Extraordinary Circumstances

By Walter Courtney

This book of stories that combines action, adventure, inspiration, courage, faith, mystery, love, science fiction, humor, and irony in kind of a lighthearted yet entertaining way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Sep 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462407521

Walter Courtney

Walter Courtney is romantic, adventurous, and daring—a daydreamer and, by his own admission, maybe a little foolish. He believes strongly in God, family, and the USA. He writes fiction that is based on experiences of his own and of people he has known throughout his life, but still fiction.

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Copyright © 2013 Walter J. Courtney.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0753-8 (sc)

ISBN:978-1-4624-0752-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013916863

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 9/24/2013

Table of Contents

Old Man Jake

A Rift in Time

Day One

Setting in

Some Answers

Everything Changes

Worth Waiting For

A Moment of Confusion

Wake Up Call

The Andersons

Moving In

The Andersons Go Golfing

The Andersons’ Plane Ride

The Andersons Decide to Buy an Automobile

Garden Party

Visiting Aunt Bea

The Anderson’s Limo Ride

Assignment: The Andersons

Frank’s Investigation

The Beginning

More Answers

Walt Anderson’s School Days

Town

Summer’s End

School

Lunch

Their Education Continues

What They Were Learning

School Life

CVMMM

The President That Time Forgot

The Story

The Rescue

Nosey Neighbor

SAM’s Story

Just a Country Church

Just Keeping in Touch

True Value

Go West Young Girl, Go West

The Professional

Old Jake

The Diner

Billy the Kid

Chance Change of Fortune

Email from the Hereafter

The Email Arrives

Mack Arrives

The Answers to Mack’s Questions

So, What’s Left to Say?

Almost the End

This book is dedicated to my wife Susan, where without her encouragement would not have been written.

Old Man Jake

Jake and his wife June moved into the western part of Virginia after full productive lives in Chicago. Jake was a large man of Irish heritage, with the large meaty hands of a working man. He had spent his life working hard as a tradesman, having spent the last six years before retirement as a foreman for the company he had spent working the previous twenty-five years with.

His wife June, who he never understood why such a refined, graceful and attractive woman three years his senior would have wanted to share her life, much less having had and raised two children with him. But June did and Jake was very much in love with her, more today than even when he first set his blue eyes on her.

June had been raised with all of life’s best presented to her by her successful father. She went to the best school for ladies and had the sons of the best families chasing after her attention. Instead of choosing one of these fine gentlemen, she fell for the large; red haired tradesman her father had hired to fix up their summer cottage near the lake.

When June first set her eyes on this mountain of a man with hands the size of frying pans and shoulders so wide he had to turn ever so slightly so they would not touch both sides of the door when he entered, she was taken by his handsome features.

But his handsome features and muscular body was not what won June’s heart, it was Jake’s gentleness of speech and kind nature. He was honest, hard working and had a confidence not usually displayed by the working class when in the presence of her father. Jake also did not seemed impressed with wealth, only with her.

They married and raised two children together. A daughter who married an engineer employed with a good company. And a son who once he had served in the navy, then left to pilot a ship on the Great Lakes and having married a Canadian lass with hair as red as Jake’s.

June and Jake had been talking of moving further south to somewhere that had winters less harsh and windy than Chicago. Jake having been raised in the city wanted somewhere with a little space that he could have a vegetable garden and keep some chickens. June always wanted a milk cow.

So when June’s father passed away, after having survived his wife by four years, June insisted they invest her inheritance in a house she saw advertised in Virginia that had several acres, and retire there.

June was sixty-three and Jake had just turned sixty. Both of their children were full-grown and were starting families of their own. They were still young enough to handle the move and to enjoy country life with lust.

It did not take much for June to convince Jake that this was a good idea, so they purchased the property, sold their house and items they did not want to move or give to their children and headed south in Jake’s pickup.

Having only seen pictures of the house and talked to the real estate broker by phone, they were pleasantly surprised to see the house in the condition stated in the advertisement when they pulled in the driveway.

So for the next ten years Jake and June lived the retirement years they always talked about. Fresh home grown vegetables, fresh eggs and milk and cheese they processed themselves. They even made a little money selling the excess they could not consume, or canned, to the country store nearby.

Not that they needed the extra cash, but Jake was always glad to get it instead of using the money from the bank. In truth, though the money June had inherited was not a fortune once it had been divided by her and her six siblings, it was more than enough to last them with their meager needs.

But as usual with couples, one person would pass away before the other one. In this case it was June. One morning she just did not wake up when Jake did. Jake and June had one of the few homes with a phone in this region in 1930, so Jake called the doctor right away that morning.

While waiting for the doctor to arrive Jake sat, holding his wife’s now still and rather cool feeling hand. He looked at her face, which had a slight smile on her lips. He smoothed her hair, noting that to spite her age was still mostly brown, and very soft unlike his very curly and stiff feeling full head of gray hair. Only his eyebrows had a hint of the red his hair was when he was younger.

Jake knew June was no longer in her still body, having gone on to a better place, but he did not want to give up hope or to leave her side yet. He sat there holding her still, soft and small hand in his big powerful hands like the precious feeling he still had for her until the doctor arrived.

The doctor arrived within the hour and checked June’s body. He told Jake that based on June’s temperature that she probably passed away shortly after midnight. And that without having to do an autopsy it appears that her heart just stopped.

Jake already knew his love was gone, but on hearing these words finalizing it he felt like his big heart was going to stop as well. After the doctor had left, Jake took the first drink he had taken in years.

The next few days went by fast, he got word to his children but due to the tough economic times and distance they would not be able to arrive in time for the burial. Instead the minister took care of things for Jake since he was feeling rather numb and just shut down.

The service was nice, if anyone could describe it as such. Church members were there for support as well as the minister, and Jake thanked them all and went into the house alone.

Months went by and Jake had gotten into a routine of doing his chores, eating and sleeping on a non-varying schedule. Jake had even gotten into the habit of milking the cow on schedule instead of thinking June had already done this since she always wanted to do that chore herself.

Then one day he noticed that some bread he had left on the kitchen table was missing as well as a chunk of homemade cheese he had set out for lunch. Jake looked around for any signs of an animal having gotten in the house, but he did not see any signs. So questioning his memory he went ahead and cut some more bread and cheese and sat down for lunch.

Days went by and Jake started noticing more vegetables than normal were missing from his garden and he had started getting fewer eggs than he used to. His cow started giving a little less milk and then one day he noticed that a chicken was missing.

Jake had trouble in the past with foxes getting a chicken now and then, but he had constructed the last chicken coop so well that it has been years since he had any problems with foxes. And there were no signs of forced entry.

Now the other things happening could be explained with the animals getting older or perhaps a change due to June not being around. And since he did not need as much food he would not miss a little change in the output. But the missing chicken could not be explained. He did not want to think so, but it must have been stolen.

The next day Jake went to the general store to sell his extras he and June used to call their excess output and purchased some soda crackers, flour and a small padlock for the coop. He even purchased some shotgun shells for his old double barrel just in case it was a sly fox he had to dispatch.

Arriving home Jake felt uneasy, as if somebody or something was watching him. Going up to the house he thought he saw a shadow moving around the barn but upon checking did not see anything out of place. Feeling foolish from feeling spooked he picked up his supplies and went into the house placing them on the kitchen table.

Looking in the cabinet for the cracker can he noticed it was not quite in the same place he had left it. Checking the house he saw nothing else out of place but did notice two apples missing from the pantry. For the first time Jake thought it must be a human type sly fox he was going to have to deal with.

The next morning Jake went out to the coop to feed the chickens and do some other chores as usual. While in the coop checking for eggs, two small creatures quickly slid into the back screen door and noticing the can of soda crackers on the table made their way to it. The door behind them suddenly closed. Looking around they noticed the tall, large, big silhouette of Jake.

Its old man Jake, the older boy child said to the smaller, dirtier resemblance of himself as they tried to make an exit around Jake. They were not successful of their escape attempt. Jake caught them both by an arm.

Struggling to free themselves Jake said, hold on there, you are going to hurt yourselves if you keep pulling like that. I am not going to hurt you if you just stop squirming so much.

The older child grabbed the smaller one as if being a shield and asked what he was going to do to them.

Jake said he didn’t know and asked them what they thought he should do to someone who would steal food from him. The older child said, we was just hungry.

Upon hearing this Jake let them both go and said they could have just asked. The younger child said, We didn’t think you would say yes. Jake told them that they would never know unless they asked. Then Jake asked them their names.

The older child said his name was Mickey and that the other one was Sally.

Jake looked at them and asked if the younger one was a girl. Take that back, the younger one said. I am his sister, not a girl.

Jake roared out a laugh and sat down on the floor, right in front of the two surprised young people. Okay sister Sally, if you and your brother Mickey are hungry let’s sit at the table and have lunch together, Jake told them.

Sitting at the table, Jake started making pancakes, or hot cakes like they were called in this region. After everyone had their fill, Jake turned to Mickey and asked where they lived. Mickey told him that they were from down the road and asked that he not tell their parents because they would get in trouble for getting caught if they found out.

Jake thought Mickey’s choice of words was interesting, getting in trouble for getting caught, not for stealing. Asking further while sharing an apple he was cutting with the children Mickey explained that Me Pop says it’s okay to steal food if you’re hungry, but not more than you need and nothing else, only food.

Jake asked if they were hungry often, and the children explained that they were no hungrier than other kids in the area, but that since the depression caused everyone to lose their jobs that being hungry was almost a daily thing. They ate, but not enough to feel full.

Jake asked if their father was out of work and Sally said that he would hunt and fish some, but could not find work. She added that he would occasionally rescue a chicken he would find wandering around loss and bring it home for supper now and then. But that was just being a kindness he told her, that he was keeping the chicken from dying a violent death by a predator and the meat going to waste on it. That by rescuing the chicken himself it would be put down painlessly, with kindness, and the meat would be put to better use by them eating it instead of a nasty old predator.

Jake told her that he could not have explained it better himself.

Having made sure the children were well fed, and had washed their hands and faces, he sent them off inviting them back anytime they were hungry, but that they had to ask, not just take. He assured them he would not tell their parents they were caught if they did not tell them.

The next morning Jake went down the road stopping to talk with a man he saw mending the roof on a small home. Jake mentioned that he could use a little help with some chores around his place, that it would not pay much but perhaps he could supplement the pay with some eggs and other food he produced. He also inquired if the man knew of a woman who could help him with some household chores as well for the same type of pay.

Calling his wife out the man and wife discussed with Jake they could help him out if they could bring their two children with them since they had no one else to look out after them. Jake mentioned that his grand children lived so far away that he would be grateful if they did bring them along for company for him and perhaps he could help teach them to read some from the books he had at his place.

An agreement was made and the couple would start work the next morning. Jake was not going to be lonely anymore and perhaps the depression would be a little easier for at least one family.

A Rift in Time

Day One

How would you know that today would be different than any other day when you woke up in the morning? That your life would be turned upside down. That your very belief in reality would change. But every day has that potential. Today it happens to not just one person, but to everyone on earth.

Robert (Bob) Walters is one of these people. He does not know it yet, but today it will be all about him and not just him, but every-him and her out there.

Bob woke up as usual, got ready for work, made breakfast, cleaned up after himself and quietly left for work. Stopping only for a few seconds to kiss his wife, Amy, who does not have to get up as early as he does, on the cheek as she slept.

As Bob went outside he noticed the sky looked a little different than normal at sunrise. The colors were a little brighter, almost twinkling. A low rumble of thunder sounded, but not from any one direction and not a thundercloud in the sky. The sky seemed to blink a little, like a TV screen that short circuited. Everything turned sort of gray, colors muted for just a second then things went back to normal.

It was so quick that Bob did not give what happened more than a passing thought. He went to the garage and while opening the overhead door noticed a well-dressed man crossing the street moving directly toward him. Bob could have sworn no one was there when he came outside.

Turning directly toward the gentleman, now crossing his lawn toward him, Bob greeted him with a Good morning, can I help you?

Hello, you may not believe me on this one, but my name is Robert Walters and I hope to be of some help to you!

Bob looked at the man and before he could say anything he heard his wife inside the house say What the ….…………….!

Turning around to see what may be the matter, the other Robert Walters requested he hold on a minute while he explained what was going on.

Pushing the man aside, Bob rushed back into the house to see why his wife had spoken so loud and upset, fearing that maybe the man outside had a partner.

Upon entering the house Bob froze for a second, not believing what he was seeing. Standing there in front of him was two Amy’s. Twins except for their clothing. Grabbing the one with the nightgown on, in a protective manner, he stepped them both back to get a good look at the two newcomers.

The other Amy looked like his wife, only her hair was much shorter and he had never seen his wife wearing jeans so tight, nor a tight denim vest for a top, especially with a blouse to go with it. She had a light backpack swung over her shoulder and seemed to be wearing some sort of utility belt with several electronic gadgets on it.

The other Robert professing to be himself was about the same height, size and nothing else like him! He was even a different race than himself. Demanding to know what is going on, the other Robert suggested they all sit down and he would try and explain what was going on.

After sitting in the living room on different sides of the room, the strange two pairs sat looking at each other in sort of a squaring off position. No one thought to offer or request any type of refreshments or go through any normal pleasantries, as would be the custom of the homeowners to their guests. They were in too much of a shock and wanted to know what was going on.

Robert went on to explain that there were two different universes, existing side by side, but in different dimensions. And that there