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By Root 957 0

and as they turned a corner and Elner looked around, she suddenly realized they were walking down a street that looked exactly like First Avenue North; as she went farther and recognized the Goodnight house, she knew for sure it was First Avenue North. She was back on her own street all right, but something was odd. There were streetcar tracks running down the middle of the avenue and there had not been streetcars in Elmwood Springs for years; not only that, the large row of elm trees that used to line both sides of the street, that had been chopped down in the fifties, were suddenly right back where they used to be. When they walked past Ruby’s house, it had not changed much, but when they walked past her own house, she noticed that the fig tree in the side yard was only three feet tall. Elner said, “Ida, I don’t know what we’re doing here, but we’re not in the right time period, I can tell you that. We must have flipped back fifty years.”

“At least,” said Ida, looking up at the trees and continuing on down the street. Although she couldn’t figure out why she was back home again, Elner did not mind being back in time. It was really very, very pleasant, and so so quiet. All the new housing developments were gone, and the cornfields that used to be behind all the houses were back again. Then Elner saw several big fat squirrels running up and down the trees, only these squirrels were bright orange with white polka dots. “Look, Ida, wouldn’t Sonny just love to catch one of them.” Then something dawned on her. “Wait a minute, Ida, if we’re back fifty years ago, poor old Sonny isn’t even born yet, is he? And why are we flipped back? Am I going to get younger too?”

“Just wait, you’ll see,” she said.

Ida walked her all the way down to the end of the avenue, but instead of the little Shop & Go market the Vietnamese couple ran now, the old Smith house was there where it used to be, looking exactly as it had so many years ago, with the green and white awnings, and the big radio tower with the red light at the top still stood in the backyard. Ida stopped right in front of the house and announced, “Here we are!”

Elner was surprised. “Is this where we’re going? Neighbor Dorothy’s old house?”

“It is indeed. Come on,” she said.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Elner said, and happily followed her up the sidewalk. Elner was very pleased about this development. She would love to see the old house again. For years Dorothy Smith had broadcast Elner’s favorite radio show from that very house. In fact, the Neighbor Dorothy Show had been broadcast from Dorothy’s living room. Elner had listened to that show every day for all of the thirty-eight years it had been on the air. Dorothy had given out recipes and household hints and had even given away unwanted pets on the show. When Elner heard Dorothy describing a little orange kitten that needed a home, she had made her husband, Will, drive her into town and get it. She had even named it Sonny, in honor of the show’s theme song, “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” Standing there, Elner could still remember the song and the announcer’s voice that had introduced Neighbor Dorothy every morning. “And now, from that little white house just around the corner from wherever you are, here she is, the lady with the smile in her voice, your neighbor and mine…Neighbor Dorothy.”

Ida led Elner up the stairs to the front porch, and everything looked just the same, with the swing on one end of the porch and another swing on the other, and on the window to the right of the door, painted in small black and gold letters, was WDOT RADIO NO. 66 ON YOUR DIAL. Ida opened the front screen door and stepped back and indicated for Elner to step in, then said, “See you later, have fun” and turned to leave. “Wait,” said Elner. “Where are you going? Am I going to see you again?”

Ida waved over her shoulder at her as she headed back down the stairs.

“Just go on in, Elner,” she said as she disappeared around the corner.

Elner was a little nervous at being left alone. She wasn’t sure what to expect next, this had been such a crazy