Time Travel

Time Travel

“You too, huh?” Jade looked up in embarrassment. Had she really been counting on her fingers? She laughed.

“Twenty-nine years old and I still can’t figure out Daylight savings time. I don’t get it; how can they just change what time it is?”

“Don’t worry, you’re not the only one” Liam reassured her. “I bet offices all over Australia are full of peeps like you trying to work it out the old-fashioned way.”

“I just realllly don’t want to be late for work on Monday.”

“Or early!”

“Yeah, whichever one it is. Speaking of old fashioned, check this out.” She rummaged in her overflowing satchel. “Shit I got to clean this thing out. Here” She held up a gleaming object. Liam got up from his neighboring desk to examine it.

“Wow what a beauty”

“It was my grandfathers. I just got it serviced. Apparently, it will now tell perfect time without the aid of batteries or electricity. And it will never awaken me in the night with a farty noise to let me know Jackie in Marketing has just updated her Insta with a snap of her 15^th espresso martini. “

She took the watch back and looked fondly down at it. Grandpa Jim had died when she was little but when she held his gold fob watch in her hand she could sense a dim recollection of a room with big old furniture and the smell of a coal fire.

“Don’t forget to turn that bad boy back an hour tonight”

Liams parting words came back to her that night as she prepared for bed. Thank God, Sunday tomorrow. She could sleep in. Or could she? Had Jake said turn the clocks back? Surely it was forward. Gym was at 10.

“What the hell. Let’s go back. My mobile will flip over automatically anyway.” She picked the watch and carefully turned the tiny dial at the side, so the hands rolled back exactly one hour. She held it in her hand for a moment, the weight of the thing summoning a sudden desire for the quality and simplicity of an earlier way of life. She put the watch under her pillow and as her heartbeat slowed to match the steady mechanical ticking, she fell asleep.

They always got up before her when she’d gone to stay. The room would be dark but she’d hear the sound of her grandparents and her father crumpling newspaper, putting the kettle on and the sudden smell of smoke, dissipating as the chimney of the open fireplace started to draw. Jade had jumped out of bed and pattered over the cold lino as fast as her little feet would take her, down the short hallway and into the lounge room. Her Nana was in the kitchen making breakfast, she could smell bacon frying and hear the fat crackling, but the two men were sitting in the club lounges on either side of the fire.

“Here she is” her grandfather had exclaimed, putting his cup of tea down on the table next to his chair and she had run and climbed up into his lap.

“You’re up early” her father had commented over his teacup, but she’d ignored him. Grandfather was so much more interesting. Especially his shiny gold watch that hid inside his waistcoat pocket. He’d fished it out for her and held it up to her ear. Even though she’d heard the story so many times already, she begged him to tell it again.

“You want to know where I got this watch? Well it was a long time ago, before your dad was born. In the Great Depression. Do you know what that means?” She’d nodded as usual, picturing a very large hole in the ground.

“I was only fifteen, but I’d left home already. Too many kids and not enough rooms. That was in Newtown. In the city. I left to try and find work in the country…”

Lulled by the sound of his voice and the warmth of the room her eyes had closed and she must have dropped of to sleep. Surely that was the explanation.

“If you can work hard there’ll be two meals a day and a bed in the barn for you lad.” I would have to work hard, what other options did I have? It was summer so sleeping in the barn wasn’t too off putting. No worse than sleeping in a cramped terrace house with eight other kids But Jeez it was hot, and the old man made sure I worked as hard as he did, and for an old guy he worked bloody hard. I could hardly understand what he said, what with his thick Glaswegian accent and his missing teeth, but it was clear enough when he wasn’t pleased. A stream of colourful language would spew forth immediately. As a result, my muscles had thickened noticeably since I’d left home. I stole a glance down at my chest, visible between the straining buttons of my filthy cotton shirt. No, that couldn’t be right. Since when was I a guy? And how did I know how to use the hoe in my hand? I’d always wanted a vegetable garden, maybe some chooks, but in the back garden of my house. I looked up and out towards the horizon. The field stretched in every direction, the ploughed furrows sprouting what looked like … um potatoes?

“Get back to worrrk you bloody lazy no good…” I couldn’t make out the rest, but the message was clear. My heart pounding, I bent back down and tried to look useful. The old man disappeared inside his shack.

Was this really happening? The sun burning down on my back and the feel of the dirt in my hands told me it was. But I was at my Grandfathers house, about to have breakfast, bacon and eggs. No that wasn’t right either. I’m a vegan. I’m supposed to be at the Gym. I felt for the fob watch. Was it in my pocket? Nothing. Maybe it was in the house. That old guy was scary. I would have to make an excuse, say I needed a drink of water.

“Hallo?” I pushed the door open cautiously. Nothing. The rough wooden porch led into a single room. The small windows shed little light, but more found its way in through the ill-fitting planks that formed the walls. As my eyes adjusted, I could see a slumped body at the table.

“Hey, Hey! Are you alright?” I shook him by the shoulder. No response. I put my head down on the table to get a better look at his face and recoiled. The skin of his face was swollen and blue, his tongue protruding. I shook him again, but it was clear he was not going to wake up. Something slid from his pocket as I shook him and fell to the floor with a metallic clatter. I bent to pick it up. Of course, the watch. I already knew the story. Grandfather had inherited the farm after the old guy died of a heart attack, and this very room had become what was now the laundry in my grandparents’ house. Or had been the laundry before the house had been demolished to make way for duplexes. This farm would become a suburb covered first in houses and gardens and now the gardens were full of granny flats or replaced completely by apartment blocks.

I held the watch in both hands. Was I dreaming? I must be. What time was it? 10 o’clock. Maybe I was supposed to turn it forward, not back. Did it matter? It was worth a try. I turned the hands an hour forward.

When you wake, you will find your breakfast already prepared according to your body’s nutritional requirements. Both your hormonal age, and the genome dictated by your family lineage, will be carefully considered. The time of waking and the hour of beginning work for the day will be tailored to the needs of your personal body clock. When you gaze out the window of your underground habitat, a scene of exquisite beauty, harmonious with your deepest needs for security and belonging will greet you. In this case, lush gardens intertwining edible plants with ornamentals are being tended by groups of healthy, friendly neighbors. Is that Liam? You will raise your hand and call out. But the glass seems to thick for your voice to penetrate.

Wearily you will turn to the mirror above the basin in your tastefully appointed bathroom to see who you are now. When you are.

You scream soundlessly. There’s no one in the mirror.