Mr. and Mrs. Wells were a kindly old couple (they were in their 50's)  who lived on our street for years. They were two of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Every Halloween they gave out more candy than any other house. They were very friendly and always said "Good Morning" to everyone in the neighbourhood. One day Mrs. Wells got very sick and we never saw her again. It was really hard for Mr. Wells to deal with.

After his wife's passing, Mr. Wells started to avoid everyone. Concerned neighbours would go over to check on him but he never answered the door. We left food and notes for him on his front porch but nobody had seen him for over a year. The only sign of life in his house was the constant banging sounds that we heard at night. We had no idea what he was working on.

It was my turn to take my dog Tippy out to do his business. It was a warm, calm evening. Everything was quiet and there was a nice breeze that caressed my face. And then annoying thumping noises began to echo through the streets spooking Tippy. He ran off to see where it was coming from. "Tippy! Get back here!" But he wouldn't listen so I had to chase after him.

Tippy had fled to Mr. Wells' house where all of the racket was coming from. "C'mon boy, we have to go. I have to take a bath and get to bed." But he wouldn't listen to me and he began to head around back to the basement window. I know that I should've just taken him home but I was a little curious to see what was going on as well.

"Tippy, there you are. We have to get going. I don't want to get into trouble with Mom and Dad." But Tippy wouldn't leave. He just kept staring through the basement window. My curiosity got the better of me and I tried to sneak a peek as well. I saw Mr. Wells in his basement with tools scattered about all over the floor. There was a big clock that he seemed to working on. I think he worked as an engineer or something like that. "Show's over. Let's go Tippy" I whispered. "WOOF!" "Shhhh! Be quiet." But it was too late as Mr. Wells had spotted us.

"Olya, is that you?" "I'm so sorry Mr. Wells." "It's okay. C'mon inside, the door's open." He fixed me a cup of hot cocoa and then started to tell me about his project. "As you know I lost my wife a while ago. She fought so hard and was very brave. We had a disagreement one night so I left the house to take a walk. When I got back she had passed away. I never got to say goodbye and it has haunted me ever since. That's why I'm building that thing." He looked at the big machine with a clock and wires sticking out all over. "It's a time machine. I'm going to make things right."

"I've been doing a lot of research on time travel and I think it's possible. I'm working on a prototype right now." "A proto-what?" I interrupted. "A prototype is a model from which other forms are developed." "Correct Tippy." "I'm going to go back to the moment before I walked out and be there to say goodbye. I haven't been able to think about anything else since that day." "Well it's getting late. I hope your time thingy works." As we were on our way out a fly started buzzing around inside the time machine. Soon it began to make all sorts of strange noises.

Bright lights started to flash, the machine began to shake, and the room was filling up with smoke. A great force of energy began to pull the three of us towards the machine. "What's going on Mr. Wells?" "We're probably entering a space-time continuum. You see, time can't exist without space, and space can't exist without time." "Not now Cupid!" Mr. Wells and I yelled as we were eventually pulled inside the time machine.

After spinning around and around we finally came to an abrupt stop. Mr. Wells opened his eyes first only to see a Viking with a bushy beard wearing a huge helmet with sharp horns. "Stowaways? On my ship?" "Um, hello" I said. "Say something Tippy." "I can't. My Swedish is a little rusty." "I have some good news and some bad news" Mr. Wells whispered to me. "My time machine actually worked. Unfortunately we're on a Viking ship and they're not exactly known for their manners."

"My name is Sven the Viking. This is my brother Lars and my other brother Lars. We are from Saint Olaf and are going to raid some villages for food and other supplies. I'll make you a deal. If you two help us row to and from our destination, I'll let you stay. If you say no then I will feed you to the sharks." So we started rowing as hard as we could. "How are we going to get out of this Mr. Wells?" "I have no idea Olya so just keep rowing."

Mr. Wells and I rowed until our arms were sore. The Vikings ran onshore and scared the people in the villages. They ended up loading the ship with lots and lots of supplies. On the way back Sven spotted Tippy. "What is this mongrel doing on my ship? Get this beast off my ship!" "Hey! That's my dog you're talking about and he's the best, smartest, and cutest dog around. Now say you're sorry!" I snarled. Sven apologized much to the dismay of his fellow Vikings. Then strangely, Mr. Wells, Tippy, and I started to fade in and out before completely disappearing from the ship.

"Did you do that Mr. Wells?" "I don't know. I reached into my pocket and found my TV remote so I just started pressing a bunch of buttons. Guess it worked. Brace yourself. I think we're going back in time again!"