We were born in yesterday - we may go there once again - But tomorrow we can't see - For today's always the end. Norris Trimm
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Welcome aboard. Take a seat. Strap yourself in. We're ready to start. Don't let all the gauges, and dials, and readouts scare you. They just show the status of the micro time module embedded in my brain. All it takes from me is three verbal commands: Load Startup sequence. Activate reality window. Enter time stream. {Need to warn you: the time machine makes the me you see at the controls the same age as the me you see in the time we visit. Don't worry; it won't let us go back too far.} Close your eyes and hold on tight. A little turbulence is normal. The buzz you hear means we're in transit. Barely hear it now. Gone. We're there. Now slowly open your eyes. We're on the top floor of Townsends hardware store, in the old mans office. He's my step dad; Freds dad. Looks like he's already read the funnies to Fred, Alley Oop, Katzenjammer kids, and Dick Tracy. That pretty lady is my mom, Vivian.
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Moving us a bit forward. A little jerky. Sorry. Software still tweaking itself. This is the front room of the Section House next to the railroad track. We lived here when the oil tanks blew up across the river. The explosion woke Fred. He fell off the bed, and landed in the chamber pot. [no inside bathroom back then.] The little black dogs name is Toby, she shakes like that all the time, either cause she's happy or afraid Freds gonna give her a bath. Lets go out back: don't slap at the honey bees, they won't sting you if you don't mess with them; but even if one does Granny's tobacco juice can make it feel better. That little house down the hill is where Travis Locketter lives, he almost chopped off my finger with his axe; Granny doctored it with a gob of mutton suet and then wrapped it in a cloth bandage. She never uses medicine, just Indian herbs; except for asifidita. There's Granny now, skinny as a broom stick, hollering for Fred; he's probably hiding cause he knows she's got that nasty tasting asifidita out to doctor his sore mouth.
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Going forward a couple more years. I'll be easier this time. Now we're out in the country. That's the outhouse you smell, next door is the barn. Watch out for Jenny, the horse, she'll kick your brains out. You can pet Charlie, though; he's tame. We'll get a cup of feed out of the sack; smells good don't it? Got molasses and corn and all kinda good smelling stuff in it. Tastes good too. Take a chew. It's ok. Just don't swallow it. After you suck the juice out of it spit out the solid stuff. Here, give Charlie a little.
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We'll take a bigger jump this time. A little faster. If all the stuff whizzing past makes you dizzy close your eyes. Slowing down, slower, slower. Here we are. That little white building in front of us is the police station. The kid in the cell shaking the bars and crying is me. In trouble again.
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Forward once more. Keep your eyes open this time. Outside you can see me running through the rain, across the muddy plowed field, mud built up on my brogans so thick I can barely run; still I keep trying; don't wanna go back to the Boys School. I get caught, though. See? The big boy thats holding me by the neck of my jacket is a trusty. When he gets me back to the barracks he's gonna stand me against the wall and bang my head into it two or three times. Oops. That little beeping sound you hear means we're running out of time. Haha. That's funny. Time machine running out of time. It only works for about ten minutes at a time. then we gotta go back and let it recharge a while. We'll try again tomorrow.
More please. Nice work.
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