CLIPPED_Another Time Travel Tale Read online

  We talked for a while, everybody was getting used to everybody else, and it didn't take long for all of us to refer to each other by our new names. "Why are you all wearing those bracelets?" said Chloe. "So we don't get mixed up and the right people travel back to the right times." I said. "Oh, that makes sense, although I don't think I would mix up Dad and Carson or Aunt Allie and Callie, they're way older, but it still makes sense." she said. We told them that we were going to be living in this house if they ever wanted to come by and talk or help us out, we would always be here.

  "Callie and Carson don't have Chips, so they aren't going to be able to buy anything or do any shopping yet. I haven't figured out how to get them real ID's yet, do you have any ideas Aunt Allie? You were always good at shit like that." I asked. "In the past I was, but I've never tried anything nowadays, they're so strict about everything, I'd have to think about it for a while, to figure out how to make them exist in this time." she explained. "I'll come up with something soon though, you can bet on that." she said, smiling.

  "I think I actually have an idea for that, but we are going to have to travel again to do it." said Callie. "We can talk about it later and you can tell me if you think it'll work, I'm pretty sure that it will. Me and Carson are going to need to submerge ourselves into this world too, and to do that, we have to be legit." she said to Allie. "I always loved having you around Aunt Callie!" said Allie. Chloe and I talked a lot throughout the day, we were the same age, so we had almost all of the same memories. It was so strange to have someone like that to talk to about, everything. I could stand having her around all the time, it was nice.

  Dad and Carson did the same thing, they didn't get to experience the time travel the first time around and they were two peas in a pod, talking about old times and shit. It was cute. I loved this family and I was very excited to be a part of it and to get to experience such amazing opportunities. I prayed that we would be able to fix it all, but with everyone's help, I knew that we would find a way, it was only a matter of time. We were the Harmons, and we could do anything.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Everybody left to go home that evening. Chloe decided to stay with Aunt Allie for the night, so she could be nearby, and Dad had to go home to Mom so that she wouldn't worry about where he was. I was pretty sure that he was going to go home and tell her everything that happened and she would eventually be popping in to see for herself. I hoped that he didn't tell Riley though, I didn't need her getting involved in all of this too, she had a family now and that was more important than what we were all up to. I didn't think that he would tell her though, and hopefully Mom wouldn't either.

  The next morning, I heard Aunt Callie and Aunt Allie in the living room talking excitedly and giggling about something. "They must be discussing whatever plan Aunt Callie concocted." I thought to myself, as I stretched and stumbled into the living room. "Morning, Aunties." I said. It was weird, having two Aunties now. "Good morning, Lovebug." they said in unison, and then laughed at themselves. "Wakey, wakey..." said Aunt Allie, "...Eggs and BACEY!" said Aunt Callie. "Lord, now there are two of them to crack each other up." I thought, smiling and shaking my head. "We need some food, I'm going to order some groceries, okay?" I said to them. "Okay, Lovebug, you know what we all like." said Aunt Callie. "Don't worry Auntie, I won't forget your sour cream." I said, and they both laughed. "Where's Carson?" I asked. "Your Dad came to get him, they're going to talk to your Mom." Aunt Allie said. "Oh, okay." I said.

  I made my way to the Screen in the living room and gestured toward the grocery app. It was always handy to use when you really didn't feel like getting out and going somewhere, although stores were still popular too, there just weren't as many of them around anymore. They tore a lot of the old ones down to make solar farms and re-plant all of the trees. I gestured through the menus and ordered everything that we would need for the house. I bought tons of food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, medication, etc. I waved my Chip to pay and then went and sat back down on the couch. "They should be here in 20 minutes." I mumbled to them, still trying to wake up completely. "That shit is freaking awesome." said Aunt Callie, pointing to the Screen. "Oh, I know right? Dad would've freaked out if he saw something like that way back when." Aunt Allie said, and they both laughed. PawPaw had an electronics addiction, definitely.

  I switched the Screen to something random to watch in the background and then turned to face them. "Are y'all planning on telling me your plan for getting the Chips for everybody?" I asked. I was very curious to know what they were planning on doing. "Oh yeah, I guess you do need to know, we're going to be taking you with us, after all." said Aunt Callie. "Taking me with you? Taking me where exactly?" I said, wondering what in the world they could have possibly come up with. "We've decided that we are going to go back to the 90's for just a little while." said Aunt Allie. "I don't technically need to go, but I want to, I'm itching for something fun to do. It's just me and the cats over there in that house, and I never do anything exciting anymore." she said. "I know, Auntie. So why the 90's, won't it reset your hard work from before?" I questioned.

  "Not if we go to a date that we weren't changing anything!" said Aunt Callie excitedly. "We changed everything all the way until 1993 and then after that, we put the links away and lived our lives like normal. Callie went back to her real time, and I grew up with my family still alive." said Aunt Allie. "If we go to any date after 1993, nothing will get messed up and we can get real identities set up back then. People used to do it all the time." explained Aunt Callie.

  "Computers were very new in those days and it was much easier to change your name or make a new life. We will be able to do it for all three of us and make our new names a reality, legitimately, with real social security numbers and everything." said Aunt Callie. "Me and your Dad were already born back then, so we could just choose another identity. After that, we can pop to another time when you were already born and get an identity for you. We know a guy from your time already! We did it for our Callie identity in the past. Once we do all that, we can come back here and get real Chips with your new names. You can just keep the one in your non-dominant hand and tell them that your other hand is the non-dominant. They never check." said Aunt Allie.

  "Well, that sounds interesting. I guess you're right, it would work." I said. "Have you told the Dads yet?" I asked. "No, not yet. We thought about just going and then popping right back. They would never know that we were even gone, and we can bring Carson's ID back to him. Did he pick a middle name? I don't think he did, I'll just make one up." said Aunt Callie. "Sounds good to me, when do we leave?" I asked. "Soon, love. Aunt Allie is very excited to go." said Aunt Callie. "Hell yes I am, this will be the highlight of my decade!" she said, bouncing up and down. "You really need to find a girlfriend, Auntie." I said to her. "Hush, I don't need a girlfriend, I'm perfectly content in my solitude. You know I like my peace." she said. "Preach, sister." said Aunt Callie, high-fiving her. They were dorks. "Chloe, go grab the links and clip out of the old safe, I stuck them in there last night, you remember the combination, right?" said Aunt Callie. "Yeah, I remember, I'll be right back." I went and grabbed everything out and put them into my pocket. "I guess we are about to go right now." I thought, nervously. The grocery man showed up and we got everything put away in their various spots and then sat down to talk some more about our next adventure.

  "So what year should we go to first, the 90's or 2023?" I asked them, as I came back into the room. "I think we should go to 2023 first, we already have a contact there and it won't take long for them to mail me your new social." said Aunt Callie. "We can just stay in my house until it comes, nobody will be there if we go right after we all left, then once we have it, we can pop back to 1995 or so. We can go visit PawPaw and Granny while we are there, and Mini-Me and Andrew!" said Aunt Allie. "YES, I miss them being Matt and Lissa, it'll be good to see them. You're going to shock the shit out of them, old woman." said Aunt Callie, laughing. "It'll be great, even if I'm old en
ough to be their mother." she replied. "This is so weird, okay. Do we need to buy anything to wear?" I asked. "Nope, y'all come to my house, I have a whole closet full of shit to wear. I kept up with the styles of the decades, just in case I ever had the chance to travel again." Aunt Allie said. "Yep, we have tons of 90's clothes, don't worry Zoey, they weren't bad back then." said Aunt Callie.

  We all peeped out the front door to make sure that the neighbor's wouldn't see Callie, but nobody was outside, and we all made our way across the sideyard to go to Auntie's house. "This is weird, creeping over to my own damn house." said Aunt Callie. "Right?" I said. We got inside and the cats were very excited. "HEY GUYS!" said Aunt Callie. "Callie, this is...." started Aunt Allie. "Boomer, Mila, Mollie, Jamie and Max." said Aunt Callie. "Whaaat? How in the hell do you know them?" said Aunt Allie, looking at us suspiciously. "We came to check on them, after the incident... you know, the shooting." I told her. "Thank you, Lovebug." said Aunt Allie, scratching Mila's head. "Thank you for taking care of them, you always said that you would and I'm really glad that you did." she said, sadly. "It's going to be okay, Auntie, we will fix it." I told her. Callie patted her on the back and we went into the bedroom closet to pick out some clothes.

  "Where's Chloe? I thought she spent the night here?" I asked, looking around. "She went home this morning for something, I have no idea what, but she said that she would be back later to see us." she explained. "Oh, okay, cool." I said. All of us packed a small bag, we didn't have to pack for 2023 because Aunt Callie had everything there already, so we just packed a few things for the 90's. Aunt Allie had a bunch of flannel shirts, so she said we all needed one. "Auntie Callie Flannels! YES!" said Aunt Callie, excitedly. "We will look fabulous." said Aunt Allie, nodding and smiling. She was buzzing with excitement. "Let me feed the cats and make sure I double-water them, just in case, and then we can go, okay?" "Okay, Auntie." I said, as me and Aunt Callie made our way to the couch to pet all of the kitties.

  She came back out a few minutes later and said that she was all set and ready to go. I had never seen her so happy before. "Do you still have all of the old cats, Callie? I don't remember when they all passed away." she asked. "Yep, every single one of them." she said. Aunt Allie smiled a huge smile, "I'm so freaking excited to get to see them again!" "Allie, do you have the nausea medicine and Dramamine still?" Callie asked. We definitely didn't want to all travel without that. "Oh yes, let me grab it, it isn't the same as it used to be, I have always kept some stocked in the cabinet, just in case." she said, as she scurried to the kitchen medicine cabinet. She reappeared quickly with the two tiny pouches. "What the hell?" said Aunt Callie. "They're sublingual, we don't have pills anymore, just little squares that you put under your tongue. They work within 5 minutes or so, once they are dissolved. They last for about 8 hours in your system." I explained. "WOAH! BAD ASS!" she said, taking the pouch to look at it. She was fascinated. They had stuff like that in her time, but not everything.

  "Okay, if I remember correctly, the spare room hasn't changed much, right?" said Aunt Allie. "That's right, that's where me and Chloe landed when we came to check on the cats." explained Aunt Callie. "Well, then let's go, everybody drop your meds, and let's do this. I'm ready!" said Aunt Allie. We all dropped our meds and made our way into the spare room with our bags over our shoulders. "This medicine tastes like ass, they couldn't make them taste better? SHIT!" said Aunt Callie, making an ugly face.

  "How does the clip work like this?" Aunt Allie asked. She had never seen the clip in action and she was excited. "Aunt Callie, change the date on the clip to 10:00 AM, March 30th. I think that we popped away around 9:45 AM that morning." I said. "Yeah, that sounds about right." said Aunt Callie as she changed the date and showed me. I nodded and then said, "Now I set the 'BACK' link to 2023, see Auntie." I turned it toward her so she could see and Aunt Callie showed her the clip. "That is awesome." said Aunt Allie.

  "Okay, now Aunt Callie puts the clip on her shirt and I'll attach the links to mine. Aunt Callie will hold my right arm and you grab on to my left. Then just made sure you have your bags attached." I explained. Everybody hooked their arms together and we were all set to go. "You ready, Auntie!" I said, excitedly. "Hell yes, 2023, here we come!" I clicked the link and all three of us vanished into thin air, going back, once again, to 2023.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  We all arrived with a "THUNK" onto the bed again. Legs were everywhere and Aunt Allie was moaning and groaning. "Ugh, I didn't miss those landings whatsoever! Maybe I'm too old for this!" she grumbled. "You're alright, Auntie, you aren't sick are you?" I asked. I felt fine, and Aunt Callie was fine too, she was wiggling around trying to get free of all of the arms and legs. "No, baby, I'm not sick, thanks for asking. I just have some arthritis, I'm not as young as I once was, I'll live." Aunt Allie said, finally creaking and cracking and getting up out of the bed to stretch.

  "Did we make it?" I asked. Aunt Callie opened the door, and there were the multitudes of kitties, happy to see everyone. They were extra excited to meet a new friend that looked and smelled just like their Mommy. I saw Charlie look at Callie, and then look back and Allie, and then back and forth. It was cute, they were confused. "OH MY GOD! MY BABIES!" screamed Aunt Allie, as she started to cry and blubber. "Lord, she loved those damn cats!" I thought, as I watched her cry and hug and kiss everybody.

  "CHARLIE! JUNIOR! COWCOW! OLIVER! OHHH BUDDY BOY! MY LITTLE SHIT!" she hollered, picking him up and spinning him. "SAMWELL! LILY! SPECIAL! ELI HANDSOME KITTY KITTY!" she squealed. "Oh my God, she's going to talk to every one of them! THERE'S LIKE 15! We will be standing here until 2024 at this rate." I thought, as I watched her spinning and dancing all around. She made her way into the kitchen to talk to the ones in there and I could hear her say, "DOOKIE BUTT!" and me and Aunt Callie laughed at that one, as I looked at her, shaking my head. She finally made her way back out and asked Aunt Callie, "Where's Ellie Mae! That was my LOVE!" "Oh, you know how anti-social she is, she's probably in the bedroom sleeping with Kiki." She ran in there, as fast as her old arthritic legs could manage and I heard her scream, "MAE MAE! KIKI LOUISE!" and then she was blubbering and snotting again. We left her in there and went and sat in the living room, so she could have her special little moment with her babies.

  "Y'all and those damn cats!" I said to Aunt Callie, shaking my head. "Don't hate, appreciate." she said back to me. Aunt Callie got up to grab the computer and send the e-mail to the guy for the ID for me. I got up and went to Auntie's safe to lock up the clip and links, then went back to sit on the couch. "What's your new middle name? Zoey...?" she asked me. "How about Zoey Mae Larson. After Ellie Mae." I said. "OHH, MY MAE MAE!" she said, in the cat Mom squeaky voice, and then giggled at herself and typed it into the e-mail.

  "I'm going to make your birthday the same as your real birthday, okay? That way, it'll be easy enough to remember. He will be able to do the rest and you should be a real person after that, and the correct age, well, technically you're a year older, but that doesn't matter. It costs a lot of money to do this, but me and your Auntie have a ton of money that we stashed away after our trips to the past, so it isn't a big deal." she explained, as she finished typing and sent the email. "Alrighty, Zoey Mae, you're all set! Your new identity should be arriving within a week or so." she said. "Awesome, Auntie. Thank you." I said.

  "I could really just have him do mine and your Dad's also, actually, we wouldn't even have to go back to the 90's, I don't know what I was thinking, because we need to be your age, not our own age. I don't know why neither of us thought of that before, too many different ages of us right now, I guess. Let me e-mail him again and have him make ours while he does yours, we can have the same birthdays with different years and it'll be all done. So, I can just say that I was born in 2011 and your Dad was born in 2013. That's pretty close to our real ages now. It won't take long, and maybe we can just pop to the 90's for a quick visit and then pop back, I know that Allie would want to go for a visit at least, and I th
ink I would too, just for a little bit. We can talk to Allie about it once she finally calms down." Aunt Callie said, as she worked on the second e-mail. "What should your Dad's middle name be?" she asked, as she was typing. "How about just Andrew, then we don't have to think of anything, and he would have the same initials as you." I suggested. "Works for me, I'm sure he won't care, dumbass UNCLE CARSON, that good lookin' dude." she said, shaking her head. She hit send, and then we both sat back and waited for Auntie to come back in.

  After Auntie Allie had her little cry over all of the babies, we decided to go and visit PawPaw and Granny. She hadn't seen them in a long time and she missed them terribly. We weren't going to tell them anything about all of us being gone, we were just going to say that Old Aunt Allie was part of the plan, and leave it at that. We all walked across the yard and made our way next door. The truck was back in the driveway so we knew they had made it back home from wherever they went earlier that morning. Old Mr. Carter was sitting on the porch being nosy, so Aunt Callie waved to him and then we made our way to the front yard. "That old man was always watching everything." said Aunt Allie. "He probably sits in the window writes it all down in a little notebook for the police. It's probably because we told him not to mow his lawn that one time. He did think we were crazy." Callie said. That made me laugh, she was probably right.

  "You ready for this?" I asked Aunt Allie. "Oh yes, bring it on." said Aunt Allie. Aunt Callie opened the door and hollered, "MOM, DAD! You awake?" "Hey, we are up, come on in! Is Chloe with you!" said PawPaw. "I'm here, PawPaw, we have a surprise for you." I said. We made our way into the living room, with Aunt Allie walking behind us. "Dad, I would like you to meet your daughter, Allie Renee Harmon." she said, stepping aside for Aunt Allie to walk in. "WHAT! LISSA! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!" he screamed from his chair, as he scrambled to get up and take a closer look. "Hey Dad, it's me." said Aunt Allie nervously, as she started to cry. "It's great to see you!" she cried, hugging him tight. We were going to give PawPaw a heart attack eventually.