The Diary of Ariana Thomson: Day 2

            It was hard to wake up since it was extra early for us.  We left soon enough, and I made sure to take my ring with me.  We started off in the USS Constitution, a boat, also nicknamed, Old Iron Sides, since it had iron sides to protect it from cannon balls.  It was about 214 years old!

            We took a tour inside it and since I easily drifted off, I fidgeted with what was in my pocket, the ring.  I accidentally slipped it on.  The people in the tour faded away and in their places were sailors, running frantically around.  The old walls changed from old and crackly to bold and fresh.  The sailors crowded around the cannons, aimed, and a sailor said, "Ready to fire, Captain!"

            A tall man came up with a few scars on his face.  He nodded at the sailors and they shot the cannon with a terrible sound that made me fall and knock out on the hard wooden floor.  My last feeling had the ring falling off my finger. 

            When I woke up, my parents were shaking me.  "Ariana, wake up!"

            I slowly opened my eyes and spotted something shinny on the floor near my head.  The ring!  I grabbed for it too quickly for anyone to notice what I had caught.  I quickly slipped it into my pocket. 

            "I'm fine," I finally said.

            My parents smiled and we continued with the tour. 

            Later, we sailed on another mini boat to the big city of Boston.  I slipped on the ring and saw myself in an old merchandise boat arriving on the harbors near some old settler's homes.  I hurriedly took it off.  I was back at the loading of the boat and then arrived to the point where I had worn the ring.

            We left to a restaurant.  Dad told us a lot about this restaurant and how it was important in American history.  I mean come on!  Churches, houses, boats, and now, restaurants???  What next, the privies?

            Anyway, I had other reasons for not listening.  I was planning to find out on my own the history of this restaurant the fun way.  I slipped on the ring and found myself looking at many men standing around a machine.  Some men held some little rectangular blocks.  Others held pieces of paper with fancy curvy writing on it. 

            A very familiar man pressed down on a lever and lifted it again.  From under the plaque that had been pressed down, he pulled out a piece of paper with wet ink letters on it.  He hung it up on a wire.  He looked at me directly in the eye.  Everything froze around him. 

            "Beware of the ring," he said.

            "Why should I trust you if I don't even know you?" I asked.

            "I am Benjamin Franklin.  Haven't you heard of me?"  Before I could answer, he continued, "The more you use the ring, the further you go back in the past when you take it off.  The further you go back, the harder it is to back to the present."
            I remembered when I went back at first, right where I was meant to in the present.  Yet the second time, I wore the ring when we were on the boat, and came back at the time at which we loaded into the boat.  I knew better than to disagree with Benjamin Franklin, but I wasn't convinced to give up the ring.  I had never enjoyed history as much.  Should I give it up for going back in time?

            As if reading my thoughts, he said, "Right now, you might not find the trouble, but sooner or later, you'll go back too many years ago to be able to live until the day when you first appeared on Earth.   Get rid of the ring if you ever want to see your own life."

            Without even taking off the ring, Benjamin Franklin disappeared and I found myself at the hotel, getting ready to leave for the USS Constitution ship.  The rest of the day, I didn't wear the ring, but kept fidgeting with it, thinking over and over again Franklin's words, "Beware of the ring."