A Mind at Work
14 0 0
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Sammy rented a small room for us to sleep in, probably for free given his job. As night fell, everything became quiet. I could no longer hear any sort of beat or rhythm. Only the chirping of crickets kept us company. I laid down on my bed, separated by a few feet next to Sammy’s. A stray candle by Sammy’s bedside was the only light in the room.

“So… How did you come back?” Sammy spoke, but… he stopped speaking in tune to the beat. Perhaps because of its absence. Still, it had me curious.

“Wait, how can you…” I stopped and heard myself, “how are we talking?” Sammy chuckled.

“The flaws of time travel. Our bodies came from a more advanced time. We have newer antibodies, newer blood, and newer genetics. As such, our bodies go through a synchronization with the time stream that ends up altering our vocals, auditory senses, and even brain waves in a way as though…”

“We’re singing…” I finished Sammy’s sentence. Sammy laid down on a bed, his red coat taken off and draped over a chair. I took a moment to realize the lack of beats. “And now? How come the music stopped now?” I asked.

“The time stream has quieted down… for now, at least. So, you…” As Sammy asked that, I pulled out the gun.

“This. This caused me to come here. Well, at this time.” I held out the pistol, though with a tight grip over the handle. Sammy got up to look at it, though only from afar.

“Interesting… It looks so authentic. How… long ago did you have this?” He asked.

“Since yesterday. Well, my perception of yesterday. Though, that begs the question of how you got back.” I put the gun away before he got any ideas.

“Simple. I was flung here.” As Sammy said that, I got up.

“What?” I flatly said.

“Well, that’s the simple explanation. The full explanation is that I was selected among my peers to represent and preserve my father’s legacy.” I began to stare blankly at him.

“… So what? You’re gonna father the ancestor of you? How does that work?” I asked him. Sammy laughed and slammed his hand against the side of the mattress.

“Oh, silly, I’m not gonna do something that stupid. That’d risk my very existence. No… I’m here to seize victory for the British.” The two of us had a moment of silence, though for me, I believed he gave me time to think of just how stupider that idea is.

“So… You’re aware that changing history in any form is gonna make you go bye bye, right? I don’t know a lot about time travel, but from the books I read, that rarely ends well.” Sammy just laughed harder; his bellows echoed through the inn to the point where I felt the dead would wake up.

“That’s not what I mean. Tell me, do you know who led the Battle of Fort Griswold?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I should tell you I flunked out of history class…” Sammy shook his head.

“Benedict Arnold. Now that name should sound familiar.” I took a moment before I spoke up.

“He likes his eggs a certain way, right?” Before Sammy could react, I gave a snigger. “I know, I know. The traitor.”

“Exactly. Of course, he had others to help him, but my intent is to replace him. People will forget the cowardly traitor’s existence and instead they will remember the man who honorably fought and won what would have been a massacre.” Sammy gave a sigh of relief as he said this.

“And then what? I mean, if you’re willing to spend all this time for some random battle in a massive war and win, what then?” I asked him.

“Then I die a glorious death in Yorktown!” The way he said it almost broke my heart, though prior to this, the only prospects of my life were how I was gonna get into college. This guy, on the other hand, had his whole life figured out. I didn’t know what to say. “What about you? What’s your goal?” I had no idea for that as well. So, I shrugged.

“I dunno. Make loads of money, invest in a young upstart company, and then make myself the richest man in the world? Look, I’m not entirely comfortable to this whole prospect of time travel, and quite frankly, I wanna go home.” Sammy shook his head.

“Oh, I’m afraid that isn’t easy. It’s funny, we created the means to fall backwards, but not the means to spring forward.” This gave me way too much information than I could reasonably handle in a single night.

“You mean… I’m stuck?!” I asked him.

“Yes. But don’t weep. You are in the golden age of history. Your legacy is about to be carved out. I can feel it… Speaking of, what be your name?” He asked me.

“Rob… Rob Langolier.” As I said that, he muttered out the last name.

“I see. Well, goodnight, Robbie.” With that, he snuffed out the light. Within minutes, we slept.


When morning broke out, I got up and adjusted myself. Once I saw that Sammy had left, I instinctively checked to see if the rapier and pistol were on me. The pistol was firmly in my hand and the rapier was on my bed as I had left it. Perhaps Sammy didn’t realize the rapier can also travel me through time. That or he was obsessed with his legacy that the rapier wasn’t good for him.

There was one difference though. On his table was a few ten-dollar bills. Perhaps my payment for being his Second. Regardless, I needed to go back to my mission: selling the glass buttons and at least a French coin or two. And so, after taking my money and going, I began to explore the city to find a pawn shop or whatever would want to buy them. If I can find some gullible schmuck who can spend their earnings on a simple button, then that would most definitely-

WORK! WORK!

The rhythm began to pick up again. I took a deep breath and tried to find someone who would at least look like they carry a few hundreds. I just gotta hope I can vocalize my offer and make the deal-

WORK! WORK!

A lot of the people here seem to be poor. Not as poor as the group I ran into in France, but they look like they wouldn’t be able to scrape enough change for a hundred dollars, the minimum I’d sell one of these buttons. I noticed a few carriages going around. Possibly belonging to rich people. Though why would they be around downtown? Most of them were going too fast for me to reasonably catch up without me risking an injury without any intent of stopping. It’s like they were just looking to see how downtown-

WORK! WORK!

I heard the weird barking of the word “werk”. I looked around. Nobody seemed to be saying it. Before, I had suspected everyone was in on the singing until Sammy mentioned the whole time stream thing. To me, it was like I was in a huge musical, but to everyone else, they would talk like normal.

I noticed a carriage was stopped, presumably parked. Could this mean there were people, rich people at that, who wanted to get a closer look? Great! Time to go to-

WORK!

The barks died down as I ran over to the carriage. I couldn’t help but overhear a girl talking about how her father wants her to be back by sundown, with two other women either telling her to go home or hush up. Hmm… Perhaps they’d be interested in a button? I followed the sounds of their voices and tried to keep the pace with them, all while overhearing the youngest woman of the trio voicing her concerns about war.

Boom.

That is until I got a good look at one of the three women. Fair skinned, long brown hair, aqua colored eyes, she was the very definition of beauty. She had seemed so out of place from the downtown area that even if she wasn’t wearing such a shimmering blue silk dress, you could tell she’s from a higher class. I stopped dead in my tracks and stood there for a good moment, all while the belle of the ball escaped my sight. By the time she completely left my view, I had forgotten about the selling and I followed them.

Though it seemed someone else had the same idea as me and approached the women. I recognized him almost instantly as Burr. Fortunately, he seemed interested in another member of the trio, a woman with curly black hair, somewhat darker skin than the other women, and a pink dress. Though, part of me didn’t want to butt in. Seems these women look to be the kind that have dozens of men throwing themselves.

“Oh, hey!” Burr called to me and waved. The women turned to me, almost at the same time. “Ladies, this is… Well, sorry, I forgot your name.”

“Rob’s the name.” I said. The pink dressed woman glared at me.

“What’s your aim?” She asked.

“Well… I…” My eyes wavered to the woman in the blue dress. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She just gave a soft giggle and a precious smile. I couldn’t bring myself to sell them my buttons…

So, I took three and handed them to each.

“There. That’s my aim. You’re all such lovely dames, and yet here I am without any fame. So I’ll give you some buttons, I didn’t mean to butt in, I’m sort of a shut-in when it comes to this, miss...” As I blushed, the three began to announce themselves.

“Angelica!” The pink dressed woman said.

“Eliza!” The blue dressed beauty sang.

“And Peggy!” The last of the three, the one concerned about her father, had short curly hair, almost like an afro, and had a bit more meat on the bones than the other two.

“The Schuyler Sisters!” The three said in union, all while the “werk” barks came back. Kinda made me wonder what would have happened if my mind wasn’t being messed with by time. Would they just introduce themselves without such flair? I gave a glance to Eliza, an awkward smile and a blush to top it off.

“W-well, it was nice to meet you, but I have to head, see you!” And I immediately bolted. I had to pay no mind to the pretty woman walking down the street. I only had a couple of buttons left to sell, on top of the coins. The sooner I got them sold, the better. Though… I regretted not giving at least a few more minutes to talk to Eliza.


A few minutes passed as I looked feverishly for people to sell my items to. Most of them were middle-class or lower. At this point, I’m more than willing to compromise with fifty dollars per button, or at least someone who could buy the gold off me. It came to a point where I was looking through a crowd that had seemed to gather around a square. There, a speaker was on the stage.

“Hear ye, hear ye! My name is Samuel Seabury, and I present ‘Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress!’” Seabury looked to be a fairly decent man and as he read out the Free Thoughts, he seemed to have some fair morals.

It was almost hard to hear him, though. Fully aware of the fact of who would win this war, it’s kinda odd to listen to someone cheering for the British, let alone agree with them. Insisting that the revolutionaries weren’t having the best interests at heart or how the chaos and bloodshed that’d ensue in the war isn’t the answer… After hearing Peggy’s concerns, I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to the loyalist.

“Oh my God. Tear this dude apart!” Especially when I heard what might be a couple of troublemakers, the ‘rabble’ that Seabury had mentioned, raring to ruin such a delicately put together warning. I saw a man make his way through the crowd… No doubt this was the man who would do what the rough sounding person requested. And so, I made my own way through the crowd. I eyed gaps in the crowd and quickly got to them to try and make effort.

It seemed Burr, despite what he said to me last time we met, was keen on stopping the man from going further… At least until a few people brushed him aside and the man continued. Nevertheless, he gave me enough time to get to the stage.

“Mr. Seabury, sir, your words are most eloquent and very elegant. But I fear someone will come and put you out of your element…” I gave him the warning he needed as the man got onto the stage. I knew this person too. The show-off from the bar. Knowing just how egotistical this man could get, I got onto the stage as well.

The gold-coated man gave his rebuttal, almost in tune to Seabury’s own declaration. That revolution is already happening, that there’s already chaos and bloodshed. For a brief moment, I thought of peace, but as I saw the two people exchange songs, I realized war was in front of my face. Once I heard the man shout for the revolution followed by the crowd screaming it out, I spoke up.

“It’s bad enough that we’re about go to war!” I scowled at the gold-coat.

“In order to make life fair!” He replied.

“It’s bad enough there’s violence on the shore!” My face was so close to his that I could see the red in his eyes.

“They started this affair,” the man pointed to Seabury, who immediately afterwards ran off stage, “now, look around! Look around at how ready for change this whole nation’s feeling!” As he said that, the crowd cheered.

“Alexander, please!” Burr came to the edge of the stage and spoke to the gold-coated man. As Alexander argued with Burr, I saw some Redcoat get on the stage. One grabbed me and dragged me off while another just pushed Alexander down. They announced a message from the ‘king’, but I never got the chance to hear it, as the Redcoat dragged me far away from the platform.


“I’m sorry! Look, I was trying to help the guy out! Please, you gotta-” Once we got into an alley, the Redcoat shoved me against a wall so that I could face him… “Sammy?”

“Hey, noticed you were in a tight spot and had to get you outta there.” Sammy relaxed his grip on me as I took a breath of relief.

“Thanks…” I adjusted my clothes as Sammy peaked outside.

“Crowds seem to be dispersing. That’s good. I’ll put a word in to the guards and explain that you were getting that guy off the stage.” Sammy gave a smile and patted me on the shoulder.

“Hey, Sammy, you know anyone who’d be interested in buying gold?” I asked him.

“I actually do. Why?” Without hesitation, I showed him some of the coins I got. “How did you… What the…” He took the time to glance at the coins, even picking one up to inspect closer.

“I… Have this as well.” I showed him my rapier.

“Two? You have two of them?” I gave a nod.

“The rapier I got before the pistol. Were it not for a priest, I’d be stuck in France.” I said.

“And… nothing’s happened to your body? Outside of the vocalization?” I shook my head.

“Not that I know of. The only difference is that the songs there are less… hip hop. If you catch my drift.” I told him. Sammy took another moment to glance outside.

“Tell you what: give me the coins and get out of here for the time being until this situation dies down. When you come back, I’ll have whatever money I obtained from the sale.” I handed him the golden coins.

“Ooookay… How do I know the coast is clear?” I asked him.

“I’m sure this will be forgotten in a day, so spend at least that amount of time over in France, then head back. Then I’ll help you carve out your own legacy as a rich man.” He seemed rather keen on that idea.

“Thanks, but no thanks. Like I said, I want out of here, so if you have any ideas on how to do that outside of the obvious, I’m not interested. Just help me make enough money to get by for the time being, okay?” I didn’t even give him time to respond as I rubbed the symbol on the rapier’s hilt.

This time, the crashing of waves sounded much more authentic, though that could be due to the place I ended up at. A port where an overpowering stench filled the salty air. I saw some sailors approach what were obviously prostitutes. Even more of them were singing, advertising their services like a commercial. Out of fear of running into a bad crowd again, I tried to make my exit.

You, boy, come here!” An elderly woman called to me. I approached her. Her legs were skinny, almost bony, and didn’t seem like they’d be able to stand without anything to support her. “You look richer than you appear!

I was just passing through…

You don’t seem to like this view…” She replied to me.

What do you want?” I asked in a kind manner. She glanced at the rapier.

This sword that you flaunt…” I jerked back.

It’s not for sale…” I took a moment to bring out the remaining buttons. “But these ones are.

I’ll give you five-”

Deal!” I handed her a button. She blinked a bit, then reached into her pocket to give me five coins. “Thank you, my dear.

My boy, we all must stay alive.” She patted my hand that was holding the coins.

I won’t forget this. I’ll pay you back, my dear.” I put the money away and tried to leave via the long set of stairs leading to the street, though a prostitute managed to stand in my way. She flourished her body in an exotically erotic manner.

Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!” The woman pointed back towards the dock. It took a short time for me to give my answer, a simple shake of the head. Right now, I was interested in selling the last of the buttons. I tried to go, but she blocked my path with her arm.

Come over here,” I turned around to see a dirty, middle-aged man wearing dark, earthy-colored clothes and a top hat that had seen better days, “it’s twenty francs for a tooth.” I assumed that was what the coins were called but… a tooth!? The man got onto the steps and held out his hand. With no way out but down, I leaped. It wasn’t a high distance, but it was enough to sprain my ankle. I made an effort not to scream as I hobbled away. I could hear some of the people chasing me as the song of “lovely ladies” play through. I took some time to sit on the cold sand and flex my foot. I winced in pain as I heard a slight “pop”. I waited for a bit, taking the occasional search to find any means to town. Thankfully, I found a ladder going up. I limped over and slowly made my ascent.


As soon as I got away from the docks, I slowed down and gave my ankle time to rest. I was now in the streets, so hopefully I could find a place to rest for the night.

You got some nerve, you ugly slut!” I overheard a shout. Damn it, still in the bad part of town. My thoughts were to get out of there as soon as I could, but they quickly became clouded with the dead of the night and the shouts.

I'll kill you, you bastard, try any of that!” My heart raced as my feet ran towards the shouts instead of away. As soon as I saw two figures by one of the buildings, I approached them.

What’s going on here!?” I shouted as the two people stopped and glanced at me. As I feared, the situation was a sleazy looking man trying to impose himself on a woman. Though… I recognized her before…

It was the woman I lent the ten francs to!

Immediately, I stomped towards the man.

I was crossing from the park, when this prostitute attacked me.” I rolled my eyes and glanced at him.

Oh, stop wasting your bark. I’ve seen this woman the other day, she doesn’t seem to hurt a fly, just someone looking for pay, so I think I should just pry. You came down unto this lady, thought you could have your way with her, in these streets that are too shady, then you cried out and gave her slurs. Is that what happened, my poor dear?” I asked the woman, who simply nodded. The man scowled as I stepped in between him and her. “So, you think that you’re all that? You’re being judged before your peer and I declare that you’re a rat! Just then, he pulled out a knife and put it to my throat.

This rat will make you bleed you'll see! I guarantee, I'll make you suffer! For this disturbance of the peace! For this insult to life and property!” He growled at me. For a moment, I was scared. I had no idea what to do. My brave face was about to break had I not noticed something. Instead, I gave a smirk.

You call this peace? Make your excuse to the police!” As I said that, a police officer instantly grabbed the man and took his blade away. I exhaled sharply and felt the skin of my neck to make sure there were no cuts. The officer slammed the man onto the ground as I could hear a combination of snow and bones crunching.

I have heard the whole story, I have witnessed this affair, now listen here, you piece of scum, you will answer to Javert!” Javert forced the man’s hands behind his back and readied to put the cuffs on him. All I could do now was tremble. The number of times I had narrowly escaped peril was far more than I would have liked today. The woman was silent and avoided eye contact with me. Another person came towards Javert. A rather buff man. He was the same person from the factory, the one who broke apart the catfight.

Can this be…” His presence was what caused the woman to speak up. The two glanced at each other. It seemed the two had a past that needed to be sorted out, so I went to Javert.

This place is full of whores and vipers. You two should be more careful. Had I been a second later, you’d be surely in peril.” Javert hoisted the rat up and slammed him against the wall. I could hear him scream in agony. They caused even the factory owner to wince.

Well, you see sir, it was getting rather dark… We couldn’t see our way home, then he struck us like a shark!” I pointed to the rat as he gave another growl, though its intimidating prowess has lost its luster. I was tempted to tell him about the port, but given the nickname he gave this place, I think he already knew.

Just don’t do it again…” Javert muttered out a brief note before he dragged the rat off. I glanced over to the mayor and the woman, both seemingly in the middle of soliloquies. The woman, begging to God to let her die instead of the child, and the mayor, who seemed horrified at something he had done. I didn’t want to interject and ask for a place to stay. The mayor turned to me.

Take her to the hospital.” He asked me.

Where is that?” I asked, but he glanced up to the sky and pointed upwards.

I’ll see it done!” He declared. I shook my head.

“In all seriousness, though, where?” I noticed my voice had lost its tenor and the music died down. This was the lull that Sammy talked about.

“I’ll take you there…” Monsieur Madeleine escorted me and the woman uptown.


The silence grew as we got away from that wretched hive. I glanced over to the woman. As much as I wanted to talk to her, to let her know everything will be fine, but doing so might risk revealing my theft of the coins and glass. “And you, where do you live?” Madeleine asked me.

“Nowhere. I haven’t found a place yet.” While harsh admitting it out loud, I had to tell him my situation.

“There’s a place not too far from the hospital you could go. At least for the night while I find you a more permanent residence.” He said.

“Thanks, but I mean in the fact that I’m just passing through. An inn would be nice.” I said.

“I’ll make arrangements for a room.” Madeleine said. I gave him my thanks. I didn’t get the woman’s name, but I’ll try to know it in the morning. For now, though, I went to the small room assigned to me by the mayor. As I got there, I was informed that the mayor would pay for the first night.


I settled in for the night. I had a good view of the hospital that the woman was taken to. Though, it was more of a simple building than the huge facility that I was adjusted to. My mind had to take the fact that I was not only back in time, but also stuck.

Originally, I was intended to get myself some money in America to get by until I found a way out, but if what Sammy said is true, I’m not gonna find a way out. As much it pained me to realize I may never go home again, I knew that weeping at the fact will not make the situation better.

Instead, I had to make the situation benefit me. So far, this town is doing me some good, provided I don’t go into the bad parts of it. Even then, I seem to have a good friend in Javert, so long as I don’t get on his bad side, he’ll probably help in clearing the scum and villainy away. At the same time, if I get a good word in to the mayor, he might land me a job with good pay.

Though, I still wasn’t sure what the standard of living is here. If what the old lady said was true, five francs is the possible bare minimum to stay alive. I don’t even know how the francs compare to dollars, nor would I be able to ask someone. I doubt the exchange rate was invented around this time and even then, I have money from two different eras, soon to be three.

Which brought me to the situation in America. War was imminent. While I was more familiar with the money there and had a friend, who is helping me out in my financial situation, war was not only going to happen, but the friend is dead-set to die in one of the battles. I could stay here and effectively start over with my plans to obtain riches, but I hardly know the area or how much I need and I must rely on third parties.

It was a lot to handle and trying to keep it all bottled up inside was harder than it looked. I could feel the air trapped in my throat, wanting to escape. However, if I did, I knew it would be a loud wail that would wake the dead. I had to take this one step at a time. Right now, I needed to wait until the British forgot about the Seabury incident. Then I head back and hopefully get more money from Sammy.

By that point, I can stay out of the war by hopping over to here , make some money on the side in case I’m forced to stay for a long while, and once the war is over, make permanent residence in the newly independent America and try to live out the rest of my days in comfort or at least until I find a way out of here.

Of course, this isn’t factoring in variables like how the situation in this town could unfold. For all I know, this whole place could catch on fire overnight or hit bankruptcy. If I had no idea about the battles in the Revolutionary War, I sure as hell don’t know the history of an obscure town across the sea. The best I could do was talk to the mayor and get the history that way, but that would only tell me everything up until this current moment.

And then there’s the war itself. Even if what Sammy said was true in that he’d only want to take command of one battle, how do I know that he won’t ensure that the battle would become decisive and cause America to fold? The only confidence I have, in which he causes a paradox that causes history to collapse in on itself and reject his changes outright is relying on speculative mechanics for a science that, for all rights and merits, shouldn’t even be a reality.

Whatever the case may be, I shouldn’t think about the future as of now. Right now, I need to focus on making sure I have enough money to stay alive.

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to see about getting a job from the mayor. A full, honest job.

0