To the Future Ben Franklin! Read online

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” said Annie.

  “Indeed, it is. On the other hand, there is a great need for a central government,” said Ben. “We have no way to collect taxes. We have no way to select leaders.” Ben took a deep breath. “I have almost lost hope, my friends. I fear we will never be one nation.”

  “Really?” said Jack. “Never?”

  Ben shook his head. “I just do not see how we can come to a fair agreement.” He sighed, then yawned. He closed his eyes. In the next moment, his head fell to the side, and he started to snore.

  “Oh, man, this is serious,” Jack whispered to Annie. “If he doesn’t sign the Constitution, I’ll bet others won’t, either. And without the Constitution, our country will never come together.”

  “Let’s look at Morgan’s note,” said Annie.

  Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out their rhyme. He read the last two stanzas:

  Listen to his thoughts.

  If his fears start to grow

  And he loses all hope,

  There’s a place he must go.

  ’Tis a land filled with things

  You see every day.

  But these everyday wonders

  Will show him the way.

  “There’s a place he must go,” repeated Annie. “Read the last part again.”

  Jack reread the last four lines:

  ’Tis a land filled with things

  You see every day.

  But these everyday wonders

  Will show him the way.

  “I get it,” said Annie. “Morgan’s telling us to take Ben to Frog Creek. To our time.”

  “What?” said Jack. “No!”

  “Yes!” said Annie. “She says go to a land with things we see every day. That’s not America in 1787. That’s America in our time.”

  “But we’ve never taken anyone home with us,” said Jack. “Never!”

  “I know. This will be so cool,” said Annie. “We just have to get him up to the tree house.”

  She and Jack looked up. “Impossible,” Jack said. “He can’t climb the rope ladder.”

  “We have to try,” said Annie. She tapped Ben’s shoulder. “Excuse me?” she said. “Doctor…?”

  Ben stirred from his nap. “Yes?” he said. “Sorry, I must have dozed off.”

  “That’s okay,” said Annie. “Jack and I have a secret to tell you. A really big secret.”

  “Yes?” Ben sat up in his chair. He yawned and shook his head. “Tell me. What is it? I like secrets very much.”

  “There’s a tree house in this tree,” said Annie.

  “In this very tree?” said Ben.

  “Yes,” said Annie. “But the big news is that it’s magic. It can take you to the past—or to the future.”

  “Goodness. Yes, of course it can,” said Ben. He winked at them. “I play games like this with my grandchildren.”

  “Um…this isn’t a game,” said Jack. “It’s real.”

  “Real, indeed,” said Ben, nodding. His eyes twinkled.

  “No, seriously. It’s real,” said Annie, standing. “You can see a little of the tree house through the branches. Look up.”

  Ben leaned forward in his chair and looked up. “Oh…yes!” he said. “Goodness, I had no idea. Did Louis build that?”

  “Um…no,” said Jack.

  Annie pulled the rope ladder out from its hiding place. “So, this is what we have to do,” she said. “To get to the tree house, we have to climb this ladder.”

  “Oh, my, do you know how old I am, child?” asked Ben.

  “You said you were eighty-one,” said Annie. “But no one is too old for a little bit of magic.”

  “No, indeed!” said Ben, smiling. “I’m definitely not too old for magic. Let’s give it a try!” He stood up and grabbed the rope ladder.

  “Go slowly, and we’ll hold it steady,” said Jack.

  He and Annie held both sides of the ladder. Ben carefully climbed up through the mulberry tree and into the magic tree house.

  “Oh, my!” Ben called from above.

  Annie hurried after him. Jack grabbed Ben’s walking stick and carried it up the ladder.

  Inside the tree house, Ben looked amazed. “I had no idea this was here,” he said. “How could I have missed it?”

  “You missed it because it wasn’t here until this morning,” said Jack.

  Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book. She found the picture of Frog Creek.

  “Ready to see the future?” she asked.

  Ben laughed. “Of course! I have always wanted to peek into the future.”

  “How about 2019?” said Annie.

  “Why not? That sounds delightful!” said Ben. “You children have wondrous imaginations.”

  He still thinks we’re playing a game, thought Jack. We should probably do a better job of preparing him.

  “Okay. Now’s the time!” said Annie.

  “Wait—wait,” said Jack. He was starting to worry that traveling through time might give Ben a heart attack.

  Annie paid no attention. “I wish we could go there!” she exclaimed.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  It was still hot and muggy in the Frog Creek woods.

  Jack and Annie were wearing their own clothes again. Ben’s clothes hadn’t changed. He had on the same outfit he’d worn in Old Philadelphia—from his white ruffled collar to his buckle shoes.

  “What…what happened?” he asked Jack and Annie. He looked a bit dazed. “Where are we? What are you wearing?”

  “These are the clothes we wear in our time, in 2019,” said Annie. “The tree house brought you to our time and our hometown—Frog Creek, Pennsylvania.”

  “I—I don’t understand,” said Ben. He seemed to have difficulty breathing.

  “Try to relax,” Annie said softly. “I promise you’re safe.”

  Ben closed his eyes. His breathing slowly returned to normal. “All right, I feel better now,” he said.

  Ben reached out the window and plucked a leaf from a branch of the oak tree. “Well, this is real,” he said. “But it is all very strange. I wonder what science would have to say about this.”

  “I think we have to forget about science for now,” said Jack. “Think of your journey to the future as a—”

  “A big mystery,” said Annie.

  “A big mystery,” Ben whispered. “Yes. There are many things science cannot explain. Time itself is a mystery.”

  “Exactly,” said Jack. “Time is a mystery.”

  Ben shook his head. He looked troubled. Then he clapped his hands. “So be it! Time is a mystery!” He grinned. “Show me my future country!”

  “Okay!” said Jack, relieved. “We’ll go first and hold the ladder for you again.”

  Jack and Annie hurried down the rope ladder. Annie carried Ben’s walking stick under her arm. Then she and Jack held the ladder steady for Ben.

  Ben climbed down slowly. When he reached the ground, he looked around with amazement.

  “Ready to take a walk?” said Annie.

  “Yes, yes!” said Ben. “Lead the way!”

  Annie handed Ben his walking stick. Then they all started through the woods. As they walked, Ben smiled at the trees and birds. “Maple, oak, beech, robin, wren, woodpecker,” he said. “No different from the ones at home…”

  Jack stopped at the edge of the woods. “Okay. Some things outside the woods will be different,” he said to Ben. “I just want to warn you.”

  “Don’t be afraid,” said Annie.

  “Oh, my dear, I have been all over the world,” Ben
said. “I have lived in France and England. I have spent time with kings and queens. I even helped fight a revolution. I fear nothing.”

  “Great. Let’s go,” said Jack. He and Annie led Ben out of the woods.

  “What is that?” said Ben, startled. He pointed his walking stick at the road. “Your roadway—it is smooth and black!”

  “It’s paved with asphalt,” said Jack.

  Ben stooped to feel the road. “Oh, my…so flat and clean!” he said.

  “Yeah, I guess,” said Jack. He’d never thought much about a smoothly paved road. But at this moment, it did seem special, compared to the dirty, bumpy cobblestone streets in Ben’s city.

  A green station wagon came around the corner. The driver honked her horn.

  “Ahhh!” Ben said, jumping back. He stared after the car as it drove down the road. “What—what was that?”

  “A car,” said Annie.

  “Cars are like carts and buggies,” Jack said quickly, “except they have engines instead of horses. They move much faster.”

  “They won’t hurt you,” said Annie, “if you don’t step into the street in front of them.”

  Ben pulled out his handkerchief. “Oh my goodness. All right…,” he murmured, wiping his face. “That was truly amazing.”

  “It’s pretty ordinary to us,” said Annie.

  “Really?” said Ben. “Then let us proceed.”

  They started up the sidewalk. Jack was relieved that Frog Creek was an old-fashioned-looking town. Most houses were not that different from the ones in Ben’s time.

  But Ben pointed to a sprinkler spraying a lawn. “What is that?” he said.

  “It waters the grass,” said Jack.

  “Ah,” said Ben. He pointed at the power lines alongside the road. “I don’t understand—why are your clotheslines so high?”

  Annie laughed. “Those aren’t clotheslines! They’re power lines and telephone lines,” she said.

  “The power lines carry electricity into all the buildings,” said Jack. “And—”

  “My electricity?” said Ben.

  “Uh…not really,” said Jack. “We don’t get our electricity from lightning. It comes from burning coal and gas and oil in these big machines…that…um…”

  “Make electricity,” Annie finished.

  “I’m still not sure I understand,” said Ben.

  Annie leaned closer to Ben. “We don’t, either,” she whispered.

  Ben stopped. “What is that strange noise?” he said. “That loud buzzing? Is it coming from overhead?”

  They all looked up. The buzzing grew into a roar. A small propeller plane appeared above the treetops. It had taken off from the nearby airfield.

  “AHHH!” Ben cried. “Run for your lives!” Then he covered his head and hobbled quickly back into the Frog Creek woods.

  “Ben, wait for us!” yelled Annie.

  Jack and Annie hurried into the woods after Ben Franklin. They found him huddled beneath a tree.

  “That was an airplane,” said Jack. “It won’t hurt you. And it won’t fall out of the sky.”

  “But why not?” said Ben.

  Jack only half remembered how planes flew. “Well, it has an engine that pushes it forward,” he said. “Then air under the wings helps lift it up.”

  “It all works together. Somehow,” said Annie.

  “Oh, my,” said Ben. “Does your world have many airplanes?”

  “Thousands,” said Annie. “Huge ones called jets.”

  “And rockets,” said Jack. “Some rockets can go all the way to the moon.”

  “Impossible!” said Ben.

  “I can see why that might seem impossible, but these are everyday things to us,” said Annie.

  “We don’t even think about them,” said Jack.

  “Your world does not seem real to me!” said Ben. “The trees and grass and squirrels are real, but not lines that carry electricity and rockets that go to the moon!” He wiped his face with his handkerchief. “I fear there is no place for me here. I am a plain and simple man.”

  “No, you’re not! You’re a genius!” said Annie.

  “Not here, my dear,” Ben said. “My little inventions and experiments are nothing compared to carriages that roar and machines that fly. I believe it is time for me to go home.”

  “Wait—uh—have you made a decision about what you’re going to do?” said Jack. “I mean about signing the Constitution?”

  “No. But it doesn’t matter if I sign or not,” said Ben. “We delegates think our ideas are so very important. But now I see they matter little in your world.”

  “That’s not true at all!” said Annie. “They matter a lot.”

  Ben smiled sadly. “Children, please. Lead me to the tree house,” he said.

  “But—” said Annie.

  “Please,” said Ben. “I want to go home.”

  Jack looked at Annie. She nodded. “Okay,” said Jack.

  “Follow us,” Annie said gently.

  She and Jack started leading Ben back through the Frog Creek woods.

  “Morgan was wrong,” Annie whispered to Jack. “She said our everyday wonders would show Ben the way.”

  “I know. They only confuse him,” said Jack. He felt terrible. Not only had they failed to change Ben’s mind about signing the Constitution, they’d also upset one of the world’s greatest heroes.

  By the time they reached the tree house, Ben looked pale and weary. “I apologize for being such a bad guest,” he said.

  “You don’t have to apologize,” said Jack. “We apologize.”

  “No, no. You have only been kind,” said Ben.

  “Wait, Ben!” said Annie. “Before you go, there’s something you really, really have to see.”

  “What?” Jack whispered to her.

  “Trust me!” Annie whispered. Then she turned to Ben. “I promise you’ll like this—it’s really great!”

  Ben sighed. “All right. Lead me there,” he said.

  “This way,” said Annie.

  Jack and Annie followed Ben through the woods to the sidewalk. As they headed up the street, the air felt hotter and more humid than ever.

  “Is this place far away?” Ben asked.

  “No, it’s just ahead,” said Annie. “See that building?”

  She pointed to a brick building with tall paned windows.

  “Oh, man,” whispered Jack. “Brilliant.”

  Annie was taking Ben to the Frog Creek Library!

  “Don’t worry if people stare at you,” Annie said to Ben. “We’ll tell them you’re in rehearsals for a play and you’re still wearing your costume.”

  Ben looked puzzled, but he nodded and followed Annie and Jack up the library steps. Jack opened the front door, and they all stepped inside.

  Ben took a deep breath. “Ah, the cool air in this room is delightful,” he said. “Another invention?”

  “It is,” said Jack. He usually didn’t think much about air-conditioning, but today it was definitely delightful.

  “And what a wonderful room!” said Ben.

  The library walls were lined with bookshelves. People of all ages and colors sat in armchairs, reading books, magazines, and newspapers. Some were working at computers.

  “See what you started in Philadelphia?” Annie said. “Now we have free public libraries all over America. Thousands of them. They make a difference to all kinds of people.”

  The librarian looked up from her desk. “Jack and Annie!” she said. “Hi!”

  “Hi, Sandy!” they said.

  “You’ve brought Ben Franklin!” Sandy said, grinning. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re in rehearsals for a play,” said Jack.

  “We need to look some things up,” said Annie, “to help our friend play hi
s part.”

  “Please. Go ahead,” said the librarian.

  “What play?” Ben whispered.

  “We’ll show you,” said Annie. She led Ben to a bulletin board announcing community events.

  Jack pointed to a small theater poster. “See? Ben Franklin in Paris,” he said. “You’re famous in history. Actors have played you in musicals, movies, and TV shows.”

  “Movies? TV?” said Ben.

  “It’s hard to explain,” said Annie.

  “Your face is on our hundred-dollar bill,” said Jack.

  “No!” said Ben.

  “Yes!” said Jack and Annie together.

  “My goodness,” said Ben. “That’s wonderful.”

  Ben studied the other notices on the bulletin board. They announced church meetings, yard sales, bake sales, a fire station picnic, a Fourth of July parade….

  “OPEN TO ALL,” Ben read at the top of the bulletin board. Then he looked around at the library. “This place is open to all, too, isn’t it?” he said. “You have a wonderful community here, I can tell.”

  “There are lots of libraries and communities like this everywhere,” said Annie.

  “And so many children are reading,” said Ben. “Where did they all learn to read?”

  “America has free schools for everyone,” said Annie. “No matter how poor you are or where you come from. And girls get the same education as boys.”

  “At least twelve years for everyone,” said Jack.

  Ben’s eyes grew teary. “I would have liked that,” he said softly. “There was so much I wanted to learn.”

  “Well, wait till you see this,” said Annie. She led Ben to a table. “Please sit down.”

  “What is this machine?” said Ben.

  “It’s called a computer,” said Jack.

  “A computer?” said Ben. He stared at the large desktop machine.

  “Yes, that’s right,” said Annie. “It’s useful for learning all about the world. Lots of people even carry small computers in their pockets. On smart phones.”