The Letters Chapter 2

Greg turned and looked at the speaker. He saw – himself. He certainly wasn’t expecting such a strange things to happen. It was bewildering.

“Do you know what’s going on?” he asked. His voice was a little shaky, and his arms felt like there was no strength in them.

“Well, as I said, I forgot to put the belt on and ended up… Well… You. Your arms are really sore, huh?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I could pick up a can of beer, but if you have any Rainier left, I’d love to try.”

“Saved one for you.” The future him went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. “I lied. I’ve still got a few left, but you certainly drank plenty last night, didn’t you?”

“I think I overdid it a bit, yeah.” He looked at Future Him and said, “I’m still not convinced that you’re me.”

“I know, but by the end of our conversation, you will be.”

Greg looked at his 1 day older self. “Right. I suppose you know that because yesterday, you were me.”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it, yeah.”

Past Greg shook his head. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe, but it’s the truth.”

Past moved the letter he had been reading and was about to pick up the next letter. Future stopped him, by picking up the stack of future letters. “I can’t let you read that letter yet. Of course, once you go back in time to one day ago, I can’t stop you. You need to read them in order.”

Past sighed and finished reading letter number one. “I warned you to put the belt on, but I know your future self has already told you not to do that again.”

“Now, to get back to your time, simply press the left side of the buckle once, then tap the center.”

“Your Grandpa”

“That’s it? That’s all it says?”

“I’m afraid so.

“But what if I don’t want to go back to my own time? After all, it’s just yesterday.”

Future shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it messes with the fabric of time and space to stay too long in another time and place?”

“I’ve always heard that if we were to touch, we’d blow up the universe.”

Future shook his head. “That only happens if the particles are identical. We’re not.”

“So you’re not me!” Past said, triumphantly.

“Yes, I am, but think about it. I drank more beers in my past, once you left. That changes my mass. Heck, since a second ago, I’ve lost skin cells. That makes my mass not the same as I was then. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but very unlikely for two of us to be absolutely identical.”

“But at the quantum level, it could happen.”

“Yeah, but that could theoretically happen at any time or place. You put the same spin on a particle and they can be identical. But I’m not even sure if that would happen. I think matter and antimatter would be more likely to cancel each other. Unless you’re planning to fuel a starship, I don’t think you’ve got any antimatter on your person.”

Past glared. “You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”

“Heard my future self say it yesterday. Or rather today. Whatever.”

They talked for a little while longer, then Past Greg touched the belt buckle in a certain way and he was suddenly alone in the apartment, and it looked exactly as it had before he left.

-=#=-

The first thing Greg did when he returned to the past was read the second letter his grandfather had left for him.

Greg;

Now, I hope I don’t have to tell you to put the belt on again. It really is rough when you don’t. Yes, you’ll make it, but too many times in a row, and you’ll need to buy stock in Bengay®.

Now, I’m not going to tell you too much right now, because this is all new to you. Just know that there are certain ways to tap the belt that will take you to different points in history. It doesn’t work for taking you to different points on the globe. If you want to go to a different point on the globe, either go there before hand or be prepared to find transportation in the time you travel to.

I’ll tell you more about that later. There are some things you’ll need to remember.

Anyway, I don’t want to get things too confusing, so I’ll make this a very short letter so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Greg was almost angry at the brevity of the letter, but a belt that was able to take him to any time he wished was an almost overwhelming concept, and if you didn’t move in space, then he could see some definite dangers in going into the future. Even the past. What would happen if he was to pop in where someone else stood? What would happen? Would he kill someone? Would they be moved out of the way? How would that work.

He decided to clean up his apartment. He had seen how it was cleaned when he got to the future. He didn’t remember every detail, but he supposed that the continuity of the timeline would keep his work the same as it had been for his future self. Himself? He didn’t know how to think about himself in different parts of his timeline. It was all so confusing.

When he had finished cleaning his apartment for his upcoming guest – Past, he decided to call his past self – made sense. When he had finished, he took off the belt, and examined it, being careful not to touch the spots that would send him careening through time.

He realized that Grace had a buckle just like it, that she always wore, but hers had a narrower belt. He wasn’t sure what that meant, or if hers was a timebelt or not. Maybe it was just a copy that didn’t do anything.

Before he could do anymore thinking on the topic, however, there was a popping sound, and Past appeared, looking very sick.

“Didn’t put it on did you?” he asked Past. “I didn’t either. Almost pulled my arms out of their sockets. I ended up sitting there, looking just like you do now.”

-=#=-

“Oh, to see their faces in their first travel through time,” Grace said as she finished writing the second letter.

“It was such a long time ago,” Grandfather said as he tapped out his pipe.

“I’ll have been dead for twenty years by the time they read these letters.”

“Sort of,” he replied.

“I need to rest for awhile, George,” Grace said as she stood up.

“Say goodnight, Gracie,” the old man told her as he refilled his pipe.

She laughed and fingered her belt buckle. There was a pop, and she disappeared. He wasn’t sure where she called home. She hadn’t told him. He thought about the two boys in his past, or future, depending on how you looked at it, who thought that time continuity had to remain the same. He laughed. Well, they’d learn soon enough that it wasn’t that way.

It wasn’t that way at all.

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Thanks, Rosemary.