Free THE TIME STAR by Georgina Lee

here, or so I had
assumed. Then she claimed to have seen a meteorite. In fact, her outfit was
covered in tiny spark holes that seemed to corroborate her story. Regardless, I
must admit to being skeptical, because everything about her was so unusual, but
I found myself believing her. We introduced ourselves. Her name was Juanita
Meadows, spelled phonetically, she claimed. Which would make it Waneeta, I
suppose.
     
    Oh, Lord! Waneeta shut her eyes. The
release of tension from her body caused her to whimper, and she shook with
shock. As she hastily brushed the tears across her cheeks, Waneeta realized her
plight.
    Thomas had not been a figment of her
imagination. She had the iodine stain, the photo, this journal .
    Her memories, too. And the forest wasn't
out to get her. Granted, it had changed, but what did you expect in over a
century? That tree must have just been freshly uprooted when she met Thomas,
but a century later it was barely distinguishable. The tree with the fork in it
was hardly more than a sapling when Thomas walked these woods, and now it was
one of the old growth trees, too deformed to be cut down. Only to be used as a
seeder tree now.
    Waneeta put her hand to her mouth and
bit her knuckles. The pristine snow, the cabin, Thomas himself had told her
what she could never have believed. Even the way he reacted to the snowmobile;
they were all clues now confirmed.
    I traveled back in time!
    Tears streamed down her face, and
Waneeta refused to fight them. Never in her wildest dreams would she believe
this could happen. But the proof was there, recorded for posterity, a century
ago.
    When the sobbing finally died, Waneeta
glanced at her watch. She'd been in bed only half an hour.
    It felt like a hundred years.
    Bad choice of words. Looking again at
her watch, she touched its crystal face. The last time she glanced at it was in
the garage. But hadn't it broken during her spill in the woods? Or had it been
affected by the change in time that was so drastic, it had overloaded its
circuitry?
    She stumbled into the ensuite to splash
cold water on her face. How could this be true?  How could it have happened?
    Waneeta returned to the bedroom, and
after sitting, she lifted the book again. Brown spots dotted various leaves of
well aged paper and the spine was now warped. A large, wet circle told her that
one of her tears had landed there.
    What had happened to Thomas? Had he
married? The man who had owned all of Thomas’ things had been a grandson, Doris
had said. Yes, Thomas had married, raised children-
    Been with another woman .
    Jolted by that, Waneeta gripped the
journal more and read on.

Chapter 10
     
    To pass the time, and take my mind away
from where it shouldn't go, I told Waneeta the story of the Wendigo. She was
fascinated and I enjoyed telling it to her.
    After the story, she flirted with me
unlike any other woman had. I must admit to enjoying it, however inappropriate
it was.
    This tantalizing banter should have
warned me, but again I reiterate. She fascinated me. As I helped her to get
comfortable on my bunk, because she was still hurt, she quite unexpectedly
kissed me. I was shocked! It was a difficult night, I think, for both of us.
    Yes, we spent two nights together,
although I confess to impure thoughts about her, I must say I was more of a
gentlemen than I've ever been. Or imagined I could be.
    Waneeta and I remained inside the whole
day, as it was quite stormy out. She'd forecast the bad weather, saying she
went to the 'Weather Channel'. I'm unfamiliar with this waterway and its
prophetic abilities, but she was correct. Waneeta is most unusual. She asked me
if my furniture were replicas. She likes to watch ice hockey, and was again
surprised that I'd support the team for which I'm playing! She's even traveled
to Toronto just to watch a game.
    Sometimes I found if hard to follow her
strange language, terms like Teevee and hydro. I was intrigued. Teevee must be
a corruption of a Indian term, and hydro,