Wednesday Briefs: Trapped in Time #14

Happy Wednesday and welcome to Wednesday Briefs - flash fiction brought to you on a weekly basis by the Wednesday Briefers!  This week's prompt is: "It was hotter than..." or the alternate prompts are:
Use: whiskers, fallout, persistence or "I'd walk a mile for a..." or use: flash drive, crayons, baby or "Like Father, like..."


This week, Trapped in Time continues. See what this intrepid band is up to and then visit the other Briefers; their links follow my story. Hope you enjoy!

Trapped in Time #14

Vittorio and I take turns pushing our penny farthing. I say our, for what is mine is his, including all of me, and I would have it no other way. It isn’t easy, because the terrain isn’t the smoothest, but between us we manage.

Just when I think we’ll never see the end of this huge, humid, and horribly overgrown jungle, we emerge into bright sunshine as we find ourselves at the edge of a large grassy area, and here we stop to have a meal of fruit that Charlie and Mary have collected along the way. It tastes wonderful, although it would taste even better if we weren’t being constantly attacked by dive-bombing insects that attempt to make meals of us.

Myron looks the worse for wear. He removes his shoes and rubs the soles of his feet, all the while moaning. “I’d walk a mile for a tub of hot water with some Epsom salts.” But I notice that he keeps his voice low and doesn’t look at me. Good.

After we eat, Vittorio and I take turns riding around the field on our bike, whooping and laughing together. I do not remember the last time I have felt so very free and alive.  Although it’s still hotter than blazes, the air is not quite so stifled out here, and occasionally a breeze pops up and surprises us, tickling our fancies and blowing across our heated bodies.

Charlie is curious about what we are doing, and Vittorio shows him how to ride the bike. He is surprisingly coordinated, Charlie is—or maybe not so surprisingly—and he acquits himself very well. I think Myron wants to try, too, just by the way he’s squirming about, but he doesn’t say a word, and I do not offer. I cannot help but notice the longing looks he throws our way, but I purse my lips and turn my back so that I cannot see him.

Vittorio and I lie in the lush grass, holding hands, and watching the clouds that cross the sky. I cannot help but wish there were zeppelins there. That would be perfect, would it not? But occasionally a large bird flies far above us, too far to get a good look, but judging by some of the shadows these creatures cast upon the ground, perhaps seeing them from a distance is for the best.

All too soon Vittorio says we should move on. We need to find shelter before night comes. He is right, of course, but I find myself reluctant to move. It has been such a lovely afternoon. Do we really need to make this trek? I’m beginning to wonder.

Small animals that I do not recognize race through the thick grass in packs. They show no fear of us. Why should they? They do not know what the coming of mankind will mean. It brings me great sorrow in my heart to think that with enough time, we shall drive many of their races to become extinct, or close to it. Not such a great achievement, is it?

The more that we walk, the hotter we become. We are not dressed for such endeavors, but that is because we’d not expected anything more than a normal day at work, which is far from what we received. It becomes apparent that these uniforms are more of a hindrance than a help.

If it were just Vittorio and I, we could strip down to our underwear and be much cooler, but that is not an option, not with Charlie and Myron and Mary to consider. Particularly Myron.

So we compromise. Well, as best we can, since we’re not equipped with a pair of scissors, unfortunately. That would have made this easier.  But we take our long pants and we painstakingly turn them into shorts that come down our legs to about our knees, like a pair of swimming trunks. Vittorio looks wonderful. His legs are very nice to look at, although if I catch Myron looking at them, I’ll have to poke his eyes out with his own wand. Charlie offers to take his shorts off, but we explain that he needs to stay covered. I have a feeling he doesn’t really understand, but he goes along with our wishes.

I am too short to have nice legs, like Vittorio, but there is nothing I can do about that.

Maybe the Professor knows where to get a change of clothing. We can only hope.

Mary has been restless. She alternates between being carried by either Charlie or Myron, or running around us in circles, screeching and chattering. Sometimes she disappears for a short period of time, but she always comes running back to us, so we do not worry.

Until she is gone for too long, and we begin to call her name.  Well, Charlie calls her real name, we yell, “Mary” for all the good that might do.

Suddenly we hear screaming coming from somewhere ahead of us and we race toward the sound. We find Mary, her teeth bared, surrounded by what appear to be small dinosaurs on two legs. They circle her, darting at her, but she snaps her teeth at the offenders and they retreat to safety. As we rush to her aid, they scatter before us, disappearing from sight.

Charlie reaches for his sister, but she doesn’t come at once, to his surprise. They exchange a few words, he peers around her, reaching through the grass behind her. Then he turns to us with a huge smile. “Come see, come see,” he beckons to us.

Vittorio and I exchange glances, following Myron.

There in the grass we see, to our amazement, what appears to be a nest, filled with three newly hatched dinosaur eggs! Amazing! I wish I had a camera to record this sight.

“Doll, we should leave here.” Vittorio nudges  me; I glance at him.

“Why?”

And then the ground around us shakes, and I know why…

to be continued

Now see what the other Wednesday Briefers hath wrought!

Nephylim     m/m

MA Church     m/m

MC Houle      m/m

Tali     m/m

 Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie