used a regular battery, just like every other watch. I decided to leave the battery out so that I can take it with me to the store, and as I went to take the back cover to put it back on, I noticed something on the inside of it. There was an inscription! Just as I thought all the surprises were discovered, I learned that there was one more. This was something else the store owner didn't mention. At that point I started to wonder if she forgot to mention it in her story, or if the owner forgot to mention it to her. Or maybe Helen never knew this was even there and never saw it! It's easy to miss if you don't pay attention to it, especially if you never turn the cover around after taking it off. I didn't know if it was the quality of the inscription or the age of the watch, but at first, it didn't seem easy to read. Once I took a closer look, I was able to finally make out the letters to read it. It said 'Find the stone with the heart of gold.' Now you can imagine how small the writing was to fit all on there.

I had no clue what to make of this inscription. I wanted to look it up and do some research, but I didn't even know where to start. I needed some time to process the words and try to decipher what it meant. Could it have been an inscription to a loved one? Or maybe a clue to hidden gold? Perhaps it meant nothing at all and was just a simple quote someone read and really liked it. Either way, I was determined to try to find out! But that, is a story for another time.

As you can imagine, we talked about our adventure quite a bit throughout the year. Not EVERYTIME we talked, but sometimes. We wondered if it only worked in that location, although we had a strong feeling that it was connected to that alley somehow and would only appear there. We also talked about whether we'd go back. Would it still be 1882 even a year later? Would we all be there again at the same time to go back together, or would have no choice but to go without the others? Or even not go at all? I knew that I'd have to be there since it was my watch, so for me it was no problem being there. But would there be times when Jamie and Sara wouldn't be able to come, or maybe Philip would have to miss out, or even Amy! What if none of them are able to go back to their cottages for a summer or two? Then what? I wasn't going to go alone! But I bet you're wondering if we ever went back since that summer. I'm also sure that, if we went back, you want to know what we found, and if I ever figured out what the inscription meant. Well, I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out!