Strange Mr. Keller

Strange Mr. Keller

By Tanya Curran

I had a teacher named Mr. Keller for Science in High School. He was a middle-aged man in his late 40’s. He was a stupendous, little man with slightly grey hair, he was balding, and wore glasses. He had a hardy laugh, and great vigor for teaching the subject of science. He was also a bit quirky at times. He would wear a pocket protector full of pens in his shirt and line them of according to height with a little black notebook tucked snuggly behind the pens, and he snorted whenever he laughed. He was not much in the way of fashion, but had a very studious air about him. He would always go out of his way to help you understand anything you had a problem with in his class. He was a very kind man. He started acting surprisingly suspicious though in the latter part of the year. He would pop up out of nowhere. It was like one minute he was there, and the next nowhere to be found. A few occasions I caught him walking out of the janitor’s maintenance closet. “Why would he be in there?”, I wondered.

One day I saw him as I entered class, and I noticed he was wearing a brown sweater, and winter boots. The weather had whipped up a nice little snowstorm that day, but later in the day I saw him coming out of the Janitor’s closet again, and he was wearing a tropical short sleeved shirt, some Bermuda shorts, and sandals. “What in the world?”, I thought to myself. Another time, I was talking to him after class in the classroom, as I had a question about a homework assignment, and the next second he was gone. Just gone, like poof, nowhere to be found anywhere. It was so strange. Just a few seconds later, he was standing out in the hallway, and wearing a sombrero, also holding a ton of cash in his hands. He then checked something off in his little black notebook. This was so strange, and I asked him about of course, but he looked at me like he didn’t even know we had just been talking a few minutes before, like his mind was completely elsewhere. He ignored my question. This was not like him at all.

I was rattled by this strange behavior, so one day I decided to hide in the Janitor’s closet behind a bunch of brooms and mops to see if I could find out what he was doing in there. He stepped into the closet, and I watched. He was rubbing his hand on the cover of his little black notebook, and said some very curious words, which sounded like, “portal of portals open wide, bring me to the other side”. There was suddenly a bright light, and a portal opened. He jumped into the portal and disappeared. My mind was completely blown. I was so awe-struck that I sat there dumbfounded. What seemed like only a couple of minutes later, a bright light shone again, a portal opened, and out of it jumped Mr. Keller. He didn’t see me hiding in the closet. I noticed again, he had a large sum of money in hand, and his clothes were different. He was wearing a baseball jersey, and ball cap. I knew if I asked him about this later on he would completely ignore my question again, so I hid a few more times in the closet that week, and the same thing kept happening each time. Each time he would come back from a portal he’d be wearing different clothes. Once it was a sleek, black, business suit, like the type those guys on Wall Street wear. Another time he had on a cowboy hat, a huge belt buckle, and cowboy boots, like you’d see in an old movie. He always came back with large amounts of money in his hands too, and checked off something in his little black notebook.

I decided I had to get evidence of what was happening, so I recorded the events on my cellular device. This time Mr. Keller would have to answer me. Into the closet he walked, and I was hidden well, the video on my phone was ready to record. He took out his little black notebook, rubbed the cover of it, and said, “Portal of portals open wide, bring me to the other side.” A bright light beamed, as a portal opened, and through it jumped Mr. Keller. A few minutes later, the portal reappeared, and out jumped Mr. Keller. “Aha! I caught you Mr. Keller! Now tell me what on earth is going on, and don’t try brush me off, because I’ve got it all on video!”

Mr. Keller was startled. He stammered at first. Then He said, “Holy, you scared me! Okay, Okay, I’ll tell you, but you must promise to keep it a secret. I mean like a, cross your heart and hope to die, or swear on someone’s grave type of secret.” I promised, and listened intently.

Mr. Keller said he had found this little black book at an old antique store. Once he brought it home with him, he noticed he was having really strange dreams. He was dreaming about time travel, and visiting all these exotic places. He read through the little black book, which had dates recorded in them. Once he got to the end of the book, he engraved on the back cover the words, “Portal of portals open wide, bring me to the other side”. He read the words out loud, and a portal had appeared. He told me he just about had a heart attack when he saw it, but curiosity go the better of him, and went into the portal. Once on the other side, he saw strange things. Things like, old cars from the 1950’s and 60’s, and a diner he remembered his grandmother telling him about. He looked at a news stand and saw the date of the daily paper. He was indeed in 1956. He thumbed thru the little black notebook, as he remembered it had dates written all throughout it. On that particular date, was a ball game, and next to the place and date in the book was the name of who won. Mr. Keller said he went and placed a bet on the winning team, and sure enough he won a great amount of cash. After celebrating, he then began to panick, would he be stuck in 1956 now? He tried the words on the back of the notebook again, but nothing happened. He was scared now, thinking he may never get back to his own time. He rubbed the little black notebook, and said, “You have ruined me, now I’ll never get back.” As he did, a portal opened. he then realized he had said the words of the notebook and rubbed it’s cover at the same time, thru the portal he stepped, and out he came into the janitor’s closet in the school. He couldn’t really explain any of it. It defied all logic, or scientific reasoning, but somehow it worked.

“But why the Janitor’s closet?” I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I have no idea, but that’s always how I get back to this time period. The only thing I can figure is that the name written inside the front cover was that of a Janitor who worked here at the school about 40 years ago.” He begged me not to give away his secret. I asked, “Where did you go when you came back in the sleek, black suit?” He said, “I was in the 1970’s at Wall Street, and had made a ton of money there.” Then I asked, “The sombrero?” “Oh, I was in Mexico, and made money off a game of Poker.”, he said. “Ok, and the crazy cowboy outfit?” He laughed, “a costume casino night in Vegas.” “Wow, Mr. Keller, this is insane.” I said. He said, “I know, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how, which as a scientist really baffles me.” “I promise to never give away your secret, as long as you promise to use the notebook very carefully, and oh, if ever get in a jam, I’ll be calling on you for some of that money you acquired.” I said. He said, “It’s a deal, and handed me about $10,000.” “Whoa”, I said, “Mr. Keller, this is too much.” “Nonsense”, he said, “This will get you a good start at a nice college.” We parted ways, but wrote occasionally, and he would keep me up to date on his adventures. About 15 years later Mr. Keller passed away, and a week later I received a package in the mail, a little black notebook.