Between Two Worlds Read Online Free

could bring on such crazy changes in the weather.
    As she looked around, the breath caught in her throat. She closed
the umbrella and dropped it in the thick grass right where she stood. An eerie
feeling settled over her.
    Something’s not right . This
doesn’t look anything like my neighborhood  For one, there’s no grassy banks in
the city. Her eyes darted back andforth, and her ire rose like
mercury in a thermometer. Short cut my foot! I don’t think that Irish midget
would know a short cut if there was a sign in front of him with Short
Cut painted on it! Delaney slammed her fist into the palm of her other hand
and began cracking her knuckles.

Three
    With her hand shading her eyes from the sun’s strong rays, Delaney
spied buildings in the distance. Turning her back on the bridge and leaving the
gurgling river behind, she trekked across the grassy patch, which turned into
sage-covered desert, then eventually gave way to a dirt road. With her purse
slung over her shoulder and perspiration dampening her face, she trod down the
road in her uneven high heels, glancing around, taking in the serene countryside.
The land was barren, dry, open desert except for the scattering of saguaro and
chollo cactuses—nothing like her modern city neighborhood at all.
    She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to swallow her
dizzying nausea, because her entire body was shaking. She talked out loud,
telling herself everything was going to be okay, even as a sick feeling settled
in the pit of her stomach. “That cabbie misled me, sending me off to God knows
where. Hopefully someone in the town ahead will be able to steer me back in the
right direction.” Even as the words left her mouth, Delaney feared the worst
and expected no less.
    Fifteen long minutes later she reached her destination. It was a
destination all right, but one she wasn’t familiar with. She stopped at the
fringe of a bustling frontier town and sauntered into the wide, dusty street—a
street swarming with activity.
    Ladies wearing ankle-length skirts and blouses with high collars
scurried from store to store, holding their children’s hands. They nodded to
one another, wishing each other a good day. Cowboys in chaps, neckerchiefs and
wide-brimmed hats, and gentlemen dressed in button-up jackets, trousers and
bowler hats filled the boardwalks. There were as many horses and mules in the
street as people, with some of the animals being ridden and some tied to
hitching posts.
    Several wagons filled with supplies rumbled past, kicking up rocks
and red dust. A stagecoach with the words Castle Creek Stage Company written
on the side also rolled by. A sign on the corner read Washington Street .
Delaney had been down that street dozens of times, but this was not Washington
Street, as she knew it. She smacked her hand against her head. Was she losing
her mind? Was she dreaming? Doubting her sanity, but not knowing what else to do,
she willed her feet to move. Trancelike, she inched across the road.  A horse
and buggy came close to running her over. When the driver hurled an obscenity
her way, it was just the rude awakening she needed.
    She snapped to and scampered across the thoroughfare to the other
side and stepped onto the raised wooden walk that ran the length of the street.
Strolling down it and feeling like she was in a fog, she gawked at the
clapboard and stucco storefronts, all of which resembled an old west movie set.
Folks passing by openly stared and pointed at her, whispering to one another.
    Her attention was drawn to the names on the old buildings and
businesses. The National Bank of Arizona, Hurley’s Central Market,
The Arizona Telegraph Company, Ike’s Livery and Stables, Territorial Library, The Phoenix Herald, Medical Clinic, Donovan’s Café … Is this
some kind of joke? she questioned. Telegraph company? Livery? When did they
change the name of the Phoenix Public Library to the Territorial Library?
    Several cowboys stumbled out of a bar and