By now Jewel and I are traveling on foot to the DMV. In order not to draw attention to ourselves we decide to trek through the woods instead of the open road. Full disclosure: I am not an outdoorsy chick. I'm more of a glamper than camper and the mere thought of navigating the forest at night without a cell phone or GPS makes me anxious about becoming a lone wolf's midnight snack. My excessive worry immediately makes Jewel regret her decision to let me tag along. 

She breaks the tension by asking, "When did you first know you were gay?" I immediately look at her with an annoyed expression. First of all, I identify as queer, and second of all, I know she's trying to distract me from my fears but a simple sing-a-long of Walking on Sunshine would have done the trick.

Jewel looks at me and immediately knows I'm not excited to answer her probing question. One would think she would respect my wishes and decide to talk about something meaningful, like how can we convince Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis to make a Back to the Future reboot? Is there a MoveOn petition for that sort of thing? Instead, Jewel exposes a side of herself that I haven't seen in a long time: sincerity.

"We are changing the world as we know it, Bronwyn. The least I can do is try my best to understand the things that matter to you." 

I look at Jewel and really don't know how to respond. After being overlooked by my entire family I have no idea what embracement looks like. The thing is, I'm kind of ashamed to tell Jewel when I first knew I liked girls because it happened at a birthday party we both attended in middle school. What started as a game of truth or dare evolved into spin the bottle. It was my turn to spin and the bottle landed in-between Tim Langley, the most popular boy in school and Barbara Reinhart, a self-declared geek obsessed with Harry Potter. When this happened I was given the choice to kiss Tim's lips or Barbara's hand. When I chose Barbara everyone including Jewel assumed I took the easy way out, that I wasn't really ready for my first kiss. The truth is though, I had always been enamored by Barbara and didn't know what that meant until after the party. 

When I go against my instincts and decide to tell Jewel this deep, dark secret she suddenly becomes motionless. She doesn't say a word and for a moment I actually think she's turned into a statue. I want to ask Jewel if she's okay but on the other hand I'm not a fool. I don't want to be a judgy pants or anything, but Jewel almost ran away to join the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod her senior year of high school so I don't expect her to sympathize with any of this. For those of you that don't know, this is a conservative sect of the Christian church that still believes LGBTQ+ identity is a psychological disorder and sin that needs to be repented. 

However, Jewel ends up doing something surprising. She turns around and opens her arms to give me a hug. As she wraps herself around me she quietly says, "I'm sorry I didn't know." Under normal circumstances this would have been a pivotal bonding moment between sisters, but considering we're both in spacesuits this feels more like two Pillsbury Doughboys struggling to embrace before a sumo wrestling match. The sentiment is there though, and I have to say it feels good. I guess this is what I meant when I said I really wanted to enjoy tonight. Our hug doesn't last long though because we're under a time crunch and a lot is at stake.

I continue to follow Jewel through the starkly dark woods and it's apparent she knows these trails like the back of her hand. As we trudge deeper into the wilderness I'm not only concerned about the predators we may encounter, but also that our time travel quest is becoming more complicated. We now have three missions that need to be accomplished in two different time periods. Can we realistically pull this off while keeping everything else intact, including our own existence?

Just as I'm about to ask Jewel her thoughts I suddenly feel something strange come over my body. In an instant I am lighthearted and dizzy. I can hear myself breathing heavily through my spacesuit. I look around the night sky and it's as though I can see the eyes of all the nocturnal animals in the forest shining brighter than a candle stick. I turn to Jewel who a second ago was operating like a sleuth Navy seal and is now laughing uncontrollably as if watching Ace Ventura: Pet Detective for the first time. This is when I realize THE EDIBLES HAVE KICKED IN.

All of a sudden a bright light flashes before us. Jewel and I put on our space helmets to shield ourselves away from the intensity. Suddenly the black cadillac emerges into the forest with a Uhaul cargo trailer attached to the back. The car stops in front of us and Paul's professor with the deli sandwich hands comes out. He opens the back of the trailer and tells us to get in.