Dimentional Excursion

Dimensional Excursion

“Cuddi, where you at, punk?” said Derrick. “Come out and play with us.”

Yeah, fat chance, jerk.

I tried staying as quiet as possible, even trying to hold my breath so those guys wouldn’t hear me breathe. That’s extremely difficult because of my asthma attacks whenever  I get nervous. I was squatting behind the stack of firewood in the back of the old Crowder house.

Derrick and his posse have chased me into the woods after school, again. They always think it’s funny because NOBODY ever goes near the Crowder place. The entire family, Mr. and Mrs. Crowder, as well as their son, Adam, who was a 12-year old at the time, all died in some type of accident about thirty years ago.

Their bodies were never found and no one was ever arrested. From then on, the Crowder estate went from the gem of all Putnam County, to a rotting, overgrown, and haunted landscape. The estate sits on the St. John’s River. Fishermen swear that even the fish stay away from the area, but since I’m not into fishing, I can’t confirm or deny that statement.

Ever since that time, strange things have been seen and heard in and around this area. Then it dawned on me, I noticed something odd all of a sudden. I noticed nothing, nothing at all, no birds, no breeze, no Derrick and friends, no anything.

This may sound odd, but I felt like I was having a weird out-of-body experience. It’s like you’re floating and looking down on yourself. Now that is some kind of weird.

When a hand grabbed me by my hoodie on my left shoulder and spun me around, I had a flash, Ole’ Man Crowder’s got me. No more floating for me. Derrick’s face was all I saw. Wow, has his head always been that big? Derrick’s head was looking like a 16-pound bowling ball with a dark rag for hair and squinty dark eyes. As he opened his mouth and talked, I realized, he’s never said yes to a Tic-Tac.

“Hey, Cuddi, thought you could hide from us again? It’s time we showed you what we think of you.”

Derrick’s friends just stood and smirked. Cowards.

“Look, Derrick, as much as I enjoy the company of you and your two minions, I have a prior engagement. And I’m thinking you guys must have a busy social calendar too. So let’s call it a day, huh?”

I stand at 5’2” but still had to look up to Derrick’s 5’10” frame, he was a beast of a 6^th grader. I started to make it away in one piece and started to walk away. I even attempted to whistle as I went to leave but Derrick was having none of it. He has me where he wants me.

A pair of vise grips, belonging to Derrick, grabbed both my shoulders gave me a hard shove back into the stacks of rotting firewood, knocking off several cut pieces from the top. As I smacked my 13-year old noggin against the wood, I thought I heard angels singing, but just for a moment. Then I heard…

The last thing I remembered hearing was one of Derrick’s band of misfits talking to him. “Dude, I think you killed him. Let’s get out of here.”

“He ain’t dead, just sleeping,” said Derrick. “Let him sleep it off. We’ll get him Monday when he gets to school—”

“Get out of here boys, before I unload some buckshot on the lot of ya!”

I could barely make it out as I began to come around a bit, but Derrick, Jack, and Tommy’s faces went deathly pale and they resembled Jerry when he got his foot caught in a bear trap in a Tom and Jerry cartoon back when I was just a little kid. And like in the cartoon, they ran out of there as if their lives depended on it, and maybe it did.

My eyes were fluttering around, trying to adjust to the lights. Where am I? Have you ever woke up and for a few moments, couldn’t remember where you were or what time it should be? That was me right then.

“Hello son, you ready to try and sit up?”

“What… who… where am I?

“I heard a ruckus out behind the house and, well, there you were. The rest of your friends took off like scared rabbits when they saw me.”

As I rubbed the back of my head and feel the big knot, it all comes back to me. Everything that happened, who was there, and smacking my head against the woodpile. Thanks, Derrick, you sasquatch.

“No friends of mine.” My voice sounded weak and shaky. I sat up and fell right back down as I realized my entire body was also puny and unsteady. “who are you?”

“My name’s Tom, Tom Crowder.” He showed no emotion but his eyes had a strange spark to them. “You’ve been out for a minute. But I need to get you home, I suppose. Your folks are probably worried something fierce, Cuddi.”

“How do you know my name?”

“You talk in your sleep. My son, Gabe, he does the same thing.”

 Mr. Crowder’s eyes, they looked both excited and sad at the same time as he brought up his son.

“Mr. Crowder, you meant that Gabe “did” talk in his sleep, right?”

His face kind of got a far-away look to them. It seemed to me that he was playing old movies in his mind. His mouth seemed to lightly move but no words came out.

I realized he was speaking to someone or something I couldn’t see for a moment, but it seemed like It took an uncomfortable minute until he looked at me and replied. His mouth formed a pithy smile.

“Yes, Cuddi, he did talk in his sleep.” A huge grin came across Mr. Crowder’s face and he nodded toward the same someone or something I couldn’t see. I expected someone to point out a hidden camera and say “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.”

“Oh, umm, sorry Mr. Crowder.”

“For what, Cuddi? Gabe’s still here, he’s always been here.”

Mr. Crowder helped me to my feet and as I slightly swayed he put his arm around my shoulders for support and we walked out the door of the three-story frame home. As we walked down the path turning in an arc to the left, I could have sworn that some lights turned off upstairs above the front door.

“What’s that?” I asked. My voice squeaked a bit, which it had been doing more as of late (how embarrassing).  

“It’s Gabe. He and Mrs. Crowder are going to join us.”

Chills went up and down my body when those words rolled out from Mr. Crowder. Mr. Crowder sensed my apprehension so he went on to explain.

“Death is just a transfer to a different dimension, Cuddi.”

“Huh? What do you mean, Mr. Crowder?” It hit me like a Derrick pushing me into the woodpile. Mr. and Mrs. Crowder and Gabe had died thirty years ago. How was he able to see Mr. Crowder?

“It’s kind of freaking you out isn’t it Cuddi?” The sparks returned to his eyes.

“Well, yeah, I mean yes sir. How am I seeing you?”

“Cuddi, I was working for a special branch of science in what you would call Quantum Physics. My area of expertise dealt with the theory of additional dimensions and how to move in and out of time—”

“Time travel!” I said. I suppose you could say I was excited.

At this interruption, Mr. Crowder gave a huge, full-throated laugh. “Yes, although we didn’t call it, time travel. We referred to it as a Dimensional Excursion.”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t shut down the time stream and both Shelly and Gabe got caught in a stream and were being washed away. I tried to save them, holding on as long as I could, but finally, I was swept in the stream with them.”

Mr. Crowder stopped walking, big tears began running down his cheeks. As I looked up at him I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. He was phasing in and out, I mean he was still there, but it’s as though he was going from a solid to a gas to a solid again.

“Mr. Crowder what’s—"

“Don’t worry, Cuddi, it’s what I’ve dealt with for the past thirty years. My entire family, we shift in and out of this, and other dimensions. Shelly and Gabe are finally in the same stream with me since the accident.”

At this, he gave a genuine smile. I could see by the look on his face, in the glow in his eyes, finally, he was at peace. Although I couldn't see anyone except Mr. Crowder, I knew his wife and son were there, and I could sense love and happiness like I'd never felt before.

        “Mr. Crowder, what happens to you guys now? I mean, will you guys be able to come back to this dimension?”

         “No, Cuddi, but at least we'll always be together. Our family will be like your family, always together, always together…”

We were finally at my house just as the sun was beginning to set. I've never understood what happened on that day but I knew a family found each other. Mr. Crowder’s wife and son bookended him and the entire family was hugged by Mr. Crowder.

Tears pooled up my baby blues, the idea that they were together after all the years apart. I could only imagine what a boy would feel after all those years, separated from his family

“Cuddi, oh my, where have you been?” My mom said. She was coming out the front door. “We've been so worried about you. Are you okay?”

         “Yeah, Mom, I’m fine, long story.” I trotted up the sidewalk toward the front door and gave Mom a hug. “Okay, okay, Mom. You squashing me.”

         “Cuddi, you’ve got some explaining to do.”

         “I had a run-in with a sasquatch after school. So I hid in Crowder Woods.”

         “Cuddi, don’t you ever go in those woods again. You know what they say about those woods.”

         “It’s okay Mom, I met Mr. Crowder. He chased off Derrick and his friends, and then he walked me home. He and his family came with him and—”

         “What are you talking about son? They disappeared thirty years ago. How could they have walked you home?”

         “Mom, I’m telling you the truth. Look, they’re right back—”

         Mom and I looked back toward the road and all we saw were leaves swirling in the street, three small whirlwinds spun where the Crowder family had stood.

         I'm twenty-seven now, I've never seen the Crowder family since that day. But last year, I was able to purchase all of Crowder woods, including the estate house where I met Mr. Crowder that day. I’ve been slowly renovating it and should have it completed within a few more months.

         Since that time, though I’ve never seen them again, at least, not in full form. But I have seen those three whirlwinds together from time to time. It keeps me grounded and knowing that nothing is more important than family. Nothing.

And when, or if, the Crowder family returns from their Dimensional Excursion they’ll have a home ready to receive them.