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It was a windy October day. The wind seemed to moan as it passed through the trees. It also seemed to bring a ghostly message from the past as it scattered the new fallen leaves. It seemed that way to Mr. Trim. He was on the front porch looking at his surroundings. Suddenly he got a cold and eerie feeling. Someone was watching him. He saw a man in the distance looking in his house with a pair of binoculars. As soon as Mr. Trim spotted him, he turned and ran away. Mrs. Trim came out to join her husband. Mr. Trim told her what had happened.
“I only caught a glimpse of him,” he explained to his wife, “but there was something familiar about him. I just can’t figure out what.”
Although he didn’t know it, Mr. Trim had seen a foreshadow of events yet to come. A series of changes that would effect various people all over Jesterville. Everyone knew some of the people involved, but everyone didn’t know everyone. All would soon get to know each other by the Jesterville Conjunction. The first major change happened in Babbabo sometime in September. Jason had just turned 18 and had moved into an apartment. He was glad he was through with school. He had just quit his part-time job and was ready to start looking for a “real” job, as Jason had put it. Then he saw the note in his apartment. Whoever left the note to have broken in, but nothing was missing. Only the note was out of place. Reluctantly, Jason read the note.
He displayed his reaction of shock, “Oh No!” he gasped.
He had moved to Jesterville only 5 years ago, Jesterville was a small town. Now it was a full-fledged city. Jason got an apartment up on the north side town. Although Jason wasn’t that good at science, he was a hard worker. This and the fact that he had helped Mr. Trim before got him a job at Mr. Trim’s lab. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. In his neighborhood, there were many different types of people, but 3 had gotten Jason’s attention. The first 2, Tim and Sherrell, he had met while they were arguing. It had sparked something in his memory. After that, they came to his apartment about twice a week. Jason enjoyed their company in spite of the great age difference. They told him stories of how they’d fought witches and vampires. Jason didn’t believe them, but their stories were very well told. He enjoyed their company. The other one was Greg. Greg jogged past his apartment every morning. He had his own detective agency, made the A-B honor roll, and was still a sensational athlete, Jason was probably jealous. They had never talked to each other, yet they knew quite a lot about each other. Nothing unusual happened there. Elsewhere, Mark lived out in the woods to the northwest of Jesterville. Bob was the only one he knew well. He had met the Trims, Jason, and Terry and the gang, but he wasn’t really close with them. About a week after Mr. Trim saw the mysterious figure, he got a note. He too had just turned 18 and he too thought that he must go to Jesterville. That was when the trouble began. The day before, Mr. Trim knew who the mysterious man watching him was. He saw him again only this time he got a clearer view. He had aged quite a bit since Mr. Trim had last seen him, but he was still recognizable. It was Mr. Smith. He knew that Smith must have had a good reason for returning after all those years. Now he was more worried than ever. When he went in the lab, he knew what had to be done. A little bit later, he got the sad news of Dan’s grandfather’s death. Dan was a member of Torry and the gang. That was the name of a group of kids from 17 to 10 years of age. Torry was the leader of course. Other than Torry and Dan the members were Randy, Victor, Bob, Amy, Betty, Artie, Joseph, and Sarah. Artie was only sometimes a member and wasn’t there. All the others were in a big room that Mr. Trim let them use for their meetings, parties, etc. Now it was being used to mourn for Dan’s grandfather. He had helped them on numerous occasions. Now he was done. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith had slipped into a supposedly secret hideout. The changed to Jack, Bill, and Kenny. They were enemies with the Trims and all who were associated with the Trims. At the time, they were planning yet another attempt to steal some of Mr. Trim’s secrets. When they were finished making plans, Mr. Smith came out of his hiding place. “Your plan will be just another on of your failures.” He said. Jack and Bill were shocked, Kenny was startled at first too, but when he recalled who it was he wasn’t surprised a bit. “Mr. Smith” Kenny declared, “my old boss”. “And your new boss” Mr. Smith added. “I have to help you in your battle against Mr. Trim. I have been watching you ever since the power plant incident. You failed the attempt terribly. You should have done better. “But how could we?” pleaded Kenny. “We locked them all up.”
“I did a little research after everything had settled down.” Mr. Smith lectured. “The lock was jammed. One of Mr. Trim’s young friends jammed the lock and you didn’t catch it.”
Mr. Smith raised his voice in the last sentence. Jack, Bill, and Kenny just stood in silence.
“After Smith’s labs started to falling,” Mr. Smith began. “I gathered up all the money I could and just left the lab abandoned. A little bit later, I needed more money and I began to sell things I had in the lab. I even tried to sell lab notes to Mr. Trim, but he wasn’t interested. Mr. Griffin bought it for $3000. Then, he in turn sold it to Mr. Trim for $5000. Ben (Trim) didn’t even know where the notes had come from. One set of notes came from an English professor by the name of Whitiker. Whitiker had mathematically proven that time travel was possible. Nobody believed him. He was looking for someone to finance him and prove his theory. I though it was worth checking in to, so I wrote him a note asking for a copy of his work. I got the copy, but it had failed to convince me. I just put it in a pile of worthless notes to be sold. Mr. Griffin had retired. He just wanted to make some money by selling it to his former employee at a higher price. He thought it was worthless too, Mr. Trim, however, noticed it it was a similar theory as that used by his travel machine. In 1974, he wrote a letter to Professor Whitiker. He found out that Whitiker had died back in 1973, but that didn’t stop him. He started working in a time machine. I still paid no attention and wandered in my way around the globe. In 1979 I was I was in New York. It was then that I heard that Mr. Trim had finally perfected the time machine. I also heard that Mr. Trim was going to Hawaii to meet an old friend of his. I got to Hawaii too late. I stayed in Hawaii for 3 years stealing secrets from Dr. Commor, and then I felt that the time had come. First, I returned to Jesterville. There I found out you returned and you were using my old lab as a hideout. Next, I went back around the globe and picked up some people I trained when they were kids. Then, we all went to Babbabo. I am giving a series of serious notes to everyone who fought against you in the power plant incident. The majority of which I will hand out tomorrow. Now the last part of my plan will be to put into action. I’ve been waiting for an event that would shake them up. One of Mr. Trim’s young friends had a grandfather who just died. The funeral will be tomorrow. Therefore, that’s the day we strike. Any questions?”
None of them dared to ask a question. Kenny knew what Mr. Smith was like so he obeyed Mr. Smith without question. The other two worked under Kenny. They figured he had a good reason to obey so they followed his example. The next day, John, Jason, and Dan came into the lab as usual. They expected to see Mr. Trim but all that they saw was a couple of notes. John picked up the note and started reading it to the others.
“Mr. Trim” he read, “Hi there old friend. I have been watching you for quite some time now. I want you to come to my lab alone or I will shoot one of your young friends in cold blood. I heard he was at his grandfather’s funeral. You probably know who I am but if you don’t I’m know as Mr. Smith.”
“The other note is from Mr. Trim,” said Jason. “It says that he has gone to Mr. Smith’s lab and he hopes to be back soon. If he isn’t he wants us to use the travel machine and get Dr. Commor.”
Suddenly, Mark burst into the lab.
“Look at this!” he blurted handing John the note.
“We have Mr. Trim,” John began copying the note word for word. “If it weren’t for my notes Mr. Trim would have never been able to build the time machine. I know you have 5 of them and a 6th one being built. I want either a time machine the combination to Mr. Trim’s safe, or the blueprints of Mr. Trim’s inventions. If you don’t give me any of these things I will be forced to kill him. Don’t try anything and you won’t get hurt. Smith’s Labs Inc.”
Before they could talk about what this meant, Mrs. Trim came in with another note to John.
“It’s exactly the same as Mark’s note”, John declared. “Now I’d better go see Dr. Commor.”
”But why?” Mark wondered. “I defeated Jack, Bill, and Kenny almost single handedly and you’ve defeated them lots of times.”
“This isn’t Jack, Bill or Kenny” John replied gravely.
He got out the travel machine and set for Hawaii where Dr. Commor lived. The travel machine does exactly was it name indicates. It’s sort of like beaming process in Star Trek. He was in Hawaii in almost no time. John looked around in search of Dr. Commor. Meanwhile, Mark and Jason were talking about what the note meant. Dan had come in to tell Mr. Trim he was going to leave for his grandfather’s funeral. Seeing there was nothing he could do, he just quietly left. Mrs. Trim had left to gather up Torry and the gang, but then she remembered it was Thursday. After that, she just slipped inside the house and watched T.V.She was really worried about her husband.
“How did Mr. Smith know that there were 5 time machines and a 6th one being built?” Jason wondered.
“After the power plant, Mr. Trim started working on a new series of time machines. Only the Trims and myself were supposed to know about them.”
“Maybe he had a spy,” suggested Mark.
Jason was stunned at his accusation. This was to start a big argument between them later on. After searching for half an hour John finally found out where Dr. Commor’s lab was. He hadn’t been there in over 5 years and had forgotten where it was. When he got there, Dr. Commor was working on another experiment on invisibility. This time it was a device that looked like a wristwatch that was supposed to make you invisible when you put it on. He needed an assistant to complete the work.
“John!” Dr. Commor explained when he saw him. “I haven’t seen you since 83. That’s when I came up to ask for-“
”I know all that,” interrupted John, an unusual switch, “but I don’t have time to chat. Mr. Smith has come to Jesterville and-“
”Mr. Smith!” blurted Dr. Commor. This time he interrupted John, an unusual switch, “Yes”, John confirmed. “He has captured Mr. Trim I came here because-well just read these.”
John handed Dr. Commor Mr. Trim’s note and a ransom note, which he took with him. Dr. Commor read them. John told him everything that had happened that week. Dr. Commor also told John that Mr. Smith had been in Hawaii and had stolen some of his secrets on invisibility. This was a sign. Dr. Commor and John had lunch together. After lunch, John helped finish the invisibility experiment. Dr. Commor said it would help in dealing with Mr. Smith. When they were finished, they got everything Dr. Commor said they’d need, found the travel machine, and returned to Jesterville. Earlier that day, Jason decided he’d go get Tim and Sherrell. He didn’t know what they could do but anybody would help them.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI(?), MM
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