Molly and Steed projected themselves back to the pool with relative ease.   Standing poolside, they looked around.

Steed said, “Okay, do you want to go farther back or see if we can return to the stairway or what?”

“I now feel more sure that we will be able to get back to the stairway. Let’s explore this time a little bit more.”

“So where do you want to go?  Do you want to focus on a different family? Do you see a family or someone you want to follow?”

Molly said, “Look at that nice looking young man standing there talking to the young woman.  I wonder if they are married or have children.  If we could find a young couple just starting out, I think it might be better than wasting time trying to decide if an established family is going to have more children.”

“Let’s go eavesdrop.”

“So,” the young man said to the woman, “what do you say we sneak up to that vacant house?  The Mill hasn’t rented it to anyone yet and I’m pretty sure no one will bother us.”

“I hardly even know you. And what do you know about me?”

“I know your name is Sally.  I know you are nineteen and your boyfriend is in prison. I know you go to Atlanta about once a month to earn extra money.  And I know you have a poor memory or you’d remember the time I also was in Atlanta.”

“It was a dark alley, but I do remember your voice.  I just wouldn’t have thought you’d known it was I who was in the dark alley with you.  But I should have known it was not just my looks that caused you to seek me out of the crowd of pretty women, many of them bouncing around and batting their eyes at you.  So tell me Steve, how do you know about my boyfriend?”

“My name isn’t Steve.  It is Larry or perhaps Harry, or maybe it is Monk, or maybe I am a Monk.”

“Monk! Yeah, right. I doubt you could stay chase a day, much less during a stay in a Monastery.”

“Okay, so we are agreed that I’m not a Monk.”

“And we are agreed that I don’t know what your real name is?”

“Now, let us agree to go up to the vacant house.”

“I repeat, how do you know about my boyfriend?”

“The only way you are going to find that out is if you go to the vacant house with me. And I will pay you with more than just information.”

“Alright, but just so you know, if you try to hurt me you will regret it.”

Molly and Steed looked at one another.  Steed said, “I do hope that vacant house is far enough away so that neither of us get trapped. Can you imagine having either of those two as parents?”

“No. It would be a nightmare.  Look at that guy over there with that gold chain around his neck.  The one sitting near the exit.”

“I noticed him when we were here in time before.  He has some strange foot obsession. What? Do you think he might make a good father?”

“No.  Hardly. I noticed him when he came out of the pool.  See how he keeps staring toward pool steps.”

“Yeah, so?”  Then Steed screamed, “Oh no.   Where is Luke? To what point in time did we project ourselves back?”  Quickly, Steed began projecting to everyone, “Look for your kids!”

As parents started looking around for their children, Molly pointed. “Look, there is Luke with a bucket.  He is walking over to man with the gold chain.”

“So we have projected back in time before the point when we fell in the pool.”

“I guess.  So is there a chance will we run into ourselves?”

“It is probably best if we avoid the chance encounter which would cause a duality.”

“I want to see how Luke ends up in the bottom of the pool.”

“As long as we leave right when he goes under.”

Molly and Steed watch and listen as the guy with the gold chain begins talking with Luke.  “So, little boy, I noticed you watching me earlier. Does my gold chain interest you?”

Luke stares at the man and states, “You know why I was watching you. You sneak into houses where you don’t belong.”

The man stands up.  “Some imagination you’ve got there.  Or maybe you are psychic.”

“Or maybe I remember.”

“Remember me?  We’ve never met before.”  The man lied for he recognized Luke just as Luke had recognized him.  The man began seriously wondering how he might get Luke to sit on the steps to the large pool. The man asked, “Are you afraid of me?”

“Yes.”

“So why did you walk over to me?”

“I thought I might be wrong.  Maybe you just favored the man.”

“You are wrong.  I do have a common face. We’ve never met.”

Luke gave a devilish grin. “And maybe we will never meet again.”

The man thought, “If only I could count on that."  But he feared they would meet again and the little boy might still remember.  What if he remembered when he was old enough where someone might listen to him?  It wasn’t so much that he was afraid of someone listening to Luke about his sneaking into the little boy's house.  That would soon enough be ancient history in the minds of most people.  It was of something else that Luke might speak that concerned him.  It was something that the man would rather no one, not even his accomplices in crime, should hear.  The man looked around for his friend George.  “Where the hell did he go?”   After looking all around, he spotted him walking across the baseball field and up the hill with Sally, the girl they had been joking about earlier.  Quickly, he walked out of the pool area and then took off running trying to catch up with his friend.  He would have screamed for them to stop, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

Molly and Steed projected where they could hear what the man was going to say to his friend.

The man caught up with George and put his hand on his shoulder.  George turned around and looked at the man he knew as Monk, “Monk, what the hell do you want?”

Monk looked down at George’s loose fitting swimsuit.  Seeing that George had saw where he was looking, Monk laughed, “Well, first, think thoughts that aren’t sexual and get that tent out of your trunks.”

“Monk, leave me alone.  I have plans for what you call my tent and they don’t include you.”

Monk stuttered, “What, what, what is that supposed to mean?”

Sally laughed.  “I didn’t really want to go camping anyway.  Why don’t you two guys go camping together?  I’m going home.”

George rolled his eyes as Sally walked way from him.  “Monk, I ought to kill you.  You know how long I’ve wanted to be with her, and you spoiled it.  We got interrupted in the alley before we did anything, and now you.”

Monk told George.  “You know that kid I told you about.”

“Yeah.”

“He recognizes me. He remembers.”

George shook his head. “What can he remember, and who will believe him anyway.”

There were things that George didn’t know and Monk had no intention of telling him. Monk said, “He saw me in their house when I was looking for the information that Tatt Hartley wanted.”

“So?”

“The kid was smart enough to lock the door to make sure that his mother did not walk in on me.”

“And what if she had walked in on you.”

“I would have killed her.  It would have been better if I had killed them both.”

“You are crazy.  It would have been better if you had made sure that no one was home before you sneaked into the house.  You screwed up, but still you were lucky enough to not get caught.”

“You haven’t looked into that kid’s eyes. If I don’t eliminate him, he is going to spoil everything.”

George scratched his vanishing tent.  “Spoil what? Tatt caused the family enough financial hardship where they had to unload the property.  With help from the Puerto Rican syndicate and a few crooked cops, he was able to remove the equipment that his father had hidden in the secret mine on the property.”

“I think the kid may know about the mine.  If he mentions it and anyone locates it, the kid may be able to tell enough where someone--perhaps the Feds that are already suspicious of Tatt’s father--might put it all together. Do you know the number of state officials involved in the scheme to defraud the loan company who might be brought down?”

“Tatt should have thought about that before he went behind his father’s back and decided to take the equipment apart and smuggle the parts out of the country.  What Tatt did to that family just so he could get back control of that property and gain access to the secret mine was disgusting. Leave the kid alone.”

“What?  You think you owe the family something because they didn’t make a big deal when they caught you riding their horses late at night. Either you help me make sure this kid can’t talk, or you are a dead man.  Hell, I ought to kill you anyway, just for what you implied about me.”

“Implied about you?  What are you talking about? I am going home.  I am not going to help you hurt that kid.”

 “And will you squeal?”

“I don’t squeal.  But if you cause Tatt problems by what you are planning on doing, he will have you killed.” Then George muttered as he walked away from Monk.  “You are one crazy idiot.”

 Monk turned around and walked back to the pool.  At the pool, he noticed the bucket the kid had been playing with left in the kiddy pool.  He picked the bucket up and carried it with him into the larger pool.  He left it floating near the top pool step as he eased farther out into the pool.   Then he looked around to find where Luke was.  He saw Luke coming out of the restroom with Harley.  No sooner had Luke reentered the kiddy pool then he started looking for his bucket. Monk eased back behind a couple of large women talking, and somewhat disguising his voice screamed, “Your bucket is here in the big pool.”  Luke didn’t hear him. Monk screamed again, “Little boy, your bucket is on the steps of the big pool.”  One of the women turned around and noticed Luke looking for his bucket.  She eased up to the steps and got the bucket.  She called Luke to her and handed him the bucket.  Monk thought to his self, “Oh crap, lady, why did you do that?”

Luke told the woman, “Thank you madam.”

“You are perfectly welcome.  Now go back to the kiddy pool where you will be safe.”

As the woman turned and went back to her friends, Luke silently mocked her, “Now go back to the kiddy pool.”  Luke sat on the top step of the large pool and looked at his sister diving off the diving board.  “I don’t see her in the kiddy pool.”  Luke eased down to the next step.  Then he stood up as he bounced to the next step.  He quickly tried to turn to head back up the steps, as he didn’t like the feel of the water up to his mouth.  With people making small waves in the pool, Luke had to stand on his toes at times to stay above water and he found it difficult to keep his balance.

Monk thought perfect as he began easing beyond the large women and into position.  He hoped he would be able to reach Luke before Luke might reach a shallower step.  Monk dived under the water and quickly swam to where he could grab Luke’s feet.  Luke didn’t know what was happening as he felt himself being pulled under the water.  With Monk yanking him hard away from the steps, Luke’s head hit the bottom step. Luke felt completely disoriented as he opened his eyes under the water and stared at all the feet.  Luke struggled to turn and tread beneath the water to again reach the steps, but Monk would not let him.  Monk placed his knee against Luke’s chest.  One of the large women turned and looked at Monk.  Monk then very quickly lifted his knee off Luke and then headed for the side of the pool.

Molly and Steed looked at one another.  I guess we are about to make our entrance about now and so we should project ourselves to another place in time.