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“Magic?”
    â€œNo. It’s mechanical. Although I don’t know if you’d call fiber optics exactly mechanical,” Dallas said with a humorous twist of his lips. “Maybe magic is the better word.”
    â€œHow does it work?”
    Dallas grimaced. Every question she asked pointed out his ignorance of the technical world in which he lived. “I just know how to work it, not how it works,” he admitted. “The world’s not a simple place anymore. There’s a lot we accept on faith. Like, if I turn on the stove I get heat. The refrigerator keeps things cold. I turn a spigot and water comes out, punch a button and the television works. These days people learn specific jobs and don’t know much beyond their own particular skill.”
    â€œSort of like the butcher and the baker and the blacksmith each has a trade?” Angel asked.
    â€œExactly the same,” he agreed. “Only things have gotten a lot more complicated since computers were invented.”
    Angel didn’t understand a tenth of what Dallas was saying. The words he used meant nothing, provoked no images of anything with which she was familiar. It was hard not to feel overwhelmed.And frightened. Much as she hated to admit it, perhaps staying with Dallas wasn’t such a bad idea—at least until she could absorb and understand some of the shocking changes the world had undergone. Or until she could figure out some way to get back to her life in the past.
    â€œWould you like to see the rest of the house?” Dallas asked.
    â€œI suppose.”
    Dallas showed Angel the kitchen, demonstrating modern appliances that kept her eyebrows perpetually raised in astonishment. The bathroom had a sink, toilet and tub, all of which she longed to use. There were three bedrooms. The two bedrooms upstairs were filled with furniture he called antiques, but which she found achingly familiar. The downstairs bedroom had been converted into an office. Besides what Dallas described as “a bed hidden in the sofa,” the room contained more mechanical devices, including a mystical “computer” that had apparently revolutionized the way things were done in the modern world.
    â€œWould it be all right if I take a bath?” Angel asked, looking longingly in the direction of the large indoor tub she had seen.
    Dallas frowned. “I’d feel better if Doc Philips checked you out before I leave you alone behind a closed door.”
    â€œHow long before he gets here?”
    A knock on the door answered her question. “I suspect that’s him now.”
    Dallas opened the door to a handsome young man, not much older than he, wearing a white Oxford cloth shirt and jeans with a denim jacket. His eyes were a startling blue and openly curious when he spotted Angel.
    Dallas put a protective arm around Angel’s shoulders and pulled her forward. “Angel, this is Dr. Adam Philips. We grew up as neighbors. Adam, this is Angel Taylor.”
    â€œYou both look pretty healthy to me,” Adam said. “Why the urgent call?”
    Dallas’s gaze slid to Angel and back to the doctor. “Everything isn’t always what it seems.”
    â€œMeaning?”
    â€œAngel has a bump on her head. I’d like you to check it out.”
    Dallas met Adam’s questioning gaze but shook his head slightly to indicate he didn’t want to talk.
    â€œAll right,” Adam said. “Let’s get to it. How about if you lie down on the couch, Angel, and I’ll look you over.”
    Angel eyed the doctor’s black bag anxiously. She had never had much use for doctors. She tensed as he pulled a small object out of the bag.He pushed a button and the contraption in his hand lit up. She sat up abruptly. “What’s that?”
    Adam looked at her and then at Dallas before he answered. “A sort of flashlight, so I can see into your eyes.”
    â€œWhat’s a flashlight?”