Mr. Underhill loosened the ropes that held the boat to its supports and he and his wife climbed aboard. The boat quivered and started to rise into the air. Freddy's jaw dropped.

An hour earlier Freddy Portland had been poking around in the attic--Mom didn't much like it when he did, but it was fun--and he found some old photos. They showed his Mom and Dad, the Underhills next door, and other neighbors having a picnic. Penciled dates on the backs were ten summers ago. Many of the pictures also showed the huge sailboat atop a wooden framework in the Underhill's back yard. It looked just like it had been ever since he could remember, but one picture had "the new neighbors and their boat" scribbled on the back.

Freddy and his friends often talked about the boat. None of them could remember when it hadn't been there. There were no lakes or anything near, and he and the other kids had asked Mr. Underhill a million times why he had it. The only answer they ever got was, "You never know when you'll need a boat."

Studying the pictures, Freddy could see how much his Mom and Dad, and most of the others, had changed. In the pictures they all looked so young! His Dad had lots of hair back then, and Mom was real skinny. And those two babies crawling around must be him and his best friend Tim. Tim's brother and sister weren't even there. But Mr. and Mrs. Underhill looked just the same in the pictures as they did now. Freddy took the pictures downstairs and showed them to his Mom and Dad.

His Dad looked at them, then said "Look at this, Mary. Isn't it funny, how we've changed and the Underhills haven't?"

"It's not funny, it's disgusting," answered his Mom.

Freddy could see Mr. Underhill in his back yard, so he took the photos and went outside. "Hey, Mr. Underhill!" he hollered across the fence. Mr. Underhill came over and looked at the pictures. Finally Freddy asked, "How come you and Mrs. Underhill don't look any older now?"

"Well, some people live longer or stay young longer than others, Freddy. Different genes. Look at Russian Georgia, those people live longer. Where we come from, everyone lives longer."

"Our Social Studies teacher told us about those Georgians. They live longer, but they look really really really old. I never heard of anywhere people stay looking young. And are you ever going to tell us why you have that big boat in your tiny back yard?"

"Freddy, for ten years you've been the nosiest kid I ever met." Freddy was going to say something, but Mr. Underhill didn't give him a chance. "I just checked the weather, it's starting to rain, a real downpour." Freddy looked up at the sun in the cloudless blue sky, then back at Mr. Underhill with a puzzled expression. "So I guess I can finally tell you the truth, if you really want to know."

"Yeah, yeah, I do, I do."

"OK, the truth is there are places you never heard of, where things are different. What this world would be like if just one thing was different."

"Huh?"

"Well, for instance, imagine if that Earth were hundreds of times bigger than this Earth. So big that only a small fraction had been explored, even though people there live hundreds of years."

"Impossible! Our science teacher told us gravity would squash you on such a big planet!"

"The law of gravity is different there. And the laws of geometry too, so that many places on that huge Earth's surface manage to 'touch' places on this smaller Earth. Touching this spot right here is a valley between two immense mountain ranges. The valley is so long and wild it's never been explored. But once in a while there's a flood, a giant river running down the valley."

"So?"

"Now imagine that a pair of explorers, a husband and wife, decided to boat down the river when it flooded. But they were unlucky, and their boat hit a rock. By the time they repaired it, the flood had subsided, and they were stranded tens of thousands of miles from civilization. The next flood could be in a couple of years, or a couple of centuries. They might not survive in the wilderness."

"So what did they do?"

"Their only real choice was to open a gate between worlds and cross into one more hospitable. Then they could wait for the next flood in comfort. With the boat ready to go, of course."

Freddy started laughing. "Hey, that's funny. Next thing you'll be telling me you and Mrs. Underhill are from Oz or Mars or something."

Mr. Underhill laughed too. "Right. Good thing you ..." He broke off as Mrs. Underhill shouted from the door, then turned back to Freddy. "Gotta go, pal, the river's rising." He headed for the house.

As Freddy stood there and watched, Mr. and Mrs. Underhill made several trips carrying things from the house to the boat. Finally Mr. Underhill loosened the ropes that held the boat to its supporting framework and the two climbed aboard. A few minutes later the boat quivered and started to rise into the air. Freddy's jaw dropped.

Mr. Underhill saw him watching and called, "We have the boat partly in both worlds, so we can get on it here and have it rise with the water there. Pretty soon we'll shift it all the way into our world and sail on down the valley." He paused as Mrs. Underhill came up behind him and spoke in his ear, then continued, "Our gate may not shut tight behind us when we transfer, we may have had it propped open with the boat for too long. So watch out, you might get a little water through the gate. Not too much, I hope."

The boat, now moving slowly across Mr. Underhill's yard and rocking as if in the water, faded from sight. A trickle of water ran out of midair where the boat had been and formed a puddle on the grass. The trickle increased until it was like a garden hose, then like a fire hose. It was starting to tear up the lawn where it hit.

Freddy looked at the water. It was going toward Mr. Hopkins's place, and Freddy thought maybe he should go warn him. Then he remembered all the times old man Hopkins had chased him and Tim and the other kids out of his yard. He shrugged, then turned and went in the house.

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