cycle tests had been scheduled for every day of next week. And then there was Holly to consider. The project was due in less than 3 weeks.
Then he had an idea. The excursion to Carter Valley - it would be ideal!
On Saturday, it rained cats and dogs and the Sports Day had to be canceled. All competitions and fun games were postponed to a weekend in April.
Students were milling about in their sports gear, not knowing what to do with themselves. Many lounged around in little groups on the back veranda and watched the downpour. Others watched TV in the common rooms.
Chryséis, Katherine and Trevor had visited the ‘Paraguayan Coffee Shop’, corner Church and Bailey Streets. Dr. Naidoo. Their English teacher had agreed to let them wait in the coffee shop next to the movie theater. All the other students and teachers went to watch the new movie ‘The Caterpillar Club’.
The three aspiring time travellers had decided immediately to try out the virtual invisibility cape.
A bit risky perhaps, but they needed to observe the effect under different conditions. And the coffee shop wasn’t too busy.
The girls had put on the alicebands in the dark foyer of the movie theater and slipped through the door of the coffee shop right behind Trevor. They had left mysterious footprints on the floor, but it was impossible to tell them from all the other wet footprints.
Trevor settled himself at a bistro table by the window and ordered a hot chocolate and a piece of carrot cake. Two lonely daypacks sat on the other two chairs at the table.
“My two friends are on their way,” he had told the waitress.
Trevor was supposed to wait for Chryséis and Katherine, but they almost regretted their daring plan. Somebody walked into Katherine, as the two girls made their way invisibly to the restrooms at the back.
A young woman stormed through the swing door dividing the coffee shop from the passage. Her hand brushed against Katherine, giving the girl a mighty fright. Katherine clung to Chryséis, who nearly dropped the muffin she had impishly picked up on the counter.
The woman looked up for a second. “Oh!” She looked in their direction, but could she see them?
Katherine’s heart missed a beat and she was incredibly relieved when the woman just sat down at her table. They felt their way along the wall and squeezed through the open gap of the restroom door. Then they pressed themselves against the wall next to the hand dryers. They waited for two ladies to finish powdering their noses. Then the girls quickly de-activated the VICs.
“Phew, that was close!” Katherine’s eyes were as round as saucers.
“Do you think that woman noticed something?!” she asked. Chryséis didn’t answer straight away. She looked pale under her freckles as she started washing her hands, in case somebody came in.
“I don’t think so.”
“But what if she comes back to check?”
“Why should she do that?”
A girl, who needed the toilet desperately, walked in just as Katherine started to say something. The girls left. They could talk later.
In was in any case time to get back to Trevor. Katherine began to giggle as she sat down next to him and could stop.
“How did it go?” Trevor whispered and looked bewildered at Katherine.
“Just nerves,” Chryséis sighed. “Somebody bumped into her by the swing door.”
“Oh that’s great, did he notice anything?”
“No, I don’t think so. It was the lady over there...” Chryséis pointed slightly with her chin. The woman looked up at the waiter, who brought her the bill. Looked all normal.
“She seems okay,” Trevor decided.
Katherine giggled some more as their order of hot chocolate was served. Bradley Benson walked past the window and Katherine stopped at once. He waved at them in an unusually friendly manner. They waved back half-heartedly.
“Don’t tell me Holly sent him to spy on us.” Chryséis creased her forehead.
“Who knows. But there was nothing to see.” At least Trevor hoped so.
By the time they arrived back at Pemberton, Katherine had completely recovered from her giggling spell. They went straight to the back veranda, where a table was just being cleared.
Katherine snuggled into the comfortable cushions of the broad bamboo chair. There were jugs with iced tea and glasses on the tables that had been prepared for the Sports Day. ‘Too good to waste,’ cook Hadley had said in the morning. The students agreed. Cook’s ice tea was even better than her famous lemonade. Katherine watched the relentless rain.
“Imagine all this water coming down in one great gush. Instead of slowly drizzling down,” she said.
“It would be like a tidal wave. Sweeping away our beloved school and us in the process, girlfriend.” Chryséis rolled her eyes. Katherine sometimes came up with these ideas out of the blue.
“Sometimes I am glad that nature just takes care of things.”
“So am I!” Trevor agreed.
“Yes, like thanks to the rain I don’t have to play tennis against all those champs today. Thank you, thank you nature—” Chryséis bowed mockingly toward the rain.
Like Katherine she was no sports genius. The occasional swim or walk on the beach was okay - and yoga of course. But clobbering it out in a competitive match on the tennis court was not her cup of tea.
“I would have liked a bit of action for a change,” Trevor said and added on a whiny note, “I’ve been working in the lab on our project nonstop for two weeks.”
“Yes, we all have. We’ll get plenty of action, trust me.” Chryséis curled up in her chair and angled for her iced tea. “I’m hooked on this time travel idea.”
“More than an idea by now,” Trevor corrected her.
“Are you sure we won’t end up in the future, when we get into the vortex?” Katherine shivered a little at the thought. “The future! Food shortages, wars, global warming and things like that. Yikes!”
More students came pouring through the open French doors and settled noisily around the low tables.
Katherine took a juicy orange quarter from the glass plate in front of her. She enjoyed these occasional downpours. They were much more pleasant than the endless drizzle on the British Isles.
Even so, it made her feel a bit homesick. She missed English food in particular. Luckily, her mother often sent food parcels with Marmite, mince pies, anchovy paste and Branston Pickle.
“Don’t worry, the time spans are all set. In any case, it’s a lot harder to travel forward in time than backward,” Trevor said, stretching himself lazily.
He couldn’t understand what was still bothering Katherine. Everything was under control. After all, he’d done it before. Trevor waved a brief impression of greenish, slithering scales aside and took a few hasty sips of iced tea.
“We can program the exact time of departure as a long-term reference point. Then we can take our time. Nobody will ever know we’re gone. We’ll just arrive back at the same time we left.”
“We’ve two VIC-tests under our belts and the last TPF-test happens next weekend. Easy peasy.”
“Alright, if you say so…”
“What’s a Tippi Eff?” Bradley turned around grinning at them. That’s all they needed!
Chryséis kept her cool and said casually, “Something to eat, smartass. None of your business anyway.”
“Okay whatever,” Bradley said and took the glass jug to the kitchen for a refill. Katherine just