The Hobbyist

By Lee Kendrick

John was particularly excited today, he'd just received a long-awaited parcel from the postman. He carried the heavy two-foot by one-foot package in the garden to the shed he'd built recently –mainly for space to do his hobby of constructing electrical things and repairing TVs.

Having been waiting impatiently for the special components to arrive in the post for the past week; John was itching to get started on this new project. A few weeks ago he had purchased an HG Wells book,The Time Machine, from a charity shop. in its spine were plans of 'how to make your own TV.'He was puzzled as to why someone would hide such a thing!

His father, who was a policeman for ten years later worked on the railways as an electrical engineer, repairing train engines, had taught him how to repair various electrical items: Radios, TVs, toasters and kettles, among other products. As a seventeen-year-old, John would make some money repairing TVs for neighbours, friends and relatives. He was preparing himself for the little electrical business he hoped to do one day.

Upon opening the parcel, he saw all the TV kit components with an array of circuit boards, a cathode-ray tube, an electron gun, deflection coils, a transformer, resistors, capacitors, a loudspeaker and more…It looked like a mad scientist's experiment!

Grabbing his soldering iron and various tools John sat down at his table and scanned the plan instructions. Excited, he went to work to put the TV together.

After an hour and about half done his Mum called out to him:

“John! John! Lunch is ready.” She shouted in the garden.

“Damn!” John said, dropping his screwdriver on the table.

“Okay, I'm coming, Mum!”

“Everything alright son?” His Mum asked, as she put his bacon sandwiches and tea on the table.

“Yes, great. Just don't understand why someone would hide a simple TV plan in a book spine– like some spy would!” He said, scratching his head.

“Some people just love to be secretive, John. Or he was just worried about losing the plans. There's nothing really mysterious about it.” His Mum said buttering some bread.

“When's Dad home from work?” John asked?”

“About 6 o'clock.Why son?”

“I just want to try and get as much of the TV done to show him what I can do.”

“I'm sure he'll be impressed, John!” She replied, patting him on his head.

Later as John continued putting the TV together, he raised an eyebrow after noticing something odd on the Plan.

“ What the devil is that?” He shouted, spotting a strange object on the plan.

“ That can't be right. I don't ever remember reading about one of them in a TV!” He said aloud.

He stared intently at the image.

“But why a quartz crystal? It doesn't do anything.” He thought, looking puzzled.

“Blast now I can't make the TV until I buy this crystal!” He said, bashing his hand on the table.

After an hour searching in the Yellow Pages, he finally spotted a shop that sold crystals and gemstones in the coastal town of Scarborough.

He was frustrated that he'll have to wait 5 days for the crystal to arrive in the post. Bashing the table again he realised he would have to undo most of the work he'd done because of the crystal!

“John, there's a knock at the door, can you get it?” His Mum shouted.

His eyes lit up when he saw the smiling postman at the door handing him his parcel.

Wasting no time,John raced outside to the shed in the garden.

He opened the parcel on the table and there was a three-inch pointed quartz gleaming at him.

Sitting at the wooden table, hand on chin, puzzled …’What on Earth was the purpose of quartz in a Television?’

Finally, after two hours, John had connected almost all the parts together in the TV…Soon the mystery would be solved about the crystal.

Having put the quartz in its rightful position after soldering its base to a circuit board. John then connected it to a switch. With every part now fitted he encased all the electronics with a covering. Finally placing the wooden casing over it. Now the finished product resembled a typical 1960s TV.

On the outside of the wooden TV box you could seewthe switch on/off knob, volume and brightness knob with channel dial and fine tuner among other controls.

The moment of truth. John felt his heart race as he hesitantly switched on the TV. Thinking it might explode or something. The screen slowly lit up, displaying wiggly light waves with the sound of static. A moment later there was a weird metallic sound like an engine slowly revving up. Then it gradually intensified becoming quite noisy. There was a pause for what seemed like forever when...

Suddenly a bright white beam of light fired out of the screen and projected onto the wall in front of him.

Startled, he shook with fright and thinking it might explode, dashed under the table. Moments later the revving sound started to die down. Finally, there was complete silence. Gingerly he climbed from the table and poked his head up to peep at the bright beam on the wall. It had turned from white to a purple hue. It was about 6 feet by 4 feet shimmering on the wall. The static sound increased with now electrical waves pulsating slowly up and down the shaft of light..with a fluidity like water.

Now standing, John crept over to the wall and reached to touch the purple light. He felt a warm sensation and a kind of static climbing up his arm, giving him a tingling sensation. But moreover, he noticed his arm was penetrating through the wall. There was now a tugging feeling, and before he knew it, he was outside the shed in the moonlight …It was now nighttime instead of the afternoon where he was earlier.

Just then John heard the sound of air raid sirens screeching around him. Seconds later, there was a deafening, droning sound. Above him in the moonlight, he could see hundreds of German silhouetted bombers flying across his house. Somehow he had travelled back twenty-five years to the Battle of Britain…It dawned on him, suddenly realising what the quartz crystal was for...It was to enable people to Time Travel... Atleast travelling back in time anyway.

Horrified at what he was witnessing he started to shake and panic … Was he trapped now, forever in Wartorn London?

Feeling helpless, he looked behind him where the shed was...It had gone! Replaced by a brick wall but with the strange shimmering purple light attached to it. Maybe there was hope for him! If the light is there, then maybe he can go through it to get back to his own time!

At that moment, he heard explosions all around him, with fires now appearing everywhere. Then he saw tracer bullets and heard AckAck, guns firing at the German Heinkels. There weres explosions dotted all around the bombers. Frightened, he rushed over to the purple light just as he walked through it a bomb exploded close to him; the shock wave knocked him over, forcing him to the floor of the shed. Luckily John escaped unscathed.

As he got up from the floor he heard a knock at the shed door. Quickly brushing his clothes of debri he walked to the door.

“Hello John, can I come in?” his mother asked.

“Yes Mum, come in,” he said unlocking the door.

“Well, would you look at that? My son has made a real Television!” She said.

"Can we watch something later?” She asked excitedly. “There's a film on the BBC I'd love to see.”

“Erm, uh, it's not quite ready yet, Mum. I will let you know when it's ready.” He replied hesitantly.

“Alright son, thanks. By the way, your lunch is ready now.”

After lunch, John went back into the shed. Still shaken by his earlier experience he sat down and analysed what had happened. Opening the back of the TV he removed the now hot crystal using a cloth. After testing to see if the set would still work without the crystal, he felt relieved to see a good reception on both the BBC and ITV channels.

His Mum's film was at six o'clock so he planned on bringing in the set into the living room in a couple of hours.

Rather having to keep bringing the TV set into the living room each time everyone wanted to see the television he decided he would buy a new TV kit to make a new TV for his Mum and Dad. Plus he was very wary just incase something went weird with the first one he'd made...even without the crystal installed.

“So, Mum, what's this film you want to see?” John asked as he laid the TV onto the wooden sideboard and plugged it in. He then placed the aerial on top of the TV. finally switching on the television and turning the knob to the BBC channel; his Mum and Dad sat in anticipation in their armchairs opening the digestives and pouring the tea.

“Sorry son, I was miles away!" His mum answered biting into a digestive.

"Yes, it's called…'The Time Machine'!”

“You're joking!” John said… shocked by the coincidence…“Oops!” He said as he knocked over the aerial!

“Are you okay Son?You've gone quite pale."

“Yes, Dad, I er, I just was worried in case I'd broken the aerial!”

As they sat watching the film, John thought it odd to be watching a time travel film so soon after his own real-time slip experience. Coincidentally, in the film, John observed that the time traveller used quartz rod crystals in his time machine to time travel… So HG Wells was spot on about using quartz for time travel!

The following week John received his second TV kit that would take the place of the one he'd put in the living room. He was taking no chances of anything weird happening in front of his parents. Thus he was free to use the quartz in his the other TV.

Finally, after making his excuses to his Mum, he swapped the TVs over. His Mum thought it a little odd but was okay with it.

The following afternoon, John placed the crystal back in the TV, then proceeded to lock the shed door in case his Mum interrupted him.

Switching the TV on he waited with bated breath. Seconds later, another intense white beam projected on the wall soon changing to a purple colour. Nervously, with his heart pounding, John moved into the shaft of light. As before, he felt a tugging sensation and was now outside, and again it was night time. As he inspected his surroundings, he spotted searchlights hitting the low cumulus clouds that threatened to rain. Feeling brave, John decided to walk further on passed some terraced houses in the street up to a church, which he felt was strange because in 1965, there was no church near his street!

Turning the corner, John saw an underground station. He then became startled as air raid sirens burst into song again. Hundreds of people rushed to the station. He quickly followed them as he realised it would be too risky to try and get back to the shed before the German bombers flew over.

Shortly after the bombers with their familiar droning engines came over, they dropped Incendiaries, destroying homes, shops and the church. John sat in the station with hundreds of civilians as they could hear explosions outside. Children cried and screamed holding their hands to their ears, as their parents tried to console them.

An hour had passed when the sirens screamed out to give the all clear.

Everyone made their way back home- praying their homes were still standing. John could hear fire engines all around him ringing their bells, and he could smell burning. Looking around he saw that many homes were damaged, and the church he had seen earlier was now in flames. Some six fire engines and twenty firemen battled with their hoses to put out the flames engulfing the church. Now he knew the reason why there was no church in his area…the firemen probably couldn't save it. Although it was horrendous to see, John felt it was a privilege to witness what it really was like to experience the ‘Battle of Britain.’

Feeling tired and emotional John decided he'd had enough for one day and made his way back to the shed. But there was someone in front looking at the strange purple light. As he walked closer he saw it was a Bobby. He was surprised and thought quickly...

“Officer, just around the corner is an old lady. She needs your help!”

Just as the policeman turned the corner...

John rushed through the light and materialised back in the shed. Realising what had happened, the officer ran back, but John and the mysterious light had vanished.

“John! John! Let me in, are you alright?” He could hear his Mum and Dad banging at the shed door.

“Yeah, I'm okay, sorry I must've fallen asleep!”John replied, opening the door.

“What's the time? He asked.

“It's Tea time, about six.”Said his Mum.

“Come on in, your favourite series with Roger Moore, The Saint, will be on in a minute.” Said his Dad.

The following afternoon, John was back in his shed, repairing a neighbour's radio.

Taking a break, he sat down and sipped some lemonade. Then thoughts suddenly came flooding back to him. He wondered why he travelled back to the Second World War and how just a quartz crystal in a TV could make ‘Time Travel’ possible?

Locking the door and as an experiment he pointed the television to the opposite wall, swallowing hard he switched on the TV. Seconds later a burst of white light hit the wall and changed this time to a shimmering yellow hue. Putting on his jacket and now carrying a torch he proceeded to enter the shaft of light.

As John was in the beam he had the sensation of slowing down as if in slow motion. Now outside again, it was night time but with a chilly wind. He checked and saw the shimmering yellow light was behind him, against the wall. Staring up at the sky he noticed something was off. The clouds seemed to be moving in the opposite direction to before. Again the air raid sirens sounded, but in reverse. A moment later squadrons of German bombers appeared in the sky but were flying backwards. There was the sound of explosions but it sounded muffled. Because it was a moonlit night there was enough light for him to see

... Even the bombs were rising up...

Back into the bombers...Houses on fire seen in the distance suddenly were extinguished.

Fire engines alarm bells in the distance sounded in reverse. As if travelling away from burning homes.

Everything sounded even more chaotic than when John had seen things at normal speed than in reverse. He felt his head spinning and fell to the ground. It was surreal. He just had to get back home.

But as he tried to walk forward his body was doing the exact opposite. The more he fought against it the worse it became.All he was doing was walking away from where the direction of the light and shed were…

Then John had an idea …Walking backwards. Slowly, he walked in reverse towards home, stumbling over a few times.

Finally, he saw the shimmering yellow light some fifty yards away as he looked over his shoulder. Entering the light in reverse he materialised back inside the shed.

Sitting down, feeling exhausted he fell asleep in his chair. Then there was a knock! knock! At the door, “John, it's Mum.”

There was no answer. Worried, she ran and told his Dad. Still no answer after knocking a few times he opened the door with a spare key. There with his head lying over the table was John fast asleep, snoring.

“We can't wake him now love just get a blanket and cover him up.”Whispered Dad.

After covering John they left the light on for emergencies.

The following day John thought about his experience yesterday. It dawned on him that there was some connection with which direction the TV was pointing, having used the North and South sides he wondered what would happen if he directed the TV East or West!

He then thought about the man who'd hidden the TV plan in the HG Wells's book. May be he was a scientist working for the government. He wondered...Thinking he would never know the answer.

After some deliberation John planned on using the Time Machine tonight after tea.

As they all sat around the table having tea.

"Dad, what do you think of Time Travel do you think it is possible?" John asked.

“Well, yes it is possible.” His Dad said after giving it some thought.

You know, I have never mentioned this to anyone before, but one night when I was a policeman on the beat during the war after an air raid of German bombers I saw this strange shaft of purple light shimmering in front of this wall. I was checking it over when this young man about your age popped from around the corner and shouted out that a lady needed some help! I quickly ran to help her. And do you know what happened… there was no one there and the young man had disappeared;And the strange light had vanished. I believe he was a Time Traveller and wanted me out the way so he could get to the light... Back to his Time Machine!

John sat there dumbfounded. One day he would tell the full story to his Dad and Mum.

End