3. Active Imagination

Little did either of them know how true the old man spoke. A week later, Janet’s grandfather died in his sleep.

Janet thought for a moment, and then put the pocket watch back into her pocket. She got up and looked outside.

“I think I’ll go look around a bit, too,” she said to herself. She walked into the woods on the side where the tents were. She stopped after a bit and leaned against a tree. I’d better start heading back, she thought. I’m hope I’m not late.

Janet began walking back towards the clearing where she and her family were camped. She quickly realized she was going in the wrong direction. She stopped in a little clearing. She realized that it was probably close to 4:15, so she pulled out her grandfather’s pocket watch to check. When she opened it, the light in the clearing seemed to get a little bit brighter, but she assumed it was just the illusion of the sunlight shining through the leaves. 4:12, the time read. Janet began to close the pocket watch, but quickly opened it again. The number eleven looked like a pair of skyscrapers, she thought. The number looked normal now. I guess it was just my imagination running away and believing some of Grandpa’s stories. But how am I supposed to find the camp?

At that moment, Gary ran into the clearing and ran right into Janet. “Aagh!” he cried, and the two of them fell over.

As soon as they had untangled themselves, Gary said, “Mom and Dad are back, and we were wondering where you were, so Gary and I came looking for you.”

Sam walked into the clearing from the opposite direction of Gary. “I thought I heard voices over here,” he said. “C’mon, Mom and Dad are getting impatient.”

The three kids walked back to camp as the sun became lower in the sky.

----------
First | Previous | Next | Latest

2. Visiting

The past...


Janet walked through the door of the nursing home. Her father, Tyler, stood beside her.

“Hey, son!” called a voice from the other side of the entry room.

Janet and her father walked over to the origin of the voice, Janet’s grandfather - Tyler’s dad.

“Hey Dad,” said Tyler softly, hugging his father. “Listen, Dad, I have some business to take care of here, and I’ll be back in a couple minutes, okay?”

“Sure,” came the reply. “Just don’t waste no time, ya hear?”

“Okay, Dad,” said Tyler, laughing. He walked off to another part of the building, leaving Janet with her grandfather.

“Come sit down, pretty girl,” said Janet’s grandfather. He moved his wheelchair next the couch that was against one wall, where Janet sat down. “So, have you married that cute boy, Jared, yet?”

Janet blushed. “No, Grandpa, of course not.” She gave her grandfather a friendly shove. “But we are going to the junior prom together.”

“That’s just a step away from marriage, you know.”

“Oh, you silly thing.”

There was a short silence as the two looked at each other.

“Oh, hey,” said Janet’s grandfather. “Did I ever tell you about the time I went to the land of Bakaare?”

“No, grandpa.”

“Well, I walked out into the woods one day, and there was the clearing shaped like a circle. I stopped there and looked around, wondering what had been there before. Well, I opened up my pocket watch, and looking at it, instead of the time, I saw buildings and skyscrapers, and people walking by! The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a city that looked like nothing on this earth!”

At first, Janet had thought her grandfather was just pulling her leg, but the more he spoke, the more she realized that he was serious. “Your grandpa’s getting a little old,” Tyler had told her. “Sometimes he says things that don’t make sense. If he says something a little weird, just play along.” Janet decided to take her father’s advice.

“Really?”

“You betcha! I have some memories from there I’ll never forget. I’ll have to tell you about it sometime.”

“I hope you do,” said Janet.

There was another moment of silence. Janet’s grandfather spoke.

“Janet,” he said, and hesitated.

“What?”

“Janet, I want you to have this.” He pulled out an old, tarnished silver pocket watch. “My wife gave this to me on out thirtieth wedding anniversary. I value it very much, but I want you to have it.” He took Janet’s hand and put the pocket watch in her palm.

“Grandpa, I – I can’t take this,” she protested.

“No, no, I insist. I’m not going to be around much longer, so I want to give it to you while I still can.”

Janet stared at the watch in her hand. “Thank you, Grandpa.”

----------
First | Previous | Next | Latest

1. Camping in the Woods

“C’mon guys, hurry up!”

16-year-old Janet looked back. “Hurry up!” She yelled again.

Gary and Sam looked up from the lizard they were trying to catch.

“C’mon, we’re going to be late!”

The two boys jumped up and ran to Janet, who had started walking again. The trees filtered the sunlight through a pattern of leaves. It was 4:00 PM, and the kids had to be back to camp by 4:15.

Janet’s black hair shone in the sunlight. Her brown eyes glared at her younger brothers. “You know Mom and Dad will kill us if we’re late,” Janet said. “I intend not to get in trouble.”

Gary rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what they do to me. I just don’t really care about ‘family game time,’” he said, making quotation marks with his fingers. “I’m not sure if I can stand another game of Parcheesi.”

“Ah, c’mon, it’s not that bad.”

Sam chimed in. “Oh yes it is! Every time Dad wins, he jumps around and does a…” he grimaced. “Victory dance.”

Janet laughed. “Oh, look, here we are!” The three kids walked into a clearing near a creek. Two tents were set up at one end, and a barbecue grill stood at the other end. Janet looked around. “I guess Mom and Dad aren’t back yet, so you two munchkins can run around for a bit.”

“All right!” “Yes!” The two boys cried before running off into the woods.

“But don’t go too far!” Janet yelled. She went into one of the tents and dug a book out of her suitcase. She sat down and began to read. After a couple of minutes, she sighed, set the book down, and laid back. “I wish roughing it didn’t involve so much…rough,” she muttered. She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out an old pocket watch. Opening it, she looked at the picture of the elderly couple inside. After a moment, she shut it and looked at the inscription on the back. To Randy, my love, it read. Janet stared at it. Her mind rewound back to when her grandfather had given her the watch

----------
First | Next | Latest

Table of Contents

Bakaare

by R. Corey Oltman

Table of Contents

1. Camping in the Woods

2. Visiting

3. Active Imagination

4. Truth

5. Not Montana

6. A Special Place