If you have not yet read Chapter 1, you can click the link below:

/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel

In chapter 1 (The stranger),  seven year old Justin Time, a highly imaginative boy,  is awakened from a wonderful dream by a gust of wind that blows his bedroom window open. He then sees a dirty, straggly haired man staring wildly down at him next to his bed.  Justin's parents are worried and contact the local police. Office Quintez is on the case and still needs to hear Justin's account of the event that occurred. 

                               Chapter 2: Strawberry Waffles

The next day she did exactly that with a large emphasis on not trusting strangers.  "Should I listen to strangers mommy?", Justin asked.

"No honey. Sometimes they try to trick you with their words", she said with care.

That day both William and Katherine took the day off from work as it was their anniversary and they wanted to spend it alone together. It was Sunday which was usually a big day for William as his restaurant had a wonderful champagne brunch. He still took the day off. They were concerned about leaving Justin with his grandma after last nights incident as he may feel more secure with his mom. After a small discussion, they decided to celebrate their anniversary at home and William was going to make a marvelous meal. William spent the rest of the morning and afternoon shopping and preparing for their anniversary dinner. Katherine had other plans. She decided to take Justin and his best friend Blair to the zoo. Katherine called Blair's mom and made sure Blair was available. Katherine went back up to Justin's room.

"Justin dear", said Katherine with a pleasant smile. "I have a surprise for you today"

"What mommy?", asked Justin who had fallen back to sleep.

"I am going to take you and Blair to the zoo today."

"Awesome!", he yelled as he jumped out of his bed.  He was so excited he started dancing around, "I am going to the zoo-oo, I am going to the zoo-oo. When are we leaving?"

"As soon as you get dressed, eat breakfast and then brush your teeth."

"Okay, I will be ready in 5 minutes", he said racing down the stairs to his awaiting bowl of cereal. Almost every morning Katherine would make breakfast before she woke up Justin.

"Slow down honey, we're not trying to break any records here."

"I'll bet you I can finish this bowl of cereal with just 10 big spoonfuls." he challenged her.

"No you can't. The spoon is too small and so is your mouth."

"Oh yeah? If I win, I get a chocolate dipped ice cream cone after lunch."

"And what if you lose?", she said wanting to know what she gets.

"I will keep my room clean for one week."

"You are supposed to do that anyway", she said.

"Okay then.." He was trying to think of something else. "Okay, I will do the dishes for a week."

Katherine knew he wouldn't do a very good job and will need supervision, however she appreciated the thought. "You have yourself a bet, but just 10 spoonfuls and don't choke.", she said.

With the challenge on, Justin took his 10 spoonfuls and he hadn't yet even finished half of it.

"I won", said Katherine. 

"I am not finished yet", he said.

"But you said..." as she was about to finish her words, Justin picked up the bowl, placed it to his lips and started drinking from the bowl.  "Hey...you can't..." Justin finished the bowl of cereal and said with a smile,

"I only took ten spoonfuls."

 Out witted, she just rolled her eyes and said, "Do you want vanilla or chocolate ice cream?"

 Thirty minutes later, they picked up Blair and arrived at the zoo. Blair was a short boy with blond hair and freckles. Unlike Justin, he wasn't highly intelligent. However, Blair had an unusually accurate gift of intuition. When Blair had a gut feeling about something, he was often right. Blair was also much more conservative than Justin and didn't like taking risks. It is not clear why these two boys became friends, but they were indeed best friends.  

When they arrived at the zoo, Justin asked to go directly to the monkeys, while Blair wanted to see the old tortoise.

"That tortoise is really really old. He is the oldest living thing in the zoo.", exclaimed Blair.

"Boring, boring, boring...he just sits there and never moves. The monkeys are the smartest and they are playful. Let's go there first.", said Justin.

"We will go clockwise around the park", said Katherine, taking charge. "That way we can see most of the animals before we leave. We will see them both. The monkeys we will see towards the end as they are on the right side of the park and we will be starting to the left." 

The first animals they came to was a large variety of birds.

"I wish I could fly.", said Justin.  "Someday I will. Right mom?"

"Knowing you dear, you will figure it out."

"Really?", said Blair.

"Really!", said Justin.

"I wasn't talking to you.", said Blair.

"I wasn't talking to you", responded Justin. 

"Justin, stop acting like a smart Alec", ordered Katherine. 

"It is better than acting like a dumb Alec", said Justin sarcastically.

"Justiiiiin?", Katherine said sternly with a glaring look in her eyes. 

"Okay mommy, I'm sorry", said Justin.

Before lunch they visited the lions, cheetahs, tigers, elephants, hippopotamuses and finally the turtles.

"Look at Winston", said Blair pointing at the tortoise. "He is the oldest animal here."

"He is boring.", remarked Justin wanting to move on.

"He was alive during the Civil War!", Blair countered. 

"How do you know that?" said Justin questioning the legitimacy of his friends claim. 

"I just do", answered Blair smugly. 

"Is he that old mom? And when was the Civil War. What was the Civil War about and..."

"One question at a time son.", she said.  Many times Katherine had to slow Justin down because once something peaked his curiosity, he would have many questions. Katherine and William were always very patient with him and did the best they could to answer his questions.  "Let's have lunch and I will explain it while we are eating.", said Katherine.

 She brought them a foot long hot dogs, french fries and a drink and then started.

"Okay. The Civil War was a war in the United States between the North and the South. It started in 1861 and ended in 1865. The north was called the Union and the South was called the confederates and...."     She went on for about 20 minutes and the boys found it quite fascinating. Finally, they were ready to get started again.

"But mom", remembered Justin, "How do we know that the tortoise Winston is that old?".

"I don't dear." She asked Blair, "How do you know that Winston was alive during the Civil War dear?"

Blair started to giggle. "Because the sign next to his cage said he was.", he laughed while holding his belly.

Both Katherine and Justin smiled and shook their heads as they knew Blair got them.

"Okay, let's see some more animals.", said Katherine. 

"Aren't you forgetting something mommy?", accused Justin.  By the tone of his voice she remembered.  "Oh yeah, chocolate dipped ice cream."

"Yeah!", both kids screamed simultaneously.

"I want mine with nuts.", yelled Blair.

“Okay guys. Hey Blair can you come with me to help carry the ice cream? I also want ice cream and I can't carry all three by myself.”, asked Katherine.  

While Katherine and Blair went to get the ice cream, Justin started glancing around. He noticed several vendors with very tempting goodies.  He notice a caramel popcorn vendor, a candy apple vendor and a cotton candy vendor.  A couple minutes later Katherine and Blair returned with the ice cream. Justin caught Katherine licking some of his ice cream cone.

“Hey, stop eating my ice cream”, yelled Justin.

“Sorry dear, but it was dripping all over the cone and my hand.” apologized Katherine.

While they were enjoying their ice cream treat, Justin started gazing back at the vendors. When he glanced towards the cotton candy vendor, he thought for a split second he saw a man staring at him. This man looked similar to the one he saw in his bedroom, but the man disappeared.  He decided to ignore it as it was most likely his imagination. The second half of the afternoon they saw giraffes, zebras, antelope, alligators, camels and finally they got to the monkeys.

"I feel sorry for them stuck in a cage.", said Justin. "They are too smart to be put in a cage. Look at their eyes. They know what's going on unlike stupid boring turtles."

"They are not!", yelled Blair.

"Chimpanzees are my favorite monkey.", said Katherine. "Did you know that some chimpanzees have a vocabulary of over 3000 words?"

"No way!", the boys said in unison.

"Hey, look at the gorillas!" said Justin running towards the large open island. "Can't they get across?"

"No", said Katherine. "They won't go into the water."

"But it isn't that far.", said Blair.

"I know, but they just won't go across it."

"He is staring at you.", said Blair talking to Justin.

"I know.", said Justin. "He is thinking about how nice it would be to be free."

"No he isn't.", said Blair starting to laugh. "He is thinking about throwing his poop at you." 

"Yeah right.", Justin said laughing.  Suddenly the gorilla picked up a piece of turd and flung it and hit Justin right in the chest.

"Told you.", roared Blair.  Justin started to giggle too. Katherine, also lost her composure and suddenly burst into hysterics.  
It was getting late and Katherine had an exciting evening ahead. She was distracted all day because she was looking so forward to William's anniversary dinner. She loved his food, but he was rarely in the mood to cook her something special since he spent almost everyday doing it at work. She dropped off Blair and they drove home.

That evening, Justin stayed downstairs watching television. He preferred not to be in his room alone. After Katherine fed Justin, she took out their fine china and silverware which they rarely had an occasion to use. Katherine and William were sitting in the candlelight at their dining-room table. William had a seven course meal planned starting with a light appetizer of seared ahi accompanied with a touch of wasabi, which was one of Katherine's favorites. They next had a very cheesy and lightly browned French Onion Soup.

"The key to this recipe", William exclaimed, "is to saute the onions for two hours minimum and you must use a very high quality cooking sherry or dry white wine."  Katherine nodded as if this was the first time she had heard that. The truth is, every time William makes a creative, wonderful gourmet meal, she is given a lesson on cooking. Although she had heard most of it before, listening to him again with all of his passion while eating such decadency is always worth it. The third course was a fresh crisp spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. He explained that most chefs will use lean bacon and they completely ruin the idea of bacon dressing as all the flavor from bacon dressing is in the bacon fat and the unhealthiness of it is outweighed by the incredible bacon flavor that it derives. The fourth course was a fresh tangy lime sorbet. William explained the purpose for this course is to cleanse the pallet so that your taste buds can be ready for the main course. The main course, probably Williams favorite creation, was lightly sauteed scallops spread over a toasted croissant smothered in his white wine scallop sauce and sprinkled with melted Swiss cheese.

"Mmmm" they said together.

After going to heaven and back, William of course, chipped in, "The absolute best Scallops in the world come from Nantucket. And as you know dear, when it comes to shelled fish, bigger is almost always tastier."  He continued, "Honey, let the Pinot Gris white wine tread upon your tongue for a few seconds and then try another bite. You should notice as you taste the scallop within the sauce an enhanced richness. I would of normally paired a Pinot Grigio which you know comes from the same grape, but with this meal, I really wanted to accent the creamy richness of my sauce. I really love this pairing combination.", he exclaimed.

"I do too dear", said Katherine who was just happy to get a word in.  After the main course, Katherine was so full, but knew she had to make room for the last two courses. She was very relieved when William suggested they rest for a little while to let their food digest.

William actually changed the subject and asked how Justin was fairing today. She exclaimed he seems to be doing pretty good. In whispered voices they were still trying to figure out why this man entered Justin's room. It didn't make sense that he was a burglar because it was clear that people were home and burglars usually want merchandise and not trouble. If this guy did want trouble, why was there no apparent weapon? It would make more sense that he was a child predator, however most predators will find kids at schools or places where their parents are away. 

"Maybe he's a kidnapper?", said William.  "Honey..the project that you're working on is of top confidentiality and isn't there pharmaceutical companies that would love to steal your research?"

"Yes honey, that is true, but to think that they would consider kidnapping is a far stretch. Besides, kidnapping is for people who want money, nobody has ever kidnapped for classified information."

"People kidnap for many reasons", said William, "Terrorists kidnap and hijackers kidnap."

"I think you are being too imaginative dear. Let's just agree to disagree."

"But, what we can both agree to, is the next course.", said William with a smile.  The sixth course was a nice lite cracker and exotic cheese dish. Finally, the dessert! Katherine was waiting in anticipation as she saw William first take out two more dishes of china, then a bowl of bananas and sliced peaches, tongs and a spatula. He went back into the kitchen and she could hear from the kitchen, the clinking of bowls, the rattling of pans and then the sputtering of something. Moments later, William enters the room with a large hot frying pan in one hand and a lighter in the other.  Inside the frying pan she could see two delicate crepes swimming within the pan.  

"I don't believe I have made this for you before dear.", exclaimed William. "The crepe is bathing within a fine brandy and Grand Marnier sauce to give it a nice orange citrus flavor."  Then without a warning he lit the pan and fwush! A great flame rising three feet was dancing within the pan. Katherine could feel the strong heat and quickly checked her eye browse to make sure they were still intact. Putting down the lighter, he picked up the bowl of bananas the peaches and poured them into the frying pan. He slowly twirled the pan in small circles letting the bananas the peaches soak up the sauce within. The flames slowly subsided within the pan. After a couple minutes of slowly shaking the pan, he took the tongs from the table and grabbed the first crepe and placed it on Katherine's dish. Then he scooped some of the bananas and peaches from the pan and placed them on the crepe. He expertly folded the crepe over and carefully put more bananas and peaches over the crepe in an artful form. Finally, he lightly poured a little of the sauce from the pan over his masterpiece. She looked at him with her big brown eyes and clapped. It looked incredible and tasted even better.  

After the dessert, Katherine said, "I have a present for you too."  The seven course meal was his present to her which she preferred to most material items. From underneath the table she pulled out a blue wrapped box with a red ribbon. He could tell by the shape of the box it was most likely clothing. Maybe a shirt? When he opened the present, he saw a wonderful black and white soft sweater expertly woven with a fine knit cotton.

"I love it! Thank you". He kissed her.

During that ceremony, Justin was laying on the couch with Ruffus next to him. He didn't want to see that man again. That man looked mean and scary. Maybe he is going to come back tonight? He was a stranger. Justin fell asleep.  An hour later, Katherine woke up Justin and escorted him to his bed. After Justin was tucked in and alone, he looked over at his window which was now covered up with his Milky-way galaxy map. He walked towards it and looked down where their was once broken glass. Then he noticed a piece of material that must of ripped from the man's clothing. Justin picked it up and laid back on his bed. The material was about the size of Justin's hand. It was black and while and felt soft. He was getting sleepy as he was recalling last nights incident. "Mommy told me not to listen to strangers. They will try to trick me.", he thought as he fell asleep.  

"Honey, it's time to wake up" whispered Katherine as she kissed Justin on the cheek. "We don't want you to be late for school."

"Okay mommy."

"I have breakfast ready for you on the table, we only have 20 minutes so please hurry."
Rubbing his eyes, Justin got up from bed and slowly walked downstairs to the breakfast table. His eyes got bigger.

"Strawberry waffles with whipped cream! My favorite food in the whole world. I can eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snack!"  He sat down and devoured it in minutes. 

"Okay honey. Put your cloths on and brush your teeth."  Justin raced upstairs, put on his cloths and his favorite tennis shoes. He insisted these shoes made him run faster and jump higher. After he brushed his teeth, his mother gave him his lunch pail and they went to the car.

Katherine stepped into the car and turned on the gas. Justin started to open the back door and then hesitated for a moment. "What's wrong honey? Come on Justin or we will be late." Justin, reluctantly went into the car and put on his seat belt.

They pulled out of the driveway and started towards school. School had just started a couple of weeks ago and Justin was now in second grade.
"How do you like school so far?", asked Katherine.
"It's good."
"Do you like your teachers?"
"Yes."
"What is your favorite class?"
"Science. Ms. Engleman is talking about living and non living things."
"I see. So, give me an example of a non living thing."  Suddenly, a loud crash!

In an intersection, a car ran a red light and hit the passenger side directly where Justin was sitting. Glass and metal flew everywhere. It was not over. The impact was so strong that the car that ran the red light then flipped over and landed directly on them.
There were ambulances, paramedics, fire trucks, police officers racing towards the wreckage. The cars were pried apart and emergency folks were everywhere. Katherine somewhat conscious heard this.
"How is the lady?" a voice called.
"Her condition looks serious, but I think she will make it."
"How is the boy?"
"Very critical! He is missing half of his skull. I need help to bandage him quickly or else he'll bleed to death."
"Oh my god! What a mess. There is no way we can..."
"We still have to try."
A tear ran down her eye and then Katherine slipped unconscious again.