Thanks for the Memories

Thanks for the Memories Ch3 [edited]

Michael Coy walked down the hall to the waiting room of the surgical ward where he was told his father would be waiting for his mother to come out of surgery. As he passes elderly in wheelchairs with their families tending to them, Michael couldn’t help but be amazed at how active his parents were. His father could still drive and his mother still cleaned, shopped, and made and mended clothes for herself, family and neighbors, and they both took nightly walks around their neighborhood. He and Anna still lived across the street and James lived with them, James and Anna often joined them on their walks. Walking in pairs Michael would watch for them from the living room window as his parents walked hand in hand and the children followed. When they were younger they would imitated his parents holding hands and swinging their arms, now they followed hands in pockets trying not to touch, but everyone knew they wanted to.
When he reached the waiting room he found his father sitting in a chair reading a newspaper, mumbling as he read the opinion section, most likely in disagreement, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey dad how are things going?” Michael asked as he walked in and put his hand on his father’s shoulder before taking a seat across from him.
“Oh hello son, the surgery should be finished soon. What are you doing here?” Jim asked lowering his paper.
“I was just finishing up at the store and thought that I would stop by and see how mom was.”
“Well she was fine going in, say I hope Anna doesn’t get lonely staying at our house all by herself.”
“Oh I’m sure James will end up hanging, he came home early from the beach, he called Anna this afternoon, I believe they are going to a movie tonight. But you know as well as I do they will probably end up in the attic listening to that old record player of yours all night.” They both laughed at the truth of his statement.
Michael and his daughter had always been close and he knew how madly in love with James she was and that the feeling was mutual. He always listened to his parents say how the two were going to get married one day, that they were just the next generation of them, same names and all. The big joke was that neither of them would die until it happened, and he believed it. He was glad that his parents were always there for the two of them, they had been a great influence on Anna when her mother had died and had really been there for him as well.
Jim and Michael sat talking about the hardware store and old times, when the doctor came in. Luckily the news was good, Ann was in recovery and they could go in and see her soon. When they finally did go in Ann bolted upright, with a look of horror on her face, the sight of her husband and son seemed to give her no relief. “Jimmy, their gone!” Ann said grabbing for his hand.
“Who’s gone?”
“Anna and James! They—they were dancing and, and Frank Sinatra was playing and, poof! Gone!”
“Shh, shh. It was just a dream don’t you worry, I’m sure they are just fine.” Jim said giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“But Jimmy it wasn’t a dream! I know it wasn’t, their gone!”
“Mom it’s okay I’ll go look for them as soon as I leave here okay?” Michael said softly placing his hand on her shoulder.
“It won’t do any good, their gone their just gone.” She kept mumbling as Jim and Michael helped her lay back on the bed.”


“Me? Why is this my fault? I didn’t do anything.” Anna yelled standing up and putting her hands on her hips. In doing this she realized that her jeans were no longer jeans, looking down she saw that she was now wearing a blue sundress she had never seen before. She reached up to see if the veil was still there, finding it still in place she pulled it off her head. Looking at it she started shaking, it was a bright white, instead of the slightly dimmer white with its sixty-five years of existence. She turned toward a window and saw the dress hanging on a bar near it, like the veil it looked brand new. Her eyes roamed the room and finally rested on James, it had happened to him too, the hat now had a gold bar in front, he was in her grandfathers dress uniform but it was different, instead of two silver bars on his shoulders the gold bars of a first 1st lieutenant were their instead.
James seemed to realize it at the same time she did, when he looked down at his jacket he jumped up, hitting his head on a beam, a beam he knew shouldn’t be there. “ow!” he yelped rubbing his head and looking around, the whole attic had changed. “Anna where are we?” He finally managed to ask still rubbing his head and looking down at the insignia on his jacket. Seeing the silver wings on the front and the eagle on the left shoulder he recognized it as the same one Pa had from the airborne, save for the one gold bar instead of the two silver ones.
“I don’t know.” Anna answered looking around the attic they were in. She knew it wasn’t her grandparents, it was too small, but she had a feeling she had seen it before, it even had some of the same things in it, like her great-grandmother’s mirror that she and James had stood in front of years ago, and the record player. She walked toward the window and dropping the veil as she moved. She pushed aside the curtain and didn’t quite know what to make of what she saw on the street. All of the cars were classics, in perfect condition, lining both sides of the street, there wasn’t a single one that could have been made later than the forties, she had never seen so many. “James look.” She ordered without even turning in his direction, standing beside her his jaw dropped.
Before they could say anything they heard the creaking than slam of a door underneath them. Their attention snapped away from the window as they looked at each other, afraid of what would happen next. Silently listening for a clue to who could be in the house. Soon they heard cabinet doors opening and closing, then the refrigerator, then Anna’s name, well almost Anna’s name.
“Anna! Where are you?” The blood drained from Anna’s face, her eyes widened and jaw dropped. “Anna Miller you better not be up in that attic again, you’re going to ruin your dress, come here and help me with these groceries.”
James watched as Anna mouthed the name Miller. Her heart started pounding, she knew that name, but it didn’t make sense to hear it now. Turning and grabbing James by the arms, “Miller, James, that’s my grandmother’s maiden name!” she whispered her eyes wide with horror.
Anna watched as recognition crossed his face, “But who’s--” James started.
Before he could object she had grabbed his hand and was leading him down the stairs. With James in tow she ran down the stairs, stumbling down behind her he couldn’t help but wonder what people would think when they saw them coming down the stairs. When Anna hit the bottom step she stopped dead in her tracks, James knocked into her seeing look of horror on her face James tried to figure out what she was staring at. Finding it he too was horrified; she was staring at their reflection in the mirror. They looked the same to each other but when they looked in the mirror it was different. Anna’s eyes looked from the mirror to the pictures that were next to it, they were pictures she and James had seen many times before. One was of her grandmother when she was about Anna’s age and the other of her grandmother’s brother William in his uniform, who was killed in Europe. When she looked at the picture of her grandmother and back at the mirror it was the same person. Instead of her brown eyes she had blue, and her hair was lighter than her normal dark brown hair. What is going on! She wanted to scream. Having finally found his feet, James pushed her forward from the stairs, then moving around her blocking her view of the mirror, now facing her she was still staring straight ahead. Still holding onto her hand he placed the other one on her check inching closer trying to get her to look at him instead of through him, “Anna—“
Before he could say anything else the owner of the voice calling her grandmother’s name turned the corner, “Oh there you are, James I didn’t know you were here, can you believe that it is only two more days? There is so much to do before Saturday!” The two of them just starred, “everything alright?” nothing. “Alright then, you two come help me with these bags.” James and Anna had seen all of the pictures, they knew right away who she was, it was Anna’s great grandmother Mabel, and she thought they were her grandparents. They looked at each other unable to move, how is this possible, Mabel had been dead since they were four. James managed to gain his senses first and guided Anna toward the kitchen, unsure exactly what they would say when they got there.


Yours Truely,
Anna
~What's past is prolouge~