Thanks for the Memories

Thanks for the Memories Chapter 5

Mabel was setting the table when James and Anna walked back in the house. Anna’s puffy red eyes told Mabel that she had been crying again, something as of late that was normal for Anna. The thought of James leaving always seemed to upset her and Mabel understood that, she still cried every time she got a letter from William, though he was still in boot camp the idea of him gone and inevitably heading off to combat worried her, and she knew Anna would just need some time, but her wedding was in two days and she wanted her to smile, be happy and make the best of the time they had left before James had to leave.
As the two of them stood in the kitchen she tried to start a conversation, hoping that their walk had given them some time to get themselves together, “Back I see, James I talked to your mother she stopped by and invited us to coffee later tonight so you can stay for dinner then we will all go back to your house.” Looking at the both of them she saw that James seemed fairly upset as well, still neither of them said anything “Come on you two you are never this quiet what is wrong.” She said backing away from the table looking from one to the other.
“N—nothing mother, we’re just tired I guess. What did you make it smells wonderful?” Anna managed pulling James closer to her by their still joined hands.
“Is there anything we can help you with Mrs. Miller?” James said finding his voice.
“Actually if you would, could you run outside and tell Mr. Miller to come in for supper, he is out there working in the garage.”
James squeezed Anna’s hand before releasing it and headed toward the back door. Standing alone now, Anna aimlessly played with the pattern on the back of a chair at the table as Mabel scurried around the kitchen getting things out for dinner. Staring at the table she tried her hardest to remember what her grandparents had told her and James about this part of their lives. There was the picture, the tree, and the big family dinner; she knew that her grandmother didn’t give him the picture until after the wedding, the dinner was the day before the wedding as a kind of rehearsal dinner, and then there is the wedding itself. The family dinner stuck out in her mind, when she was younger she used to imagine herself at the dinner table sitting next to her grandmother as she told the story, and when she got older she had started imagining herself there with James, now she found herself stumbling through the memory with little recollection; everything ran together, conversations, and events weren’t clear.
Anna’s thoughts were interrupted by Mabel, “Anna darling,” she said putting a hand on her shoulder making Anna’s head turn in her direction, “Honey, I know that you are upset about James shipping out and I know that it is going to be hard for a while I promise it will get easier, it might not seem like it in the beginning but it will. Do you think you could smile just a little bit? Try to enjoy the time that you have left before he has to leave. Besides you are getting married in a few days!” she squeezed Anna’s shoulders gave her a kiss on the cheek and returned to getting dinner on the table.
Oh god, shipping out! If we aren’t out of here before that…James! Her head snapped in the direction of the back door as she saw James heading in with Adam Miller, eyes widened and everything in front of her blurred. She had seen James in the uniform and they had talked about the picture still being there, but she hadn’t put it together. The fact that James could possibly be leaving gave her goose bumps, he couldn’t he could get hurt, he could get killed, other people could even be hurt, now what are we going to do! She fought back the tears as she watched James and Adam laughing in conversation as they entered the house for dinner.


Dinner ticked by without incident but lasted for an eternity! Anna could barely eat anything and she wasn’t sure if  it had gone by unnoticed, well unnoticed by everyone but James. He frequently glanced in her direction with an ‘are you okay’ look on his face. Walking in the dimming evening light, the four of them were headed for the Coy home. James and Anna walked behind the Miller’s with their arms linked together, the look on Anna’s face gave away that she was preoccupied and worried about something, and no matter what James said she wouldn’t tell him what it was; claiming it was nothing to concern him about, that if it became a problem she would tell him. She wanted him to remain oblivious to the possibility of being sent off to  North Carolina as long as possible, hoping he would think more clearly without having it hanging over his head. He tried to get her to smile unsure of what the people they were surrounded by would consider odd behavior, but she would just give him a little grin then turn away and the smile would fade. As they walked along James watched everything around him so that he would have a sense of where he was going when he would have to find his way back here on his own. But his mind was still on Anna, it concerned him that she would not tell him what was bothering her.
When they finally reached the house they were greeted by Gene and Elise Coy, the two knew them right away from the many pictures they had seen over the years, but the Coy’s had died in a plane crash when Anna and James were toddlers. The eeriness that they were now standing before them very much alive caused them to enter the house looking around as if they had never been inside of one before. After ushering everyone into the living room, Gene walked over and switched off the radio standing in the corner, everyone took a seat as Elise passed out coffee. Anna took a seat on the back of the chair James had sat in placing her hand on his shoulder, a pose she had seen many times over the years from her grandparents.
When James felt her hand on his shoulder he had to fight the urge to turn around and pull her down onto his lap. Her touch gave him a tingling sensation, and he was unsure why, it wasn’t like she’d never touched him before, but it had never felt like this, what was it that was making him feel this way? Was it the fear and uncertainty of what was going to happen to them bringing out his feelings, was it the closeness of their situation, or was it just the fact that she looked amazing in that sundress? Anna’s voice brought his thoughts to an abrupt stop when she started talking behind him, making him aware of the conversation around him and the five other people in the room and the conversation between them. The six of them sat around the living room sipping coffee and talking about a little bit of everything, the wedding, family, the hardware store, and the war, and then Adam finally said it.
“So James two days till the wedding, so that means only twelve days until you ship out, right? Where are you headed this time?”
James’ head jerked in Anna’s direction, he hadn’t thought about shipping out, he didn’t know anything about it. He ran through all the stories about Pa’s basic training but struck by sudden fear he couldn’t think, he couldn’t remember the stories. His mind was spinning and he started stuttering trying to think of something anything, “I—I, that is, w—well I think—”
“He’s going to North Carolina, but let’s not talk about it daddy, I really don’t want to think about James leaving.” Anna smiled as she wrapped her arms around James’ neck leaning over and whispering in his ear, “It’s okay, we’ll talk about it later.”
James turned his head toward her; with her face only inches from his he could feel her breath on his face and a shiver shot down his spine. The urge to kiss her over took him, without a second thought he leaned forward and gave her a quick but tender kiss. When he leaned back he gave her a half smile hoping she wouldn’t smack him for kissing her, she just stared back into his eyes with an amused grin on her face.
“It must be love, the look in their eyes gives them away.” Elise said to the others in the room. Both of the kids turned in her direction and then looked back at each other with a faint smile, other people could see it too?

As the as the discussion turned to news and political issues, James and Anna excused themselves and walked to the front porch. The sun was gone and the air had cooled, Anna hugged her arms tightly around herself trying to warm her uncovered arms as she sat on the swing, wishing again for the sweatshirt she had on that morning.
“Cold?” James asked noticing her shivering.
“A little,” she answered as James removed his jacket and swung it around her shoulders and sat next to her.
The two of them sat in silence rocking slowly. Anna continued to shiver as a breeze began to blow, “Your still shivering, come here.” James said finally breaking the silence, moving closer to her and wrapping his arms comfortably around her and pulling her close, silently thanking the wind for a reason to hold her, he felt her stiffen before relaxing against him.
“I don’t know who was more shocked after that kiss, you or me.” Anna said with a laugh.
“Yeah, sorry. I think I was more shocked that you didn’t inflict bodily harm after I did it.” James replied slightly embarrassed, “that is what you used to do when I would chase you around your back yard trying to kiss you when we were little.”
Anna laughed as she remembered a seven year old James tackling her in the backyard before kissing her on the check, “Well you deserved it! You knew I didn’t like it.” She continued tilting her head back to look at him.
“What about now?” he asked, all the humor gone from his voice.
Anna needed to change the subject, she quickly looked away braking eye contact and hopefully the spell he seemed to have on her, “James what are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this?” she was almost certain she heard him sigh in defeat, but didn’t look up to find out, she just leaned into his body as his arms wrapped tighter around her, closing her eyes as she relaxed farther into James’ arms while he rocked the swing, wishing for a moment that she was still looking into his mesmerizing eyes.
“I don’t know, I wish I did,” he answered letting out another sigh, her closeness was wreaking havoc on his senses, “I do know that we need to figure all of this out before I have to get on that train.” James took a deep breath and almost immediately regretted it, the familiar vanilla scent wasn’t helping him think very clearly, “Why do you have to smell so good all of the time?” He froze. The words came out before he could stop them.
Anna smiled, “same reason you do.” She replied, before venturing a look up at him, now it was her turn to regret her actions.
“I didn’t, um, I didn’t mean to, ah—“his sentence trailing off as his eyes locked with hers.
“I—I know, we—“ Anna stopped, the words were caught in her throat swallowing hard as her mouth went dry, noticing that James’ gaze dropped to her mouth.
“You never did answer my question,” he said softly still staring at her mouth.
She swallowed hard and licked her lips, as he lowered his head toward hers, her eyes closed and she wished with everything inside of her that she could just let him kiss her but her head took a hold of her just before their lips met, “James wait,” she said sitting up, “we can’t do this,” standing now she continued, “we need to figure some things out, we can’t get caught up in this.”
Visibly shaken James stood putting his hands in his pockets, walking to the edge of the porch.
“James I—“
“We are just going to have to remember what they told us about all of this and try our best to get through it.” James interrupted. “Hopefully the answer will be in there somewhere.”
“James—“
“I mean we were dancing in the attic, we could try that again.” Anna could tell that he was mad, and she felt really bad about it but she just couldn’t let this happen. What would change if she had kissed him? It would just be a kiss, if they ever got out of here they would go back to being friends, and if they decided they wanted something more the guilt she was feeling for lying to him would tear them apart. She watched as James leaned against the railing staring down at his feet waiting for her to say something; having cut her off twice he wasn’t sure she would try again. Trying his hardest to subdue his embarrassment he concentrated on his feet, he couldn’t look her in the eye.
Finally convinced he wasn’t going to interrupt her she tried to convey her reasons again. “James look at me,” but he refused and kept his head down, frustrated by this she stepped toward him and grabbed him by the collar, “Hey, lieutenant, I said look at me! I need you now don’t you dare shut down on me over something stupid! Besides I am the one that is supposed to be scared out of my mind and you are supposed to be the man here! If we are going to switch roles I need just a little more warning!”
Finally meeting her gaze and seeing the smile on her face he couldn’t help but laugh, “I guess you would make a pretty funny looking man in that dress.”
Anna looked down at the sundress she was wearing and gave a look of disgust, “you know I hate dresses, you can’t do anything in them without someone seeing your underwear!”
This made James laugh even harder, that was something he always heard when she was forced by her grandmother to wear a dress for Easter or church, “I know you do you always have. Now where, exactly, did you get lieutenant from?” his asked with a quizzical look.
“That bar on your shoulder stands for something,” she answered pointing toward the gold bar on his shoulder. Her tone took on a serious lilt as she continued, “We do need to have some sort of plan, James. Tomorrow is the family dinner, we are going to have to be prepared to answer questions and hold conversations with the people around us. Not only that but have you stopped to think that anything we do here and now could be altering history?”
He had. His mind had been spinning with all of the events that took place at this time in her grandparents lives, the dinner, the wedding, the reception, the ten days they spent together just enjoying being newlyweds before Pa had to go back for more training, everything. “The thought had crossed my mind. Maybe we should try to stick as close to the stories as possible, you know, try our best not to alter anything.” He said sounding slightly unsure of himself.
Picking up on the tone in his voice she had a good idea what he was thinking about, they were going to have to kiss again. It really shouldn’t be a big deal, he had done it tonight, and that wasn’t the first time. “You’re probably right. Should we talk about what’s going to happen in the next few days?” She was hoping he said no, she didn’t want to have to point out the impending kiss, not after what had happened tonight.
“I don’t think we should, we don’t want to seem rehearsed. Normally you don’t know what is going to happen when you go into something.” James could see the relief on her face, “Besides, once we get past the wedding we will pretty much be on our own, we won’t have to worry about someone else watching us and analyzing our behavior.”
“That’s true.” Before she could say anything else the front door opened and the Millers stepped out ready to call it an evening.

Michael slammed the phone receiver back into the cradle on the wall. Boxes of nails fell to the floor from the commotion. He had been calling Anna all morning. She wasn’t answering her cell phone or his parent’s phone, he even called James’ cell phone, but it was the same thing, no answer. When he had left for the store that morning he noticed that both their cars were still there but neither of them seemed to be. He knew that Anna was twenty and old enough to take care of herself, but he hadn’t heard from her since she left the store yesterday. She hadn’t even called to check on her grandmother, which was odd. The bells on the top of the door jingled catching his attention. Looking up he noticed it was Jennifer Wilson, the daughter of a friend he grew up with, only seven, she could barely see over the counter. She was probably here looking for Anna, only allowed to ride her bike as far as the hardware store, she always stopped in to see Anna because she always had candy for the little girl and would take her to the back where they kept all of the extra’s that they couldn’t use around the store. With the extra wood Anna was helping her build a doll house for all of her favorite dolls, and Jennifer loved to hear all the stories she would tell her.
“Well hello there Jenny, how are you today?” Michael asked walking around the counter.
“Hi Mr. Coy, I need Anna.” the little girl stated holding her elbow and on the verge of tears.
“I’m sorry, she’s not here today,” looking at her elbow he noticed the blood that was on the hand holding it, “Why, it looks as if you have hurt yourself, I’m no Anna but I bet I can fix that for you.” He smiled knelling down so he was at eye level with her.
The little girl nodded as he picked her up and put her on the counter. He walked to the back and emerged with a little first aid kit that had band aids and alcohol swaps. The little girl talked away as he cleaned her elbow and bandaged it. As he listened to her talk and saw how her face lit up when she saw the band aid was Winnie the Pooh, Anna’s favorite, he couldn’t help but smile. He could see Anna sitting on the same counter when she was seven, she loved to come down to the store to see her dad and grandfather. The thought of her brought back the worry of her where a bouts. When he had finished with the bandaging he went around the counter and found Anna’s stash of suckers, he handed her one and with a thank you, a wave and a quick hug she was gone.
As the day wore on the store got busier which left little time to worry, but when the day came to an end he started wondering and worrying all over again, he still couldn’t get a hold of her or James. When he reached home he noticed that the kids’ cars were still in the same spot they had been since he left that morning. Staring at his parent’s house from the driver’s seat of his car he was looking for some sign of life inside; a light a shadow, something. The longer he stared, however, the more concerned he got at seeing nothing in the house. Finally it got the best of him he jumped out of his car and headed towards the front door of his parents house. When he got to the door he found it locked, if Anna was home he knew she wouldn’t lock the door. He started pounding on the door screaming Anna’s name, there was no answer, frustrated and concerned he turned from the door and walked back to his own home.

Ann shifted in her hospital bed, her eyes opening slowly. When she was finally able to focus she saw Jim reading in a chair across the room, he looked at her when he heard the blankets ruffling. She smiled as he stood up and walked toward her, she was so glad he was still the first person she saw when she woke up, he had been for sixty-three years, and it still made her smile. When Jim reached the bed he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and pulled the chair closer to the bed.
“How are you feeling darling, in much pain?” James asked.
“No I am fine,” she said smiling, her smile fading she looked in his eyes and said, “Anna and James—“
“Now Ann, do you honestly believe that the two of them have been sent back in time to 1942?” Jim interrupted.
“Not only that, they have been sent back as us! They need to realize that they are in love with each other. When they finally admit it to each other they will come back.”
“Have you gone off your rocker? Sent back as us? That is impossible, how, and why?”
“How, I’m not sure, why because they keep playing this I love you, I love you not game. Now they have to come to their senses and stop with these games.”
Jim was dumb founded; the look on her face told him that she really believed what she was saying. Finally finding his words he chose them carefully, “Okay, so you can’t tell me how, but can you tell me how you know?”
“I could see it and then I could feel it. James think about it,” Ann started leaning forward, “We have told these children all about our lives, they know us as well as we do, I can’t explain it.” Jim knew she was serious; she never called him James unless she was serious about something, “Don’t you feel it? I have been remembering things that I haven’t thought about in years. Do you remember the picture I gave you when you left after our wedding? And our initials on the willow, why I could see it! Jimmy don’t you feel it?”
Jim stood up and started pacing, rubbing the back of his neck, like he always did when he started getting worried. He could, he had been thinking about the same things. He had just had a dream about the willow, and it was one he really couldn’t understand. At first he thought that it was an old memory, but the fact that Ann had been thinking or dreaming about the same thing made him wonder. He stopped at the end of her bed and looked her strait in the eye, “I had a dream Ann. It was 1942; we were standing in the park by the willow. We were facing each other and then I pointed at the tree when you looked at it you seemed scared. You wouldn’t look at me, when I finally got you to, you burst into tears, I put my hands on your shoulders. Then I was watching us from a far, and it wasn’t you and me I was watching it was Anna and James. Please tell me you have no idea what I am talking about.” Ann stared at him wide eyed, “Please, Ann, tell me!”
“Jimmy I had the same dream.”
Jim jumped when the phone interrupted, he walked to the side of Ann’s bed and answered it, Michael was on the end frantically asking questions about Anna and James.


Brooklyn, like the bridge.
~What's past is prolouge~