This short piece was written while I was putting the storyline of MIT together:
Meandering in the Time Streams
Those who navigate the flow of time often find themselves in…unusual circumstances.
The traveler may move by mechanical or arcane means, but however they step outside the flow, they will take on an innate ability to be subjected to the whims of an eddy of time. A fate only that only happens to the Time-Traveler. Our great privilege- and our curse.
My latest impromptu sojourn was perhaps the one that has had the most impact on me- so far. I will carry the memories of this brief interlude for the rest of my days…
***
As the experienced traveler knows, there are subtle changes when he or she shifts from the main flow. They differ for all of us, but for myself, I start to notice the occurrence of the surreal. I find myself in places I know have never existed, with improbable- sometimes bizarre surroundings.
I’m one of the lucky ones who slip gently into my new place as easily as falling asleep, or more correctly, like waking from dozing off during the day.
This time, the transition was to a vague place in the past, with the familiar feel of somewhere I had been before. I knew I had shifted when I saw a man who was out of time. He belonged some 25 years further forward in this flow.
I was in my body of this time- one half the age of my usual form and in somewhat better condition. I wore a uniform- starched green cotton and long black boots but carried no weapon. I was moving about the edge of what had been a parade- some kind of medal presentation had taken place. I was on onlooker, not a part of this occasion.
Then I saw her.
My old friend from the past- but something was different about her. It’s hard to say how, but one traveler can always tell another- she was indeed now a traveler! Like me, she was in her body of this time. I knew her well, but not as a traveler.
She too was dressed in an Army uniform of the 1970’s, but even that failed to detract from her beauty. After 25 years, everything about her came back to me- her voice, the smell of her hair- the times we spend together, neither bold enough to make the move from being friends to lovers.
Her eyes met mine and we moved together. I don’t think a word was said- we just looked into each other’s faces, our eyes and expressions saying all that needed to be said. In her eyes I saw regret at a past opportunity missed, the years wondering how it could have been and a longing- a longing so strong it had given her strength to break free from the singularity-like pull of time. In those moments I saw every pore of her skin on her young, unlined face, the faint hint of tears and the look of wanting- of being barely able to contain the whole spectrum of emotions.
She saw the same in my eyes. The sleepless nights wondering how we drifted apart, the self-reproach for letting her go- the finally finding a love that was lost. That with age and time, I had come to realize that there was nobody better, nor would there ever be.
She threw her arms around me, and kissed me with all her strength and psssion- it felt like she was pulling me into her. The rest of this world faded into insignificance.
“Come with me” was all she said.
We found our way to her room- a motel room by the look of it. Inside we tore at our clothes, both knowing we needed to hurry before time caught up with us and moved us back where it thought we belonged.
We made love in a frantic, hurried twining of bodies, both wanting as much as we could get before we were torn apart as must happen. Trying to keep as much of our bodies pressed together in contact with each other, as if that could stall our inevitable parting
As we lay there embracing, caressing, we spoke of our mutual regrets of the past now that we knew how things could have been- and how we wished they were.
My last recollection was of the creamy soft skin of her naked body- then the room changed and I knew I was back in the time I had come from.
Our all too brief moment was over.
But now I knew how she truly felt- feels!
She is out there, somewhere and I will find her- or she will find me.
Now that we both knew what we had suspected for so long!
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