Bonnie and Floyde

"I am a bad apple". At least that's what Mama used to say. She was so strict and stern that I never got to have any fun. Papa was much better, he used to hang out with me, and we had some really good times. He took me to all kinds of sporting matches, granted I couldn't tell one game from the other. Football, Soccer, Cricket, Baseball, Golf, well, I tell ya, they just seemed like a lot of people running around all the time. But, I just loved hanging out with him, I loved Papa. Then he just upped and died from something in his brain. Why the stupid doctors allowed that to happen, I just couldn't tell.

I was fifteen when he died. Mama sleeps all the time now. I was basically on my own, so I ran away from home. Just got on a bus with my backpack filled with clothes and the money from under the floorboards where Papa hid his extra cash. He had upwards of five thousand dollars under there. I thank him for that. I placed three thousand in Mama's secret box and tucked the rest in the money belt around my waist, I wasn't taking any chances. I had no idea where I was going, and frankly I didn't care. I was feeling stifled and just needed to live a little.

It never occurred to me that I would maybe regret my rash behavior until real trouble slapped me in the face. Trouble that made my Mama seem like a holy angel.

Anyway, I travelled on a few buses, always to the end of the line and had to hop on another and another. I finally got off the bus in Willacoochee city, in Atkinson County, Georgia, United States, along the Alapaha River. The population was 1,391 at the 2010 census. At least that is what the large sign read as I stood there a little puzzled. It was a pretty enough little town, I thought, hopefully no one would notice a young girl all on her own. Today, May 18, 2043, was actually my birthday. I am now sixteen years old, and all grown up, or so I thought anyway. My name is Bonnette Avery, and I am on an adventure.

I walked around for a while, trying to decide what to do. Maybe I could find one of those types of motel or hotel that accepted cash and didn't ask any questions. I had read about those somewhere. I bought a cellphone, the prepaid kind, and tried to call Mama. She didn't answer, probably still sleeping. I would try again later, I didn't want her to report me missing, didn't want to see my name on any posters or on TV.

The local supermarket was across the street, and I went in to pick up a few things.

"Gimme the cash from the register"! A female sounding voice ordered loudly. The door had one of those bell sounds that went off when it was opened. I turned to go back outside, but she pivoted her hand towards me and pointed what looked like a gun in my direction. I froze. She gestured for me to come inside. I did. Turning back to the register she quickly grabbed the cash from the cashier, shoved it in her pocket, grabbed my hand, and dragged me behind her out the door.

"Come on"! She yelled laughing.

I ran beside this strange fair skinned, lovely wild creature, she was tall, at least taller than I am, maybe five feet eight inches, with short cropped red and black colored hair and a devil may care attitude. She was dressed in full black, her hair had been obscured from view until now, when she shoved the hood of the light jacket back off her head. That hair would have been hard to miss if the authorities came looking.

"Where are we going and who the heck are you"? I panted, dashing along a little behind her. I had no choice, she held on firmly to my hand.

"Why do you have a gun, is it real"?

"It's a water pistol", she giggled squeezing the trigger as we ran, water squirted out. I had to laugh, it sure looked real.

"What if they had shot you. That is really dangerous". I could barely get the words out.

She just laughed some more.

We finally slowed down at a tiny house painted black with peeling grey trimming around the doors and windows, it had a little black gate and a low fence leading to it. She opened the gate and quickly ushered me inside. The young woman produced a key and we went into the house. It was semi-clean inside, a few dirty dishes were in the sink, but overall, the house was passably clean.

"Hi, my name is Floyde, with an E. And yes, I have heard all the taunts and jeers about the name, so save it". She flung herself down on the old worn out grey couch.

"I don't care about your name. Why did you just rob the supermarket, and make me look guilty by running away with you. I don't want any trouble".

"Well, too late for that. I'm sorry, but I saw you come off the bus and wandering around all morning. I figured you were running away from something or someone. Am I right."? Asked Floyde with an E.

I didn't feel like answering any questions, I sat on the other side of the couch and sulked a bit.

"Do you have a name at least"? She asked.

"It's Bonnette". She smiled. My name was not your usual everyday name either.

She looked me over for a while. A teenager, much like herself, chocolate skinned, pixie-like face with a rounded little nose and an inquisitive look in her dark eyes. She nodded her head, as if pleased at what she saw. Self- centered that one, I thought to myself.

"I shall call you Bonnie. Hmm! Bonnie and Floyde! I like it, let's go rob a bank"! Floyde said laughing hysterically.

She called and ordered pizza without even asking if I wanted pizza.

"Do you need somewhere to stay for the night, by the way. 'Cause you can stay here. It's my house, my parents are on a well deserved two weeks vacation. My older brother Charly is supposed to "supervise me', but you know how it is. I haven't seen him for a few days now".

I accepted the invitation and was now into day fifteen of living here. I still haven't seen either her parents or her brother. She now knows that I am a runaway. We had robbed a few more small stores in out-of-town small cities, and never got caught. Floyde was really smart and was really good at disguising us so we would not be recognized. We even did some masks like in the movies, all the while riding on buses.

On Saturday she presented me with the plan to rob the Willacoochee city bank. It was a small bank with one security guard. Nothing serious or grand ever happened in Willa' she told me. Let us make history. I was hesitant about graduating from tiny stores to the robbing of a bank, turns out she had been serious about that all along. Anyway, I had no choice now, I was hooked on free money. We shopped and enjoyed ourselves immensely. She made sure we kept our heads low in the neighborhood where we lived.

Anyway, we were in the bank, robbing it, when someone pressed the silent alarm. We heard the cops coming, grabbed the bag with the cash and dashed out the door. The security guard had been tied up, not very well, but wouldn't get loose before we ran away.

Across from the bank was a large Science and Computer building. In front of this building was parked a funny looking car with the doors open, a man stood with his back turned, talking to someone. I grabbed Floyde by the arm and we ran across the street, jumped into the contraption, slammed the doors shut and Floyde, being older and licensed to drive, tried to drive. There were no keys, just some weird looking buttons. She pressed some of them. The car would not move.

Suddenly, we heard a low humming sound, the entire machine shivered and changed, right before eyes. Lights flickered, cogs whirred, and the machine literally asked us where we wanted to go. Meanwhile, the owner was banging on the car, the cops were almost upon us and we needed to go somewhere else, anywhere else but here.

A display appeared on the monitor asking for date and time for departure. I lifted my hand in wonder, to try to figure out what was going on, but Floyde stayed by hand. She reached out and typed in a date:

March 21, 2041, 9:21am.

Before I could question the reason for that date, the seats folded upright, belts buckled themselves around us, the world spun, and a kaleidoscope of prism-like lights exploded all around us. We were travelling somewhere that was not here, but somewhere else, as if through a well defined tunnel of beautiful light beams in a dreamlike state.

I had read somewhere about time travel, probably in school, because that could be the only explanation.

"Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a widely recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. The idea of a time machine was popularized by H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine".

If nothing else, I had a photographic memory.

Somehow, we had managed to steal an honest to goodness working Time Machine, I think. My brain was still foggy, and my stomach was definitely queasy. I looked around and saw what looked like barf bags in a slot. Someone had been prepared for any eventuality. I grabbed one and gave one to Floyde.

For what seemed like a short time we appeared to move very slowly. Then suddenly we stopped.

There was a display on a screen with the words:

According to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, a mass traveling at the speed of light could potentially time travel.

Time dilation on a micro scale has been measured using atomic clocks on jet aircraft, although the time travel is extremely modest: measured in nanoseconds, or billionths of a second.

It is said that the faster we travel, the slower time passes. In 1905, Einstein explained in this theory time-space as a fourth dimension.

We had definitely time traveled.

I felt bile rising and we both had to utilize our barf bags. There was even a receptacle for storing and removal of the bags.

A monitor came on with a display of cars. "Choose a model". It read. I wondered why. I choose a VW bug, I always liked those.

Whirr, blip, bump and a shiver. The model of the car changed again, we could see it on the monitor this time.

We felt ourselves descending slowly. The doors opened and we were outside of Floyde's house. Only now the house was a soothing sky blue color, with beautiful flowers planted in a garden that was all weeds before. We stepped out to the smell of cookies baking. A slim, well dressed older woman emerged from the front door, aproned and smiling cheerfully.

"Floyde dear, where have you been. You know that you need to drive us to the airport, your brother has an appointment for college admission. Whose car is that, it is a little quaint".

"Oh, hi Mom, this is my friend Bonnie, it's her car". Floyde lied.

"Well, come along, we don't want to be late". Her mother said.

"I will be there in a minute Mom. Just go on inside".

From her jacket pocket Floyde withdrew a newspaper clipping. She handed it to me. I opened it and gasped. The headlines read:

MARCH 21, 2041, 10:21am.

"PARENTS AND SON KILLED IN CAR CRASH. DAUGHTER ONLY SURVIVOR".

"Sixteen year old Floyde Peters, who was the driver of the car, having just received her driver's license, barely escaped with her life when an SUV swerved in front of the vehicle and the teenager lost control of the vehicle which went over a nearby bridge. Passers by were able to pull Floyde from the car shortly before it exploded. Sadly, the other members of her family did not make it out in time to be saved".

I suddenly realized the significance of the date. We had only an hour to change the course of her life. She had apparently been placed with relatives after the accident, but she had left and returned to her home, telling everyone that she lived with her aunt. No one had really come by to check on the veracity of her story.

Floyde used me as an excuse to get out of driving the car, her father drove them instead, she made them promise to use an alternate route, it was a little longer, but they would still make it on time.

"There are cookies in the oven, you girls have fun. Nice to meet you Bonnie". Her mother said sweetly, hugging us both.

"Floyde dear, I can hardly breathe". Her mother said as her daughter hugged her.

Her father and brother waved goodbye after she had hugged them tighter and longer than usual.

"I love you all". Floyde told them.

"We love you too". They all said as they waved a last goodbye.

We tried to sleep when night came, but Floyde was so worried that she kept me up all night. At 8am next morning, we heard the news on the television station WPR. The Red Flint bridge had collapsed and everyone on it had plunged deep into the icy waters below. No one had been saved. The time and place of the collapse would have placed her family right there on the bridge.

We cannot escape our destiny. We can change the time or place, but apparently not the outcome. I had hoped to get my father back. I could not, I would only prolong the inevitable.

We returned to the future. Of course, to before we robbed the bank. I took Floyde back with me to my mom in Louisiana. She put the little house up for sale and left it in the hands of the lawyers. We moved to a bigger house, we still had some money. My mother was happy to now have two daughters enrolled in college and High school. She went back to work. Time heals all wounds it is said. We now see hope in a brighter future.

'From the perspective of physical matter, with a definite shape and structure, time is linear. For instance, the physical body cannot go back in time, appearing as it did ten years ago. A delicate object once broken into pieces cannot be restored to its original form. A fully grown tree once cut cannot be restored'.

Time travel is still an enigma wrapped inside a riddle.

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