Wormhole

Comic panel showing people emerging from a portal at Pounds Hollow Beach in 1963
A vintage comic-style portal sends beachgoers tumbling into Pounds Hollow Beach in 1963.

‘This is it; this is the big one,’ Chet announced. ‘Four days left to swim at Pounds Hollow,’ Chet continued. ‘Labor Day is Monday,’ Chet observed. ‘Where did the summer go? It began yesterday and ends soon,’ Chet noted. ‘We must have an End of Summer Swim at PH,’ Chet proclaimed! ‘Perhaps we will see the whole town there for this event,’ Chet observed.

Mother and two children approach a glowing portal on Pounds Hollow Beach
A mother and two children approach a glowing cosmic portal on a rocky beach.

Well, I will bring Salameats along with the Oscar Mayer Wieners and Merlot,’ Neva J said. ‘Salameats have a hidden recipe that no one knows except the makers of the sausage,’ Neva J winked and grinned. ‘They are an experience like none you have ever had…Salameats are where the culinary mysteries are,’ Neva J laughed. ‘Once you try one, you will settle for nothing else,’ Neva J danced.

Comic panel reading “CHET’S UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER,” showing a boy at a picnic table facing a glowing portal.
A startled picnic-goer discovers a glowing portal in the forest while holding a sandwich.

‘Mrs K said Look for a surprise at the lake. ‘ There’s a big dark hole near the beach that people are entering and not returning from,’ Jane said. ‘Some say it is a Wormhole,’ Jane said cautiously. ‘Billy B entered the Wormhole as a kid, and now he is a man running Billy B’s Emporium of the Unusual,’ Jane noted with a strange look in her eyes. ‘Billy B says he went in the Wormhole in 1963 and came out in 2026. When I explained to him that he would be nearly 70 years old if that had happened, he said he knew,’ Jane explained. ‘He looks his age,’ Jane mused.

Billy B’s Emporium of the Strange and Unusual; Sep. 1912
A shopkeeper presents a skeleton among the curious artifacts of Billy B’s Emporium in 1912.

‘I have never seen anything like that hole in the air near the beach,’ Neva J confirmed. ‘Pounds Hollow Beach is empty, as everyone has entered to explore where they will end up,’ Neva J continued. ‘Let us follow them into the vortex and see what happens,’ Neva J encouraged.

‘Remember when we entered the strange Wormhole on Pounds Hollow Beach in 1963,’ Chet asked. ‘What happened between 1963 and 2026? I have no memory of the time passed,’ Chet mused. ‘We were young, and now we are old,’ Chet observed. ‘And when did we pick up our little friend Zog?’ Chet laughed.

Three older adults laugh with a cowboy-hatted alien beside snacks and a newspaper
Three older friends and a cowboy-hatted alien share laughter over snacks in a cozy living room.

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