Page 62 of Maybe Some Other Time

This time, for a very different purpose.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jed from group said at the front of a small crowd, “we are here today for a very noble purpose. Something many of us have experienced as a process for moving beyond our experiences and taking back our lives. A funeral!”

Minor applause erupted from one side of the crowd to the other. Thelma stood in the center of them, trying to eschew shyness.

“It’s for this momentous occasion,” Jed continued, “that I want to make it clear that the Thelma standing among us today is very much alive and well. So much so that we get to be part of this rite of passage in every chrononaut’s healing journey.”

“Who died and made him pastor?” Pauline muttered beside Thelma.

Meanwhile, the actual Pastor Liz—not to be confused with Lizzie, who stood at the far fringe of the group looking positively, decadently, morosely Victorian—looked around with wonder in her eyes.

She was the only one from church brought into the FBI office and made privy to Thelma’s predicament.

In return, she was involuntarily made a volunteer for the government.

Now, when women like Thelma appeared from the fog, a spiritual advisor was on hand.

Wish I had something like that back then.

Oh, well. She had made it through, hadn’t she?

Pastor Liz was the one brought forward to unveil the brand-new headstone erected beneath the large tree. More applause commenced, this time louder, because that was a mighty fine stone everyone had raised money for.

On it, an angel was etched, its wings outstretched from one side of the stone to the other, and its hands fastened in prayer above the name THELMA VAN DER GRAAF.

Beneath was the date of Thelma’s birth in 1930 and the date she disappeared in 1958.

The epitaph was a simple, “Loving Wife and Mother—Finally Brought Home.”

After all, Thelma’s missing persons case was officially closed.

They now knew what happened to her that foggy night in 1958.

There was closure for those still living and even those who were now in Heaven, as Pastor Liz explained when it was her turn to give a short sermon about the miracles of the universe and the meaning of life and death.

Why shouldn’t Thelma have a funeral? She was far from the first time traveler to put herself to rest so she could start a whole new life in a new time.

Pauline has a gravestone in Pasadena. Frank’s had existed before he appeared in the future, and he saw no reason to remove it.

Jo didn’t bother, because she had disappeared so long ago that she no longer recognized the world in ways even Thelma could not fathom.

All three of them were here now—yes, even Frank.

Crystal had suggested everyone in group attend the funeral as part of their own process, and there they were, wearing yellow ribbons that represented the people missing from home.

Most who spoke were only interested in sharing what it was like to be a time traveler, from the fears, the confusion, and the tremendous grief that came with no longer belonging in a place that had once been home.

And even Agent Wilcox, who was there on official business, took a moment to thank everyone for being understanding and following the outlines of their NDAs now that there were more among them who knew about time travel.

Yet the one who shocked Thelma the most? Robbie, looking like he’d rather shoot himself in the shin than stand in front of those people who knew he was Thelma’s son.

“Well, you see…” He sniffed, pale in the face since he had just received his weekly treatment the day before.

But he kept himself upright as he addressed the people before him.

“I was that kid who got bothered by the press and the police when the whole kerfuffle happened. ‘Course, we had no idea what happened to my mom. There were lots of terrible accusations against my dad, but he stayed strong. Seeing something like this makes me feel all sorts of ways, because my dad never wanted my mom legally declared dead. He always believed she was alive out there somewhere. Naturally, that meant he thought she left us, but I think he was okay with that if it meant she was happy. And as far as I can tell, my mom’s pretty happy now. I’m learning to count my blessings, just like Mom always used to tell me almost every day.

‘Count your blessings, Robbie.’ ” Thelma hated to admit it, but it wasn’t a terrible impression.

“ ‘You never know when God will call you up to ask if you’re square.’ Well.

Guess we’re square. It’s nice to see something like this finally.

And it’s nice to have my mom in my life again, even though it still feels weird to say that. ”

Thelma offered him a kiss on the cheek when he rejoined the crowd. It was her turn.

And wasn’t it strange, speaking at her own funeral?

“ Count it all joy, my brethren, ” she recited. “ When you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

She let out a large breath. Pastor Liz was the only one smiling in beatitude.

“That was one of the first things I read when I came to this time,” she said, unable to look anywhere but at a patch of sunlight on the grass before her.

“There I was, stuck in this quiet hotel room in the FBI field office, and all I had to read was a Bible. When I opened it to that passage, I knew it was a sign of some kind. Some higher power was telling me to be steadfast through this adversity I found myself in. If I could just hang on to who I was, then I would be okay.”

More than one person nodded.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself this past year, of course.

I’ve learned that I can survive just one more day, even when everything inside my heart is crumbling, because I don’t know what’s going on or where I am.

And I learned that I can stand up for myself through adversity.

I mean, we always think we can do things like that.

But then something like this happens, and it’s as good as getting a swift kick in the rear by whatever power wants you growing a bit more. ”

She sniffed.

“Anyway, it means a lot that so many of you came out here today for this. I not only have my family that is still here today, including my beautiful granddaughter, whom I would have never known had I not traveled that night. And all you lovely people in the group who took me in and made me feel at home with other time-traveling misfits. Crystal, of course, helped me learn about mindfulness and making peace with the anxiety this experience has given me. And Teacher Bee held my hand through things like the Vietnam War and Ronald Reagan, whom I still can’t believe became president.

I mean, the guy from Bedtime for Bonzo? ”

That got the chuckle she sought.

“Everyone I met at Pride, at church, helped me learn that I could both be the person I always was and have a spiritual side to myself as well. That’s something I don’t think I could have really had back then.

I just accepted it, because it was my fate.

But now? I am who I am.” She looked at Pastor Liz when she said that.

“Maybe I don’t really believe in the old-fashioned Christian God that was everywhere a year ago for me.

But I believe in something. I believe in miracles.

And it’s a miracle that brought me here before you today.

Especially…” She glanced at Gretchen, who kept a respectful distance from some of the others who were excited to be there. “Well, you know who you are.”

“She means her hot new honey,” Lizzie said from beneath her black parasol.

As everyone laughed and Thelma was put in that precarious spot, she couldn’t help but acknowledge the last elephant among them.

“It’s no secret why I’ve chosen to bury my past here.

” She motioned to the other headstone. “A year ago, I would have insisted on being buried next to Bill, but he had someone else. He had the immense privilege of dying a married man who had a wife waiting for him. Sandy didn’t.

” She swallowed, finally staring down at Sandy’s headstone with her full heart.

“I hope she gets to relive those college years over and over up in Heaven. I hope she sees me as the woman she said goodbye to that afternoon, not the one who was on missing posters and having silly videos made about her on the internet.”

When she teared up too much to continue, Gretchen stepped forward, hugging her.

“It’s okay,” she said into the top of Thelma’s head. “She knows.”

Yes. She does. Some part of her, some eternal part of Thelma’s soul, was up in Heaven with Sandy, lying on a blanket in the school quad or sharing secrets late into the night.

They ate cucumber sandwiches and made love in a married woman’s marital bed.

She was there the morning of Thelma’s wedding, telling her how beautiful she was—and how badly she wished they could run away together, but she knew Thelma never would.

Let’s run away together now, Sandy. That piece of Thelma’s soul was entwined with Sandy’s. They could go anywhere in the world they wanted and exist in that moment.

The Thelma of now, though? The one who continued to inhabit that body and move forward, day by day?

She clung to Gretchen, grateful to have met her.

The funeral was not meant to be a dreadful affair.

Once the speeches were given and pictures were taken, they moved to a public park nearby where they had a catered picnic complete with coffee and her homemade snickerdoodles (which had been a huge hit at the Chinese restaurant on Christmas.) FBI agents were on standby since talk of time travel was on everyone’s lips, but Thelma and Megan convinced some to take pictures with them and to eat those world-famous cookies.

Thelma laughed to reminisce about Miriam Ortiz quizzing her on world cuisine she had never heard of before—many of which Thelma had sampled at least once that past year.

Everyone wanted to know what she planned on doing now that she was more comfortable with her place in time and still had her whole life ahead of her.

There’s so much! Travel. Volunteering. Going back to school to finish her degree.

She didn’t know what kind of work she wanted to do, but she gravitated toward the FBI field office and might finish her degree with an eye for working in the time travel department, helping new chrononauts navigate the crazy world of Los Angeles in the 21 st century.

Many told her to pursue a major in psychology, and she had that in her back pocket on top of American history.

She dodged questions about her personal life, if only because that was between her and Gretchen, who had been steadily dating since making up that past Christmas.

It was much too soon to speak of marriage, but Thelma wanted to move in together by summer, since she had so many ideas of how to bring Gretchen’s house up to a…

certain standard. And wasn’t it convenient, having both houses right next to each other?

Oh, Megan couldn’t move out so soon after graduating in another year.

But if Robbie could be convinced, maybe Emma should move in with them!

“You have it all figured out, huh?” Gretchen asked as they sat at a picnic table by themselves. Only a few feet away, many of the guests from group danced to an oldies playlist that blasted from someone’s poor phone speakers. “Must be that classic housewife’s brain I’ve heard so much about.”

“Well, when you have the power of the pocketbook, the budget, and the bank account…”

“And the food. Don’t forget all that good food you cook.”

“Don’t give me that tone,” Thelma teased. “You love my cooking.”

“Until I found out how much lard was going in it…”

Thelma laughed. “Yes! The lard!”

“Hey!” called Pauline from the small group of dancers. “Thel! It’s your song!”

Someone cranked up “Twilight Time” by the Platters. Thelma leaped up from the picnic table, grabbing Gretchen’s hand and insisting that they sway together with the other couples forming in the clearing. They nestled neatly between Pauline and Ethan and Megan and Emma.

“This is my favorite song,” Thelma said to her girlfriend. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“I think you’re more beautiful than any song.”

“Oh, you corndog.”

It was while they danced out of step to the song that Thelma saw her son sitting by himself on a bench, his dour demeanor reminding her of how ill he looked the day she disappeared. Not on my watch. She hustled up to him and, with Gretchen’s help, took his hands and pulled him into the dance party.

“Where’s your smile, Mr. Mopey Pants?” she chided as the song faded into “Wipeout.” “You telling me you never learned how to dance?”

“It’s weird to dance with your mother!”

“Then dance with me, sport.” Gretchen deepened her voice as she pushed Thelma out of the way and moved in front of Robbie. “Come on, we’ve gotta work on this relationship before the wedding. Maybe throw a ball around.”

“Stop doing that!”

Thelma removed her sweater now that she had worked up a small sweat.

In the midst of the dancers, she spun around on her own, her curls fluttering against her cheek.

This year, I learned that matter is neither created nor destroyed.

It merely changed, filtering through the trees, returning to the earth, and raining from the sky as the circle of life went on around everyone to ever live and breathe.

That’s me. A year ago, her particles were rearranged.

She joined the winds, the rains, and the screams of human laughter for sixty years before reorganizing into Thelma Van der Graaf, a woman who was honored to live through today.

Whatever day today was.

The End

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