“Town needed a sheriff, I just happened to be in the right place and the right time.”

At the Jail

Anthony grabbed the cell bars with both hands and let his head thunk gently against them, red hair falling over his face. He couldn't believe his ears.

"That's not a story!" Anthony complained. "Was there a white horse? Was it at sunset? How did you negotiate between Grace, Ben, and the resort folks? Why be a sheriff? Why not a lawyer or a judge?"

Some people had a gift for understatement. Others tried to brush off questions that led to uncomfortable subjects. Still others liked to let anticipation build before actually telling their story.

Anthony hoped it was the last one, but he was beginning to get the idea that today was a disappointing one.

At the Jail

"Sometimes, you just gotta do what is needed, what your hand finds to do," Milner said, turning back to his papers.

At the Jail

"That's a good start..." said Anthony, though he sounded dubious. "What happens next?"

At the Tavern

Cody hadn't slept well that night - he wasn't used to such accommodations - but he stubbornly stayed in bed for as long as he could pretend he was sleeping. Eventually, though, he heard voices downstairs, and figured that everyone else must already be up. At the very least, he knew if he could hear that, he was too awake to go back to sleep.

He yawned and sat up, and noticed that Zane was also awake. He gave the other boy a faint wave as he yawned again and said, "Oh, hey Zane. I'm gonna go down to breakfast." Cody... wasn't very talkative in the morning.

By the time Cody got changed and started down the stairs, the conversation had been going for a while. He came just in time to overhear Miss... Mrs.... Grace? Whatever her name was, she was talking to Miss Brixton. Cody knew Miss Brixton well enough to know that she was dead serious and very frustrated about something - he only heard this tone from her when things were bad and she was worried about making ends meet. He decided not to get involved just yet.

Through his eavesdropping, he was able to figure out approximately what they were talking about. They were talking about Sheriff... Milner. Milner, like the professor? Miss Brixton had started calling him "Doctor". Were they the same person? No, it had to be an ancestor or something, right? But the more he listened, the more he realized that no, they were talking like he was the same person. Mrs. Grace said something about needing to solve "his problem", to give him a reason to go back.

Cody had to think about that. If Sheriff Milner was actually Dr. Milner, and he liked being a Sheriff better.... And really, why wouldn't he like it better here? Yeah, Cody thought living without air conditioning was torture, but this guy was big on history. Plus, he got to be Sheriff here - a real, proper cowboy.

"He's a real big shot around here."

"What?" Miss Brixton shot up with some alarm, as Cody realized with a wince he'd said that aloud. So much for the stealthy approach.

Cody continued down the stairs and added, "I mean... he gets to be Sheriff here. What cooler job could he have than that? That's a little hard to compete with in the rea - back home, I mean."

Cody sheepishly approached the table and sat down at the other end, far away from everyone else, and tried (and failed) to play off his entrance coolly. "I dunno. I guess it'd be hard for him to go back to where he's... just kind of a professor. A respected one, maybe, but not a hero."

At the Jail

The sheriff frowned.

"...you just keep doing it, because that's the right thing to do," he finally said, not looking up.

At the Jail

"Okay, okay," said Anthony. After multiple rebuffs, he could take a hint. "You don't think there's a story to tell there. What about the facts? They're not the same, you know. I've got an aunt who can make it sound like getting butter from the store is an experience and her batter depends on the quality. You and I, we might not even stop to look at it that way even though the fact is we would check to see if the butter was expired."

Anthony leaned against the bars, willing the sheriff to look up again. He had nothing else to do, so he was going to keep trying to find out if there was a connection between Sheriff Milner and Doctor Milner.

"Now me, I wandered into town at sunset to the sound of a harmonica aria. Where did I come from before that? A lecture in Ditto Town, which nobody here has ever heard of. How did I get here? Was it a flash of light, or was it a slip of time? If I knew that, I might know how to get back. I'm a mysterious stranger, with unknown motives.

"That makes your townfolk a mite suspicious of me. I guess I understand where they're coming from. It's not so much that I miss Ditto Town, you understand, but it's a landmark on my way home. And iffin I were home, I wouldn't want strangers on my doorstep without good reason to be there. I'm not complaining about the hospitality mind, y'all've been kind and I know I got hot under the collar awhile back.

"But," said Anthony. It didn't matter how much you put into buttering the other person up, this one word was going to get their attention and make them slide away. He had to make this good. "I've got a notion there's something about the facts of your arrival here that might help make sense of mine. Not just mine, but all of us who want to get back to Ditto Town. You saw the drawings Ms. Faye did! Those folks love their home just as much as you and your friends love their home here."

Breakfast at Norah's

"The boy has a point, I'm sure," Grace said. "But again, I only know him as the man who he has been here. Perhaps, if you find a way to understand him, you can make him understand you."

Breakfast at Norah's

Faye nodded - Grace was right, of course. What did they know about him? "He's clearly passionate about his field." She commented, thinking aloud. Something about this time period must've connected with him. But that was more reason for him to stay than to want to go back.

"He sure knows a lot about it." Cody said, shrugging. "I mean, he literally talked about it for an hour, and I think he only stopped because he had to."

"Yes... he did. A lot of things I didn't know about. Like the other... countries... who went through similar expansion." Faye hesitated to bring up the idea of other worlds, and hoped that would be hint enough to the others. The fact that none of the townsfolk had already guessed at them coming from another world, made her think that that kind of travel wasn't common around here.

Still, as she said that, another thought clicked in her mind. "A lot of his lecture was based on his own research. He might be one of the only people in the world who knows about some of the people and places he's studied. Without him, that kind of knowledge could be lost forever."

Breakfast at Norah's

Hannah continued to listen, all the while finishing her breakfast. She was not entirely sure what to say for the time being so she was content enough to remain quiet til spoken to, which was not always like her.

Breakfast at Norah's

Dusting off her knees, Molly came crawling out from under the table.

"Sorry, everyone, for disappearing like that. But all of a sudden, I felt my thing here"--she pointed to the little bag dangling from her hand--"I think they call it a reticule--vibrating at my feet. And when I reached down to look, I saw that I had got a bunch of text messages. Which is rather funny, you know--I didn't think that they had cell reception in the Old West." She looked around for a few seconds, as if puzzled. "Hey, where is Anthony? And Dr.--Sheriff Milner, I mean?"

A few words were enough to bring her up to date.

"What? Arrested? Then what are we doing sitting here? Let's hoof it down to the jail, and get this sorted out, once and for all. Who's coming with me?"

Without waiting to see, Molly leapt up and headed for the door.

Breakfast at Norah's - At the Jail

Faye was almost too flustered to say anything, and only managed a half-hearted, "Wait, Molly!" By that point, though, Molly was basically out the door and probably couldn't hear her. Faye quickly got up and ran after her. On the one hand, part of her had wanted to wait until they had some kind of plan of attack. On the other hand... she didn't feel any closer to having one than she did when they started.

By the time Faye caught up with Molly, they were already at the jail. She stepped inside, and almost immediately locked eyes with Sheriff Milner. Well... this was awkward.