Page 4 of Stranded on the Prairie
"Come on, you must know what yoga is," she replies, a slight laugh to her voice. "I mean, it’s not as though-"
I shake my head. She falls silent. A flash of panic crosses her face.
"What are you trying to say?” she whispers to me, her breath hitching in the back of her throat like she can barely get the words out. "Is this...?"
"I don’t know what this is," I reply. "But I-"
Before I can say another word, there’s a knock at the door. I straighten up and head over to answer it. On the other side stands Boone and Cora, his wife, and he lifts his chin in greeting.
"Didn’t have much luck catchin’ rabbits today," he remarks. "Was hoping you might be able to spare us a..."
But he trails off as his gaze moves past me and towards the woman curled up on my armchair. Cora brushes past me at once, her belly swollen with her child, and drops down to her knees in front of the girl sitting in my armchair.
"Are you alright?” she asks, her voice laced with genuine concern. The girl stares at her, her lips curled downward, clearly still as confused as ever.
"I – I don’t know," the girl admits, and she looks to me. "He just told me it’s 1857. And I don’t-"
"Oh, God," Cora mutters, reaching out to take her hand. "Another one, Boone."
"Another one?” I ask, frowning.
"Another what?” the girl asks.
"What’s your name, sweetie?" Cora asks.
"Riley," the girl replies. "But I-"
"Riley, I don’t know how to tell you this, but whatever year you came from, that’s the better part of two centuries into the future now," Cora tells her softly. "The same thing happened to me. Let me guess, you were out here hiking alone, and...?”
"I fell into the river," Riley confesses, her face draining of color. "And when I came to, all my things were gone, and I was-"
"You were here," Cora finishes up for her, tightening her grip on her hand. "I know it’s hard to believe, but you’re not where you used to be. You’re not in the twenty-first century anymore. You...you travelled through time."
I stare at Cora, glancing over to Boone if he seems to be reacting to his wife’s announcement with any kind of shock – but he doesn’t. He’s clearly heard this all before. Hell, by the look onhis face, he believes her, too. Riley’s eyes fill with tears, her lips parting in abject shock.
"That’s not possible," she tells Cora, shaking her head. "I can’t do- nobody can-"
"I know," Cora soothes her. "Have you eaten anything? Slept? I promise it’ll start to make some more sense tomorrow, when you wake up..."
"No, I can’t just..."
The tears begin to fall, and Cora pulls her into a tight hug, holding her close.
"It’s going to be alright," she promises her, though the words sound futile, even to my ears. Because if what she is saying is true, how the hell is this girl going to make it? She can’t just put it all behind her – or in front of her, whatever you call it. If she’s from the future...
"Come on," Boone murmurs to Cora, reaching out for her hand. "You need to give her some time to rest. You remember what it was like..."
"I know," Cora sighs, straightening up and patting Riley’s arm. "We live just along the path, okay, Riley? You need to talk, you come to me..."
But Riley can barely get a word out in response. I give Boone and Cora a rabbit I’m not going to need and send them on their way, and, when the door is shut behind them, a sudden heavy silence settles over the room.
"Is it true?” she whispers, as she looks up at me again. "That we’re...that we’re..."
But before she can get the words out, the tears start to fall again. My heart twists seeing her in such distress, it’s hard not to. I might not know a damn thing about this girl, or why she has appeared on my doorstep like this, but I am not going to close off my heart completely.
"Get some sleep," I tell her. "You heard Cora. Come on, you can have my bed..."
And, as I go to pull her to her feet, I can feel the tremble in her lithe body, as she tries to make sense of this. And the sudden shock of having a woman in my home after all this time might have me wondering just the same thing.
