D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

“How do you feel?” Loor asked. She was sitting in the dirt, barely winded from the ordeal.

“I feel like a genius,” I said.

“A genius?”

“We’ve only been here two minutes and you’ve already saved my butt. I knew it was the right move to bring you along. Thanks, Loor.”

Loor stood up and helped me to my feet. We started to brush the dust off our clothes when we heard: “What in blazes are you two doing here?”

We looked up to see two cowboys on horseback trotting up to us. These guys were definitely out of the Old West, complete with cowboy hats, leather chaps, and coils of rope around the horns of their saddles.

Neither looked like Dr. Zetlin.

One cowboy asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” I answered.

“We checked the whole canyon before we drove the herd through,” the other cowboy said. “Where did you two come from?”

“We must have wandered in right after you checked,” I said. It was sort of the truth.

“You coulda gotten killed! What’re you doing all the way up here?”

“We’re looking for somebody,” I answered. “Up here? In the pass?” the first cowboy asked, totally confused.

“Yeah, well, we got lost,” I said. “His name is Zetlin. Do you know him?”

The first cowboy looked at the other and asked, “That the name of the fella staying down in Old Glenville?”

“Could be,” the second cowboy said with a shrug.

The first guy then looked at me and Loor and said, “There’s a man living down in town who might be the one you’re looking for. You been through there?”

“No,” I said with growing excitement. “Could you point the way?”

“Sure,” he answered. “Where are your horses?” Loor and I looked at each other and shrugged. “We lost ‘em,” I said. Wow, could I have given a more lame excuse?

“Lost your horses?” the second cowboy exclaimed. “How did you go and do that?”

“Long story,” I said. “We can walk.”

“It’s too far,” the first cowboy said. “We’ll lend you horses.”

“Really? That’s great!”

“Climb on,” the second guy said.

Loor and I each climbed on to the back of one of the horses, behind the cowboys. A second later we were trotting out of the canyon. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but way better than walking.

When we reached the mouth of the canyon, I got a full view of the beautiful mountain pass. It was awesome. The dry, rocky canyon gave way to green, rolling meadows that stretched out as far as I could see. The mountains in the distance were immense. I had never seen the Rockies, but this was what I imagined they looked like. It was another example of Veelox looking like Second Earth. Or at least an example of Dr. Zetlin’s fantasy looking like Second Earth. Whatever. It was great.

The two cowboys rode us over to a wagon where they had two more horses hitched. While they saddled up the fresh horses, they explained that they were bringing in the herd for the winter, and often stayed up in the mountains for weeks at a time. That’s why they had four horses. If one got hurt, they didn’t want to have to go back into town to get a replacement. They said that they were nearly done for the season, so they wouldn’t mind lending us these two. They told us to leave them with the blacksmith in town. They’d be down in a few days to pick them up.

Man, these guys were pretty trusting. But then again, this was Dr. Zetlin’s fantasy. Maybe he only put trustworthy people into his jumps.

I had ridden horses a couple of times, at summer camp. So I was comfortable enough to mount up and trot along. But I wasn’t sure about Loor. Did she know how to ride? The answer came when Loor jumped up on her horse like a pro, tugged the reigns, and got her horse to spin in a circle one way, then the other. Show-off. I should have known.

“Follow the worn trail down out of the pass,” the first cowboy explained. “It’s pretty well traveled; you won’t miss it. You should reach town before sunset.”

“Thank you,” Loor said.

“Yeah,” I added. “You really saved us.”

“Aw, heck,” the second cowboy said. “It’s the least we could do for nearly getting you killed back there.”

After a few more thank-yous, Loor and I were on our way to town. It was an awesome ride. The slope was gentle, the air was warm, and the countryside was spectacular.

Loor didn’t look half bad, either. Ever since I first met Loor, I had been trying to prove myself to her. She was an athlete and a warrior. I’d seen her battle guys twice her size and make them look bad. Next to her, I was a total weenie. But she wasn’t all about muscle. Loor had a strong sense of right and wrong. She totally believed in the Travelers and our mission. Her mother died battling Saint Dane’s evil, and I think that made her even more dedicated. But after all we’d been through, I didn’t know how Loor felt about me. Yeah, she was on my side because we were both Travelers, and I know she respected me for some of the things I had done, but I think that’s as far as it went. I thought of Loor as a good friend. I think she only thought of me as a teammate.

We had a long ride into Old Glenville, and there was a lot I wanted to talk to her about. I figured this was as good a time as any.

“When I was on First Earth,” I said to her, “things didn’t go too well.”

“Saint Dane failed,” she said. “That is all that matters.” “Did he?” I said. “We saved the territory, but no thanks to me.”

“And how did that make you feel?” she asked.

“Like I never want to let him get the better of me again,” I said. “And I won’t.”

Loor looked at me and said, “I know you, Pendragon. Your heart is in the right place, but you have been unsure of yourself, and of our mission.”

I wanted to argue, but she was right.

“It sounds to me as if Saint Dane tried to take away your confidence, but instead made you more determined. If that is the case, he made a very bad mistake, for all he managed to do was bring you fully into the conflict. He will regret that.”

In that single moment, things became incredibly clear. I had been struggling with my failure. But now, Loor made me believe that my weakness at that critical moment on First Earth might actually have been the best thing that could have happened. Any doubt I had up to that point about wanting to battle Saint Dane was taken away. Uncle Press always said that this conflict was about more than a single battle. Heck, even Saint Dane said that. By facing my own weakness, maybe I was now ready for the long haul.

“I missed you, Loor,” I said. I wanted her to tell me she missed me, too.

She didn’t. “I will always be there when you need me,” she said. “As I know you will be for me. That is our destiny.”

Okay, maybe not exactly a statement of undying friendship, but it was better than nothing. I guess.

We rode for a long time, mostly in silence. I was beginning to think those cowboys had pointed us in the wrong direction, when…

“Look!” Loor exclaimed, pointing ahead.

I looked to see the tops of buildings peeking up over some trees. This had to be Old Glenville.

“Last one there buys the sniggers,” I exclaimed. “The what?” Loor said.

Too late. I kicked my horse into action and galloped toward town. Loor probably could have beaten me, but I had gotten such a head start that there was no way she could catch up. A few minutes later, I rode straight down the center street of Old Glenville.

It was a ghost town. I pulled up my horse and Loor stopped right beside me. The two of us sat there in the middle of the dirt street, looking around at the empty town.

Old Glenville was something right out of an old-time Western movie. There were two-story wooden buildings down either side of the main street, with wooden sidewalks and hitching posts in front. I saw painted signs on the stores that identified them as: general store and dry goods; barber and dentist; sheriff; telegraph office; and even one that said: coroner. At the end of the street was a church with a tall steeple that dwarfed the rest of the buildings. It was the perfect little frontier town. The only thing missing was people.