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I gave the old man a dime and offered another die on to my destination He threw that heavy trunk up on his shoulders as if it contained nothing but air and picked up e hand

“I’ll be staying at Maybelle Wilson’s,” I said “I’m here on business”

We crossed to the First Bank and turned left onto Co that I had entered into one of Mr H G Wells’s fabled time-transport machines “My God,” I said under my breath “How can this be?”

Chapter 22

THERE BEFORE ME was nizable with her blond curls, her delicate face, a sweet young girl in a pretty pink-checked sundress

I realized with a start this was neither a drealey And she truly was eleven years old!

Then I saw the very real and very grown-up Elizabeth Begley step out of Ida Si before me

“Eht there for me”

I called out Elizabeth’s name She turned, and her face lit up instantly

“Why, good Lord! Ben Corbett! The heat one to my eyes This cannot be you!”

“It’s Ben, all right Your eyesight is just fine”

As was everything else about her Elizabeth looked as beautiful as when I used to sneak glances at her all through our school years together If anything, she’d gotten even prettier as a woman

“Well, Ben, what brings you back to our little nothing of a town?” she asked

I told myself to close my mouth, which had fallen open in astonishht of this lovely woman

“Oh, just so candidates for the federal bench, potential judges And I suppose I needed a breath of good old Mississippi fresh air”