Chapter 1: Locked Up
By Steve Brezenoff
Maya and Tucker were in big trouble. They sat at a long conference table in a meeting room at the Greenville History Museum. They were being punished for what had happened the day before. It’s not like they’d been able to help time traveling back to 1912, though.
Well, technically that wasn’t true. The first time they’d gone back to the Titanic had been an accident. Yesterday they’d used a teacup from the Special Collection to go back on purpose. Once their new friend Liam and his parents boarded the Titanic as third-class passengers, they couldn’t just abandon him on the doomed ship.
But the teacup they’d used had broken when they came back to the present. Even though the teacup in the exhibit was fine, Tucker’s mother had been furious. And since they couldn’t exactly tell her the truth—especially when they didn’t fully understand it themselves—they were stuck in this room.
A low humming sound filled the room. It sounded like a refrigerator, or maybe an air conditioner. But since there was nothing in the room besides them and their homework, Tucker didn’t know what it was.
“Ugh,” Maya finally said. “What is that noise?” She slammed her pencil down in her open textbook.
“I don’t know,” Tucker said. “Just ignore it.” He didn’t look up from his science book.
“I can’t ignore it. It’s driving me crazy,” Maya said. She picked up her pencil and twirled it like a tiny baton. Then she started tapping it on the edge of the conference table.
Tucker did his best to ignore her. He knew it was his fault they were stuck in there to begin with. After all, this was his mom’s museum. And using the teacup to go back to the Titanic yesterday had been his idea. He was the reason they were spending their spring break stuck in a conference room.
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Adapted from An Unsinkable Ship, by Steve Brezenoff, ©️ by Capstone. Reprinted with permission.
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Questions
Do Tucker and the narrator feel the same way about time travel?
No, Tucker knows he traveled back in time, but the narrator is unsure.
No, Tucker knows he traveled back in time, but the narrator does not have an opinion.
Yes, they are both sure they are in trouble for time traveling.
Yes, they both feel that it is their fault they are stuck in the conference room.