Part XVI: Back to the future.
"Is that all he said?" Red asked asked incredulously. It had been all she could do to stay quiet while her Dad and Grandpa told their story. But now it just poured out. "He was on that train for what; four hours? And that was all he found out?""They're leaving a lot out.", Jimmy said knowingly (he had really suffered in silence through this story so far and was ready and raring to contribute his thoughts); "The way I heard it he had a whole lot more to say."
"Yeah!" Red added; "About that; why is this the first I've heard of this. It seems that Jimmy knows all about it." She looked at Grandpa and then at her Dad.
"Well, sweetheart, " JJ began, "We all thought it would be better to wait till you were a little older."
"We? Who's we?" Red asked.
"Your Grandma and I - and your Mom and Dad." Grandpa said sighed; "We all thought it would be best."
"Why?"
"That's kinda complicated." JJ said.
"They were afraid you'd think they were all crazy." Jimmy inserted. "Like everyone else did."
"Well, that's not exactly true." JJ protested. "And nobody thinks we're crazy." He frowned at Jimmy.
"You don't think so?" Jimmy asked; "Then why did Billy and his whole family have to move away?" "I'll tell you why." Jimmy answered his own question; "Because everyone was laughing at Billy. He's finally gone too far and this story was way over the top - even for him. But he wouldn't give it up - so they finally had to move."
"That's only what you've heard, Jimmy." Jack said, "You weren't there - were you. You know how these 'urban legends' get all blown out of proportion with retelling."
"Gossip, is all it is." JJ said. "Just a bunch of people with nothing better to do, making fun of someone who has different ideas."
"Different ideas?" Jimmy laughed.
"Jimmy! Will you just shut up for a minute. " Red scolded, "I want to hear this from them." She nodding towards Grandpa and JJ. "What else did Billy say?"
"Well," Grandpa started, "not much at first."
"Yeah, " JJ added; "The ride back from Oakwood was pretty quiet."
"JJ and I were thinking about the same questions that Red just asked; like why didn't Billy find out more about where he was and what was going on."
"And I think Billy was working over in his mind just what he was going to say. And when." JJ said.
"So you knew he was lying." Red asked.
"Well no," Grandpa said, "not lying so much as not telling the whole story."
"Duh," Jimmy snorted, " ya think?"
Red gave him a 'shut up' look and continued; "But why would he hold back?"
"You would have to know Billy to understand that." JJ explained; "He was a real showboat, you know, he loved the spotlight."
"And this had all the makings for being a huge spotlight." Grandpa added; "It was almost as good as an alien abduction, you know."
[I think it's time to stop calling Jack 'Grandpa' in this story - it's no longer one-on-one with Red and he's only 'Grandpa' to her. Do I change the title too?]
"When we got home and he re-told the story to Mom, he'd already added in a bunch of good stuff about the conversation he had with [the old guy - what's his name]."
"When he got done we asked him why he's left that out before?" Jack said.
"And he said that it must of slipped his mind." JJ said.
"Well how much more had slipped his mind - JJ asked him."
"What did Grandma say about all this?" Red asked.
"Not much, at first." Jack laughed; "She shook her head a lot."
"Then she told Billy that she thought he should carefully consider how much of this story he wanted to actually go around telling people." JJ said.
"If any of it." Jack added; "You see, Grandma was worried that people would think he was a crackpot."
"Like they did." Jimmy inserted triumphantly. He gave Red a smug smile. She pretended not to notice.
"You know," JJ added, "at the time, there had been a lot in the news about people who said they'd been abducted onto space ships and all that. So it made sense for Mom to worry."
"Yeah, "Red asked, "I was wondering, why didn't grandma go with to pick up Billy in Oakwood?"
"Mrs Thompson called right after we got home." Jack said; "It turns out she was in fact worried about where Billy was and Grandma was telling her the story - the first story [I'll have to go back and read to see if Grandma knows the second story yet.] - you know so as not to worry her."
"She didn't want us to wait and she motioned us to get out of there and go to get Billy right away." Jack added.
[is this bogging down? - Time for a break - and a ride. I'll be back tomorrow.]
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