Time Traveling Grandpa

Julia was stunned. I can’t believe it! Grandpa left the ranch to me. Me! Why me? I mean I love him and am sorry he passed but I wasn’t living with him or anything. I never went to see him at the Reno ranch. I’m just one of his grandkids.

She looked around and said, “Honestly, I didn’t know about this.”

That was her reaction to the family gathered in the living room at the main ranch south of Reno. Her Aunt Mabel stepped toward her and said, “We don’t know why either, dear. We don’t blame you for anything. We are all well off and don’t need the property and, honestly, none of us wants to deal with it, so we are not disappointed, or mad, or anything. Bob gave plenty of money to all of us during his lifetime and we have succeeded beyond our imaginations in our personal lives. The money we have been using to enrich our family, and to travel and educate everyone came from your grandpa, Bob Eastman. We are grateful and don’t mind that he left property to you. Enjoy your newfound wealth and we all wish you the best.”

Julia would have cried but she was too astounded by the news and the positive reception from everyone in the room. She smiled and said, “Thank you all. I’m glad for your good wishes. This comes at an important time in my life … Jason and I are getting married, and this property will help get us started with our new lives.”

“By the way,” said Matthew, her cousin twice removed, “In case you were going to ask, we don’t know where his money came from, so there’s no point in discussing it.”

Matt’s mother stood up and looked at him. “No need to talk about that, Matt. We don’t know much about Bob, and we didn’t ask. When he used to disappear for a few days we just assumed he went on a bender, and no one looked for him. He always returned. I’m sure Julia isn’t interested in that right now. She probably wants to know where the ranch land is and where and when to sign paperwork.”

Susan looked at Julia and said, “Our family’s lawyer, Tony, will be here in a few hours and will explain it all to you and show you where you can find your inheritance on a map.”

Shortly after Tony arrived, Julia signed the requisite paperwork, thanked everyone for their understanding and asked to leave the gathering to go to the motel where her fiancé, Kendall, was waiting so she could break the news to him.

His jaw dropped and he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Wow. This is not what I expected when you were called here. I thought they were going to object to you marrying me because of my disabilities and all. This is great news. We can start a life together now. Congratulations, Juls. He reached for Julia and pulled her down on the bed as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. “Yum. I’m kissing a rich woman!” She laughed and said, “I can’t wait to see the property. It’s near Reno, you know.”

Three days later Julia and Kendall were on their way to the hills just north of Reno to view the forty acres that were now hers. They saw a small one-bedroom house near the road. That’s all there was. The rest was open land that had not be developed and looked as if it had been abandoned for years. “I think we should have it surveyed,” said Kendall. “It already was, and I have the aerial pictures in the car,” said Julia.

They looked at the pictures of the property that were taken by a drone and noticed a small shack about 50 yards from the tiny house near the road. Otherwise, there was nothing remarkable about the high desert property she had inherited. The small house had a very small kitchen with an old stove, no refrigerator, and a sink that was very dirty and rusty. Of course, the pipes would all have to be replaced. The bathroom needed to be gutted and expanded. Julia decided on the spot to change the tiny porch to a much larger one that wrapped around two sides of the small house.

There were so many plans to be made, and with the property and some money she also inherited from Grandpa Bob, she was excited about making this property her new home.

After construction was started on remodeling the house, Julia and Ken drove an ATV around the property to inspect it. They stopped at the shack that was near a small hill north of the house. It seemed so out of the way they couldn’t imagine what it was used for. The land didn’t look like it had ever had crops; nor did it seem to have had animals raised on it.

They walked up to the shack and opened the door. Ken peered in and declared that it was safe enough to step inside. Julia turned on her flashlight and they looked around the 6x10 foot area. It seemed empty and there was nothing remarkable about it except there were no windows, so they left the front door open and moved cautiously around the perimeter of the open space. Suddenly they saw the outline of a door at the back right corner and moved toward it. What could it be? A closet? A small room?

Ken opened the door slowly and peered into a small space that seemed to end in a dark hole. “I don’t know what this is, Juls, but I don’t like it. It’s got weird vibes. Let’s get out of here.”

“No, I need to know what it is. After all, it’s mine now.”

Ken held her hand and walked toward the black hole in the back of the small space. All of a sudden there was a whooshing sound and Ken and Julia felt a shaking all around them. There was a light at the end of a long tunnel! They ran toward the light.

Then the shaking stopped, and they were standing in the back room of a noisy building. There was a door ahead of them and they could see lights around the edges of the door. “I’m scared, Ken,” said Julia. “I don’t think we should go through that door.”

Just then they heard loud cheering on the other side of the door and curiosity got the better of them, so they opened it and stepped over the threshold into another world. It was a casino!

“What happened?” asked Julia.

“I don’t know. But it looks like 50 or so years ago. Where are we?”

“Reno, and they are betting on horse races. It looks like there are other rooms too, but in this one people are betting on the horses.”

“Look over there! They’re looking at Secretariat on the screen. People are saying that Secretariat might win the Triple Crown from what I can hear. Let’s go over there. Keep your eyes and ears open,” said Ken.

They moved over to the betting area and noticed people leaving the casino and taking money to a man in a shop outside and coming back with betting papers. They went over to a small group and watched them until they understood what was going on.

Julia said, “They don’t know that Secretariat already won the Triple Crown. That’s weird.”

Just then Ken looked at a newspaper someone standing near him was reading and saw the date, June 9, 1973. “The race hasn’t started yet,” he told Julia. They stared at each other as they both realized what had just happened to them. They had gone back in time.

“Is this what Grandpa did? He time traveled and bet on horse races? If so, maybe he bet on other things, too, like the Superbowl.”

“Looks like it. Let’s give it a try. We know he won the Triple, so let’s put down a bet. Here, I have some coins from before 1973. We can use them this time. They won’t take any money that is dated after 1973, that’s for sure. If this works, next time we’ll bring more pre-1973 money.”

Julia and Ken each bet a few dollars in silver coins on Secretariat just to test their theory and, of course, they won. “That’s unreal. I can’t believe this is happening!” said Julia, grinning from ear to ear.

They turned and exited the casino via the door they had previously entered, and heard the same whooshing sound and felt the shaking as they were moved through the dark portal back to the shack on Julia’s property. They ran through the front door of the small building and looked around to see if they had returned to the right place.

“Yes! We are home,” shouted Julia, as she turned and hugged Ken harder than she had ever hugged him before. She laughed at the look on his face and caressed his cheek as she said, “Grandpa knew best. This was his secret. They don’t know how he got to be so rich, but now you and I do.”

Soon after their time travel experience, Julia and Ken settled into their marriage in the small, remodeled house. Her family was surprised that they never seemed to be wanting for money, even though they weren’t farming or ranching and didn’t seem to have any gainful employment. Since Ken had difficulty walking and Julia didn’t have a job in town, it was surmised that they were just being frugal. The family also thought that Julia was dabbling in the stock market and that’s where they were getting their income from. Little did they know that Grandpa had taken very good care of his favorite granddaughter. They decided not to tell anyone about Bob Eastman’s secret.