A Home Away From Home and Other Stories

insisted Dominic. 'Look, I know it sounds crazy but I've really come back in time. Six months ago today you never came home and I've come back to make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't know what actually happened to you but it must have been something dangerous.'

  Mr Garrett ran his hand though his hair and groaned.

  'It's okay, I'm not mad,' Dominic assured him. 'I made a time machine out of a remote control. You have to believe me.'

  'I do believe you,' his father said quietly. 'But it's not me who's in danger, it's you.'

  'What?' Dominic's mouth fell open.

  'We can't stay here. It's not safe. Come with me.'

  Mr Garret led the way rapidly though the nursery and out a trellised gate hidden behind a row of conifers. They stood on the grass of a small, quiet park that was ringed with tall dark trees. Mr Garrett looked all around before fixing his gaze on his son.

  'Dominic, you have to go back. I 'm not in any danger, well at least not the sort you were thinking of. I'm not around in your time because I have gone to a different time period, much the same as you have just done.'

  'But how? Why…I don't understand,' Dominic spluttered.

  Mr Garret groaned. 'I had hoped to have explained this to you before your birthday. I'm not really a garden center manager. At least I am, in one time continuum. The garden center is built on a site where a lot of time lines cross and I have to control the gates. If people get through from the wrong times they can do all sorts of damage. They can change the future by mucking around with the past and cause all sorts of catastrophes. Sometimes I have to go to different times to sort things out and that's what I've been doing. I organised for your uncle to stay with you so someone would be there to protect you if I wasn't able to.'

  'Uncle Edgar?' Dominic's eyebrows rose in astonishment.

  'Oh don't underestimate Edgar. He may come across as a stuffy old man but he's actually one of our most skilled agents. I put him in to keep an eye on you in case your powers developed before I came back.'

  'My what?' Dominic was dazed. Nothing was turning out as he had expected it to.

  'You have the power of switching times, Dominic. It is passed from father to son and generally comes on around the age of ten. It makes you into a target, as there are people out there who need you to help them switch time.'

  'You mean because I built a time machine?' Dominic asked.

  His father laughed wryly. 'You don't need a time machine or anything else, son,' he said kindly. 'All you need to do is to point your finger and think where you want to be in time and it will happen. The problem is that without the proper training, you could end up anywhere in time. Going back in time is the easy part. It is the returns that most people have trouble with.'

  'The what?'

  'The returns. There can be terrible consequences if you open a time gate and don't shut it behind you. When you push open a gate in time it sets off a reaction so that another gate will open somewhere else. There are unscrupulous gangs who watch for these opportunities so they can nip through and meddle with time. They do everything they can to keep these gates open and will try and stop people returning to their own time frame as then their gate will shut as well. They don't want to get trapped in the wrong time frame. Well actually, none of us want that.'

  Dominic was bewildered. 'So what should I do?' he asked.

  'You need to be patient a little longer. I am closing the time gates as best as I can from here. '

  'Does Mum know?'

  'Yes, of course. Anna doesn't yet, although I intended to tell her soon, and I had hoped to have a few months more before telling you so I could train you in some essential things. You are destined to be the Gate Keeper one day yourself, but I wanted you to have a normal childhood first. Now you really do need to go back. There's too much risk for you returning yourself back to the correct time period on your own so I'll put you through a gate here and seal it behind you and hope there hasn't been too much damage done. Edgar will have to deal with the other end.'

  A sudden beeping startled Dominic. Mr Garrett reached into his pocket and pushed the button on a small box. 'I have to go,' he said worriedly. 'There's a breach in the western portal.' He pointed across the park where a rusty metal gate hung crookedly from a mossy gatepost. 'Quickly. Go through there and don't look back.' He gave Dominic a brief hug then ran back through the trellis to the garden centre.

  Dominic walked across the park. It was much larger than it looked and the gate didn't seem to be coming any closer. As he neared the trees, the leaves started whispering, even though he couldn't feel any wind. Dominic shuddered and began to run. Leaves blew around his face and long branches reached out spindly fingers and tried to trip him up. This was even worse than his fears about the freezer monster. He fixed his eyes on the gate and with a final sprint wrenched it open and staggered through. He blinked as he found himself in the laundry.

  'What a day!' Dominic collapsed on the bed and noticed he was still holding the green apron. He tossed it onto the floor. There was a loud bang and the apron erupted in a cloud of choking grey smoke. Dark, shadowy forms writhed around in the smoke and Dominic stared at them in alarm. As the smoke began to clear the figures became more solid, and three large men with grim expressions advanced on the bed.

  'Help! Someone help me!' Dominic cried as he scrabbled across the bed away from their reaching arms.

  'ZOJLDULJHYFS,' grunted the largest one, as he unfurled a long, black belt from around his waist and deftly twisted the end of it into a noose.

  'MNBSYCTAS,' came the reply as the other two split up and loomed over Dominic.

  'Help! Uncle Edgar! Help me!' screamed Dominic in desperation.

  The laundry door opened with a crash and Uncle Edgar leaped into the room. With a slash of his arm he knocked the closest intruder across the room where he hit the freezer and vanished. It took him two well-placed kicks before the second man followed the first. By this time the third man had grabbed Dominic's' ankle and was dragging him slowly but surely off the bed. Uncle Edgar whirled, and in a blur that was too fast for Dominic to follow he picked up the third man and hurled him after his companions. Then before Dominic could draw a breath to croak his thanks, he whipped a small box from his pocket and pushed the buttons on it rapidly, muttering a few strange words as he did so.

  'You need to clean up that mess,' he said briskly, pointing to the corner where a few charred remains of the green apron still lingered. 'Put it in the bin and make sure you do some study before bed.' He reached onto his pocket and handed Dominic a book. 'Never underestimate the value of a good education,' he said pompously as he closed the door behind him.

  Dominic sat on the bed, his brain whirling with all that had happened. He glanced at the book. Time Travel for Beginners was printed on the front cover in large black letters. He opened it eagerly and began to laugh as he read the first page.

  Happy birthday, Dominic, it said in sprawling letters. With many happy returns from your Uncle Edgar.

  A Home Away From Home

  'That new boy in your class is weird.' Fliss wrinkled her nose as she hitched her schoolbag more securely on her shoulder.

  'He's okay,' Brad protested. 'He's just a bit shy. I mean, if you were new to a place you'd be a bit shy, too. Though I guess you probably wouldn't. You're far too bossy.'

  He ducked as his sister aimed a halfhearted punch at him.

  'I am not bossy. I 'm organised. There is nothing wrong with being organised.'

  'Oh, here we go. Now we're going to get the 'why we should all be organised' speech again,' Brad groaned. Fliss glared at him and they walked some way in silence.

  The road hummed with passing traffic as those more fortunate than Brad and Fliss were picked up from school by their parents, or in the case of those who lived further away, by the school bus. Brad and Fliss lived close enough to school to walk there and back. Generally they didn't mind this. There were usually friends to talk to or interesting things to look at on the way. However, on
days like this when a bank of black clouds threatened to drench them with rain at any moment, they were both rather bad tempered. It had rained hard earlier in the day and the gutters were blocked in places by fallen leaves which left a soggy mess to be negotiated from time to time.

  'Why do you think he's weird?' Brad asked at last, as they crossed the road beside the service station.

  'His clothes, for one thing. They're not quite right.'

  'What do you mean? Clothes are clothes. I can't see anything wrong with his clothes.'

  'Well, no. Being a boy you wouldn't. You wear jeans and T-shirts every day. You don't know anything about clothes.'

  'What's wrong with jeans and T shirts?' Brad asked in amazement as he jumped over a puddle.

  'Nothing's wrong with them,' Fliss sighed in exasperation. 'Anyway, that's not what I meant. That new boy's clothes are strange. Sort of the wrong colour and shape. I can't really explain it. They just are.'

  'His name is Jarek,' Brad muttered. 'I suppose you think that's strange as well.'

  Fliss thought about this. 'It could be foreign, I guess,' she said grudgingly.

  'That would explain the clothes,' Brad pointed out. 'Come on, I'll race you to the gate.'

  As the children ran down the footpath, a few heavy drops of rain fell. Fliss shrieked and ran faster and the new boy was forgotten in the mad rush to get inside.

  The next day, Brad sat in class listening to the teacher droning on about