The next day after school after dropping his backpack at home, Paul headed to the garage. Taking a can of WD40, he headed to the house. Ducking behind the addition part of the house, he was happy he was hidden from the road. He soaked the sides the window, before settling the lubricant on the ground. He would hate to see what would happen if he brought the can to the past.

Again bracing himself, he pushed up on the window. Since he had lubricant it, it went up smoother. Figuring there was no other way to do this, he … she jumped in the window.

After dusting her lavender dress off, she quickly closed the window. She was planning on more exploration, but she was soon distracted by a guy saying, “Lady Elizabeth, Master Clarke will be here soon for your lessons.”

Elizabeth wondered who this guy was and what lessons. She followed the guy, who was dressed in clothes that screamed a servant, to the front common room. After she was in the room, the guy shut the door behind her.

She sat down on the couch, crossing hands on her lap, like a good young lady. Noticing a piece of fabric in the room, she picked it up. Looking at it, she saw that someone, maybe herself, was learning switches. Not knowing why or how she was doing it, she added more stitches in the fabric. It reminded her of a sampler she … he … had seen in the museum during the class trip last month.

As she was working on the large M in green that someone? … herself? … had previously started, the door of the room opened up.

The previous guy spoke, “Lady Elizabeth Madison, Master Clarke.” He lead a guy wearing nice clothes into the room, before exiting himself and closing the door.

Elizabeth looked at her teacher and decided that this guy was definitely not a servant. The clothes were well maintained but were still cotton in nature. The guy was using a cane to walk, but when he set it down near the door, she wondered if it was just fashion in nature. Elizabeth… No, Paul never paid attention when they talked in school about the trends of the past, because no one had told him there was going to be a pop quiz. Surprise! He… She currently was living that pop quiz.

As she was looking at Master Clarke, he spoke, as he clapped at the same time, “Lady Elizabeth, put your sampler down and sit down at the harpsichord to begin your lessons. You only have four days to perfect this piece.”

Not wanting to get in trouble, since she wasn’t what that would cause her, Elizabeth quickly sat down at what she discovered was a harpsichord. Looking at the music, she started getting nervous. Paul had no musical talent, and couldn’t read music. As she started getting nervous, she set her hands on the wood keys. Suddenly beautiful music started coming from the instrument. As her hands flew across the keys, she tried to figure out how she was doing this.

It seemed to her that when she got nervous, she suddenly had knowledge she shouldn’t have. After the piece was done, Master Clarke spoke, “Very good, Lady Elizabeth, let’s try it again, faster.”

Elizabeth wasn’t sure that faster was possible, but she tried it. To her untrained ears, she could hear definite errors in the piece this time. Looking at Master Clarke after finishing the piece, she could see he wasn’t impressed either.

Without being prompted, she did the piece over again at the same speed. She was satisfied with her work after this time. Master Clarke told her, “Excellent Lady Elizabeth, again please same speed, with a smile on your face.”

Elizabeth said, “Okay,” before doing the piece again with the best smile she could master on her face. After she was done, she giggled with happiness.

Master Clarke waited for the girl to finish with her giggle fit before turning the music over. He then told her, “Please try the music from memory, Lady Elizabeth.”

Nervously the young girl did the piece from memory, where she pulled that information from she didn’t have a clue. It appeared to her that she did it without error, but quite slowly.

“Once more, faster, and then your lessons are done for today, Lady Elizabeth,” Master Clarke told her.

Without a word, the young girl did it from memory a bit faster than before. As she gets closer to finishing the piece, she smiled a bit with a sense of satisfaction.

“I want to see that same smile Wednesday, Lady Elizabeth,” Master Clarke told her, as he packed up his stuff. A lady who looked like an older version herself took that cue to walk in the room.

The lady spoke, “Master Clarke, how did my daughter do?”

“Lady Abigail, Lady Elizabeth did well. She should be ready for Wednesday,” the music Instructor spoke.

The lady who was apparently her mother, spoke to her, “Elizabeth, locate yourself in the dining room, Ruth will have dinner served soon.”

Elizabeth walked across the hall to the room she figured out was the correct room yesterday. She walked in the room to discover the guy from earlier pulling a chair out. She sat down on the chair as he pushed her towards the table. Her attention was drawn to her right by someone speaking, “Elizabeth, please thank Joseph.”

After thanking the servant, who she now knew the name of, she turned to look at the guy in the room. He was dressed as smartly as she was, she wondered if he was her father. She was soon distracted by her mother entering the room and getting the same treatment as she had by Joseph.

As if a silent trigger had been tripped, the mysterious Ruth and Lucy walked in with the dinner. After setting it down on the side table, Lucy set to work scooping out a bowl of soup for her. A glass of a dark liquid was placed in front of her next to the plate. The three servants had a different person to serve. Tasting the liquid, she decided it was nothing she had ever tasted before. Finding the spoon, she started eating the soup. When she was done with the soup, Lucy took her bowl away.

After her parents were done, all three were served a plate. While she was eating, she had an idea, but needed supplies for it. Speaking to her dad, “Father, I would like to write a note, do you have paper I can use?”

Her father spoke, “I believe I have one Sweetie, there should be a quill and ink in your room. Do not spill it. I would hate to replace your gowns. You already outgrow them fast enough.”

After the main dish was done, a dessert was set in front of her. It was some sort of delicious apple cobbler. As the dinner was winding down, her mother spoke to her, “Sweetie finish your small beer.”

After she finished the small beer, she followed her father towards his office. After waiting patiently, she received about a letter sized paper with what looked like an auction notice on it, printed on a printing press.

“I don’t need that need that notice anymore, Sweetie, the backside is blank.” He spoke.

Elizabeth thanked him for it and went upstairs to her bedroom. She found the ink jar and quill on her shelf. Setting everything carefully on the ground, she uncapped the ink, and carefully wrote on the top of the blank side, “What happens when I come here. — EAM”

While letting the paper dry, she put the ink and quill away. Once the paper was dry, she set it under her pillow.

She then went back downstairs, to the rear common room. She had noted that her father was still working in his office across the hall. She could hear her mother giving one of the servant instructions in the front room. Going to the window that would allow her to leave the 18th century, she realized it was dangerously close to the door connecting the fancy front room to sparsely decorated back room.

Slowly she raised the window, listening for movement in the front room. Once the window was opened, after looking around, she stuck her upper body out. Unlike last time, no one pulled him back into the 18th century. After falling on the ramp, he got up and dusted himself off. He closed the window before turning to pick up the … nonexistent… can of WD40. He thought to himself, “Where the heck did that can go?!?!?”

Because of fear of discovery, he ran the few blocks home. Before going into the house to get ready for bed because of the lateness of the day, he stopped in the garage. Looking on the shelf, he discovered the can was exactly where it belongs. He was so shocked that he exclaimed out loud, “What the world!?!?”

Going into the house, he promptly went to his backpack and pulled it upstairs to his bedroom. Pulling his homework, he was shocked to discover it was done! In his handwriting too! He decided that it was his cue to get ready for bed.

Author's Note:Comments and questions are always welcomed -- Thanks Becky