“Oh there you are. I was wondering where I put you.”
April opened her “junk closet” and finally found the time machine. She hadn’t used it in so long she’d forgotten where it was hidden.
“Honey, what are you doing?” Brady was calling from the kitchen while making breakfast.
“Be there in a minute,” she called back.
The text message she’d received last night from H.G. said he’d finally found the Zodiac killer and he needed help taking him down. Shouldn’t take more than a week or so, but she’d be back before her husband had the bagels toasted.
I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields flash fiction photo challenge. The idea is to use the image above as a prompt to create a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 99.
I saw the clock in the photo and immediately thought “time machine”. I mixed in a few character references I’ve used in the past in relation to the topic and created my occasional “time cop”. She has to help H.G. Wells capture the infamous Zodiac Killer which will take about a week, but with a time machine, from Brady’s point of view, she’ll only be gone a few seconds. Just feeling a tad whimsical this morning.
To read other tales based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
I like the idea of a series with HG Wells travelling through time solving crime and righting wrongs – would make a good TV show.
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“Time After Time” is a TV show about H.G. Wells and time travel based on the 1979 film starring Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, and Mary Steenburgen.
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But does he catch the Zodiac Killer in it? 🙂
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In the movie, no. He catches Jack the Ripper. I’ve never watched the TV show so I have no idea.
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I’ve seen the show, it started off on a promising note, but then just lost direction completely.
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Dear James.
I enjoyed the bending of time as well as the idea of HG Wells texting. Imaginative.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. If you believe H.G. Wells can travel in time, you can believe he sends texts across time. After all, Doc Brown from 1985 had a hover conversion done on his DeLorean in 2015, so time travelers from the past adopting future technology is not unheard of.
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Very nicely written.
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Thank you.
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Very imaginative, loved where you took it.
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Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I loved the size of the Time Machine in the movies. It looked like a cross between Santa’s sleigh and Big Ben.
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Not sure which movies you’re referring to. Films called “The Time Machine” based more or less on Wells’s novel were made in 1960 and 2002, and then there is the aforementioned (in these comments) movie “Time After Time” made in 1979.
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Hoping she can change a few other things in history while I put on a pot of tea for her.
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Changing history is a dicey thing to do. Right now she’s out to help H.G. capture a notorious mass murder whose ultimate fate remains unknown. Pretty easy to do what you want with him. Kind of like history’s first airline hijacker D.B. Cooper.
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I read Stephen King’s 11.22.63 a couple of years back and it is the story of a guy traveling back to prevent JFK’s assassination. It addresses the issues what you raise – like how much can one meddle with time, etc.
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I read that novel as well. I used to read a lot of King’s earlier works, but after a while, they all sounded the same. 11.22.63 contained a number of what I consider King’s “sick” people and towns, but I did like the level of research he put into the novel. The details were so vivid, as if the reader really could step into the past. Oh, I was nine years old when JFK was shot and killed, and like most other people who went through the experience, I can remember where I was when I heard the news.
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While her apparent absence may be of mere minutes duration, she may return a bit worn out unless she also allows for at least a power nap before returning.
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That’s a good thought. Last January I wrote a story called You Never Have to Wait for a Time Traveler. The traveler in question was captured, tortured, and held in captivity for 30 years. She finally escaped, found her time machine, and returned to her time three seconds after she left, but she’d aged three decades and ultimately died due to years of mistreatment.
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Ooh, that’s nasty as well as worrisome.
randy
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I enjoyed your piece of whimsy, James. The idea that you might take a time machine so much for granted that you forget where you’ve left it is truly inspired!
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Thanks, Penny. If you use something only very occasionally, it might be possible to lose track of it, especially if it’s sitting at the bottom of your junk closet.
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Ha ha – loved that! Wish I had a time machine in my closet. 🙂
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Don’t we all? Thanks, Susan.
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Interestingly, the first thought that popped in my head on seeing the image was a time machine as well. Love the idea here, James. Hopefully, she manages to avoid getting injury or worse in the past. That might upset the apple cart a bit.
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It certainly would, and as I mentioned in my comment to PL, I’ve already written a story along those lines, Varad. Thanks.
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Brilliant! She’s lucky she can be that accurate – have you read ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’?
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I haven’t, Elizabeth. So many books, so little time. Thanks.
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You have got me thinking… Time, if we could alter it, perhaps there would be no time.
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I’ve heard it said more than once that there’s no such thing as time, just the human perception of the passing of events. Time is a cognitive construct and not something objective. What a boring thing. I prefer my time to have highways running through it.
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I immediately thought Wells when I saw your H.G! A dangerous way to build up your appetite for breakfast, but a worthy way too. Nicely done James
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You can never tell when you’ll suddenly get an urgent assignment. Thanks, Lynn.
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Very true! 🙂
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That was so much fun, James! Would that we could do that…. Maybe we could stop more than crime 😉
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True Dale, but be careful what you wish for. You just might change history enough to wipe out everything you know and love.
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This is a GREAT story 🙂 So matter-of-fact. Loved it.
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Thank you.
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I like a woman who’s always on time.
Great, fun story. Randy
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Thanks, Randy.
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Oh, I want a time machine. It would be amazing to travel to solve a crime from another era and be back before the bagels are cold.
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Well, you could invent one. 😉
If not that, then the next best thing is to write stories about it. A good story can take you anywhere.
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I really liked the tone of this, so pacey and matter of fact. Good one.
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Thanks, Sandra.
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Ha, fun! Catch a killer, back in time for brekkie 🙂
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Just a roller coaster ride. Thanks.
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Wow time travel of this kind sounds marvellous
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It sure can be. Lots of room for adventures.
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Time benignly imaginative, James. Enjoyable to read.
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Thanks, Kelvin. I appreciate the complement.
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That word was meant to be bendingly 🙄
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Ah. That explains a few things. Thanks, Kelvin.
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Nice one. If his cooking is bad she could return to the dinner they had at the restaurant last week 😉
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She can’t go back to some place she’s already been. Then there’d be two of her existing in the same place and time. Fear not. He makes a pretty good omelet. The cream cheese and bagels are just a side dish.
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A detective from the future might be a useful thing… it would go quickly to catch them then I think
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How do you know she’s from the future? after all, the young H.G. Wells wrote “The Time Machine” in the late 19th century.
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Nothing like breaking out the ol’ time machine and saving the world before breakfast. Great use of the prompt, James.
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Thanks, Russell. Time travel is so flexible.
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such a good idea to time travel – and I could feel the energy of family member making breakfast while she had her closet escape option
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This is what Sunday mornings are like with some couples (apart from the time travel), sharing a free day and some relaxation together. Of course, she’ll need to unwind after helping H.G. bring in one of history’s most notorious serial killers.
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hahah – yup – need to decompress – and hopefully breakfast has a lot of good fats and protein for calming sustenance – lol
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Fun story, you have my imagination in full drive!
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Thanks, Dawn.
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Was waiting for someone to do a time machine story. One of the things I had in mind was to make the closet a time machine, since Wardrobes, as we all know, make for excellent portals 🙂
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I seem to remember seeing that show on TV. It was similar to Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Good writing, James. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne.
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