Have Time Will Travel

Have Time Will Travel

Time is said to flow like a river. And people enter these streams of time, sometimes at the identical moment. Many people wonder if each affects the lives of their other time travelers, entering the ebbs and flows at similar points, but exiting the chronological estuary at some varied journey's end.

Another example of a passenger in time would be those who ride a train together, at the same moments of their existence. But there are unrelated destinations for the riders, different towns to work in, families to see, or even actions to take.

It’s an interesting concept, this time continuum theory. Perhaps it’s merely conjecture, or then again, perhaps a fact.

*****

Betty looked at her watch, 11:58, she’ll be delayed again. The two friends are supposed to meet at 12:00 PM here in front of the Waffle House and then head off shopping in Franklin. In a couple of moments, she'll make it officially official, LATE AGAIN.

Picking her phone out of the ginormous tan purse, “the Beast,” she was about to call her up and fuss at her for running abaft for another shopping spree. The thing that Betty never understood was that she was always 10-15 minutes early, and Jackie seems to always run behind by 10-15 minutes.

When her phone rang, she jerked in surprise. She saw the face of Jackie on the ID and touched the green answer button for the call.

“Jackie, it’s 12:00 sharp, and I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry, you know I like to keep my reputation of being delayed for everything. Anyway, I’m gassing up and about to go inside and pay the handsome man at the register.”

“I was going to ask how long it would be before you got here, but I, have already added an hour. Remember, we’ve still got to fight the traffic through Nashville.”

“Betty, the Citgo is only at the top of the Ridge. So, let’s see, 5 minutes to go pay and hop my Jackmobile back on the road, 10 to fly over to you… So, I should be arriving by 12:15.”

“Umm, Jackie, you must be using that Common Core math. It’s already 10 after 12:00. How do you suppose there's any way for you to make it by 12:15?”

“Time travel, what else?”

*****

 The clock inside the doorway wall read 11:58 AM. A disheveled man in his 30s to early 40s stood across the counter from a clerk with a peach-fuzz mustache.

The clerk’s blond hair was combed with a perfect part, and his clothes were nicely pressed. He had the look of someone probably on summer break from the local college, Vol State.

“Have you been working here long, Rudy?” said the disheveled man.

“Huh, how did you know my name? Do I know you?”

“Rudy, your name tag…” His gruff voice came across as half joking and half sarcastic.

The young man laughed sheepishly and threw his hands up to cover an embarrassed face, which was turning red. Even his ears were turning candy apple red.

“I can’t believe I asked that,” Rudy spoke from under his hands.

He was still chuckling as he brought his hands down from his face. His expression changed from one of self-conscious jocularity to shock. His eyes darted around feverishly as if seeking an escape. The clock over the story entrance now reads 12:10 PM.

But the stranger across the counter drew him back into focus. Pointed to the center of Rudy’s chest was a pistol Rudy recognized at once. His gaze went from the pistol to the man’s face and specifically, his eyes.

“Now don’t be too nervous Rudy. Do what you're told and this won’t have to be used.”

*****

Both Betty and Jackie laughed at the thought of time travel. Betty was taking her for the first shopping trip since she and her new husband had returned from their honeymoon, 3 weeks ago. Betty was considered a second mother to Jackie for the 3 years they had worked together.

“Okay, Jackie, park your clunker and I’ll head up there, pick you up, and we’ll leave from there.”

“I like that idea, Betty. It’ll give me more time with my honey.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, rub it in—”

“Betty, something’s wrong, something’s wrong…”

The pitch of Jackie’s voice turned shaky and to that of a soprano. It was obvious she was terrified. The idea of a shopping trip was put on hold.

“What is it, Jackie?”

“I think there’s a robbery.”

“Are you safe, where are you?”

“Heading toward the front door.”

“Get out of there. Go back to your car and GO.”

*****

Rudy looked up at the wall clock, it showed the time of 12:17. He felt like his muscles were frozen. The one with the gun waved the Highpoint 38 from Rudy’s chest to the register.

“Forget the time, my friend, open the register, grab me all the money. MOVE IT. Hurry it up and you might get out to see another day. Even the change.”

“My wife, she’s coming by here any time. Please just take the cash and go.”

Rudy was pleading for the man to hurry, his only thought was of his young bride. They’d started a new life together, and that’s why he kept looking at the clock.

He grabbed all the and stuffed it into one of his white plastic bags. The gunman snatched it from his hand.

“You did good, old son, good. I think you’ll make it home tonight.”

He turned with an abruptness and burst the front door ajar. Rudy noticed his height at about 6 feet on the tape measure inside the doorway.

And that’s when he saw the young woman coming toward the store. She was dressed to the nines and had finished pumping gas. How did he not notice her already?

Rudy jumped over the counter, his 5’10” frame clearing it easily. He too banged the front doors open and rushed outside to try and stop the woman from crossing paths with the gruff-looking stranger.

“Noooooo!”

The stranger turned back with speed, and without so much as a thought, squeezed the trigger of his Highpoint 38 twice, into the chest of the married, blond-haired clerk.

A scream proceeded from the young woman as she ran, not away from the shooter, but toward the fallen employee, who had been willing to sacrifice his own life for hers.

The robber reversed himself at once, and without a thought of trepidation, put two matching 38s into the youthful woman’s upper torso as well. She fell in front of and faced the cashier, eyes opened toward his exanimate body.

With the last bits of life leaking from herself, Jackie stretched her right arm to the left shoulder of Rudy, her high school sweetheart, her love, and her newlywed husband. She exhaled her final breath, as her lifeless eyes faced his.

*****

Time may flow like a river, and people may exit the currents at various times in their lives. Still, some wash up on shores together, reaching similar destinations at the exact period of their existence. To some, this is considered pure chance, while to others, fate.