The Jace Letters, Part Ten

Let's just say the new posting date is Monday nights, shall we?


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Ten

Subject: Sandy Lives! (I hope)
Date: 9/10/08
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

Hooray! I finally heard from you! It took over two years, though. I have to wonder whether your faster moving system is starting to accelerate. If it is, that's probably a good thing. It would mean that your time dilation is increasing, slowing you down relative to me. That may buy us some time, so I can grow up, learn what I need to know, and get to you before your injuries have time to kill you. I'm up to ninth grade, but even a high school student with an obsession about quantum theory isn't a whole lot more use to you than the 11-year-old I was when all this started.

I just hope your Gabby can help you to heal instead of your getting worse all the time. Ken says that if you aren't bleeding internally, then it should be possible to stop you from losing more blood. Has Gabby tried stitching you up?

Yes, I told Ken about you. I hope you don't mind. He's going into medicine like his parents, so I thought he might be able to tell me something helpful. We've gotten to be pretty close friends. Maybe more than friends, but it's too soon to say that for sure.

I did email the man who said he was near Sedona, and then suddenly found himself in Deming. I guess this happened right after the fire. Did I tell you about the fire? Well, there was one, near 89A north of Sedona, in June of 2006. Were you south of Sedona just before you disappeared, or north of it?

Anyway, the guy thought at first I was trying to hoax him, but I guess he researched your case online, and found out that I wasn't just making it all up. Then he wrote back to me. But he doesn't remember anything helpful, so it was kind of a dead end. The one thing he said was that the road turned blue, right before it happened. No, I don't know what it means.

Listen, I know you don't want me to worry about you, or to take on the responsibility of trying to save you. But I've already taken it on. I've been working on it for years. If I fail, okay, I'll be really upset. But if I don't even try, then I fail for sure. I have to do this, Aunt Sandy. I have to do everything I can to find you and rescue you, both from this dimensional anomaly you're in and from being slowly killed by a car accident that happened years ago. At least now I have a friend to help me with the second part of that.

Love,

Jace.


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Nine

Late again! Sorry!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Nine

Subject: As Time Goes By
Date: 12/1/07
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

It's almost Christmas again, and I still haven't heard from you. I was sure I'd hear from you by summer. I've been trying not to worry about you any more than I do anyway, but it's not working. Every week that goes by, I'm a little more afraid that I'll never hear from you again.

School's okay, I guess. I'm in eighth grade now. Mom thinks it's a little weird that I'm getting As in science and math all the time. It used to be Bs and Cs. I know she thinks I should try out for a school play or something, but I don't have time for that. When I'm not trying to learn physics, I'm trying to write stories, like you used to do. Or I'm doing research online. Since you disappeared, there have been three reports of people turning up in Deming, not knowing how they got there. Nobody really takes in seriously, but one of them said the last thing he remembered was driving on 89A in Arizona.

Oh, and there's a boy I like. His name is Ken, and yes, people ask him "Where's Barbie?" all the time. He just laughs and says, "We broke up." He's not my boyfriend or anything, more like friends. He's a little bit of a computer whiz, and his dad's a doctor.

One of the reasons I'm so worried about you is it sounded in your last email as though you're getting worse and worse. Please tell me I'm wrong about this. Please tell me anything! Just let me know you're alive, and I'm not too late!

Love,

Jace.

Subject: Re: As Time Goes By
Date: 5/??/??? 24r07098wi98wthw9f
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Oh, Jace, I'm so sorry to make you worry like that! I wish I could reassure you, but I can't get out of bed this morning. There's a terrible gash down one leg, and my abdomen is bleeding into the fresh bandages Gabby put on. She's made me as comfortable as she can, brought me food and a bedpan (more than you want to know, right?), and even set up my computer on a TV tray for me. But it took a while. That's probably why I'm so "late."

What else did you learn about the man who went from 89A to Deming? Was it just a little news article, or is he someone you can write to and ask questions? I don't know what you'd ask him, but it does sound a lot like my experience. He wasn't injured, was he?

Be careful with the boy who is not your boyfriend. Maybe he will become that, maybe not. Just be sure you don't get pressured into doing more than you are ready to do.

Speaking of feeling pressured, I don't want you to feel you have to save me from whatever is happening to me. No, I don't want to die here, but I'm starting to think maybe I'm going to. Gabby is really doing her best to help me, but it's as if my injuries are appearing slowly, just as I'm living slowly compared to you. They're not healing, either. But THIS IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX. You're a teenaged girl, for Heaven's sake, not Sam Beckett. I admire your courage and commitment, and I hope to see you again before I die. I really do. But if that doesn't happen, it won't be your fault or your failure. Please promise me that whatever happens, you won't blame yourself.

Love,
Aunt Sandy


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The Jace Letters, Part Eight

Okay, I'm back on schedule this week. But I reserve the right to change the night I post these in the future.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Eight

Subject: Time, Time, Time
Date: 12/24/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

Merry Christmas! I mean, I know we don't know the date where you are, or what date it will be when you get this, or even if time has any meaning in your fast-moving system. That's what I'm guessing you're in. But it's Christmas here, and I was thinking about you, and wishing you could spend the holiday with us. The closest I can get to that is to write to you now, even though I won't hear from you again until next summer probably. I figure that if you can write to me twice in a row, then I can write to you twice in a row, or more. After all, I have a lot more time to do it in. But I'll try not to do it too often, because it still takes time for you to read them!

My parents think my recent interest in physics is something to be encouraged. They've bought me three books on the subject since I last wrote to you, and I'll be surprised if I don't get at least one more for Christmas. I don't tell them why I'm interested, though. They never really believed me about these emails, even though I showed them the first two I got from you. They think it's a hoax. They told me that you're dead, and I shouldn't hold out false hope. So now I keep all this to myself, except for talking to you, of course.

I can't give you anything physical for Christmas, so I decided to write a poem for you:

Sit silent and read
Words of Sandy, lost in Time,
Reaching out to me.

Find a way to help:
I can be a scientist
If I really try.

Years fly by for me
While you drift from day to day
To some future time.

When will we converge?
Will I know all that I need
To rescue my friend?

I know it's just a bunch of haiku put together, and it doesn't have imagery or nature in it or anything like that. But you get the idea. If there's a way to find and rescue you, I'm going to do it. It will probably take me years and years, but at the rate you're going, I guess we have the time. Hang in there, Aunt Sandy! Write me when you can.

Jace


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The Jace Letters, Part Seven

Yes, this is two days late. Sorry. I think I'll be shifting to Sunday nights for posting here. I'll let you all know, here and on the Outpost, if and when I change my fiction schedule.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Seven

Subject: Re: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/??/??? 24r027098wthw9f
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

I forgot to answer one of your questions just now, so I thought I'd better do it before I go to bed and you get older. No, I don't hear any motors. I'm not quite sure whether I feel a little vibration in the floor, or it's just me feeling a little shaky after the accident, and imagining something that's not really there. As I think I said before, there are no windows here. Do you suppose maybe I'm in a TARDIS? ;)

I'm really starting to think there was an accident. I probably wouldn't feel this lousy otherwise.

Aunt Sandy

Subject: Time, Time, Time
Date: 6/6/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Yeah, okay. You're definitely my Aunt Sandy! And yes, "Trophy" is still in my closet.

I'm trying to figure out how long it will be before I get another email from you. A whole year, I bet. Last time a day went by for you, it was at least a year on my end, I think.

Hey! Here's another email from you! You must have sent it really quickly after the last one. I mean really really quickly.

Since I won't hear from you again for a long time, I guess there's not much point in asking for more advice right now. School is getting better, anyway. Those kids who teased me about my name aren't all that bad, and I've made a couple of friends. I'll try to do as you told me, and not get upset at every little thing someone says.

I read both books about physics that were in the school library. They didn't help much. They're kind of written for kids, and I need to know more than that. School is over soon for the summer, and I've already asked my teacher so many questions that he probably thinks I'm crazy. I guess they're tough questions, because he couldn't even answer most of them. Science class next year is Earth Science, so that doesn't really help, either. I'm going to go to the Bradbury tomorrow with Mom, and see what I can find in their bookstore. I want to understand what's happening to you. Maybe I can find a way to rescue you somehow.

Talk to you later - much later, probably!

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction