Harry’s Failed Experiment
HARRY’S FAILED EXPERIMENT
“Is that the best idea?” said Richard. “Telling her about your stories?”
“What have we accomplished by keeping secrets?” said Vivian. “Driven the poor child from one therapist to the next, forced her to exist in a world she doesn’t belong to without explaining why. What’s the point? She should know everything.”
“I like your stories, Aunt Vivian. Sometimes they seemed more real than the world around me.”
“Because they are real,” said Vivian. “But to understand why, I have to tell you about that night.” Vivian fell silent for a moment and Tess realized for the first time since they arrived on the island how different it felt and sounded in October than in the summer.
No crickets chirping or owls hooting. The warm smell of grass and green trees replaced by the crisp musk of autumn leaves.
Tess could grow to love this version of the island as much as the summer version, she thought.
Finally Vivian began. “I remember it like it was yesterday. He had the radio on, and the alignment was just a minute or so away. I’d never seen him so excited.
Once he made the decision he jumped in with both feet.
You know how Harry was; his scientific curiosity was this driving force that could have made him do anything.
And that was the lesser of the two forces acting on Harry that night. ”
“The other one was me,” said Tess.
“Yes,” said Vivian.
“Harry said love was the strongest force in the universe.”
“In two universes, as it turns out. There we were in the circle of trees, the radio playing romantic music and the lightning flashing in the distance and the air crackling. You couldn’t hear it, but you could feel it—this tingling under your skin.
I thought it was the electrical storm, but Harry said no.
He had felt that before, he said, and this was something different.
This was another universe approaching. This was you approaching.
“‘What if she’s not in the circle of trees in the other universe?’ I asked, but Harry shook off my question.
He was single-minded. He didn’t care about the other Harry in the other universe whose daughter he was trying to steal away.
All he cared about was you and science, in that order.
‘She belongs with me,’ he said. ‘The portal will understand that.’”
“That was Harry,” said Richard. “Always certain his experiments would work.”
“Then suddenly the music on the radio turned to static and the tingling sensation became so intense it felt like my skin was on fire and I saw this look of terror on Harry’s face.
He tried to shove me out of the circle, but I held my ground and yelled at him to tell me what was wrong.
I’d never seen him look so afraid, so unsure—and those amounted to the same emotion for Harry.
He realized what he had done wrong, and he knew it was too late to do anything about it.
He’d thought he was in total control and now he was at the mercy of forces he had no way of understanding. ”
“You saw all that on Harry’s face?” said Tess.
“Your father was always easy to read,” said Vivian.
“That look only lasted a couple of seconds, and then Harry regained some composure. He shoved me again and yelled at me to get out of the circle before it was too late. I stumbled toward the trees, but I wouldn’t leave until I knew, until I understood what had gone wrong.
I almost fell when Harry pushed me a second time, but I grabbed his arm and looked right into his eyes and said, ‘What is it? What went wrong?’”
“Did he answer?” said Tess.
“He said the last words I ever heard him speak,” said Vivian.
“He said, ‘I needed them. I needed them all.’ And then the entire circle erupted in flames and Harry shoved me again and this time I staggered out of the fire, but just before I crossed the circle, I had this incredible vision—more realistic that any movie or photograph.”
“What was it?” asked Tess.
“I don’t remember,” said Vivian. “I never remember my stories after I tell them. And that night, after Marie abandoned us on the dock, I told you that first one. You see, Tess, that night your entire being crossed over into our universe, but I stayed here—mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“My body is firmly rooted in this universe, but, if my guess is correct, my consciousness slips into the other universe every now and then. I inhabit the consciousness of some other person long enough to absorb a memory.”
“Your stories.”
“My stories,” said Vivian. “Harry said there might be a possibility of one of us having a consciousness that peeked into other universes. Even though the stories don’t stay with me for long, anytime you were nearby when one came, I always told you.”
“News from my home universe.”
“Something like that. They soothed you. They made you feel…”
“They made me feel connected to home,” said Tess, “though I never put it in those words until now.”
“That’s all I wanted for you,” said Vivian.
“I think I’m ready,” said Tess.
“Ready for what?” said Richard.
“Ready for you to send me back.”