Shawna Bidwell cursed as she tried to integrate two programs that would allow her to hack the portal and turn it into a time machine.
"That should do it.” She held her breath as she pressed the green button on the prototype rocket and waited for it to light up. It flickered several times before turning on fully.
She quickly typed the coordinates and date into the computer, then pushed the enter key. Nothing.
“Gah! Work already! I don’t have time for this nonsense.” Shawna gently kicked the computer then the portal started humming.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Shawna had decided that world was depending on her to go to Braunau am Inn, Austria on April 21, 1889, and change the course of history so that the world she lived in would be no longer be repeating an awful history.
She paused for a moment before stepping into the shimmery portal, uncertain for the first time if she was doing the right thing. Then Shawna remembered the Fascist leaders of late who had been putting many of her LGBTQIA+ friends and family in special prisons and how many were dying either by their own hand or those who were guarding them.
“You need to do this,” she said aloud to herself. She entered the portal, and a swirl of rainbow colors wrapped around her. Seconds later she found herself in a different time and place.
Shawna looked down and checked her disguise. She was wearing a pheasant’s frock from the late 1800s in central Europe and had her short brown hair covered with a handkerchief. She had powder on to highlight her pale complexion, and she wore deep red lipstick. Hopefully she would pass if she met anyone.
She made her way to the edge of the lush forest that surrounded the small town. A well-dressed man on a horse was headed towards her. “Pardon, Sir,” she said in German. “Do you know where the Hitler family lives?”
“Down this way a bit,” he said, pointing in the direction he had come from. “There’s a large pine tree in the front yard. I hear they have a new young lad.”
“I can't wait to meet him,” Shawna replied.
“You talk funny,” he said. “Where do you hail from?”
“I’m here from America,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t ask too many more questions.
“You are a long way from home. Good luck to you on your travels,” he said and carried on in the opposite direction.
Shawna thanked him, relieved that the exchange hadn’t lasted longer. She wasn’t sure how long the portal would stay open.
She quickly made her way along the dirt road towards the Hitler home. From the edge of the property, Shawna could see Klara Hitler, Adolf’s mother, in the kitchen cooking. The newborn was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully he would be easy to find.
She crossed the yard in front of the house where she could not be seen by Klara then carefully opened the front door. The baby was wrapped in a blanket and sleeping in a cradle by the fireplace.
He didn’t wake as she carefully lifted him up and pressed his small body against her own. She hurried out the door, not bothering to pause and close it in her haste. Her legs had never moved so fast as she made her way back down the road and into the forest where the portal waited.
As she ran, the young woman debated whether or not she should kill him in the forest or take him to the future with her. If she hadn’t seen his precious face and felt his heartbeat, she might have killed him. But she really didn’t have it in her to take another person’s life, especially an innocent young baby with their whole life ahead of them. Taking him with her was the only option.
She and Adolf stepped into the portal. They were bathed in a rainbow of colors as the portal transported them more than 100 years into the future and back into Shawna’s small apartment.
Adolf woke up as they stepped out of the portal and started loudly crying, looking for a teat to feed on. While Shawna poured milk into a makeshift bottle, the news came on with a special report that Kamala Harris, the current president, and her vice president, Bernie Sanders, would be appearing together after the inauguration.
The reporter speculated that they would be discussing how the United States for the one-hundredth year in a row had hit record highs for longevity of life, birth rates, and the most equitable society in social and financial realms.
Shawna looked down at the baby she’d stolen from the past. He was happily sucking on the bottle. “You need a new name. I think I’ll call you Issac Abraham Bidwell.”
The baby scrunched his face after she pulled the bottle away then burped, spitting up milk that slid down his face and onto her shirt.
“That was gross, Issac. Let’s get both of us cleaned up. I have supplies to get if you are going to be staying with me.”
Issac was already asleep again. Shawna gently wiped a moist paper towel across his face then put him in the middle of her bed. She pulled the floral blanket around him to create a soft wall to prevent him from moving too much then changed into jeans and a t-shirt, setting the period clothing in a pile on the end of the bed.
Shawna watched Issac sleep. No one else in the world would know what she did as Adolf Hitler and Fascism, at least how he preached it, would never have existed.
She went to the kitchen and pulled down a bottle of effervescent wine from the top of the fridge that she’d been saving for a special occasion. Defeating Fascism was more than enough to celebrate. Shawna opened the bottle and took a long draw on it.
The bubbles tickled her tongue and throat, and she could feel the warmth flow through her body. It was a good day to be alive. No one would ever know what she’d done, and she was good with not being seen as a hero.
Shawna corked the bottle and set it on the counter. She could finish it later as she didn’t want to be drunk when she went shopping. Issac woke up and started to cry. Shawna walked into the bedroom and scooped him up then held him close.
“Let’s go shopping, my sweet little one,” she whispered in his ear. “We need to get you settled into the wonderful world that exists because you didn't grow up to be a monster."
Prompts: effervescent, integrated, breath
