Elevators Through Time - Book 1

Part 3: The Gentle-Boy

Part 3: The Gentle-Boy

The eras zoomed past me. Time and people going by in a blur of skin and stone. While in the wormhole waiting to reach the destination I like spending the 15-minute wait deciding what age to be and what kind of person to be. It's a good way to hide, since no one can see you when you're in a quantum tunnel. Hmm, except a person right behind you in a quantum tunnel.

'Hmm, well, I want to be a young pre-teen kid in this era. I'll have to display the attitude and irritability of one. I still want black hair with streaks of bright red, oh yes! Hmm, less of a chin this time, maybe slightly yellow teeth. Don't want to look like a rich snob. I need longer legs too.' I pondered. 'I'll have to change my accent too.'

Year: 1902

Time: (Clock function in repair)

Location: Unknown wheat plantation, New York, America

Level: Ground

The year I selected was 1902.

My point of interest was the Flatiron Building. The town became a city, and the crowds and large built up areas would be a good cover for 'a kid like me'. Plus, I always wanted to know if the Flatiron used the hydraulic lift system or the new electronic worm-gear system...just curious izzal.

I arrived in a nice quiet spot close to where I left, in relative position to where I stood in the last decade I was in, or so I thought until a cart rumbled past, pulled by an over-exuberant horse.

"That was close, you could have hit me!" I ranted at the horse driver.

The man pulled the reigns hard and the horse neighed with disgust, pawing at the ground like an impatient 4-year-old. It turned to look at me and snorted.

"That'd be de horse's falt. It had been sniffen around where it shouldn't and now it's gone all nutty. I gotta use the rush the horse is on on some work while it can." The Irish-looking man at the reigns responded with a crazy grin.

I glanced at the horse, all wiley and restless. Cocaine? Some other kind of weed. I always wondered what that would do to a small horse.

"I got te go sell the cart later on. You can hop on if you want to. I don't mind as long as we get moving while the going is good," he said, extending a free hand up.

He later introduced himself as Jackob Jamieson, but I resisted the urge to call him 'JJ'. He said he makes these carts as well as horse coaches and other things. Quite an amusing chap. We introduced eachothers while heading towards town.

The town I was at with Eli and John seems to have changed a lot since I was last there. Buildings were now 7-15 storeys high and only a few were using the old style of the large brick base and walls. The Flatiron was the first to use a new style of construction, where the outside wall was not the main structure for support for the building.

The new building style used a latticework of steel to form the 'skeleton' of the building. This would take the strain of the building while the outside was hung on it. The outer wall of the building would be decorative, so this 'curtain wall' could afford to be thin and light, and thus cheaper. It could be also elaborate and decorative.

Horse coaches were getting more elaborately designed and safer. The suspension had changed a little but still nothing compare to the ones in the future. In this era my back would still be having trouble. Ugh, come to think of it I'd better have a more flexible back in this era.

We arrived in front of a tall building and I thanked Jackob and said farewell. He headed off to the north while I headed west from where we left the cart and horse. I walked a short distance then looked back at the horse, which was watching me walk away. I waved at it for some reason and it turned away and snorted, still impatiently pawing at the ground.