The Traveler
by Connie Martin
Depressed with her life, Jaime, a teenage girl, wanders listlessly through the back neighborhood near her school, just kicking a piece of cement and walking wherever it lands. As night falls she comes to a dead end and realizes she is lost.
A gorgeous Persian cat rubs against her leg and cries for her to follow it inside a creepy, dilapidated, house. Hoping to find a can of food inside what she believes is an abandoned house, Jaime ventures inside only to find rare antique furnishings and a closet full of time-period clothes.
"This is a museum!"
"No," a man's voice answers in the dark, "this is me home."
Not only is the house inhabited, its resident is a very aged Irish man who claims to have traveled into the past. Not only is the cat a Persian breed, but this old man claims it is a cat from ancient Persia! He tells her about his travels through time, all the while she mocks him. Their conversation turns personal and poignant and Jaime just wants to take her angst and get out of there.
He gives her a coin for a pay phone, but when she finds the gas station starts to drop it into the phone, she sees that it is an ancient coin—and in mint condition! Jamie does return to that broken down house and to that broken down old man, and when she learns the truth about his life, hers is changed forever. But can she change his before it’s too late?
This is a three-part short story accepted by Cricket Magazine. When it is assigned its slots for publication, you'll be the first to know! The artwork on the link is by Amie Jacobsen.