Free Live Free

Chronology

A Chronology of the Life of Samuel Benjamin Whitten, Brigadier General, United States Army, Retired b. 1889, d. 1983, age about 82

1803—“Ben Free” joins the Lewis & Clark Expedition during its descent of the Ohio River. Physiologically Whitten is sixty, though he appears younger.

1807-1818—“Free” makes periodic visits to the house at 808 South 38th Street, using the portable gizmo he brought with him to leave the frontier and the gizmo built into the rear door of 808 South 38th Street to return.

1819—“Free” leaves the frontier for good, bringing with him certain valuable furs, his rifle, and other memorabilia. Recovering the portable gizmo from a cave in central Kentucky, he conceals it in the wall of 808 South 38th Street behind plaster and wallpaper.

1889—Samuel Benjamin Whitten born, Buffalo, New York, the only son of John B. Whitten, founder of Whitten Crystal Works, and Mary Standbridge Whitten.

1917—Whitten, already a member of the New York National Guard, enters the U.S. Army. Commissioned, he volunteers for pilot training.

March 1918—Lt. S. B. Whitten lands in France with the United States Army Air Service.

November 11, 1918, 11:00 A.M.—Hostilities on the Western Front cease. Capt. S. B. Whitten of the 135th Aero Squadron is the pilot of a DH-4 day bomber.

1924—Standbridge “Kip” Whitten born, Manila, Philippine Islands.

1937—Brig. Gen. S. B. “Buck” Whitten retires, aged forty-eight, his career damaged by his support of Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell’s theories of high-altitude bombing.

May 30, 1942—Whitten vanishes from his office at the Whitten Crystal Corp. and returns to High Country from 1952, bringing information on nuclear fission.

June 2, 1942—Whitten returns to Buffalo from Langley Field, Virginia.

July 1942—Whitten joins the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at the invitation of William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan.

August 18, 1942—Whitten flown to High Country. Enters space-time singularity induction coil and the year 1952. Returns to Washington, where he is debriefed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, and Donovan.

August 20, 1942—Whitten reenters the space-time singularity induction coil, accompanied by Robin Valor, his daughter (Kip), and others. He carries with him the disassembled gizmo.

September 17, 1942—All U.S. atomic research is placed under the direction of Brig. Gen. Leslie R. Groves and code-named “Manhattan Project.”

December 2, 1942—A self-sustaining nuclear reaction is achieved at the University of Chicago.

July 16, 1945—An atomic bomb is exploded on a steel tower at Alamagordo, New Mexico.

August 6, 1945—The B-29 bomber Enola Gay drops a uranium fission weapon, code-named “Little Boy,” destroying Hiroshima, Japan.

November 5, 1982—On the Five O‘clock News, anchorman Bryan O’Flynn reports sightings of a B-17 and speculates that it may be on its way to an air show. (Newspapers later point out that air shows are not normally scheduled for the winter months.)

November 9, 1982—Buck Whitten buys the Flying Carpet.

Friday, January 14, 1983—“Free” returns to 808 South 38th Street and discovers the house has been condemned. Whitten vanishes from his living quarters at the airport.

Sunday, January 16, 1983—“Free’s” ad appears. He agrees to allow the witch to live in his house.

Monday January 17, 1983—The witch, Osgood M. Barnes, Jim Stubb, and Candy Garth move into the house.

Wednesday, January 18, 1983—Stubb lights Candy’s cigarette in the rain. “Free” watches television in the parlor.

Thursday, January 20, 1983—Kip takes “Free” prisoner. The house is partially wrecked.

Friday, January 21, 1983—Stubb searches the house. Kip and “Free” return to the house, and “Free” dies in its basement. Whitten (the man in the duffle coat) reappears at his headquarters.

Saturday, January 22, 1983 (before dawn)—The man in the duffle coat vanishes again. The witch, Stubb, Candy, and Barnes talk to Whitten (“Free”) in the cockpit of High Country.

Monday, January 24, 1983—The man in the duffle coat deserts, using the gizmo in the wall of the house and taking with him the gizmo he brought from 1942.