Silver, Smiley Airs
That winter night someone knocked on his window several times. Laszlo jumped out of bed. He couldn't believe his eyes: it was a young woman with hair as bright as the sun and blue eyes as deep as the ocean waiting for him outside the building with a short smile.
Laszlo scratched his eyes several times, but the girl was still there. He didn't know how someone had reached the third floor where he slept. Snugly bundled up, the nine-year-old slowly opened the window and asked:
"Do you want to come in?"
The girl nodded and in the blink of an eye, she was already sitting on Laszlo's big blue couch.
"I knew you were the one," the mysterious blonde murmured.
"I'm scared, but at the same time I want to help you," Laszlo said looking up at him from the edge of his bed.
"My little dog, Lö, still roams the Andes. Since I passed away there a month ago, he tries to find me," said the blonde with a pained expression.
"Wait... you're not... alive?"
"No! But I know my Lö still is. That's why I'm asking you to find him, and take him home. So my parents will think they're hugging me when they hug him," explained the blue-eyed girl crying little waterfalls.
Laszlo still dumbfounded asked her what her name was.
"Leonor."
Laszlo and Leonor gave each other a hug that ended up truly waking the boy up. Laszlo had actually not moved from his bed an inch, but everything he had seen and heard did not seem like a mere dream to him.
As early in the morning as he could, Laszlo told his parents about what he had dreamt.
They were both impressed, and took it upon themselves to investigate the case. Their biggest smile was to find that Leonor's case really happened, but 1 year ago.
"And they don't say anything about her dog?" asked Laszlo anxiously as his parents searched through old newspapers.
"No, son. He's probably dead by now, too," replied Bertha, the boy's mother, in a short whisper.
Laszlo lay crestfallen for several minutes with a sadness that was colder than the winter outside.
Laszlo's father, Mr. Jules, could not bear to see his son like that. As best he could, he bent down and, after a big hug and tender kiss on his cheek, said to him:
"I think I have a solution."
Bertha looked at Jules in disbelief. He saw her out of the corner of his eye and nodded his head.
The couple, who for years worked for NASA, had recently completed a manipulator of atoms. A machine that, in essence, allowed time travel.
The scientific couple believed it was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: test their little time machine and escape the government spies who were stalking them for such an invention.
"Laszlo, we'll do this to try to save not only Lö, but also Leonor," Jules said to his son, taking him by the arm.
"What is it, dad?"
"A little time machine!" replied Jules with great enthusiasm.
"Take my hand too, Laszlo," said Bertha nervously.
And, from there, in an instant of their lives, the little family made a leap into the past thanks to a newly completed time machine, to seek to save someone who asked Laszlo for help. Just one of those once-in-a-lifetime events.
Upon entering the machine, an almost infinite spiral was dissolving the matter of the bodies in it, until after an indefinite time, the family was thrown to the place and time estimated by Jules.
As soon as he checked all his vital signs were okay, Jules also checked his watch: it was 5:35 p.m. on July 7, 1992, one day before Leonor's accident.
"Family, we've made it, already..." Jules was saying in a progressively more subdued voice.
The reason for this was that he was alone. He knew he was in the "Portillo" area, but neither the wanted Leonor nor his family were lying around.
Meanwhile, on the whitish peaks of the Andes, Bertha and Laszlo were battling against a snowfall that was roaring like a lion. Their steps were slowed down every minute.
The mother's desperation to find shelter subsided when she saw a large cave at the foot of a steep mountain, whose reddish tones made Bertha think of a gigantic chimney.
There Bertha and the little boy Laszlo remained inside, hugging each other as tightly as they could. Probably the most difficult night of their lives.
The next day Laszlo surprised his mother, waking her up as soon as the first rays of sunlight were seen.
"Mom, mom, get up, we have to go get Leonor and Lö. She was talking to me in my sleep again."
The mother stood up, and with some way to go, seeks to communicate with her husband with sort of walkie-talkies, but there was no answer.
The landscape is as beautiful as frightening. A thick layer of snow covers the surrounding mountains, and it seems to be so thick that it annihilated any form of life.
According to the map Bertha was carrying, the point of the accident was less than 10 kms away. They could make it in time if they kept a good walking pace.
On their way to save Leonor, mother and son passed a small bridge leading to a two-story wooden hut. It was sort of like a café. Inside, however, there was no one. It looked abandoned.
"Helloo!" echoed a greeting from Laszlo inside the place.
"We'd better get going, son, there's nothing to warm us up in here," Bertha quickly suggested.
Just as they were about to leave, a bullet shattered the glass of the front door.
"Who the hell are you? I'll make you disappear," a shout was heard from the back of the hut.
Bertha carried Laszlo with both arms and kicked the door down. She ran as fast as she could through the snow, but someone was still following them.
Bertha looked out of the corner of her eye and it was a guy, maybe two meters tall, with long black hair and wearing a lot of dirty and torn clothes. He was pointing a gun at them and saying a thousand and one rude things.
"The big foot of the Andes," shouted Laszlo in fright.
The bullets were passing closer and closer to Bertha's body. It was only a matter of time before the fatal shot was fired.
No longer able to run, Bertha throws herself on the infinite bright white ground, covering Laszlo's body in the most maternal attempt to protect her son.
From one moment to the next, no more gunshots could be heard, but dry cries of pain. The terrible man in the hut was being bitten by Lö.
The first to notice it was Laszlo, who, happy to see the dog, told his mother what was happening.
Lö looked like a wolf, almost invisible in such a place with his magnificent white fur.
Right behind the savior canine, Jules was coming.
"Family! Here I am!" shouted Jules several times.
Never had a family hug been so warm.
"How did you find us? Where did you find the dog? And Leonor?" asked Bertha anxiously.
"Darling, these faulty walkie-talkies helped me. The closer they were to each other, the more noise mine made," answered Jules with evident tiredness.
"And Leonor?" insisted Laszlo this time.
"This precious, brave dog was with her at the accident site. Sadly, she was already dead under the snow," Jules regretted to say.
"But how? We arrived a day before the event," Bertha said through tears.
"I don't know, love, something made the girl go skiing yesterday and not today as it said in the papers. There are many things that still escape the hands of science," answered Jules crestfallen.
"Beside her, also laid her dead husband," Jules added.
Poor Laszlo could only hug Lö while crying, who had not only saved him and his mother from a madman in the mountains, but had done everything he could to keep his beloved owner alive, who was under snow after an avalanche.
The event was reported by Jules to rescue teams, so the unfortunate couple, their pet and the family were pulled out of that white hell within hours.
Although they were unable to save Leonor, they did manage to return Lö to her parents, which had been actually her last wish. Her parents even ordered to build up a tomb of Leonor with her beloved dog.
And, as for the family, the time machine could never even start up again, so they remained in the past, contributing scientifically to the society of the time.
This photo was taken by me
To the memory of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak.
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Touching and bittersweet! Your story is relatable in the sense that life can be unpredictable especially in regard to Leonor's fate. I had hoped with the time travel to the past, she could be saved. I admire Laszlo and his parents for their courage. Beautifully written. Well done! !LUV 🙂
Life's really complicated to estimate, even for those who think can do it. However, courage could be something making things easier(?
Thanks for supporting me :)
This is a moving story, @gabmr. The young boy tries to help the deceased girl. His family believes his story, and tries to help him. The time machine is actually more believable because the family cannot return to the present. Also, the story has a mixed ending. Happy because the dog is saved, and sad because the girl cannot be saved.
The fact that there are unanswered questions at the end actually reinforces the credibility of the tale.
Nicely done, @gabmr
Thanks for your comment and support. I tried to come up with an appealing story :)
Yes, I love happy endings even though the girl could not be saved, I liked that Laszlo, and his parents were able to return Lö to Leonor's parents, fulfilling her last wish. You did great with your character development and the setting, keep it up.
Sometimes good and bad news come together. Unavoidable things from life👀
Thank you for reading and commenting. Appreciate it.