Timekeepers

“When do you want to go to?” the timekeeper asked. 

The two girls looked at each other and then back at the tall man. 

“Last Friday,” one of them said. 

“Are you sure?” the timekeeper asked. 

The girls both paused.

“Yes,” they both said confidently. 

“What is your purpose to travel then?”

“To talk to our grandmother one last time. She died just yesterday,” one girl said.

The timekeeper stood and stared straight into her eyes. The girl started to tear up. 

“You tell truth. Tokens please,” he said, putting his hand out for both girls to drop their precious tokens. Once, having received their tokens, he stood to the side and opened the gate. Nervously the girls grabbed each other's hands and walked through the gate and down a large tunnel. The time keeper watched them go, until they could no longer be seen, to see to their safety. More and more time pirates had started to attack the gates, and, as timekeeper, it was his job to make sure they got to their destination. 

“Next,” he called, as soon as the gate was once again closed. 

A slender boy walked up, nervously folding and unfolding a napkin in his hands.

“When do you want to go to?” the timekeeper asked. 

“The June of 1920,” the boy said with a slight quiver in his voice. 

The timekeeper eyed him carefully. Usually no one asked to go further than a hundred years in the past. Why go to the past when you could already learn about it in school? Especially since 1920 was more than 2,000 years ago. 

“State your purpose for travel,” 

“I want to study the Roaring Twenties in more detail. I found it extremely interesting while studying in school and I am completely willing to use one of my tokens to go,” 

The timekeeper stared straight into the boy’s eyes. 

“Is that right?” he said, hiding his skepticism in his voice. 

“Y-yes…” the boy muttered, his worry betrayed in his eyes. 

Finally the timekeeper found what he was looking for and said to the boy, “You tell truth. Token please,” 

With a huge sigh of relief the boy handed the timekeeper a token. The timekeeper opened the gate and motioned him to walk through. 

“Thank you,” the boy managed to squeak out. 

“Enjoy,” the timekeeper replied, face as stiff as a board. 

He watched as the boy reached the end of the tunnel and closed the gate. 

“Next,” 

The timekeeper watched as a girl walked up. He could sense a strangeness wafting off of her. 

“When do you wish to travel?” he asked. 

“October of 2050,” she said confidently. 

“State your business then,”

“I’ve been researching my eighth great grandmother and would love nothing more than to meet her. Of course I will keep my identity a complete secret. But I believe meeting her is worth the one token I’ve been given”

The timekeeper studied her. There was no way she had only one token. Her clothes were not necessarily of rich material, but they were most definitely not the clothes of the poor. Even if she had been born into a poor family, she looked well off enough to have at least three tokens. Once satisfied with his observations, the timekeeper looked into the girl’s eyes. Within them was a small glint and a call to a challenge. 

“You lie,” the timekeeper said. 

The other people waiting in line gasped. And the girl looked shocked. Many had heard that the timekeepers could tell if someone was lying or not, but it seemed this girl did not believe until now. 

“I- I am not!” she said. 

“You lie. Now tell me again why you need to go to that time,” the timekeeper said unwaveringly.

The girl stood with her mouth agape. 

“Do I need to look deeper into you? I can find out if I need,” the timekeeper said. 

Suddenly fear filled the girl’s eyes. “No please!” she screamed out.

“Then tell me the reason for your travel,”

“I believe time travel to be a mistake,” she said. “I want to go back and make sure no one discovers how to do it.”

“Oh? And how do you suppose you're going to do that?” the timekeeper asked. 

“My eighth great grandmother. She was on the discovery team. If I can just convince her…” the girl trailed off. 

The timekeeper could tell she had used some truth when telling him of her purpose of her travel the first time. The best lies were formed around some truth. And it took longer than usual to see if the girl was lying. 

“Are you sure?” he asked her.

“I am,” she answered. 

“But are you really sure?” 

She looked at the timekeeper, deep in thought.

“Um… yes,” she said finally.

“Really? Because now you sound less sure,” the timekeeper said. 

The girl started to panic.

“Calm yourself, girl. How about you think about your decision? Really think about it. Name the pros, the cons, then if you can convince me, I will let you pass, but otherwise…” he warned. 

“Okay…” she said.

“Let's do the cons first,” the timekeeper said. 

“Okay,” she replied. She took a deep breath in then slowly let the air whistle through her lips. 

“Firstly, it would change the future. But I guess that could be a pro or a con,” she said, almost to herself.

“Continue,” the timekeeper urged her on.

“People could no longer say goodbye to those they couldn’t before they died,”

“Very good. Continue,”

“Good leaders would no longer be able to assess the decisions they make for their countries or territories… History lessons would become inaccurate… People wouldn’t be able to fix their terrible mistakes. And… and I could possibly have murder on my hands,” she said quietly.

“And why is that?” the timekeeper asked.

“I was planning on blowing up the discovery team’s lab, without even thinking about the people inside. That is if I couldn’t convince my grandmother… I could have killed her, destroyed my family line,” the girl finished in a small whisper. 

The people in line behind her started to murmur amongst themselves. 

“And it would be all for nothing. Someone else would discover time travel! It will all come to pass anyways!” the girl said in panic. Then she took a deep breath and looked at the timekeeper with pleading in her eyes.

“I can’t go through that gate,” she said.

“No you can’t,” the timekeeper agreed with her. 

“Here,” she said and took his hand. Inside she placed her token.

“I only have one, and I do not need the temptation,” she said with a small smile. The timekeeper could tell it was the truth. She did, indeed, only have one. 

“Thank you,” the timekeeper responded back and slipped the token in one of the many pockets of his pants. 

“You’re not going to take me away are you? I’ve heard stories of you timekeepers locking people up for lying. I don’t want to be taken away,” she pleaded with tears brimming in her eyes. 

The timekeeper studied her and waited just a moment before saying, “You are free to go,” 

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” the girl exclaimed. Excited, she ran the other way, presumably back home. 

The timekeeper watched her leave. Many knew that timekeepers could tell a lie from truth, but not many knew the extent of a timekeeper’s powers. They were so persuasive, oftentimes the people they were persuading thought the idea their own. He smiled at this thought then continued his job. 

He checked everyone else in the line, until the very last person went through the tunnel. Finally the next timekeeper came to cover the night shift, to reassure everyone got back to their time. The timekeeper went home, but not before remembering the worried girl with wrong intentions. 

“All in a day’s work,” he said. He fell asleep and awoke the next morning to do the same thing again.