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gritted his
teeth and forced his breathing to slow, forced himself to study his
surroundings; to think. How had they gotten here? They’d been
outside watching Jeremy’s science presentation. He’d gotten sick.
His family had screamed.
    He closed his eyes for
a moment, took a deep breath, then opened them to study the land
again, this time more slowly as he tried to process what he was
seeing.
    It looked familiar.
He’d been here before. His brow furrowed. In fact, it kind of
looked like their property. But that was impossible since there was
no house. He searched the area again, once more recognizing
familiar landmarks.
    A
chill ran up his spine. It was their property. He’d know it anywhere. His family
had owned this piece of land forever. They’d had picnics here when
he was a kid, long before he’d married and built the
house.
    But there were subtle
differences. The scrub brush to the south and the grove of trees to
the north were missing. What was going on?
    His gaze settled on
Melissa. She looked haggard. Melissa had never looked haggard in
her life and relief rushed though him. He must be having a
realistic dream. He pinched the tender skin under his arm hard
enough to leave a bruise. It hurt.
    Fear slammed into him
and his jaw tensed. No, he wasn’t dreaming. “We’re on our
property.” He made the statement, needing to hear it out loud.
    Melissa looked at him
blankly. “You bought more property?”
    “No. This is the
property we built our house on.”
    Melissa glanced around before laughing a touch hysterically.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
    “Take a look around.”
He pointed. “There’s the hill in the back yard. And there’s the oak
tree.”
    Everyone studied the
tree. It was a relatively small tree, barely big enough to support
a climber. It was certainly not the huge, old tree in their back
yard.
    Melissa laughed shrilly. “Are you insane ? That’s not our tree! I’m
dreaming, right?”
    He didn’t blame her for
the disbelief, or the edge of hysteria, but he needed to take
charge before things got too out of control. He needed to figure
this out before she went over the edge and took them all with
her.
    Richard shook his head,
trying to rid himself of the buzz in his ears, and said the only
thing he knew to be true. “We’re not dreaming. This is our
property.”
    Melissa jumped up. “Then where is our house?” She gestured
wildly. “ Where are the
neighbors ?” She shrieked the words at
him.
    Richard tried to think
of a rational explanation, but couldn’t. “I don’t know.” Could
someone be playing some kind of elaborate joke on them? For what
purpose?
    Melissa stilled,
looking so lost and forlorn that Richard reached out and put his
arm around her.
    She pushed him
away.
    His lips tightened, but
he didn’t say anything.
    Jeremy stood and looked
around. “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
    Everyone stared at
him.
    Jeremy grinned. “This
is so cool! Don’t you get it? We’ve been sucked into the past, just
like that guy on TV!”
    Jessica started to
cry.
    Richard knelt to put an
arm around Jessica, but his attention stayed on Jeremy. “What are
you talking about? What guy?”
    “Some guy was on the
news last night and said the blue moon sucked him back in time. Mom
saw it too.”
    Richard’s brows drew together as irritation flared. “Jeremy,
you’re not helping.”
    Jeremy’s eyes widened.
“It’s true! Tell him, Mom.”
    Richard turned to look
at Melissa. She was holding her head in her hands, pulling her
hair.
    “Lissa?”
    She shook her head.
“No. No. No. This isn’t happening. I’ve been under so much stress
lately. That’s it, isn’t it? I’ve finally cracked. I’m going to
check myself into a clinic today. After I finish the designs for
that movie star. Oh, what is her name? The blonde one.”
    She
laughed maniacally. “Oh yes! They’re all blonde! Oh, why can’t I
think of her name? I’ve got to get those designs done. If