Black to the Past

Chapter 40

Wilson returned to the house sliding back through the solarium, into the main entry of the house, he locked up, then slipped back into the basement. He hesitated a moment before returning to the time machine. He wanted to get his bearings straight and remember what the professor had told him. The door to the time machine slid open and the group was waiting for him.
    "Let's get this over with," Jalen said.
    "Yeah, let's do this," Michael said with more eagerness than Jalen.
    Wilson entered the time machine, closed the door, and set the machine. They were headed into territory they'd never before seen. A time they'd only heard about or read about. History. It was Wilson's least favorite subject but here they were headed back to 1963. May 14, 1963 was the exact date they plugged in.
    Since they were all born and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, they were very familiar with St. Paul's Episcopal church. But they needed to go to the vault, as they had started to call it, to pick out clothing to wear for the 1960's.
    "What did they wear in the '60's?" Jalen asked.
    "Ironically enough, Jalen, I think you have some clothes from the 1960's in your closet," Meredith said roasting him.
    "Whatever, Meredith," Jalen said with an eye roll. But since he shopped the thrift stores anything was possible.
    "Okay, so how should we dress?" Wilson asked.
    "As inconspicuous as possible. Let's just go to the 1960's section," Halle said as she pointed to the correct era.
    There were pants with dress shirts and ties already put together, pants in weird fabrics. Skirts of all lengths , bell-bottom pants, and the matching shoes to each outfit was underneath. Halle opted for a dress with an A-line skirt and long sleeves. It must have been the double knit fabric her grandmother sometimes referred to because the sickly brown colored fabric was extra thick. But it looked warm and had a matching coat in the same fabric and length. Mini, was the first thing she thought of as she stared at herself in the mirror.

She stepped from around the room divider where she and the other girls had gotten dressed. When they all looked at each other they started laughing. Wilson was the first to speak.

"Girls," he said, clearing his throat trying not to laugh.
"What," they responded simultaneously.
"It's May," Wilson reminded them. He brushed at the light weight polyester pants he was wearing and tugged on the short sleeves of his button up shirt.

"Right," Halle said with a sigh.

Heading back to the racks the girls chose more suitable dresses for the weather along with shoes for a spring day.

    "It's  a good thing for us that we decided to stay in Cleveland. Anywhere else and we probably wouldn't be seen together," Michael said worriedly to Jalen.
    "We still might have to be cautious. I think that Michael and Meredith should ride in the front seat with the three of us in back," Wilson told the crew.
    "Good idea," Jalen said.
    "What if it's the opposite way?" Meredith asked.
    "We're going to get in and out. That's it. There's going to be thousands of people in the city just waiting to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak today. And tens of thousands more will mob him later. We want to be in and out before any of that actually happens," Wilson told them all.
    "Okay, but where are we headed," Michael wanted to know.
    "Let's go to that other room. Get the stuff we need and formulate the plan," Jalen suggested.
     Halle looked through one of the desk drawers and pulled out a pad and pencil. Meredith went to a cabinet and grabbed a wad of bills that were marked for use in the 1950's while Jalen got together coins that were early 1960's. Wilson packed a backpack with listening and recording devices. He'd learned from going back in time with Halle they didn't know if they'd need it or not.
    "What do we want the telegram to say," Halle said looking at the blank sheet of paper with a blank stare.
    "You're going to be assassinated in 1968," Meredith told her.
    "That's blunt, Mare!" Halle laughed. Happy that she could laugh she laughed some more.
    "How about this: Dear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. you will be killed while standing on the second floor of a sorry ass motel in the south," Halle pretended to write.
    Wilson shook his head at her joke. "Now that we're saying this out loud it sounds ludicrous."
    "It's going to sound even more ludicrous to whoever we tell to put it in a telegram!" Halle cried out.
    "Yeah, you're right. Why are we doing this again," Meredith asked all of them. She was leaning against the wall. "What if this really changes history?"
    "It won't," Jalen tried to reassure her.
    "But how do you know," Meredith asked him sincerely. "We could be changing events in a catastrophic way and we won't even know it."
    "Come on, we've just gotta try. That's why she assigned the project in the first place right," Wilson asked them all.
    "She assigned the project because our city had the nerve to ask a hypothetical question this year instead of their normal sorry attempt to get us kids to recognize what he did for our lives in the first place!"
    "Sad, but true," Michael acknowledged.
    "Okay, but we're here now," Wilson reminded them.
    "Maybe we should just go back. Okay? So what that because of Wilson's crazy black to the future idea that some old guy needed us to get him back to his past. We did him his favor. Let's just go back home," Meredith begged.
    "That's not a bad idea," Halle said thoughtfully.
    "Guys, what's the worst that can happen," Jalen wanted to know.
"You're right, we could change history. But what if we could change it and make it better. Imagine all the good that could happen if Dr. King had the chance to live longer!"
    "But, like, what are we supposed to tell him exactly?" Halle wanted to know.
    "Maybe we should say that we're from the future and we're warning him of the upcoming danger in his life. Tell him that he's risking his life every day that he preaches his message on unity and equality. Maybe if we tell him that he won't see his children reach adulthood, that'll rattle his chain," Meredith stated bluntly.
    "We can't say we're from the future," Jalen said matter-of-factly.
    "We can say we're warning him," Meredith bantered back.
    "Dear, Doctor, we're warning you! If you don't shut your trap you're gonna be killed," Jalen mockingly said.
    "He probably gets hate mail and threatening letters every day. We've got to say something that'll get to the heart of the matter. What matters to him?"
    "I heard he cheated a lot," Michael said quietly.
    "He did not! That is such the white man trying to bring a strong black man down," Halle replied angrily.
    "Uh, Hal, I heard the same thing. So, maybe there was a mistress that really mattered," Wilson said shrugging his shoulders.
    "Oh, whatever! As if his mistress mattered more than his wife would have," Halle said with one hand on her hip daring them to challenge her on the issue.
    "He had multiple affairs. I doubt there was any one woman who mattered over another," Jalen told them all.
    "Omg! Don't tell me you believe it too, Jalen! You guys are incredible. He was a saint. He died a martyr," Halle declared.
    "He was hardly a saint and he definitely did not die a martyr! But he was definitely important to American History let's try to save the man's life. Let's try to stay focused here," Michael said calmly trying to put everyone back at
ease.
    "Okay, so what then?" Halle asked still waiting for a reasonable response.
    "What if we say an important message for your eyes only," Jalen said. "Just start there, Halle."
    "Alright!" Halle began writing. "Next?"
    "He was stabbed in 1958," Michael reminded them. They all stopped to stare. "Use that information. Although you survived being stabbed several years ago, you will be shot and you will not survive this. Your four small children will be raised without a father. Their lives will be difficult without you."
    Halle took it all down.
    "Remember, Telegrams costs money per line," Wilson told him.
    "Okay, so that's all you need to say," Michael said with a shrug of his shoulders.
    "I've got this:
        An important message for your eyes only. STOP
        You were stabbed and survived. STOP
    "Why do you keep saying Stop?" Meredith wanted to know.
    "Idk! That's what they do in the movies when they're sending a telegram."
    "Well, stop! It's annoying," Meredith said rolling her eyes. She was really just ready to go. The sweater she wore was getting itchy. She had on bobby sox and saddle shoes and she was really uncomfortable.
    Halle rolled her eyes right back.
        You will be shot. STOP
        You will not survive and your wife and children will be alone.             STOP.

    "That sounds as good as it gets," Wilson told her with a firm nod. "Everyone agree?" No one opposed the idea so they went with it. "Time to go."
    They left out of the sub-basements with their packs. Wilson led them up and signaled for them to come out when he was sure the house was empty and they could escape with little problem.
    "Are we taking a car?" Michael asked.
    "It's right here in Cleveland Heights. Let's catch a bus and go there," Jalen suggested.
    "The bus?" both girls said at the same time. Stepping out of the house everything around them looked the same except it was daylight outside. It wasn't until they got to the main road Cedar that things began to change. Signs for Legacy Village were no longer at the corner. The street lamps looked different. The cars going past were much older and there were far fewer cars than there were in their time period.
    "I don't think it's a good idea for us to be out here," Halle warned.
    "I think you're right!" Wilson agreed.
    As far up on Cedar road as they were was a predominantly white neighborhood in their own time period. Now it was all white owned property.
    "There's the bus station," Meredith pointed.
    "We're going to hop on the bus," Wilson told Meredith and Michael. "You two, go back, get the car keys and take the car. The one he said that she never uses. It's a 1959 Chevy Impala I think. Take it to the nearest place where you can send a telegram."
    "Where is that?" Michael asked.
    "Western union," Wilson, Halle, and Jalen all said at the same time.
    "Okay," Meredith said exaggerating the 'O' in okay.
    Halle shook her head. "Will we get in trouble for jaywalking? There's no crosswalk."
    "Crosswalks probably haven't even been invented yet," Jalen said sarcastically.
    "True," Wilson agreed. "Come on." He pulled Halle by the arm.
    "I can't believe how few cars there are on the road," Jalen said looking around.    
    "Yeah and the cars that are on the road look like boats," Halle said laughing.
     "There they go, they've made it," Wilson said with a nod towards Michael and Meredith.
    They looked like a couple. Meredith had brushed her locks to a shine and used the brush to curl the hair up under the way she'd seen women do in older movies. She was wearing makeup because she felt that would definitely make her fit in.
    "Where are we headed, by the way," Halle wanted to know.
    "Down to the church," Wilson explained.
    "We didn't tell them that," Jalen said.
    "Oh shit! Should we text them?" Wilson asked
    "We can't. Remember what the Professor said. No technology. We have to trust that they know to meet us at the church," Jalen reminded them.
    "It's going to be over 5,000 people there. How will they find us?" Halle wondered.
    "We'll have to find them. Come on, here's the bus."
    "Do we have to go to the back?" Halle asked feeling dumb.
    "That was only in the south," Wilson said feeling sorry for her.
    There was so much they didn't know.