A Watch in Time: From 2011 to 1861 — in an instant

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A Watch in Time: From 2011 to 1861 — in an instant

By Golden Keyes Parsons

Thursday May 26, 2011

Golden Parsons

Golden Keyes Parsons

Stifling. Muggy. The fan hummed its back-and-forth rhythm, but did little more than waft waves of hot air and dust motes throughout the room.

The leather-bound family history lay open in Lily Kate Monroe’s lap where she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of an old trunk. Her own eyes stared back at her from a portrait on the open page. The caption read “Lillian Katherine Walker.” Perhaps an ancestor — her namesake? She leaned closer and stared at the faded picture. Her breath caught. If the hair were different, she would look just like ... me.”

Nobody in the family had been willing to discuss their ancestral history, despite the fact they lived in one of the oldest homes in Waco. Her mother’s deathbed utterance puzzled Lily. She could barely hear her raspy voice, but she thought her mother said, “Watch.” What was she supposed to watch for?

The young woman twisted her long dark hair, still damp from her shower, into a large plastic clip and tightened the sash of her robe. Where was David? Surely her brother had found a bandage by now for the gash he’d dug into his hand trying to open a storage box.

Her eyes grew heavy. She folded her arms on the top of the trunk and lay her head on it. The drone of the fan lulled her into the drowsy dimension between waking and sleeping.

A+Watch+in+Time Bam! Lily startled awake, her heart thudding against her chest. Bam! The dormer window slammed against the wall as rain pelted the roof. She jumped from her impromptu nap and closed it. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep, but it was dark outside. Reaching to turn off the fan, she moved her hand back and forth in the darkness and couldn’t find it. A chill had settled in her mother’s room. Tucking the volume under her arm, she felt her way in the dark to the hallway and into the kitchen. “David?”

A soft glow surrounded a lantern on the kitchen table. The electricity must have gone out. Lily set the book beside the lantern. A young black woman, who appeared to be a servant in period costume, came through the door from the dining room carrying a candle in a pewter holder. “Miss Lillian?”

“Who are ...” Lily stared at the woman. “Yes. Who are you?”

“Miss Lillian? Are you ill?”

“No, I’m not ill. This is my house, and I don’t know who you are. And where is David?”

The young servant stepped back. “Why, it’s Tildy. Don’t you know me? I’ve been with you since we were children.” She wrung her hands on her apron. “Oh, dear.” Tildy turned and ran through the dining room door. “Mama!”

Lily picked up the album and followed her, stopping to stare at the glowing candlelit chandelier above the table and the candelabra scattered throughout the room into the parlor. She reached for the electrical switch beside the door, finding only blank wall space. She shook her head. “David!”

An older black woman with a colorful scarf wrapped around her head bustled into the dining room followed by Tildy. “Your face is white as a sheet, Miss Lillian. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“And who might you be?”

“See, Mama? She don’t know us. She’s not well.”

Mama felt of Lily’s forehead. “No fever. Did you bump your head?”

Lily brushed Mama’s hand away. “No, I didn’t bump my head. I’ve been in mother’s room looking at this family album. I’m perfectly fine. Where’s David?”

“He’s packin’. You know the Lone Star Guard is marching out in the morning.”

“The Lone Star Guard?” Lily sifted through the labyrinth of her memory and her studies in Texas history at Baylor University. That was the unit from Waco that fought in the Civil War.

She looked around the dining room again — definitely her house, but different. No electricity. Black servants. She sat at the table, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.

“What’s today? What’s the date?”

“Why it’s July 21st.”

Lily waited for what she desperately wanted to know, but didn’t want to hear.

Tildy cleared her throat. “Uh ... 1861.”

Lily folded her hands together to halt the trembling that threatened to take over her entire body.

“They leave tomorrow?”

“Yes’m.”

“I must stop him. He can’t go to war. This is a horrible mistake.”

Tildy took her by the elbow. “Let me help you to your room, Miss Lillian. You’ll feel better after you rest for a bit.”

Lily shook her arm free. “After I see David. You don’t need to assist me. I’m fine.”

“Yes’m.” The servant clasped her hands in front of her chest and stepped back.

Lily grabbed the book, ran out of the kitchen and up the staircase. A light shone from under David’s door. Without knocking, she stepped inside.

David, bent over his bed closing a knapsack, turned to grin at her. His hair was pulled back in the familiar ponytail, but his arms were void of tattoos. And he wore no earring.

“Almost finished packing.”

Lily’s mouth hung open. “Where are you going?”

“What do you mean? You know perfectly well where I’m going — off to whip some Blue Belly Yankees!”

This had to be a horrible dream. She simply needed to wake up. She bit the inside of her lip. What if it’s not a dream though? What if by some bizarre time warp she’d really been catapulted back to 1861? She tasted blood.

“Listen to me, David. You cannot go. The cause is doomed. The South will be ravaged and hundreds of thousands of men are going to lose their lives. You will fight valiantly, but by the end of the war at Appomattox, only 17 of the Lone Star Guard will remain.”

“What are you jabbering about? What’s Appomattox? We’re going to make short order of the Union troops. They don’t stand a chance.”

“Please believe me. I know what I’m talking about. I ... ”

David patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about this. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She stepped into her remaining family member’s arms and began to sob. “You mustn’t go. I cannot lose you.”

David kissed her hand. “Nothing’s gonna happen to me.” He chucked her underneath her chin. “You’re beginning to sound like you agree with Sam Houston. And we showed him what we thought about his sympathies with the Union — ran him out of town, we did, after his speech on New Year’s Day.” He snickered.

Lily Kate held his hand to her cheek and wet it with her tears. “I cannot bear to lose you.”

She pulled back and looked at his hand, gasping at what she saw — across the back of his hand — a fresh slash. “How did you do this?”

“You know how I did that. Opening a box for you before supper.”

Lily swooned and descended into the welcome oblivion of unconsciousness.

Golden Keyes Parsons has written four novels for Thomas Nelson Publishing, three of which were set during the reign of French King Louis XIV. This is the first story in 12-part historical fiction series appearing in Waco Today.