A Watch In Time – Chapter 5, Part 2

A WATCH IN TIME

A Full Length Short Story by Golden Keyes Parsons

Chapter Five – Part 1

Click here to start with Chapter One

She stared at the newspaper articles. It was only 1894. World War I was 13 years in the future. The familiar swirling enveloped her. She closed her eyes and waited.

A warm breeze blew across her face. She opened her eyes. Sunlight danced across the wicker furniture and parlor palms on the porch. An older Garnet stepped through the front door and faced her. Lily looked down at the white linen lawn dress trimmed in blue that she was wearing. The watch hung around her neck.

“I really don’t want you to do this, Katherine.”

“D-do what?”

Garnet wove her hankie round and round her fingers. “Volunteer to work at the Red Cross. It’s dangerous—all those soldiers. And since the police closed the … The Reservation … those disgraceful women are milling around downtown, trying to find work. And I’ve heard that several of them are volunteering for the Red Cross. It’s unseemly. You’re a proper young lady.”

Wartime. It’s obviously summer—must be the summer of 1917. That’s when Camp MacArthur opened. She would be 23 years old now–an old maid by the standards of the day.

“I don’t care if you are a nurse. As your mother, let me assure you that you have no business down there.” Garnet sat her plump figure down in the wicker rocker and picked up a fan from the side table. “Whoo! It’s hot already and not even 10 o’clock. The trolley will be along soon.”

A nurse? And she called herself “mother.” Garnet and David raised her, not Lillian?

Several moments of an uneasy silence passed. Lily Kate cleared her throat. “You’ve told me many times before, Gar-uh, Mother, but what exactly happened to Aunt Lillian?”

“You never get tired of hearing the story, do you?”

Lily Kate shook her head.

“The night you were born was the opening of the Cotton Palace. We came in from the festivities, and she went straight to her room. Said she wasn’t feeling well. I stayed up with you and when your father went to check on her later, she was lying on the floor with our family album open. The watch you now wear was clasped in her hand. She was gone. We don’t know what happened. Her heart probably gave out.”

“And the watch … it …”

“Uh, well, we wanted you to have the watch since it was … since Aunt Lillian was wearing it when she passed. Seeing as how you’re named for her, it seemed fitting you should have it.”

Garnet was dodging the truth. But perhaps she never knew the truth—that the baby was the child of their nephew and a prostitute from The Reservation. What had happened to the note?

Lily felt around the blue sash with her fingers. There it was. It made the jump through time with her.

A clang down the street announced the trolley was on its way. Garnet gave Lily Kate a smothering hug before she left the porch and got on the trolley. She rode to Franklin where she spotted a sign designating the Red Cross headquarters. She got off and made her way across the street amidst horse-drawn buggies and the new-fangled motor cars. Soldiers in uniform walked in and out of stores, leaning against lampposts, glancing aside at her as she entered the large tent.

A stern-looking, lanky woman with heavy eyebrows looked up as she entered the tent. “May I help you, young lady?” Her voice was soft and kind, not stern at all.

“I came to volunteer.”

“Have you registered?”

“I … I’m not sure.”

“Do you have nurse’s training, or do you want to give blood, or wrap bandages or … what do you want to do?”

“Hello, Katherine!” A woman of about 45 years of age waved at her from the bedside of a young soldier. “Where’s your uniform? Nurses can wear their own uniforms. You’re way too dressed up.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I needed to wear my own ….”

“Never mind.” She waved at the woman at the registry table. “Blanche, she’s already signed up. C’mon back. I’ll get you started.”

“Thanks, Ivy.”

Lily Kate picked her way down the aisle toward Ivy. Most of the soldiers seemed to be there for minor issues. The main activity appeared to be wrapping bandages. Ivy pointed out a stack of cloth on a table next to her. “Dig in.”

Lily bent over to pick up the bandages, holding the watch as it swung from her neck. She heard a gasp from the older woman. Ivy grabbed the watch with a trembling hand, her face drained of all color. “Where did you get this watch?”

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Join us next Friday for part 1 of chapter 6.

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