Strangers at Dawn

Hux laid awake in his bed, listening to the birds singing outside of his window for a few minutes and dreading the ice cold room outside of his heavy quilt. The bright morning sun flooded his closet sized room and made him squint from its harshness. He knew he needed to get going for the day, but he was quite comfortable and more importantly warm right where he was.

Fine, he thought, I reckon I’ll get up. He braced himself for the impact of the frigid morning air and threw the blanket aside. Immediately, he regretted the decision. He was decidedly not a morning person.

He quickly shuffled across the room and grabbed some clothes. He wished for nothing more than immediate warmth when he slid his legs into the work trousers, but they were frozen stiff instead. 

Move out west, they said. It’s a land of endless opportunity, they said. Well they forgot about the gosh darned extended winters now didn’t they?  

He slid his feet into his trusty work boots and laced them tight for another days labor. After grabbing his jacket and giving his teeth a quick wash, he decided he should answer the loud growls sounding from his stomach and fetch some breakfast.

He opened cupboard after cupboard to find nothing but mothballs and a few spider webs. Fortunately there was still coffee and that would have to do. He brewed himself up a cup and breathed in the tantalizing aroma.  

“It’s going to be a good day, Hux,” he muttered aloud to himself as he walked out of the kitchen and down the hall towards the front porch. Even though it was the dead of winter and frigid outside, he loved to sit on the old covered porch and enjoy his morning java. This morning he was greeted by a fresh coat of snow and a dead rat on the doorstep. 

Rye’s at it again, he thought as he stepped over the cat’s door prize and made his way to the snow covered swing. He sat down gingerly to avoid spilling his coffee and so as to not awaken the fat reddish brown cat lying next to him. His coffee steamed in the cold morning air and all was calm in his little town.  

He lifted the mug to his lips and took the first sip of his dark morning brew, spreading warmth and comfort through his whole body. There’s just something about that first sip.  

Rye purred heavily in his sleep and Hux instinctively reached down to pet him. After his wife and son had died the previous winter, Rye was his only remaining companion. It had been a hard year since their passing, but he was making it. Determined to finish what they started, he kept himself occupied doing the only thing he really knew how to do - working.

He sipped his coffee and breathed in the crisp mountain air. In a short time the town bell would ring, signaling the start of another day of mining, another day of living in the town. He stared off in the distance and noticed some movement on the horizon.

What’s that? he thought, straining to see. Need a new pair of glasses. If Ellie were here, she’da gotten me some by now, or slapped me upside the head for being so stubborn. Probably both.

He stood up and stretched his arms wide. Rye woke suddenly and hopped down to wrap himself around Hux’s legs a time or two, all while purring loudly.

“Morning, Rye. Looks like you’ll be eatin better than I did this morning.” Hux continued watching the movement in the distance. Whatever it was had gotten bigger. It was moving closer to town.

“Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that’s a person hiking in out there,” he exclaimed aloud before taking the last sip of his coffee and heading back inside.  

After washing up and double checking the cupboards one more time, as if something would’ve magically appeared while he was on the porch, he decided he’d better head to the mine and get a head start on work for the day. He grabbed his pistol off the mantle in the main room and shoved it in his jacket pocket. Never can be too careful around here.

He bent down and stroked Rye from head to tail a few times, enlisting loud purrs from his furry companion. Moments like these reminded him that life was still worth fighting for.

“See ya tonight, Rye. Make yourself useful and catch me some dinner, won’t you?”  

As he walked out the door he grabbed his gloves and hat, stowing them under his arm. The bell rang loudly and the streets suddenly came to life. At least a dozen doors flew open and gaunt looking miners all trudged their way through the fresh snow towards the mine.

He glanced over the horizon, having forgotten momentarily about the mysterious movement in the distance, and sure enough there was a snow covered traveler hobbling into town. Now that’s something you don’t see every day, he thought.

“Morning, Hux!” 

“Morning, Brian,” he replied. “Laura and the kids doing okay?”

“Oh yeah, just fine,” the short plump man replied. “Anything new in your life?”

“Same ol, same ol,” Hux replied, shaking his head. He wasn’t truly paying attention to their conversation, as he was far more interested in the stranger about to waltz into town. “Listen, Brian, I’ll catch you later, alright? Got an errand to run before hittin’ the mine.”

“Alright, see ya later,” said Brian as he turned the corner towards the foreman’s shack.

Hux kept walking down the path and quickly came to the edge of town. Wind whipped suddenly and snow swirled around him violently. He pulled his coat up higher around his neck and shielded his eyes from the snow. What in the world? 

“Don’t mind me,” said a strangely deep voice. Hux jumped back and reached for the pistol in his pocket instinctively. “You have nothing to fear from me, friend,” the tall cloaked figure replied, continuing to shuffle forward in the snow.

“Uh, sorry,” Hux started, “just caught me off guard.”

“Nothing to apologize for, we’re all fellow travelers on the same road, just at different points in life.”

“Right,” Hux replied slowly, not fully understanding what the stranger meant by his statement. “I never caught your name,” he said.

“So you didn’t,” the man replied. Hux surveyed him in the morning light, but he had his hood pulled up over his head, covering most of his face in dark shadow.  

“Well, my name’s Huxley Browning, but most people call me Hux,” he replied holding his hand out in customary fashion. The stranger didn’t grasp it and so he shoved it back into his pocket.

“Oh yes, I know all about you Hux,” the man replied mysteriously.

“Um, you do?”

“Sure, I do,” the man replied again. “Born in the mountains of the eastern homestead. Raised on an ill producing grain farm. Shipped out west out of necessity to save on food for your parents when you were only fourteen. Fell in love with the first pretty girl you met on the wagon trail and married less than a year later. After the birth of your firstborn you were offered a job in an up and coming mining town with promises of wealth and land to call your own. Sound about right?”

Hux stood there in awe and annoyed all at the same time. How did this strange man possibly know all those things about him? Was he that much of an open book or was this man some sort of magician?

“I’ll take it by your stunned silence that you have no arguments to make against what I’ve said.” The man threw back his hood and revealed his face for the first time. He was dark skinned, nigh on the color of strong black coffee, and had braided hair that reached his shoulders. His bright white eyes were a stark contrast to his skin.

“I don’t know what to say,” Hux replied honestly.

“Not a problem,” the man said with a wide smile. “Sometimes that’s the only appropriate response.”  

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about you, but I’ve got to be getting to the mine soon. Second bell’s about to ring and all,” said Hux, staring at the snow around his feet, feeling slightly inadequate in the moment.

“Oh, I don’t think you want to do that,” the man replied. “Something tells me you’d be better off taking a sick day.”

“No choice about it,” said Hux, “it’s get to the mines or lose my place all together.”

“I hear you, but I think that today will be an exception to the rule.”

“Anyone ever told you you’re a bit strange?”

The man chuckled and shook his head. “All the time, friend. All the time.” He swung his sack off of one shoulder and sat it on the ground. He opened the drawstring top and searched around inside for a moment before exclaiming, “ah yes, there we are.” He stood up and pulled out a small brown paper parcel, holding out towards Hux.

“What’s that?” Hux asked skeptically.

“A little gift from one friend to another,” the man replied. “You missed breakfast if I’m not mistaken.”

How in the blazes can he know that?

“Go on, take it,” the man said.

Hux slowly reached out and took the parcel. It was heavier than he expected for its size and was very fragrant, like the smell of berries and molasses. He unwrapped one corner and revealed what appeared to be a slice of sweet bread. His mouth started watering and his stomach let out a large growl.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a bite of the sweet cake. “I didn’t have breakfast, so this is a welcome surprise.”

“Mhmm,” the man replied with a smile. “Come, walk with me a spell.”

Hux shrugged and shoved another bite of the delicious treat into his mouth. This is incredible.

“I’ve been traveling for many days now and I’m glad to be here. Just in time too, if I’m honest with you. Not much to spare at all.”

“You know,” Hux said, “I’m starting to think you didn’t just wander into town by accident.”

“Ha!” The man laughed aloud. “Very astute of you, Huxley. No, indeed, it is no coincidence that I am here and in time you too will understand the nature of my visit.”

“Whatever you say, stranger.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me stranger, friend.”

“Well, I don’t know your name, so I don’t know what else to call you.”

“My name isn’t important now. What you need to know is that I’ve come from far away, very far, to keep you out of the mines today.”

“Why would you do that? I already told you the mines are my livelihood. If I don’t report into work, I’ll lose everything I got and that ain’t much.”

“So you did, but I need you to trust me on this one.”

“Right, trust the man who shows up out of nowhere and just starts spewing nonsense. Good plan.”

“Touche,” the man replied.

The second bell rang loudly through the streets. Hux started and took off towards the mines in a full out sprint. He couldn’t lose everything he’d earned for his family - the only thing he had left.

“Hux, wait!” The man yelled from behind. “You can’t go in to the mines today. Just trust me!”

Hux rounded the corner near the chapel and small infirmary building, just a block away from the foreman’s hut. If he hurried, he could still make it in time for check in.

“Huxley, listen to me,” the man said, grabbing him by the shoulder. “You mustn’t carry on. I need you to come with me.”

“I’m not going nowhere with you!”

“Stop, just stop!” the man commanded, squeezing Hux on the shoulder, sending him to the snowy ground.

“What do you want from me?” Hux yelled.

“Only a bit of your time,” he replied with an outstretched hand. “Just come with me and soon enough this will all make sense, I promise.” Hux shook his head. “Listen, I’ve got enough gold here to make it worth your time.”  

The man tossed a leather pouch on the ground and three gold coins spilled out into the snow. Hux scrambled and picked them up before snagging the pouch as well, which had four more coins tucked inside.

“This is a fortune,” he said aloud. “Where did you get this?”

“Where it came from is not the point. Just understand that everything will be fine if you come with me. Either you pay off the foreman and go back to business as usual tomorrow, or worst case scenario you’ve got enough gold to restart.”

“Fine,” Hux replied.

“Progress at last. Now let’s get out of here before…” He stopped short for a moment and seemed to be thinking of the right words to use. “I’d just like to get out of the cold if you don’t mind.”

Hesitant, Hux agreed and they made their way back toward his house. As they walked onto the porch, the man asked for a cup of warm coffee and said he’d like to sit on the porch for a bit.  

“Sure, coffee’s about all I got these days anyway,” Hux replied, going inside. He slowly closed the door behind him and tried to process the strange events of the morning. He was sure that any moment he would wake up in his warm bed and realize this had all been a bizarre dream.

He put the water on to boil for the man’s coffee and grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet. A loud explosion sounded nearby with a deafening roar. The entire house shook violently and the window next to him shattered. He hit the ground out of instinct and covered his head.  

After a moment he stumbled to his feet and shook his head trying to regain his sense of hearing, but everything was severely muffled. He stumbled around the corner and nearly shot the traveler in the chest from fear. The stranger was standing in the hallway, unshaken by the explosion.

“What was that?” Hux screamed, still unable to hear properly.

“That, Huxley, was the reason I’ve travelled so far to see you.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Hux replied, rubbing his temples. “What’s happening?”

“That was a gas explosion in the main mine shaft. Everyone inside is dead.”

“What? How?”

“Something sparked and the gas ignited, causing the explosion and caving the entire mine in.”

“But how can you possibly know that? You’ve been here with me, the entire time.”

“Ah, time. Now you get the crux of the issue.”

“What? Would you stop speaking in damn riddles and just get to the point?”

“Time is an interesting concept, Hux. While in this moment, I have been physically here with you, I’ve seen this tragedy previously.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It’s difficult to understand, even for me, and I’ve been navigating it for years, friend. It’s how I know everything about you, though we’ve never officially met. It’s how I knew you missed breakfast this morning and were hard up for resources.” The man drew a deep breath and continued, “I’m from the future, Huxley. Six hundred years in the future, to be more exact, and I was sent here to save your life. You’re a very important man in my time.”

“You expect me to believe that explanation?”

“No, I don’t. At least, not yet. Maybe you never will, I don’t know. What I do know is that I was meant to stop you from entering the mines today and thus save the lives of countless people in the future. You’re meant to invent something that will be very important for sustaining life in years to come. If I hadn’t intervened today, you would’ve died along with everyone else.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Hux stammered. “I need to go check on the men.”

“That’ll be fine,” the man replied, “but first, that coffee? I’ve got a long road ahead of me and sure would like a cup with my hero before I leave.”

“Your hero?” Hux questioned, moving towards the mugs on the counter without thinking.  

“It’s not every day you get the chance to sit down with one of the most important men of history.”  

Hux poured the water into the mugs without a response. Wake up, Huxley. This is all a bad dream, he thought, turning and handing a mug of steaming coffee to the stranger. They both stood there holding their warm mugs without saying anything for a few moments. Finally, the stranger spoke up.

“I just want to say what an honor it’s been, sir.”  

With that, he took a sip of his coffee and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. Hux was still so shocked that he didn’t know what to say or do, so he simply stood there. The mine had just exploded, or so this man had said, and he was supposed to invent something. Could this day get any more strange?

“Well, I must be off,” the man said, sitting his empty mug on the counter. “Truly was an honor, I mean that.”

“Yes, yes, an honor, of course,” Hux replied. “Before you go, at least tell me your name.”

The man smiled wide and nodded. “Wells. The name’s Wells, sir.” He took two steps back and waved in an odd manner, before disappearing right before Huxley’s eyes.  

He rubbed them and blinked multiple times, but the man was gone. Uncertain if anything he experienced was real, he sat his mug down on the counter and ran off to check on the mine, still hoping he would wake up at any moment.