CLARA went over to Jennifer and asked “Jennifer, can you hear yourself talk when you’re talking to that servant?”
“You mean McFlius?” said Jennifer.
“Oh dear.” said Clara, “This is what I was afraid about. You’re beginning to know a lot about him.”
“Like he’s seasick.” said Jennifer “But insisted in going.”
“Alright.” said Clara handing Jennifer the remote, “Just forget about McFlius and go get the DeLorean.”
Immediately, Jennifer turned to go outside to get it. But when she arrived, there was a huge crowd out there surrounding the house.
This is going to be fun. she said to herself as she found the nearest pillar and hid behind it.
Then she located the horn button and pushed it. A horn honked. Immediately, people turned around to see where it came from. As they did, Jennifer activated the hover switch and put on the visor. There, she could see the invisible DeLorean lift off the ground and float in her direction. Then, looking under her visor she pushed the button for the headlights and they went on. People began to kneel down and bow their heads as if the were worshiping something.
Clara heard the commotion and came out to see what it was. She saw the people bowing and kneeling down. And then, she looked up and saw a couple of lights in the sky. Lights resembling the headlights of a car. And then, she saw Jennifer hiding behind the pillar holding the remote as if she was playing with it.
Clara approached her and asked “Jennifer. What are you doing .”
“Oh just making a god out of Johnny D.” said Jennifer.
“Alright Jennifer.” said Clara, “Just take the car to the back via the side of the house and land it. Then, we’ll both wheel it into that outbuilding Calpurnia was talking about.”
Immediately, Jennifer complied.
After getting to the back, Clara had her stop short of the pool and said “Alright Jennifer. Now try guiding the car towards that shack.”
“Right.” said Jennifer as she fiddled with the controls. After a few turns, she positioned the car for a soft landing on a clear patch of land near the shed after which she landed the car.
Once it was on the ground, Clara said “Alright, we’ll quietly go over
there and wheel it in. Jennifer you’ll have to guide me since it’s dark back
here.”
“Right.” said Jennifer as she took Clara’s hand and used the visor to
survey the area. Seeing the side of the pool, she took her fellow time traveler
on a line parallel to the edge until she reached the end of the pool and then
made a turn and was able to guide Clara to the car. Finding the door, Jennifer
opened it.
“Alright.” said Clara as she got in and opened the glove compartment. Producing a couple of flashlights, she gave one to Jennifer saying “We’ll wheel it in and close the door.”
“Right.” said Jennifer as she went over to open the shed.
Then, she went back to help wheel the car in by taking on side of the DeLorean while Clara held the other.
“Aright.” said Clara, “At the count of three, we wheel it in. One, two, three. And…”
At that count both women wheeled it into the open shed. Within minutes, the cloaking device was turned off as Clara threw on the brakes after which the two women closed the doors and headed back to the house.
“Alright.” said Clara, “Once we’re inside, be sure that nobody sees these flashlights. Hide them inside your costume.”
“Good idea.” said Jennifer, “You know, I’m going to like this era. Everything’s so simple.”
“Don’t let it go to your head, Jennifer.” said Clara, “Remember, this is Calpurnia’s era not ours. We don’t belong here just as much as Calpurnia doesn’t belong in our era.”
“You’re right.” said Jennifer as they finally reached the house.
They barely got inside as the servants were about to lock the door to the back for the night.
“Oh, thanks for holding the door open.” said Clara.
“You’re welcome.” said one of the servants, “What were you to shepherdesses out there in the dark?”
Both paused for a minute. Then, Clara said “Stargazing.”
The servants looked at each other very peculiarly.
Then, Lorrainia came in saying “The guestroom ready for both of you.”
“That’s good.” said Clara.
“And if you two ladies are hungry we have some food prepared for you.” Lorrainia went onto say.
Clara and Jennifer looked at each other before Clara said “Oh no. We’ll just go to bed.”
“Alright.” said Lorrainia, “Let me take you to your guestroom.”
So they followed her down a hallway until they reached a room.
“This is where you’ll be spending the nights while staying here.” she said.
Both time travelers looked in as Jennifer whistled.
“Holliday Inn eat your heart out.” she said.
“Holliday what?” asked Lorrainia.
“That’s right.” said Jennifer, “You haven’t heard of it yet.”
“We’ll take it.” said Clara.
“Can I take your belongings?” asked Lorrainia.
“Oh no.” said Clara, “We can handle them. You just go on and do your own business.”
“Very well.” said Lorrainia. As she turned to leave, she went onto say “If either of you change your minds, the kitchen will be opened all night.”
“Thank you.” said Clara.
At that, Lorrainia left.
Both time travelers sat down on their respective beds and began to change out of their shepherdess’s costumes into some nightgowns that were assigned to them as Jennifer said “Either this is Caesar’s house or a Howard Johnson.”
“What makes you say that, Jennifer?” asked Clara.
“Clara, I just got over an eating disorder. I doubt I should be thinking about food at a time like this.”
“But Jennifer you have been eating haven’t you?”
“I have. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. But no snacks between meals. And no seconds on dinner.”
“That’s good.”
“It sure is. Mom and dad have been supervising my eating ever since I got out of the hospital.”
As she was changing into her nightgown, Clara began to see the residue of Jennifer’s bulimia. She saw that her ribcage could still be seen despite the fact that some body fat began to return.
Jennifer noticed the look on Clara’s face and said “I know. It’s not a pretty sight.”
“I’m sorry, Jennifer.”
“Don’t be. Just pray and hope that I don’t start an eating binge here.”
Jennifer donned her nightgown and got into bed. Clara likewise. As she did, Clara began to notice a sad look on Jennifer’s face.
“What is it?” asked Clara, “Marty?”
“No.” said Jennifer, “It’s my bulimia.”
“What about it?” asked Clara.
“The doctor wants me to attend a therapy session for bulimics.” said Jennifer.
Realizing that the eating disorder started after that trip to Renaissance Italy, Clara asked “Do you think you should go?”
“I don’t know.” said Jennifer, “You know we’re supposed to keep time travel a secret. That nobody’s supposed to know about it.” Staring off into space, she said “On the Wednesday that I come back to the future, I’ll be in there spilling my guts on what got me started. Clara, what do I say in there?”
“Jennifer.” asked Clara, “Are you sure it started with that encounter Count Tannenio?”
“It has to.”
“Jennifer. Try to think. Do you remember crashing me and Emmett’s wedding?”
“I do. I accidentally wound up on that date and…” then she paused and realized what Clara was talking about. “This has to do with me losing my memory isn’t it.”
“Jennifer.” said Clara sternly, “How much do you remember before the accident?”
“Well I remember my first meeting with Marty.” she said, “The day me and my family moved back to Hill Valley, that weekend when I wound up in the year 2015, me getting obsessed with time travel and wanting to see my parents on their honeymoon, the time I wound up in that reality in which I was never born. But I’m still having problems remembering the senior prom in high school and some of the neighborhood kids when I grew up in San Francisco.” Then, turning to Clara she asked “Clara, are you trying to say that I had an eating disorder before that unfortunate trip?”
“I’m not saying anything.” said Clara, “Why don’t you ask your parents when you return to the future?”
“Clara. I remember keeping my bulimia a secret. If that’s so, what if I had an eating disorder before I lost my memory and didn’t tell my parents?”
Clara paused. Then she said “Jennifer, I’m a schoolteacher not your lost memory. If you did had an eating disorder before you suffered amnesia, you’ve got a thirteen days to get that memory back before you attend that session. Now get some sleep.”
At that, Jennifer got into the covers as doused the lit candle that was there. Clara did likewise.
Thursday, March 19, 44 B.C.
3:00 a.m.
Rome, Italy
It was three in the morning when Clara woke up. She knew it was three in the morning for she had an atomic clock that Emmett gave her. It adjusted to any time frame that the wearer was going too.
Anyway, Clara had trouble going back to sleep and decided to get up and go to the bathroom or whatever they called it here in ancient times. After returning to the 20th century with Clara and the boys, Emmett bought all thirteen tapes of I Claudius and Clara recalled Derek Jacobi, who played the lead role in the series, going into this dark chamber where there was a stony bench. But it wasn’t a bench, it was two seats or chairs with holes in them suggesting that they were toilets and the chamber itself was an outhouse.
Not wanting to disturb Jennifer, she picked up her candle and a flint and went out into the hallway to light it. Once she did, she looked back in and saw something wrong.
Jennifer was not in her bed.
“Jennifer.” she whispered, “Jennifer, where are you?”
She began to wander down the hallway looking for her. On her way she ran into Lorrainia.
“Lorrainia.” asked Clara, “I’m looking for Jennifer. Have you seen her?”
“No I haven’t.” said Lorrainia, “I just got up to use the outhouse.”
“Oh good.” said Clara, “I think I’ll go there too.”
“You think you could find her in there?” asked Lorrainia.
“No.” said Clara, “I just wanted to use it because I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“Oh, by all means.” said Lorrainia, “Follow me.”
And Clara did. She followed her downstairs and were en route to the back of the house when they walked passed the kitchen. Clara noticed a small candlelight on and someone in there. Clara knew who it was and walked in.
“Jennifer.” she said.
There she was, standing next to some food.
“Jennifer.” asked Clara, “What are you doing?”
“Clara.” said Jennifer, “It’s not what you think.” Clara stood there disbelieving, so she said “Alright. It’s my first night here and I can’t sleep. So I got up and went to use the outhouse. After being told where to…”
“Who told you?” asked Lorrainia.
“Him.” said Jennifer indicating that someone was behind the two.
Both sets of eyes turned to see McFlius.
“McFlius!” exclaimed Lorrainia.
“Anyway.” said Jennifer, “He showed me where it was and left. Then after using it, I was on my way back to bed when I noticed a light on in here and there he was.”
“She’s telling the truth.” said McFlius.
“Anyway.” said Jennifer, “He said that he was trying to get the kitchen ready for morning breakfast and we started to talk. He was telling me about how he got here, his life in a land called Hibernia…”
Clara approached Jennifer and whispered “That’s present day Ireland.”
“Oh…” said Jennifer, “Anyway, he told me that he had a brother named Martinius and was nicknamed Marty. And when Caesar invaded Britain, both brothers wanted to see Rome.”
Meanwhile, while Jennifer was talking, Clara began to notice the look on her face. It was a face of a woman in love.