“Is it true what they say about swimming pools?”

“You mean, did the Old Time people really fill those cement holes in the ground with water and swim in them? They didn't just use 'em for cisterns or put dirt back in 'em?”

“Yes, Sergeant. That's what I mean.” Dan nodded.

“Oh, it's true, all right.” Sergeant Chuck nodded, too, solemnly. “I've seen pictures in Old Time magazines.”

That proved it, all right, unless… “Were they for-true magazines?”

“Well, I sure think so,” the sergeant answered. “They had other things that sure are real-cars and things, you know.”

“Oh, yeah.” Dan nodded. You couldn't not know about cars. Their rusting corpses filled the streets. To this day, they were the main source of iron for blacksmiths. Their wheels-with tires of wood, not the rubber that had rotted away-still turned on carts and wagons. Glass from their windows gave homes light to this day. “I wonder how they moved so fast all by themselves, though.”

“Well, who doesn't?” Chuck said. “Must've been something like a steam engine, I expect.”

Big, puffing steam engines pumped water. A few of them moved engines along railroads. But so many rail lines were broken, and so many bandits prowled the routes, that railroads often seemed more trouble than they were worth. “How did Old Time people keep railroads from getting raided?” Dan asked.

“I don't think they did,” the sergeant told him. “'You know the story of Jesse James and Annie Oakley, don't you?”

“Little Orphan Annie? I hope I do!” Dan said.

“Well, they were train robbers, right?”

“They were,” Dan admitted. “But they got caught and paid the price. Jesse did, anyway. Annie married Judge Warbucks and got off. Too many robbers these days never even get caught.”

“Too many places for bad guys to slip through the cracks,” Sergeant Chuck said. “What you've got to remember is, back in Old Time days this was all one country-the Valley and the Westside and Burbank and Speedro. All the way from Sandago to Frisco. Even Vegas. All one country. Bad guys couldn't just skip over a border and disappear, like.”