One Moment In Time

Chapter I

She couldn't quite remember what had just happened to her, the only thing she knew was the bone crushing pain that surged through every single part of her body. She felt as if she had been run over by a stampede of elephants. Really large ones. Cat struggled with the blinding sunlight that burnt her eyes. But after a long fight she finally opened them. As she lay on the grassy floor, a breath taking scenery displayed before her. Gigantic mountains stood high in front of her, covered, on top, by what seemed at the moment the whitest of snows. But as her eyes drifted downwards, when she prompted herself on her sore elbows, that same whiteness melted into a series of greenish shades. Some darker, some brighter, depending on the vegetation which blossomed there. As she explored her surroundings, she quickly found a small creek of clear fresh water. She bent down to wash her face and in doing so an excruciating pain exploded inside of her.

"Ah!" she cried out. She had never felt anything like that, not even when she had been shot in the stomach.

Suddenly something shoved her, projecting her straight forward, causing her loss of balance and fall directly into the edge of the creek, her face plunging into a puddle of filthy brown mud.

"Auch!" was the only thing she was able to scream because at that moment even her throat was sore.

She slowly turned around to reveal the identity of the one responsible for her fall. As she struggled to look upwards, the only thing she could distinguish was the silhouette of a person on a horse. She didn't even know who it was, but she was sure she already hated him… or her. She also despised Ant. "When I find out what happened I'm gonna kill him. He is DEAD!." was the main thought, which plagued her mind.

Jimmy tried as much as he could to avoid hitting the man standing in the creek. But even being an expert rider, as he was, didn't prevent the accident. For a moment the Pony Express rider was afraid he'd killed the man, for he wasn't moving, but after a while he sighed in relief as he saw him turning around, while still laying on the creek. His face was filled with a thick layer of mud, making his features unrecognisable.

"I'm really sorry, you OK mister?" Jimmy asked desperately trying to get his horse to stop moving around.

The man didn't say anything for a while. He tried to stand up, but failed miserably in his first two attempts. Finally he stood up. Quite calmly he bent down to wash his face. Jimmy was getting agitated; it wasn't normal for people from those parts to be so calm.

After a series of splashes of water to her face, Cat turned to see who had shoved her into the mud. She felt the blood racing through her veins, her heart pumping faster and faster. She was incredibly enraged. The only course of action going through her mind was grabbing the man in front of her by his collar, dragging his face through the mud and then punching the lights out of him.

As the man washed his face, Jimmy noticed the blue tight jeans he was wearing. This man was definitely not from these parts. As he looked upwards Jimmy was finally able to see his face.

"God it's a woman" he thought. The young rider immediately came down off his horse to see if she was injured.

"I'm… I'm so sorry ma'am" he stuttered nervously.

Cat clenched her teeth.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled at him, poring all of her frustration into that single question.

"I'm sorry!" Jimmy repeated, the stutter revealing his ever-growing nervousness.

"Are you insane?" she continued shouting turning her back on him and moving away from the horse. "You must be. Either that or you are blind!"

"I'm really sorry!" Jimmy mumbled.

"Is that the only thing you can say? Ah!" she cried out holding onto her side, which was extremely tender.

With long strides he easily fell into step beside her and reached out to touch the side of her stomach, where she had just placed her hand. It wasn't long before he found out the huge mistake he had just made. She stopped dead in her tracks and screamed out in pain. As the strong insensitive hand of that stranger roughly touched her wound, she felt an onslaught of pain running through every single nerve in her body.

"Ah!" She continuously cried out, jumping backwards, away from Jimmy. "You idiot!" she shouted "First you try to kill me, now you want to torture me!"

Jimmy didn't like that last statement. In the beginning, all her yelling had confused him and made him nervous, but right now, the hot-headed side of him started to emerge. This woman was beginning to seriously get on his nerves.

"God, this hurts!" she barely manage to mutter, as she raised the cotton undershirt to ascertain the amount of damage the fall had caused. As she did this, Jimmy instantly turned away, his face gaining a bright red colour. Noticing this, Cat asked in a hard and unforgiving tone:

"What, are you gonna play the shy little school boy now?"

She'd never been so harsh with anyone, but then again; she'd never been in such pain either. Cat had the stranger habit of snapping at everyone around when she was in pain.

"This woman is really asking for it!" Jimmy fought the anger growing inside of him. He didn't know how long it would be until he wouldn't be able to control it and snap at that stranger.

He took a deep breath and asked:

"May I take a look?"

"Why, you think you can do any more damage? Be my guest, I'm felling kind of masochistic today anyway!" She answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jimmy turned around and looked at the wound. He tried to avoid the pink blush from taking over the pale brown shade of his skin, but it proved to be quite difficult. He wasn't used to seeing women who didn't wear any undergarments. . As he examined the wound it didn't take him to long to ascertain this woman needed medical help.

"Ya need a doctor, ma'am!" he said plainly, but quickly realised how obvious his remark was.

"No, really?" she asked once again sarcastically.

"I'll get ya to a doctor, com' on!" he announced, walking over to the light brown palomino.

For a moment Cat was about to follow him, but she froze as she saw the powerful beast.

"No, thank you!" she stated arrogantly, holding her head up high, her small nose, slightly curved up, giving her the look of a stubborn child. "Anyway, I can do fine on my own!" she continued, for the first time stepping out of the creek.

She was soaking wet. A strange mixture of mud and water, which resulted in a repulsive brown and jelly like liquid, was slowly dripping from the brim of her now, chocolate coloured hat. She looked quite ridiculous and she felt that was to, which made her even more angry.

"Ma'am, I think ya better come with me!" Jimmy asked, not very convincingly. He really wasn't looking forward to the long ride back to Sweetwater with this stubborn and arrogant woman as his only company.

"Are you deaf or something?" she restarted insultingly, but realising that she would need his help, even if it was just for directions, she lowered her voice and said, as politely as she could, given the circumstances:

"If you would be so kind as to tell me where I am, I'd be grateful!"

"Where ya are…?" Jimmy repeated.

Cat desperately tried to apply the self-control techniques she'd learned from her father and nodded.

"Well, ma'am…"

She really was starting to hate that "ma'am" thing. What was that all about?

"…ya're 'bout a day's ride Northeast of Sweetwater."

"Sweetwater…?" she asked calmly.

"Yes, ma'am!" Jimmy answered while mounting onto his horse.

"What the hell am I doing in Sweetwater?" she questioned herself out loud.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. This woman was the strangest creature he had ever encountered. Suddenly she remembered what had happened earlier and only then did she notice Hickok's clothing. "He's a cowboy." She thought. "No, can't be! It can't have worked. Never!" she said out loud.

"What worked?" Jimmy inquired, not really interested in the answer.

"What date is it?" she asked ignoring his question .

"It's the 27th" he responded.

"No, what year is it?" Cat insisted.

"What year…?" Jimmy raised an eyebrow intrigued. "This woman is insane." He thought.

"Yes!" she sighed in frustration. All this repeating was getting very tiresome.

"It's the 27th of May 1860." Jimmy answered.

"1860?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Positively sure?"

"Absolutely!" "She's crazy, no question about it." He thought.

Cat's jaw dropped to the dusty ground. But after a few seconds, she realised just how inconceivable it all was. She immediately started laughing, forgetting all about the pain in her side.

"All right Ant, you can come out now!" she yelled.

Jimmy stared at that woman, who was getting weirder by the second.

"Very funny! Ha! Ha! OK, I forgive you for ruining my vacation!" she proceeded, her dark brown eyes scanning the bushes and tree around her.

"Ma'am, who are ya talkin' to?" Jimmy asked.

Cat turned her gaze to him, and for the first time smiled.

"You were pretty good kid. Very convincing with the horse and everything. Marvellous." She started, the kind and sweet smile still dancing over her pale lips. Her eyes fell over Jimmy's holster "Oh! And look you even went to the trouble of getting Navy Colts! Priceless!"

"Ma'am, you all right?" she was begging to scare him.

"Ah! The ma'am thing ! Nice touch, a bit annoying, but nice!" she laughed.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jimmy insisted, as a frown wrinkled his forehead.

"What's you're name?" she asked, once more paying no attention to his question.

"James Buttler Hickok!" he answered.

"Oh! Of course! That's why you have the Navy Colts!" she thought for a while, pausing in her remark. "Hum… One small problem though, if it's 1860, that means "Will Bill" would be what? 23? 24, I guess and you don't look a day over 20."

"What?" he was getting confused.

"I've told you, you can cut the act." She warned him. But after looking at his face, she continued "Ah! What the heck, keep it up! I'll go look for Ant!"

She turned on her heels and walked into the bushes and trees. As she was just disappearing she added "Bye 'Wild Bill' have a nice life. Oh! And whatever you do, stay away from any sallon called number 10, will you?"

And with that she was gone. Jimmy was left standing , mounted on his horse. He thought about following her, but it was pointless. When she walked away, it seemed that she was OK, maybe the wound wasn't as deep as it looked. He couldn't waist any more time. He had a run to finish.

Chapter II

Cat had been walking around for an hour now, and fear started to creep into her mind.

"Ant, if this is your idea of a joke…" she shouted, her voice hoarse from so much yelling.

At that moment she began questioning if time-travel was such and inconceivable task. As she made her way through the thick bushes, looking for something to eat, her stomach growled in discontentment. To her amazement she found what looked like a hut. With fast strides, she reached it and climbed the three steps of the porch with one swift jump. Slowly, she knocked on the wooden door. Anxiously she waited for an answer, but none came. Once more Cat knocked, this time shouting:

"Hello? Anybody home? "What am I going to say if anyone answers?" she asked herself.

Quickly she tried to make up a good story. But minutes went by and no one answered. Cat looked through one of the windows next to the door. Through the scratched and dusty glass she managed to discover that the cabin was very poorly furnished. There was only one room, or so it seemed, on the right side, stood a simple wooden rectangular table. Behind it was a really old steel gas-stove. Up against the left wall of the room was a plain, tall oak cupboard and right in front of it was a small bed. The only other items in the cabin seemed to be a kitchen cabinet near the stove and a four feet tall bookcase stuck between the fireplace and the bed. The elaborated chain of thin, delicate, silk towels of spider webs, which spread over most of the furnishing, was a clear sign that who ever owned that hut, either didn't visit it very often or had a very distorted idea of hygiene. Being sure that there wasn't anyone, Cat struggled over the idea of breaking and entering. She was surprised when she turned the knob of the door and it swung open.

"In the end of the 20th century there are still people who leave their doors unlocked?" she questioned herself.

She walked in and went straight to the kitchen cabinet. The only thing eatable she found was a pack of rice.

"Well better this than nothing."

She took a pan and looked around for water. Cat remembered seeing a well right in front of the porch and quickly made her way out. In a few minutes she was back. Now all she had to do was find out how that bloody gas-stove worked. After what seemed like hours of struggle with the stupid machine she gave up. She looked towards the fireplace. There were still a few logs of wood in it. Cat opened her bag and looked for matches.

"What are you looking in there for, stupid? You know you don't smoke." She bayed in frustration.

Suddenly she remembered...

Cat quickly took one of the bullets in her gun and tried to open it with her penknife. As she did so, the gunpowder came out. She repeated the process with three other bullets. Pretty soon she was able to start a fire and cook the rice. The young nuclear physicist was so hungry that she didn't even notice the lack of taste of her meal. Without any salt or any other seasoning, it resembled an unidentified mass of white mush.

After her stomach was satisfied she looked towards the bed. The deformed mattress looked so appealing and inviting that she couldn't resist. The moment her head touched the dusty, once white, but now brown pillow, she fell asleep.

Cat opened her eyes and was surprised when they didn't hurt. It was an enormous relief. She pushed aside a lock of her auburn, reddish hair, which during her peaceful sleep had, once more, gained some freedom from the tight elastic band that had imprisoned it earlier. She stared at the wooden ceiling for moment and then slowly managed to sit up straight on the edge of the uncomfortable bed. Her side was still a bit tender and sore, but it didn't hurt as much as it had before. The fireplace was grey due to the ashes of the intense and strong fire that had burned out just moments before Cat had woken up.

The young woman pondered what to do. She had no idea where she was. She was completely lost. She considered the thought of going out and trying to find someone, but outside thick, heavy, blue thunderclouds threatened to flood the world. She didn't want to risk leaving the cabin in such a storm even though it was still a very weak one; it was clearly just the first act of a long play. Why had she been so rude to that strange man? Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut? He could have helped her. Cat tried to put those thoughts in the back of her mind.

In order to keep herself occupied she explored her surroundings. Her suspicions about the abandonment of the hut were corroborated by the lack of any clothing item in the cupboard. Her interest fell upon the bookcase. Unevenly stacked up on the various shelves she found a series of small books. She picked one. It didn't take her long to figure out it was a one dime novel of the 19th century. She picked another and another, they where all novels which dated from 1846 to 1860.

"No, this can't be happening, not to me!" Cat thought. She couldn't believe it. Could it be that Ant had actually created a time machine and that she was now in the 19th century?

She started getting anxious, nervous and finally scared as a knot formed at her throat. She tried to calm herself and after a while succeeded in doing so. Her attention was once again devoted to the books now spread on the floor. She sat down and began reading one. Hours passed unnoticed. Cat was immersed in her reading. The laborious and ridiculously refined vocabulary of the narrator, along with the absurd metaphors and comparisons made her laugh so hard, that it brought tears to her ebony brown eyes. Through smiles and happy tears she managed to read all of the books in the cabin. When she finished it was night. Outside coal blackness had taken over the greenish shades of the day. Strange howling sounds of hungry knightly beast now proved their total sovereignty and fear once more flowed in Cat's veins. She started a fire to keep herself warm and laid on the bed. As she finally managed to begin to fall asleep, the familiar sound of a door opening invaded her ears. With feline reflexes and tact she jumped behind the bed without being heard. Even though it was very dark outside, the weak flame in the fireplace enabled her to identify a shadowy figure. By it's shape and size, she assumed it was a man and he was holding a gun in his hand. The brim of his hat prevented her from seeing his face. He walked toward the table and started looking through her bag.

"Dam it! My gun's in there. Cat, how can you be so stupid?" she kicked herself mentally for her ignorance. There was only one course of action to take: Attack him!

Silent as a cat, the young woman crept up behind the intruder and with one precise and swift move of a leg, she swept him off his feet and, before he knew it, he was on the floor and Cat was pointing his own gun at him.

Jimmy fell to the ground completely caught by surprise. The next thing he knew he was laying on his back and the woman he had met the day before stood over him, holding his Navy Colt.

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