I almost laughed. I guess I was so used to the fact that Sheila was around, that I hadn't considered that Amy and Elizabeth both didn't even know of her existence.

"A new girl."

"Five of us now?"

"Sort of. I doubt if I'll keep her."

"Lucky her."

They didn't know the circ.u.mstances here. I sobered. "Not really." I refused to say any more. Noticing my change of mood, Elizabeth wisely changed the direction of the conversation.

"Can a girl ask where are we going?" Elizabeth spoke again as we pa.s.sed through the gate.

"You'll know when we get there."

Elizabeth sighed as I guided the women to the left. Amy followed in silence.

Actually I hadn't planned on taking them too far. Just to the neighbour's. However, with the size of the lots in this area of the city, it took us about ten minutes to make our way to the next house. But we weren't walking very fast. The girls enjoying the sun on their bare skin.

I stopped the girls in front of a much more modest house than the home we had just left. It was a two story house, painted yellow, but without the grounds or obvious wealth a.s.sociated with the last house.

As we approached the front door, Amy spoke up. "Why are we here?"

I answered her. "Just exploring."

"You aren't going to hurt us?"

"Not yet, darling. Not yet."

Elizabeth shivered.

The mailbox read, *The Johnsons'. I tried the front k.n.o.b. Locked. I idly wondered if anyone was home or not. I left the two bound girls on the front porch and wandered around the back of the house. The gate was unlocked. The house had a large backyard bordered on one side with a stone wall, facing the Mayer residence. The Johnsons had a small swimming pool and a back deck. Modest. I tried the back doors. They were standard gla.s.s patio doors. Locked as well.

I wandered back into the yard and found a large rock. Not elegant, but I couldn't see any way for my time abilities to help me get into a locked house directly. I threw the rock through the back door. Gla.s.s all over the place; on the deck, on the kitchen floor. I carefully picked my way through the jagged gla.s.s and into the house. I concentrated and removed the time bubble from around the door. The gla.s.s magically reattached itself and mended the door. End of gla.s.s problem. I would normally have just left the destruction, but the girls would have been in some serious danger in their bare feet. And I had no intention of punishing them by making them walk over broken gla.s.s nor was I about to allow them shoes.

I glanced around the kitchen. It was a nice size. There was a pretty woman working at preparing some meal on the counter. Twenty something. Perhaps very early thirties. I walked through the house and opened the front door from the inside.

Elizabeth and Amy were still waiting quietly on the front porch, sitting on the rail.

"I heard a crash." Elizabeth spoke to me.

"Back door."

She looked down at her bare feet as she stepped across the threshold.

"Gla.s.s?"

"I cleaned it up. Your pretty toes will be fine."

"And here I was thinking you were finally going to let me wear shoes."

I laughed. Amy smiled at me as she stepped inside.

"Anyone home?"

"There's someone in the kitchen."

I took the pack from Elizabeth's bound fingers and rummaged. Finally I selected a short length of chain and connected Elizabeth's and Amy's wrists with it and a pair of padlocks. The girls stood quietly back to back. I ran the chain into the front closet locking it to the hanging bar. The girls watched all this in silence. When I was done, Elizabeth spoke up. "Proud of yourself?"

"Yeah. Actually."

"You realize that we'd have stayed where ever you put us without the need for any of this."

"Yup."

"Why then?"

"I wanted to."

"I see." But she still didn't understand. I guess I couldn't blame her.

I turned away from the girls and walked up the stairs. I could hear Amy and Elizabeth softly talking as I moved away. Not much else to do when you are chained up.

I wandered through the house. No surprises like at the Mayers. No locked rooms. No hidden abused s.e.x slaves. n.o.body else home. The last door on the right held a small child. Asleep. Less than a year old certainly. There was a huge poster on the wall above the child's crib with a picture. Like what you could get at the photo development places. Blown up to poster size with a likeness of the kid. The word across the bottom, in fancy script, was *Autumn'. Didn't quite know what that was all about.

I closed the door and wandered back to the women.

"Anything interesting?" Amy spoke. "Please. Can't you let us out of this?" She rattled her wrists against the chains. "We'll be good. I promise."

"How good?"

"I'll do anything you want. You know I will."

"Would you threaten an infant?"

"Huh?"

"If I gave you a knife. Would you threaten an infant?"

"You have to be joking."

"Not really hurt it. Just pretend like you would."

"Whatever for?"

"Would you?"

"I guess. As long as you didn't ask me to really hurt it. That I couldn't do." She was serious. She'd take whipping until she died, but she wouldn't hurt a child. That was fine. I didn't want or expect her to.

"Hmmm. Wait here." I was actually surprised that she agreed to do it this easily. Perhaps her lesson from yesterday had sunk in.

"Where am I going to go?"

The girls went back to whispering. Probably trying to figure out what the h.e.l.l I was up to.

I wandered back to the kitchen where the woman was working at preparing that food. I laid the gun out on the kitchen table and sat in a chair. I concentrated and released the woman from the time freeze.

"Ms. Johnson, I presume?"

She whirled at the sound of my voice. A large knife held out in front of her.

"Wh-who the h.e.l.l are you? How did you get in here?"

"Who I am is unimportant. I broke in." I smiled, thinking about how I had quite literally broken in. I was still somewhat amazed that the doors were back to an intact position. Or more correctly, a more intact time. This time stuff really took some getting used to.

The woman began to shake from the adrenaline rush I'd given to her.

"Wh-what do you want?"

"I just want to talk."

"We don't have anything in the house. I swear it. Please just go."

"What's your name?"

"Why?" Her eyes followed as I idly picked up the gun. "Karen. I'm Karen Johnson. Please," she quickly blurted out at the sight of the gun.

"Why aren't you at work, Karen?"

"I'm on maternity leave. Please what do you want?"

"Your son or daughter upstairs?"

"Oh G.o.d. Please," she began to scream. "AUTUMN. Oh G.o.d. What have you done to her?"

I tried to calm the frantic woman. "Calm down. I haven't touched her. That's her name. Autumn? That's very nice."

"Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. Please don't. Please. Why?"

"Karen. You'll wake her up." I lied.

"What the h.e.l.l do you want? You b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Karen began to advance on me with her knife. "I swear. If you hurt her. I swear to G.o.d. I'll kill you."

"I'm not going to hurt her. But you might want to reconsider coming any closer with that knife. You wouldn't want Autumn to be motherless, would you?" Her eyes widened. "Come on, Karen. Bringing a knife to a gunfight?"

"Oh G.o.d. Please what do you want? I'm so frightened."

"I know you are. Karen. You have to listen to me. Put the knife down."

She closed her eyes. Realizing the futility of the situation. She carefully put the knife down on the counter.

"You are going to rape me. Aren't you?"

"Is that what you think?"

"Why else would you be here? We don't have anything." Her eyes lit up as she lied to me. "Listen. You know my husband is coming home. Right? Soon. It's only fair to warn you."

Even if I hadn't stopped time, I would know she was lying. I idly wondered if there even was a husband. I'd find out.

I just sat there quietly thinking. The woman stood in her kitchen, her eyes darting around trying to determine if she could escape or not safely. Get to her child.

"Karen?"

"Yes," she answered a bit dully from the other side of the kitchen.

"You can't escape. At least not without getting really hurt. You don't want to p.i.s.s me off. Do you? Will you do what you are told?"

"I don't know. Depends on what you want me to do."

"Will you take off your clothes for me?"

"I. I guess. Please. I don't want to be raped."

"I know. n.o.body in their right mind does. I'm not going to rape you. I promise."

"Then why do you want me to take off my clothes."

"I'd just like to see your body."

"Oh G.o.d."

"Will you?"

"You won't hurt me? Rape me?"

"Not if you do as you are told."

"Okay. I'll take them off. Oh G.o.d. I'm not wearing anything underneath."

"Don't worry. I don't mind. And if it's any consolation, I was going to strip your underwear anyway."

"Oh my G.o.d. I can't do this."

"We could go get Autumn, if you prefer."

Her hands stole to the base of her sweatshirt. She closed her eyes, tears beginning to form there. In one fluid motion, she pulled her top over her head. True to her word, her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s sprang into view. She had small b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Small nipples which stood erect probably due to her fear.

She pleaded with me. "Please. I can't. Please just let me get dressed and go. I swear. I won't tell anyone."