Free Pinball by Alan Seeger Page A

still cold. “Well?”
    Steven hesitated, then realized his son was still willing to listen. “This man I met also went through one of the Gates — that’s what they call the vortexes — he went through, just like I did, in 1872, and he never went home. There were about fifty people there, whole families. There was at least one person from some other world, as well, not just humans.” He saw interest in Samuel’s eyes now.
    “The man I met there — his name was Randolph. He had been in the Gatespace — the void — for centuries before he came out, and he’d been in this town, on this planet, for forty years. There was a little library of books that they had collected over the years, and even a computer, a…” He felt as if he were rambling, and suddenly fell silent, feeling as if he were about to burst into tears.
    Samuel looked at him with something that resembled affection, if not yet love. “I’m sorry, Dad. I’ve spent the last two years studying that damned green swirl, sometimes sixty, seventy hours a week, hoping to find out whatever had become of you, and when you finally show up, I blow up at you like a pissed off old lady.”
    Steven smiled at him. “I understand, son. It’s all right.”
    “You should go see Mom,” Samuel said.
    Steven choked on his words. “Where is she? Is she all right? I — I don’t know what I’ll say to her…”
    “Calm down, Dad. I’ll take you to her. She lives over on the other side of town now.”
    They went out to the parking area and got in Samuel’s car, a sporty black sedan. Steven didn’t recognize the logo on the steering wheel, a stylized S . “This is a beautiful car, son. What make is it?”
    “It’s a Samsung. They’re made in Korea.” He gave a little laugh. “There aren’t any American carmakers anymore, Dad,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, it’s not the USA any more, it’s the—“
    “United States of AmerAsia?” Steven interjected.
    Samuel gave him a look. “Yeah. How did you—?”
    “I told you there was a computer in the library. See, the Gates can move you through time as well as space. In this place where I was, it was 2769, and I spent a couple of hours reading about history 700 years into our future.” 
    Samuel was silent. Steven wondered what he was thinking. After a moment, he started the car and pulled out of the drive. For about ten minutes all was quiet. Then Samuel broke the silence.
    “Dad…” he began. “I missed you.”
    Steven smiled at his now-grown son. “I missed you, too, Samwise.”
     

Chapter 18
    Father and son rode together in silence for a while. They passed through the little town and Steven was both comforted and chagrined to see that not much had changed. Three Forks Market was still there. However, where Custer’s Last Root Beer Stand had been for years, there was now a McDonald’s, its drive-thru lane backed up with cars, the sign proclaiming “BILLIONS AND BILLIONS SERVED.” Some things never changed.
    “”When did that go in?” Steven asked.
    “Last year, I guess,” Samuel replied. “A franchisee from Bozeman bought the place, tore down Custer’s and built the Mickey D’s.”
    The Iron Horse Café was still there, but the sign now read “Lewis & Clark’s.” Little else had changed; new street signs had been installed, and the sign painted on the front window of the town hall appeared to have been repainted fairly recently. Seller’s Hardware and Three Forks Ready Mix were unchanged. They passed the Sacagawea Hotel, which looked the same as always, its majestic white pillars gleaming.
    There was a set of fuel pumps in front of the little convenience store in the center of town that hadn’t been there yesterday — well, Steven’s yesterday. “They put in new pumps,” he remarked.
    “Oh, yeah,” Samuel laughed. “That’s been a while. Probably ten years or more. I wasn’t even driving yet.”
    Steven turned his head and gazed at his son. The eleven-year-old he’d