The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

     In 1975, Ella Christian was 25 years old. Her large blonde curls shimmered in the faint morning light that shone through the Columbus, Ohio Train Station. If the few onlookers who waited or loitered around the train station glanced at her, it would be difficult to tell if she were diminutive or if she had the build of an aging slave. However, they would be able to see that beneath her dress of ornate embroidery and lace was a large swollen belly. She pulled her suitcase with wheels by the handle. 

     She joined the extensive line at the ticket counter to the National Limited train line. When she reached the ticket window of glass and bars Ella said, “One-way ticket to New York City, please.” 

     “Passenger or first-class?” the clerk replied. 

     She looked furtively at the line behind her and pulled her purse strap further over her shoulder. The line was of people of different races: Black, Asian, Latino, and White. 

     “First-class please.” 

     After the call “ALL ABOARD!” she presented her ticket, placed her things in the sleeper cabin and went to the dining car for breakfast, balancing her lower-back to lower herself into a booth. After she ordered, it was not long before the server, a Black woman in her 40s with the name-tag ‘Laura’ brought to Ella’s table, on a tray: a platter of two slices of toast, a bowl of strawberry preserves, and a butter plate of butter. 

     “I will have your eggs benedict out in a moment. Will that be all?” Laura said. 

     Ella held the toast in the air for the server, waiting. While still holding up the toast, Ella kept her eyes lowered, still reading a magazine called “High Society,” glossy with images of rich/affluent women at parties. Ella was careful not to pay attention to Laura. Laura paused, unclear of the meaning of the gesture by Ella, holding the toast in the air. Ella looked away from the magazine and moved the toast above the butter and jelly. 

     Laura muttered, “Aye Captain” and reached over the table setting to get Ella’s butter knife. The train shook and wobbled with the rattling sound of silverware and plates; Passengers leaned to keep themselves and drinks upright against the train hitting bumps on the track. Laura nearly lost her balance. Ella put down the magazine so that Laura could reach her butter knife, but one could also take that to mean that she desperately did not want to touch a commoner. Now that the magazine was out of the way and Ella’s arms shied away from touching Laura, Laura could see bruises on Ella’s arms and Ella’s enlarged, pregnant belly. 

     “Going to see the father?” to which Ella shook her head no. 

     “What a shame, dear, I am sorry.” 

     Ella took a cigarette from a cigarette holder in her purse and put it in her mouth without lighting it. After she placed the spread on the toast, Laura crossed her arms and glared at the unlit cigarette in Ella’s mouth. That pause led Ella to look up at Laura, whose heavy frame and round arms loomed over her. Ella closed her fingers to remove the cigarette and handed it to the outstretched hand of Laura, who accepted it and walked away.

     Walking into the dining car was Malik, a handsome Black man, who looked young for his age. He wore a black jumpsuit and horned rimmed glasses with red-tinted lenses. There was an insignia of vertical dashes on the suit near his heart. He sat down in the booth across from Ella. “No, it is not taken, go right ahead.’ He looked around nervously, he knelt to one knee and lowered his head respectfully and climbed back into the booth. 

     Ella smiled and said, “You read my mind.” 

     He sat down in the seat across from her in the same booth and said formally, “Ella, I am going to be brief.” 

     “How do you know my name?” she responded surprised. 

     “Ella Elliot Christian, my name is Malik David. I have travelled here via time travel from the future. I am here to save you. You are going to be an especially important person to a great, many people one day, if and only if I rescue you. You constructed the time machine that brought me here. Here it is.” He took from under his arm a shoebox sized, tan-worn box and placed it on the table. He opened it and underneath the lid was an overweight ballet-dancer, standing on one toe. 

     “That is a convincing time machine,” as she took out another cigarette, tapped it on the holder and held it unlit in the air and said, “That pick-up line does wonders for women’s lib: hey baby, you are the future savior of humanity, just go home with me… Do you always hit on pregnant women?” 

     “You were raped by a relative.” 

     She paused stunned before she answers, “It is not possible for you to know that. He is dead. My family said that we eloped and that he ran away.” 

     “You are on this train because you auditioned for a part in a film, to be made in New York – “ 

     “What is my favorite band?” 

     “- Blondie.” 

     “Lucky guess. What am I thinking? Future Man.” 

     Frustrated, Malik leaned forward and whispers, “Not right now, okay. Look, it was a swindle. They are walking into the car in 10 seconds. 10-9-8-7…” Three men walked into the car. They were all wearing turtlenecks, suits, and black sunglasses of various muted colors. 

     Malik added, “They are his henchman. They are going to abduct you from this train when it stops in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and sell you into the sex trade…” 

     She leaned toward him too and whispered back, “Darren Stevens is the head of Pinnacle Pictures. We all thought this was my big break… You should have told me sooner.” 

     “You would not have believed me.,” he said, growing agitated. 

     She lighted the cigarette and shook off the ashes, but she did not puff on it. 

     “I still do not believe you. What if you are an evil time traveler, here to crucify the Messiah?” She flicked the cigarette so that more ashes would drop onto the ash tray. 

     “When those men tie you up and throw you off the train and pick you up in their helicopter and sell you to the porn industry, then you will believe me.” 

     She leaned back toward him and whispered even quieter: “So they have nationwide searches for ingenues who they cast in coveted roles, then they abduct them and sell them to rich perverts.” 

     “Right… or they force you to star in pornos.” 

     “Between you and me, my favorite actress is Pam Grier, you know Foxy Brown?” she chopped her hands in the air. “I bet they try to do that to her all the time. All right, what happens now?” 

     Malik looked over his shoulder to show her the door, “Our exit is beyond the sleeping car. We will walk to your bedroom and get your things. Your notebook- “ 

     “My notebook?” she froze in shock. 

     “Your notebook. The one that has your formulas.” 

     “The notebook that I will burn if anyone knows about it.” 

     “In an alternate timeline, the one we are changing right now, your theories, led to the construction of the time portal that brought me here. Your legacy will be that you will create a scientific revolution of teleportation, force fields, benevolent robots, the end of poverty, starvation – “. 

     “They will hear you- “. 

     “They do not know about it. They just want your body.” 

     “Okay, let’s go.” She grabbed her purse. 

     “Walk with me and ignore them.” 

     She quickly left money for the server. Malik took her by the arm and escorted her through the dining car toward the sleeping car. 

     “All the wrong people want me for my body.” 

     He had to restrain her as she turns her head, frustrated and in a rage, wanting to pounce on the three men. He pushed her through the door. They reached the sleeper car, a room with pull-down beds. She was the only occupant. She quickly grabbed the notebook and wrapped it in the other clothes she had on the bed and stuffed them into her suitcase. 

     “In my future, men will change.” She paused and faced him, “Do they have more men like you in the future?” 

     He placed the music box in the suitcase and answered, “Yes and no.” 

     “I’m honored.,” she said gently, “What happens now?” 

     “They were not expecting me to be with you, but they do not think we can get off the train until we get to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. One of the men is going to walk through the door. When he gets to the door, he is going to take out his gun, open the door and try to shoot us.” 

     “Oh my god- “, she snapped. 

     “You read my mind. Then I am going to kill him and put him in the bed and shut it. We will then climb up to a hatch on the ceiling at the end of the car and climb up.” 

     “Can we travel through time now and get away from here?” 

     “The portal is too large for the train. We will throw your suitcase into the river and keep your notebook, then I will activate the time portal, which will appear above the river, and we will jump from the train and into the portal.” 

     “I will not leave without you. You are going with me?” 

     “Yes. One more thing, when the gunman I am going to kill, a guy named Larry, does not go back to the dining car, they will be looking for him. So, we must hurry.” 

     “Give me a weapon.,” she ordered him. 

     “Here is one. It is a phaser; a phaser is a laser- “ 

     “I know what a phaser is! I watch Star Trek!” 

     “-It is set to kill so do not shoot me. If by some chance I get incapacitated, shoot him.” 

     Larry, the bald one among the henchman, entered the sleeping car, walking slowly. He reached the chamber where he could hear them talking. Larry stepped close to the door and whispered, “Hey brotha, I saw you with that girl. The boss is gonna turn her out. Hand her over to us and there could be something in it for you.” 

     Malik snapped back angrily, “fuck off.” They both stood in a defensive and ready position. 

     Larry snarled, “I am talkin’ money real money. White pussy… heh?” rubbing his chubby fingers together. 

     Suddenly, Larry barreled through the door and dived at Ella with a gun in his right hand, pointed at the ceiling. Malik kicked the gun, and it flew out of Larry’s hand. Larry lurched forward violently and landed on top of a horrified Ella. Larry, pressing his body hard against Ella, stuck his tongue out and tried to lick her with an ecstatic look on his face. She held his hand up to his face to keep it away. Malik landed a punch in Larry’s ribs. Larry bent limply and held his rib and fell onto the bed opposite Ella. Ella, shaking and frightened, pulled the trigger on the phaser, the red beam hit Larry, and he glowed momentarily and then collapsed. 

     “GOD DAMNED Pig! Okay, focus Ella, focus.,” she said to herself. 

     Mailk carefully grabbed the phaser from her and picked up her suitcase and led her through the car. There was a ladder next to a hatch on the roof of the car. He pulled down the ladder as she watched the door to the dining car nervously. He beckoned her to climb the step ladder, and she did. He followed. 

     They climbed the ladder. Because the train was travelling 90 miles an hour, the wind hit them hard. Her long blonde curls were parallel to the ground, in the wind. She crawled onto the roof. Treetops passed her. He followed her and closed the hatch. On that spring day, the sky was a magnificent blue, the noontime Sun warmed them in the cool wind. 

     “We will get to the Susquehanna River in 15 minutes.” 

     “They will not be able to find us up here.” 

     “They will. They have a confederate; the helicopter that was supposed to abduct you will be here. It will see us and radio them.” He opened her suitcase and removed her notebook and the music box. 

     “I used to have a music box just like this one. I kept it as a keepsake in my vanity box.” 

     “That is yours. You turned your music box into a time machine.” 

     Wide-eyed, she turned it over. Etched on the bottom of the music box were the words: “Ella’s Time Machine.” She turned it around to show it to him. 

     “Back then, I called it my time machine. I dreamt it would transport me away from this place and now it is. I dreamt of meeting a handsome soldier, going to college, settling down. You must be distinguished to be shepherding such precious cargo.” 

     “I am an Admiral.,” he shared. 

     She pulled the hair that the wind blew, away from her face, “I will not leave, unless you promise to help me raise this baby.” 

     “Before I came here, you told me you would say that.” 

     The sound of a helicopter’s rotors filled the sky. It flew toward the train and changed its angle when its pilot saw them. It moved over them, toward them, and followed the train, but swaying in the wind, trying to stay alongside them. 

     “The pilot is calling the other two goons by radio now.,” Malik said matter-of-factly. The other two were in Ella’s room where they found Larry. One of them muttered angrily into a hand radio. 

     The pilot responded mechanically, “they are on the roof of the third car from the end.” 

     Ella said curiously, “So, I did jump? I did leave then. Is that a promise? I know I am not much right now, so much depends on me. I hope that I am not disappointing anyone…” 

     “We will send you to college. History will record that you are a genius. You will learn to love poetry and music... You will study ballet again and raise your daughter in a better world. I will be your protector.” 

     “Say no more.,” she said putting two fingers over his mouth. 

     Malik pointed ahead, in the distance; they were fast approaching the wide river. The men lowered the ladder and tried to open the hatch. Malik held the hatch shut, preventing them from opening it. Both men fell down the ladder onto the floor. Malik lay against the hatch and took the phaser out of its holster. 

     “I suppose this is the part of the fairy tale where you tell me that you are going to sacrifice yourself to save me.” 

     “No, this is the part of the movie where I straight surprise open this hatch, and you shoot and kill those two goons.” 

     “Groovy.,” she smiled, and he handed her the phaser. The men were back on their feet and on the ladder, trying to force open the door. He braced himself and clenched his teeth against the double pressure on the door, having to use the weight of his entire body to keep the hatch door shut. It opened and closed, opened, and closed again. She balanced herself on her knees on the other side of the hatch, the wind blew her blonde curls horizontally. 

     “On three… 1, 2, 3!”, Malik shouted then opened the door and Ella fired downward. The phaser recoiled and her wrist bent from the beam. The red beam hit both men and blasted them to the floor, where they lay lifeless. 

     “Whoa, trippy.” 

     “Okay, we are near the river.,” taking the phaser and holstering it. She clutched the notebook tightly and he threw her suitcase off the side of the train. 

     “Ella, wind the music box.” 

     She wound the music box completely. The ornament of the overweight ballet dancer began to spin. He put his hands over hers. 

     “Malik, I have never met anyone like you. The future I make is one worth living in.” 

     Mailk put his arm around Ella and said into her ear, “This is the world’s gratitude.” 

     A portal opened. A blue wind only they could see began to circle all around them, a funnel of clouds and sparks. Her hair became still and fell to her side. They could no longer hear the helicopter, and the helicopter pilot could no longer see them, believing they had already jumped. She turned her waist left and pointed the music box to the starboard side of the train. 

     They approached the steel river bridge still at 90 miles per hour. She aimed the music box, suspending the portal over the trees and land, and soon the river. The portal formed in a circle over the land that only they could see. It was a vortex of light and fire. Its invisible and undulating ebb and flow created a whirlpool in the water below. 

     Because she was shaking, Malik said plainly, “Okay, don’t be afraid.” 

     “You changed me...,” Ella said about her emotions. 

     He closed the music box. The portal remained. They only had another minute. He put his arm around her and held her close. 

     “We jump now.,” he said. 

     “This is some… Butch and Sundance show!” she shouted, and she planted a kiss on his lips. He grabbed her by the arm, and they jumped, hand in hand. After they fell through the portal, it closed with a flash of light.

Hayes Davis was born in Akron, Ohio. His family retired to Alamogordo, NM when he was 15. He previously studied film at the no longer existent “The College of Santa Fe”. His novel “Madness”, a misunderstood thriller, is still unpublished. He graduated from NMSU-A with an associate degree. Now a Senior, he is a CMI Digital Filmmaking Major.

This story is dedicated to diversity, equality, and inclusion. Hayes believes absolutely everybody needs it.