Going Home

  Barry watched as Ralph paced for an hour and then two. He was still in shock that they had travelled back 10 years in the past and that there was no way back. Finally, Ralph fished the time coin out of his pocket and turned it in his palm. Barry had a sudden thought.

“Can’t we use the time coin to go back?”

“Well, we could try...”

“What are we waiting for? C’mon then!”

  His head sadly.

“The time coin has run out of power. We have to activate it again to use it,”

“And how do we do that?” asked Barry.

“We need to go to the Time Tracker’s headquarters. There are time Trackersin this year. I know it,”

“So where is headquarters?” continued Bary.

“Somewhere in Canary Island,”

   Barry remembered Canary Island from a month’s trip The whole island was a mess. Rubbish flung everywhere by careless people. Bird poop on buildings. Stray cats who lived in dustbins and scratched anyone who opened them. Barry shuddered to think that he might be returning to Canary Island. Still, it’s better to go there that be stuck 10 years in the past, isn’t it?

“Anyway,” interrupted Ralph from Barry’s thoughts. “We won’t have to enter headquarters inside the island. We’ll have to enter under the island,”

“What?”

“Nevermind that now. Kara, what do you think about this?”

  Ralph’s little sister was nowhere to be seen.

“Kara?” Ralph called again.

  Barry and Ralph turned around the corner and saw Kara talking to John and Linda Jackson clutching a five-year-old little Barry by his hands. Kara was showing them a flyer to go to Canary Island for free.

“I think she approves of the idea to go there,” grinned Barry.

“So I sign where?” asked Linda.

“Here, here and here,” replied Kara pointing at the paper.

John sighed and looked at his wife.

“Do you think this trip’s worth it? I mean it is really pricey to go there.”

“It’s free John! Free.

John sighed and took off his glasses, then wiping his sweaty brow on his sleeve, got up and went to the fridge, grabbing an ice-cold soda and leaving the room. He didn’t trust people who just came up and offered them a free trip.

“He’ll come around,” said Linda, glaring after him. “Yeah he will,” said Kara getting up from the sofa and heading to the front door.

“Thanks!” said Kara and shut the door.

 She ran to where Barry and Ralph stood waving the papers in their face. 

  “I did it!”

“Good job,” said Barry.

 Ralph didn’t say anything.

“C’mon Ralph! Why the sad face?” asked Kara.

“We better hope nothing happens to them,” said Ralph darkly.

“What do you mean?” asked Barry.

“I mean that we’re changing the past. By the Jacksons going to Canary Island, what if they got arrested or had an accident or died!”

“Wh-” started Kara.

“Let’s say...hmmm Barry’s dad! Let’s say he died on the trip to Canary island. When we manage to get back into the present, Barry’s dad will still be dead. Now can you guys see sense?” he asked exasperated.

 Kara looked shocked. Barry looked weary.

“All right,” he turned to Kara. “Cancel the trip.”

“What,” she said blankly.

“You heard me, cancel the trip!”

“No,” said Ralph. “What is done is done,”

Barry spluttered out protests.

“We’ll have to make sure nothing happens to them on the trip then. “ said Ralph, making sure the tone in his voice was final before dragging a huge rock over to his head and resting it on it.

 “1500 dollars for your flight ma’am,” said the lady. “But that’s preposterous, the flight was free!” John exclaimed.

“I was under the impression I was talking to your wife sir. Would really appreciate it if you would stop butting in, “ said the lady coolly.

“But the price for three people is 670,”

“No, there are 6 people in your family,”

“I think there’s something wrong, we’d like to cancel the flight,” said Linda.

“Sorry ma’am, you signed the sheet.”

Linda drew her breath as she handed the notes to the lady. 

“Have a safe flight ma’am,” said the lady, looking suspiciously at Ralph, Barry and Kara who were trailing after the Jacksons. Luckily the Jacksons were already too far ahead to hear her.

  A flight attendant approached Barry, Ralph and Kara.

“What are your names?” he asked.

Ralph being a bit smart replied, “Barry, Linda and John Jackson.

The flight attendant checked his notebook and said, “Right, you’re name’s here, have a good flight, sir!” And bowing, he let them pass.

   Barry, Ralph and Kara choose seats as far as possible from the Jacksons. Each row had two seats so Ralph and Kara sat together leaving Barry to sit beside a giant lady in a pink and blue gown, her orange hair in a tight bun.

“Hello!” she said in a cheery voice.

“Hi,” said Barry. He would rather the lady not talk to him but he didn’t want to be rude.

“You can call me Hup!”

“Hup?” said Barry uncertainly.

“Yes, dear! Miss Hup is what they call me!” and she gave a shrill giggle.

“And what’s your name popkins?”

 Before Barry had time to answer, the flight attendant came and gave everyone a toffee.

“Ooh I do love a good toffee!” squealed Miss Hup.

She bit into it and made a face. Her mouth twisted this way and that and she looked like she couldn’t open her mouth and then,

Pop!

 The toffee came out of her mouth, into her hand, along with a pair of dentures, covered in saliva. Ew thought Barry as the lady popped the dentures back into her mouth and grinned sheepishly.

After an hour, the lights started to dim and a movie was starting. The flight attendant served then soup and chicken wings with barbecue sauce and a small slice of chocolate cake. The movie was a horror one. He’d seen it before on New Year’s Eve with his parents. He wondered how long it was since he’d seen them. He stared at the screen. There was some screaming in the movie, a terrible, loud, frightening scream and then,

Pfttttttt…!

Miss Hup had let out a stinky, smelly bomb out of her backside.

   The plane landed two hours later at Canary Island International Airport. What a surprise Barry got. The island wasn’t full of rubbish at all. There wasn’t any bird poop to be seen and the place looked like it had been scrubbed clean. The walls shone so brightly, it hurt Barry’s eyes. Ralph, Kara and Barry walked out of the airport. 

  There were loads of shops. Barry so wanted to go in them but he wanted to go home even more. Ralph wanted to get some snorkel masks, wet suits and flippers.

“What do you think we’re here for? Snorkelling? We’re here to get to the Time Tracker’s headquarters,” said Barry annoyed.

“I told you yesterday, we have to get under the island to enter headquarters,” replied Ralph.

 They borrowed thee sets of underwater gear and dived into the sea. They swam and swam and swam, following Ralph’s lead. They came to a cave. A secret underwater cave? thought Barry. The cave was blocked by a giant boulder. Ralph knocked on it once, pause, twice, pause and once again. A small keypad appeared. Barry wondered how it worked underwater. Ralph entered the pin code and the boulder moved aside. Ralph, Barry and Kara entered the cave and they shot upwards into a long tube. Barry crawled out the tube and stared upwards.

“What! Who are you? How did you get in here!” yelled a boy in a black shirt.

“Relax Ben,” said Ralph.

Ben froze. “How in Merlin’s Pants do you know my name!”

“Why do you look like an older version of me?” asked a boy who looked unmistakably like the younger version of Ralph.

“Is it you?” asked Ben. “Are you Ralph from the future?”

“Yes,” said Ralph shortly.

“What happened? Is it because of the Time Devil?”

“We call it the Time Monster in the future,”

“Ohh, so why have you come here?”

“We need to get back to the present, I mean the future,”

“Sure no problem. Do you have a Time Coin?”

Ralph handed the Time Coin to Ben who placed it on a machine with a flat surface. He twiddled some knobs and the machine began to shake and blue electricity surrounded the coin.

“Give the coin to me,” said Ralph.

“But it’s not done activating,” said Ben.

“We could activate coins in just a second in the future,”

“Well this is the past, so shut up,” said Ben losing his temper. He turned to young Ralph. “I’m sorry you turned out to be an irritating person in the future,”

While the coin was busy activating, Barry and Kara wanted to have a look at the shops. Ben showed them a way out of headquarters on land. Ralph stayed back at Time Tracker’s headquarters to monitor the coin. Barry and Kara went exploring in the shops.

 They went into Timeology first, a clock repair shop. Barry and Kara studied the ancient clocks. Suddenly, Barry’s eyes caught something, a time coin. He picked it up. Kara knew what he was about to do before he did.

“Don’t,” she advised.

“It doesn’t look as if it’s activated,” said Barry. He began to turn the tiny clock hands on the time coin.

“Whatever you’re doing, I’m coming with you,”

“Okay”

They heard a shout. It was from Linda Jackson.

“Ahh, my Barry is lost! Help!”

Not thinking about what would happen if something were to happen to them, Barry clasped Kara’s hand and turned the clock hands to 12 o’clock, straight to the Time Monster’s lair. 

“HELLO,” the Time Monster boomed.

Barry hadn’t expected it to work. But here he was, with Kara, staring at the Time Monster. In a corner, there was five-year-old Barry sobbing quietly.

“AH, I REMEMBER YOU FROM THE FUTURE. I WILL GET MY REVENGE!”

It happened so quickly it was like it never happened. The Time Monster grabbed two giant green rubber hammers and bonked both Barry and five-year-old Barry on the head. It didn’t hurt as the hammer was made out of rubber but Barry sat down suddenly and wailed.

“I want my mommy!”

Five-year-old Barry went over to Kara and said, “What’s going on?”

Stunned, Kara scooped up young Barry in her arms and held the weeping Barry by his hand turning the clock hands on the Time Coin to half-past 12.

Kara arrived at Time Tracker’s headquarters. Yong Barry was in her arms, sighing. The other one sat on the floor in a blubbering mess. The look on Ralph’s face was horrible. She gave a dry sob. 

Young Barry said, “Oh no! What have you done?” while the other Barry hiccoughed loudly.

“They’ve been hit with a green hammer,” said Kara, breaking.

“There, there, it’s just a simple matter. Bring them into the experimenting room,” said Ben softly.

  Both Barry’s were brought into the experimenting room. Ben brought two blue hammers and whacked them on the head.

  They fainted.

“The hammers we’re made out of rubber weren’t they?” asked Ralph anxiously.

“They’re made out of metal, but don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” said Ben.

Ralph turned to Kara. “Why didn’t you stop him at least? If he died, when we get back to the present there will be no Barry,”

“Sorry,” said Kara and hung her head.

  Both Barry’s came to an hour later. 

“Why couldn’t you have hit us on the head a little lighter?” asked Barry rubbing his aching head.

Ben grinned. “Take this pill, you’re head will stop aching,”

Both Barry’s swallowed the pill with difficulty.

“We can choose to wipe your mind or not,” said Ben to young Barry.

“Please don’t! I’ll keep the secret. I love Time Monsters!” babbled young Barry.

“Sorry, lad” grinned Ralph as young Barry’s mind was wiped. 

Young Barry was returned to his parents and with the Time Coin, Barry, Ralph and Kara returned to the present. It was a looong day, thought Barry. Barry was overjoyed to see his parents, go back to school and meet his friends. 

And Barry became an official Time Tracker.