The Trailing Edge

                               Previous chapter The story starts  here... After our meal (which included leftover homemade soup -- Ben’s first direct exposure to food prepared in the microwave -- he excused himself for a short rest. Warren, Trevor and I high-tailed it out to the barn, along with Trevor’s cell phone. All of our phones were charged to varying degrees, but we didn’t want to take chances. We plugged all of them in. We wanted to speak to Gerry, reassure him that Ben was back to his normal self, and find out if he knew anything more about the inn. Gerry confessed to us that his business dealings with regard to his real-estate investment had been less ironclad than he’d pretended. He had silent partners who held out the option of shutting down the entire enterprise if he fell short of expectations, and he had -- at the most inopportune possible moment. Later, of course, we reflected th...

     Previous chapter I was so happy to have our appliances back. It was almost nothing to pull out some chicken parts, defrost them in the microwave (I invited Ben to observe) and prepare something simple yet sumptuous -- in the wood stove, where it would bake slowly. By midday, I suspect we'd all be hungry enough to accept any menu offerings. Warren had led Ben through electricity basics, resulting in a few school-level projects that delighted Ben. Warren began putting most of the tools away and replaced them with what I recognized, among other things, as a crystal radio set. “Yeah,” said Trevor, sotto voce , “Wrapping copper wire carefully around the core is, oh, three hours of my life I’ll never get back.” I gave him a gentle elbow in the ribs to let him know his effort was appreciated and necessary to the cause. Warren wasn’t sure if a “wireless” would even work out here in the pine boonies, and it didn’t, much. We did hear static and very faint sounds, whi...

Previous chapter I dropped like a stone into sleep. It was such a good sleep, I didn’t need to lie a-bed long after the sun was up. I decided I would wear a dress today, but refused to do the corset or pettiskirts. Due to the chill, I accepted the stockings, but after some consideration, opted for my 21st-century bunny slippers instead of those ponderous boots. If Franklin was offended, well, he could go and do something about it. Very doubtful he would. Besides, he’d been married, and quite a bit more if the history books didn’t lie. He knew what a woman actually looked like under her clothes. I wasn’t about to meet royalty -- or anyone, probably. I was going to be comfortable and that was that. Before getting dressed, I hit the shower for the first time since the day of Ben’s arrival. I could not believe how good that felt. At the very last minute, I put on a shower cap, not being 100% sure if today would be the big unveiling of all things electrical in the house. So being...

Previous chapter Ben came out of his room late that night. The guys had gone to their rooms relatively early, promising to get up with the sun the next morning and let me sleep in if I kept watch. I knew they would, and that they wouldn’t sleep well. This whole thing with Ben was weighing on us. I kept busy by doing my favorite thing: Organizing. As inefficient and downright boring as the kitchen was, I could still think of ways to improve it. I made sure all the plates were in a good place (good meaning low enough so I wouldn’t have to stand on something to reach them); found non-perishable foods and laid them out on tabletops so they wouldn’t be forgotten, and dusted with a rag. If all went well tomorrow, we were going to broach the subject of electricity with Ben. Everyone associates him with that, but of course, he hadn’t really done much with it. Given a few more decades, he undoubtedly would have given Edison a run for his money, but most of what he did was to lay the grou...

                          Previous chapter Whoever he might really be, Ben had me worried. He sat umoving in his seat, staring absently ahead. No tears fell, but he was no less upset as the house came back into view, than he had been half an hour before. Trevor and I seemed to be communicating telepathically because neither of us spoke a word; nonetheless, we felt each other’s concern. Both of us were wondering What next? Warren seemed to catch the mood, too. Once we reached the drive, he slowed the horses, trying not to jostle the carriage. He hopped down promptly and put up the steps next to the carriage door. I saw his face as he peered in and offered Ben a hand out. We all watched Franklin navigate the steps slowly, haltingly, nearly stumbling as he reached the ground. Warren hurried, fumbling for his keys, and opened the front door of the house for Ben as quickly as possible. Ben proceeded through at a march, no...

Previous chapter So, the next day after the midday meal, we granted Ben’s request to go out and see the countryside, but during breakfast we reminded him that he was bound to be in for some surprises. “The world has gotten much louder,” I began. I remembered a Twilight Zone episode from the 1960s, in which a scientist had manipulated time (with a machine, inevitably) to cause a Western outlaw to appear in midtown Manhattan, just ahead of the hangman. All I really remembered about that was how the visitor instantly pressed his hands to his head in agony and begged the scientist to do something about all that noise. We were lucky, as I’ve said, to be in a tiny, sheltered enclave, mostly surrounded by farms and the New Jersey Pine Barrens, but it really was tiny and one step in the wrong direction, at the wrong time, would destroy the most carefully constructed illusion that we were still at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. And so we sensibly decided to prepare Dr. Fran...

                        Previous Chapter “Well,” said Gerard Greenfield IV, “You know I can’t do much more than I’ve already done. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t heard planes overhead yet.” He paused, thinking. “It’s not like he doesn’t know it’s the 21st century. If he wants to go out, he’s gonna have to understand that he’ll see weird things. The coach, you can do. The roads, we can keep blocked off. But once you get to the boundary, he’ll see pavement, he’ll probably see cars, or at least hear them. Trains too, depending on the time of day. Maybe people. Those are the easiest to deal with. Just prepare him the best you can. How’s everything else coming along?” I had, of course, been sending him summary emails the whole time Ben had been with us. Gerry was a great guy. He was 40, the younger brother of a close friend. And he was rich as all hell. He’d inherited quite a bit, as had his sister, but as intellectually gif...