Sabella & Malcolm Ch. 03

Readers of a story that I've posted on another web site will find the basis of this story to be a familiar one. But I assure everyone that this story isn't based on the same premise and the difference will become apparent as the story goes along. I promise.

CHAPTER 3

'Someone was knocking on the door again,' Sabella thought to herself as she listened to the tapping on the door.

She knew it could only be one of two people. Malcolm or Mabel.

"Sabella, open the door please."

Malcolm.

"Sabella, we need to talk," Malcolm said. "Please open the door."

Sabella responded the same way she did when he knocked on the door the day before and the day before that, she ignored him.

"Sabella, I know you hear me," Malcolm said regretting his decision to put a bathroom in the guest bedroom, because if he hadn't she would've at least had to come out of the bedroom to go to the bathroom. "We have to talk."

Sabella didn't move, she just sat on the bed staring at the door.

The last thing she wanted to was talk to Malcolm. She was dealing with enough confusion at the moment trying to figure out her current situation. Like how it came to be.

How could she have gone to sleep in her leaky garage in 2009 and wake up in a field in (if Malcolm was telling her the truth) in 1954?

Stuff like this only happens in books, to white women. Not in real life and not to her.

"Sabella!" Malcolm said his voice a little more demanding and knocking harder on the bedroom door.

Sabella's response was the same, she didn't answer him.

Malcolm was standing in the hall preparing himself to knock the door down when he saw Mabel coming down the hallway carrying a tray loaded down with breakfast for their guest.

"You're such a caveman," she said to Malcolm shaking her head. "Sabella dear, please open the door. I have breakfast for you."

Nothing.

"You haven't eaten anything for two days now," Mabel said, "and that's not good. You need to eat something. I've bought you a plate of flapjacks, hash browns, ham, bacon and coffee."

Sabella's stomach growled as Mabel listed all the food, she brought her to eat.

'It would be wrong for me to keep turning down her offer of food,' Sabella told herself as she made her way over to the door to remove the chair and chest of drawer, she'd place in front of it. 'Especially after Mabel had gone through the trouble of preparing it.'

The fact that she was hungry enough to eat her clothes didn't matter, she was truly just being polite.

Malcolm and Mabel listened from the other side of the door to the sounds of furniture moving about the room as Sabella opened the door.

"Did you have furniture against the bedroom door?" Malcolm asked as Sabella opened the door to the guest bedroom.

"Yes," Sabella replied her tone showing she didn't care what he thought about it.

"Why would you do that?" Malcolm asked his voice letting Sabella know that he was insulted by her actions.

"A lady has to feel comfortable Malcolm," Mabel said walking into the bedroom carrying the tray loaded down with food. "You're a stranger to the poor girl. She doesn't know you the way the rest of us do around here."

"She put furniture against the door Mable!" Malcolm almost screamed.

"She's in a stranger's house, Malcolm," Mabel said as if he should understand. "You're refusing to let her go. What would you expect her to do?"

Malcolm stormed out of the bedroom, muttering under his breath that he would never understand women, before he blew a gasket leaving Mabel and Sabella in the bedroom alone.

"I'll be back to pick up the dishes when you're finished," Mabel said as she headed for the door.

"I'll bring them down," Sabella said. "You've been more than kind to me."

Mabel smiled at her, closed the door and made her way downstairs.

"You were raised with better manners than that Malcolm Matheson," Mabel said waggling her finger at Malcolm who was sitting in a chair in the living room pouting like a five year old. "I don't know what's wrong with you but you will apologize to Sabella for the way you behaved up there and I mean you will do it soon."

"I'm a grown man, Mabel," Malcolm said his bottom lip sticking out like the five year old he was portraying, "and I don't need you telling me how to act."

Mabel became so angry at what he said Malcolm could swear she started to grow larger as her chest puffed up and her hands landed defiantly on her hips.

"You will not speak to me in such a manner, young man," Mabel declared bending so that she was right in his face. "Now I don't know what is going on with Sabella, but it's clear that something has happened to her, and whatever it is has frightened her, and you running around here with a short fuse isn't making things better. It is making things worse for you and for her. Now I expect you to get control of yourself and to treat Sabella better than you have been. If you can't, let her go. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Malcolm said.

"Screaming at me like you're older than I am," Mabel muttered as she walked away from Malcolm heading towards the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Mabel," Malcolm said as she walked away.

He didn't want to but Malcolm had to agree with Mabel, his attitude wasn't helping the situation.

Malcolm went upstairs to apologize to Sabella for the way he acted and to let her know that he would be back in an hour to speak with her.

Sabella agreed and closed the bedroom door to finish her breakfast.

True to his world Malcolm was back knocking on the guest bedroom door in exactly one hour later.

It didn't take Sabella an hour to eat breakfast, she used the extra time to freshen up and to get dress.

She greeted Malcolm wearing jeans, a red and black blouse and a pair of red hi-tops. Malcolm looked at the jeans she was wearing and saw that they hugged the curves of her hips almost like a second skin. He had never seen a pair of jeans fit a woman so naturally.

Sabella coupled the jeans with a red blouse decorated with little black cowboy hats sprinkled all over it. The blouse seemed to hug her breasts the way the jeans hugged her body.

She left the two top buttons of the blouse unbuttoned revealing just a hint of cleavage.

She was wearing a thin gold chain around her neck with a single pearl on it that hung close to her neck almost like a choker.

Malcolm's eyes traveled up to her face starting with her full firm lips and noticed that Sabella had applied something on them that made them look moist and kissable.

They rested under a slightly narrow, classic button nose. Then his eyes traveled to the two things that intrigued him most when they met, her eyes.

They were grey almost silver, almost blue eyes a color that he had never seen before not on a colored woman.

"I thought you wanted to talk," Sabella said putting her hands on her hips, becoming uncomfortable with the way Malcolm's eyes were traveling over her body.

"Let's go to the garage," Malcolm said stepping aside to allow Sabella to go downstairs ahead of him.

Sabella went over to the bed and picked up her keys, her purse and the case containing her laptop, she walked out of the guest bedroom and Malcolm followed her down the stairs.

He followed her out the front door, and they made their way to the garage. Sabella stopped and allowed Malcolm to take the lead when she felt his eyes on her bottom.

"The view would last longer if you took a picture," Sabella said.

"I'm a man," Malcolm replied, "if you put it on display, I'm gonna look."

'Men,' Sabella thought to herself, 'they never change no matter the time.'

When they reached the garage Malcolm unlocked the garage door and walked inside, Sabella followed him. He was about to close the garage door when Sabella asked him not to.

"We're going to need some privacy," Malcolm pointed out, "to talk about what I want to discuss with you. I don't think you want anyone else to overhear the answers to the questions I'm going to ask. I promise to be on my best heavier and not get fresh."

"Why should I trust you?" Sabella asked.

"First of all I don't lie," Malcolm said chuckling at Sabella's question, "and second you don't have a choice," he said the laughter gone from his voice.

He closed the garage door.

Sabella walked over to her baby, walked around and check to see if there was any damage.

"Your baby is fine," Malcolm assured her.

Still checking her baby out Sabella unlocked the driver side door and checked the inside. Everything was, just as she left it.

"Satisfied?" Malcolm asked.

"Yes," Sabella replied.

"I'm glad," Malcolm said smugly. "Can we talk now that you've confirmed that nobody's messed with your baby?"

"Unless you're going to let me go we have nothing to talk about," Sabella said.

"You're free to go," Malcolm said knowing that she had no were she could go.

"What?" Sabella said surprised that he was going to allow her to leave.

"You. Can. Go," Malcolm said slowly and distinctly.

Sabella was stunned but only for a moment. She placed her laptop on the passenger seat then she turned to go into the house to get the rest of her things.

She was almost at the door of the garage when Malcolm stepped in front of her blocking her path with his six feet six inches tall, two hundred pound, muscular body.

Sabella looked up at his rugged face with chiseled features that reminded her of a younger version of the actor Chuck Connors, who played the lead on the Rifleman television series. His sapphire, ice blue eyes, almost hidden by the cowboy hat he wore looked defiantly down into her's.

He reached up with his right hand and pushed the hat up and back a little off his head not pushing it completely off his head but causing it to rest on his neck.

Sabella almost wished the hat would fall off because it would have allowed her to see if his blonde hair was thick and curly or thin and stringy.

Malcolm wore the hat all the time, the only way she knew what color his hair was, was because he kept it a little long in the back and it stuck out from under the hat.

"Like what you see?" he asked a self-pleasing smile on his face.

Sabella didn't answer. She tried to get around him so that she could go into his house and get the rest of her things and be on her way.

"You want to tell me why walking into my home caused you to faint?" Malcolm asked as he crossed his arms across his chest moving and using his body to block Sabella's way.

"No," Sabella replied.

"Why not?" Malcolm asked.

"Because you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Sabella said walking away from him.

"Try me," Malcolm said.

"What year is it?" Sabella asked already knowing the answer but dreading what she knew Malcolm's reply would be.

"1954," Malcolm replied.

Sabella opened her purse, reached inside and pulled out her wallet. She opened her wallet and pulled out her driver's license and handed it to Malcolm.

Malcolm looked at her license noticing how stiff and rigid it was and how clear and sharp the picture was of Sabella. He read what it said.

"Says here that you were born July 4, 1977," Malcolm said.

"Yes, I was," Sabella said.

Malcolm looked down at the card then back up at Sabella, then back down at the card. His mind and ears not willing to believe what he knew to be the truth.

"How?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sabella replied. "When I went to sleep in my car in my garage three days ago it was 2009. However, when I awaken, I was in your field and the year is 1954. How it happened, I couldn't tell you."

"That doesn't explain why you fainted," Malcolm said.

"I fainted because in 2009 your house is my house," Sabella said.

"Excuse me," Malcolm said thinking he had misunderstood what Sabella said.

"In 2009 your house is my house," Sabella said repeating herself.

"You and your husband bought my house?" Malcolm said his tone expressing his amazement and disbelief at what Sabella said.

"No," Sabella said, "I bought your house in 2009. I'm not married."

"How could you afford to buy my house?" Malcolm

asked.

"I purchased it with money, I received when I sold my home in Georgia," Sabella said.

"You owned your own home in Georgia?" Malcolm asked.

"Yes," Sabella replied. "I sold it, so I that I could purchase a new home to live when I moved here and started my new job."

"This is remarkable," Malcolm said leaning against Sabella's baby.

"You believe me?" Sabella asked.

"Yes," Malcolm replied. "It's the only thing that explains your vehicle and this," he said reaching into his pocket, pulling out the receipt he found on the floor in garage behind Sabella's baby and showing it to Sabella.

"The question now is how and why it happened," Malcolm said.

"And if it can be undone," Sabella added. "I have to get back to 2009. My brother is going to be out of his mind with worry if he doesn't hear from me."

"I'll do what I can to help you," Malcolm said, "but we're going to have to be very careful who we tell about this."

"Is what you told me about Sheriff Jenkins true?" Sabella asked praying he would say that he was only trying to scare her.

"Yes," Malcolm replied. "Sheriff Jenkins is known to ticket colored drivers driving nice cars for speeding and giving them the option of going to jail or leaving their cars behind to get out of the ticket. Colored drivers avoid this area of Tyler at all cost."

"He's never been reported?" Sabella asked.

"Who are they going to complain to?" Malcolm asked. "Especially when he has the support of the Mayor."

Sabella had been told by her grandparents about the way African-Americans were treated in the south in the 1950's.

They told her about segregation, Jim Crow laws and how African-Americans were accused of crimes they hadn't committed, jailed and horribly beaten and lynched.

The thought of some of the things that could happen to her made Sabella's desire to return to 2009 grow even stronger.

There was no way she would allow herself to be mistreated or disrespected by any man, especially not after her grandparents fought, enduring beatings, being pelted with sticks, rocks, bottles, and going to jail to be treated equal as whites and treated with the same respect. She wouldn't stain their memory and all they fought for that way.

"I can't stay here," she said knowing that an African-American woman staying with a white man would be frowned upon.

"Why not?" Malcolm asked.

"You know why not," Sabella said. "If I stay here you'll have all kinds of trouble."

"I'm my own man, Sabella," Malcolm said his tone confident and self-assured. "I decide who stays in my home and on my land. I don't answer to anyone. If I say you can stay here, then you can stay here."

'This isn't 2009', Sabella thought to herself, "where a man can actually make such a statement and have it be true.

The reactions of others in Tyler can have you Malcolm and others on the Double M Ranch facing dire consequences, if she stayed in Malcolm's home, and she didn't want to put them through that.

"Where are you going to go, Sabella if you don't stay here?" Malcolm asked bringing Sabella out of her thoughts.

"I don't know," Sabella replied.

"That's because you know staying on the Double M is your only choice," Malcolm said. "You know you'll be safer here."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sabella asked tired of arguing with him.

"I'm sure," Malcolm said his tone confident.

"Okay," Sabella said walking over to her baby and opening the driver's side passenger door. "If you say so."

"What're you doing?" Malcolm asked walking over to her.

"Getting my camera," Sabella said. "I want to take plenty of pictures for when I find my way back home. Nobody is going to believe me when I tell them what happened without pictures."

"I see that cameras haven't changed very much," Malcolm remarked looking at the camera Sabella held in her hands.

"Cameras have changed a great deal," Sabella said turning her camera on, aiming it at Malcolm and taking his picture. "This camera doesn't use film," she said turning the camera around and showing Malcolm the picture she had just taken of him. "And it allows you to see the picture instantly."

"How does it do that?" Malcolm asked his voice filled with awe as he looked at the picture of himself.

"I don't know the mechanics of how it works," Sabella said turning the camera a way from Malcolm, "but I can tell you the basics. This is a digital camera, and it take pictures digitally using the camera's computer memory or digital care to store the pictures."

"You said the camera stores the pictures. I'm going to assume that at some point the camera does get full, what happens then?" Malcolm asked.

"Depending on the camera, the settings and the amount of memory this camera can hold over a thousand pictures or images before getting full," Sabella said, "but the camera can be emptied or the pictures removed by either uploading the pictures into another place or deleting them from the camera."

"What do you mean when you by upload?" Malcolm asked.

"I'll show you later," Sabella said not ready to tell Malcolm about her laptop.

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Malcolm said knowing that Sabella was trying to keep something from him.

Malcolm opened the door to the garage so that he and Sabella could return to the house when he saw Sheriff Jenkins heading in his direction.

"Damn?" Malcolm said pushing Sabella back into the garage and closing the door.

"What's going on?" Sabella asked.

"Jenkins is coming this way," Malcolm replied. "You stay here and don't make a sound."

Malcolm opened the garage door and went out to meet Sheriff Jenkins.

"Hello, Sheriff," he said his voice calm and emotionless.

"Hello, Malcolm," Sheriff Jenkins said extending his hand out for Malcolm to shake.

Malcolm shook the hand of the man who had been Sheriff of Culbert County for the last twenty years simply because he was the Mayor's nephew.

Sheriff Jenkins stood five feet ten and half inches tall, weighed about two hundred pounds, giving him slight love handles around his middle.

His face was beginning to show signs of aging starting with the crows feet around his eyes and around his mouth, his hair was brown with grey scattered throughout, but he carried his age of fifty-two years old very well.

His dark brown eyes seemed to be trying to get an impression of what/if anything was going on with Malcolm.

He pasted a smile on his face as Malcolm shook his hand.

"What can I do for you, Sheriff?" Malcolm asked.

"Nothing," Sheriff Jenkins replied. "I was out this way on business, and I thought I would stop by and say hello."

"That was right neighborly of you," Malcolm said.

"How are things out here?" Jenkins asked.

"Just fine," Malcolm replied. "Couldn't be better."

"Malcolm, have you seen Sabella?" Frank asked walking out of the house towards his employer, "There's a funny no...."

Frank stopped speaking when he saw Sheriff Jenkins standing with Malcolm by the garage.

"I haven't seen Sabella," Malcolm said to Frank. "Try the stables she wanted to see some of the horses."

"Alright," Frank said, "I'll look for her down by the stables."

"You got a houseguest?" Sheriff Jenkins asked.

"Is there anything else I can do for you

Sheriff?" Malcolm asked ignoring his question. "Because if there isn't I'm pretty busy this morning."

"I can take a hint," Sheriff Jenkins said chuckling. "I guess I'll see you and your mystery guest when you come to town."

"Goodbye, Sheriff," Malcolm said ignoring the Sheriff comments about his houseguest.

"Goodbye," Sheriff Jenkins replied making his way to his car.

Malcolm stood next to the garage watching the Sheriff's car until it left his driveway then he opened the garage door letting Sabella know it was alright for her to come out of the garage and make her way into the house.