Page 187 - Musings 2020

the sun rose. Nick and Sherry set out to search for the portal. “We should go in different
ways. Let’s meet at the shop after sunset”, said Sherry. Nick said, “OK.”

After a few hours of searching, Sherry thought that the portal would be where the school was.
Even though the town looked a lot different from her time, she thought that she’d be able to
find her school. It took her 3 hours. But once she reached the place that her school was
supposed to be, she saw that there was a large, empty land. The portal was nowhere to be
seen on the ground. She saw up and saw the portal floating in the air! She was shocked to see
that. It was as high as a three-storied building. She tried to think of many ways of reaching
that height but she gave up and started going back to the shop because the sun was about to
set. Upon their rendezvous, Nick and Sherry discussed ways of reaching the portal. What
they didn’t know was that their parents were searching for them since they hadn’t gone home
for over a day and they had found the portal on the school rooftop. Both sets of parents were
too scared to go through the portal. But they knew that their kids had gone in. They didn’t
know how they would get them back. Upon sunrise, both Nick and Sherry thought that they
should go to their school site.

Sherry said, “let’s find a way to send a message through the portal.” Nick asked, “how about
shooting an arrow with a message tied to it?” Sherry said that the idea was fine but they
neither had the resources nor the skill to do that. Upon relaying the idea to the shopkeeper. He
was very happy to help. He was a hunter and he was well-versed with archery. They went to
the school site and the shopkeeper shot an arrow through the portal. The message that was
tied to it said, “Tie one end of a long rope to the pole beside the rooftop door and throw the
other end into the portal. Wait till you see three tugs and then pull the rope back.” Vanessa
saw an arrow coming out of the portal and immediately went to it. Upon reading it Vanessa
knew that it was Sherry’s message. Martin did what was said in the message and waited for
the three tugs. Sherry and Nick were overjoyed upon seeing the rope.

“We’re going back home!”, shouted Sherry. “Yes!”, said Nick while punching the air. Sherry
and Nick both caught on to the rope. Sherry asked the shopkeeper, “How can we ever repay
you?” To which, the shopkeeper responded, “I am your child, Arthur, from 2059 and we’re
stuck in an infinite paradox where I go 100 years back in time to help you get to your home
and after going back, you both help me to get back to mine. Now give the three tugs so that
Grandpa can pull you up.” Sherry and Nick were shocked by happiness. They both said, “We
will. Definitely.” Sherry gave the three tugs and they were pulled up. They were scolded by
their parents but in the end, they were all happy since Nick and Sherry were safe and had
gone back home. The next morning, Nick went running to Sherry’s house and knocked on the
door. He asked, “Are you ready to help Arthur?” “I am,” responded Sherry.

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