Chapter 4
But before Marianna and Tookie could make any plans, they heard a low rumble from the other side of the house. Marianna felt the floor to make sure it wasn’t an earthquake, but nothing was moving; they just heard the crunch rumble crunch. And then it stopped. A few more quick loud sounds were heard, and then something finally sounded familiar: voices.
“Marianna, will you grab the milk from the back seat?”
Marianna stared at Tookie, wide-eyed. Tookie just raised an eyebrow and smirked. “What?” she said.
“You were named after someone.”
“What?”
“Marianna, who’s getting the milk from the whatever, is probably related to you, right?”
“I guess. I-I don’t know.” Marianna flushed. Why was she so embarrassed? Or was she nervous? “Let’s go see what that bagseet was.”
“Didn’t you want to learn about jewelry or something? We only have two and a half hours left.”
“I’ll get to it, don’t worry.”
Marianna and Tookie took Cheena and walked around to the front of the house. They stopped short and stared at the strange metal contraption they had only seen in history books.
“Tookie. I think that’s a car.”
Tookie tried his best not to look amazed. He took a step forward and tried to peer inside of it…from a distance. “Is the milk still in there, do you think?”
Suddenly, the front door of the house opened. Marianna and Tookie turned to see an older woman standing there with a faint confused smile. “Can I help you two?” Both were too shocked to say anything immediately, so the woman continued. “Are you the Frogman kids? The twins, right?”
Tookie looked at Marianna. “Uh, yeah….”
“Don’t be shy. Billy said you might stop by. He’s away at camp this week, but Marianna might want some company. I don’t think you’ve met her.”
And then Tookie did what Marianna least wanted him to do. He smiled broadly, relaxed his shoulders, and walked up the front steps. “No, we haven’t! But we would love to. I’m Ken and this is my sister Bonnie. Nice to meet you…Mrs. Nott.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you too. Come on in. I’m about to start making dinner.”
Mrs. Nott opened the door and invited them in. But as Marianna walked by her, it wasn’t her kind smile and resemblance to her own mother she noticed; it was the gigantic pendant hanging from her neck.
Marianna felt chilled. She both wanted to run far away and grab the pendant straight from her neck. But instead she followed Tookie like a zombie. The house was laid out relatively the same way, and it wasn’t a surprise when they stopped in the living room. The TV was certainly a lot smaller than the ones she was used to; this one only took up half the wall.
“Marianna, this is Ken and Bonnie Frogman. Billy’s new friends he was talking about. Do you mind if they join you?”
Marianna from the future looked at the back of Marianna from 2012 and felt her stomach sink. This was her however-many-great grandmother.
But when Marianna-from-2012 turned around, Marianna was relieved to see that they didn’t look exactly alike, just how they would have in the movies. Of course they didn’t. They were 200 years apart. They looked similar, but not too similar.
“I’m just watching TV,” she said, shrugging, after glancing at them skeptically and then turning back around to face the TV. She flipped a few channels and then stopped at a news channel where an anchorwoman was reporting on a mass suicide.
“Wait,” Tookie said. “People are actually killing themselves? Why would they do that? Can’t they just…fix themselves?”
Marianna-from-2012 looked at him as if she were offended. “No, not all the time. Anyway, these are just stupid people who think the world’s going to end in December.”
“Really?” said Tookie, almost laughing.
“Yeah. I guess the Mayan calendar makes sense and all that. I don’t know. I don’t really care.”
“It won’t,” Marianna said. “Just trust me. It won’t end.”
When dinner was finally called, Marianna felt relieved. All she wanted to do was look at that pendant. And ask a million questions about it.
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