Genre: Time Travel
Word count: 100
~~FIXING THE PAST~~
“Have we met before?”
“I don’t think so.” Before and after, actually.
“You look so familiar.”
“They say that everybody has a double somewhere in the world.” He shouldn’t remember me. Have I returned once too often?
“I finish at nine. Perhaps we could have a drink.”
“Yes, why not?” That demon, alcohol. Why do I keep returning to this point in time? It’s too late to save him.
“I’m looking forward to it, babe.”
“Likewise. But I’ve an errand to run between now and then.” Off to locate that 12-year-old boy and lace his first alcoholic drink with purgatives.
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Friday Fictioneers: 100 word stories
Photo Prompt: image copyright © Roger Bultot
Time travel? Hmmm, wish we could fix our problems that way!
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I’m guessing that we would create as many problems as we fixed, but it’s a nice idea if viewed idealistically and romantically.
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Exactly!☺
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Wickedly clever! My goodness, what a mind you have, Sarah. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we’re related. LOL
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Bill, in this world, anything is possible! Hello, distant cousin one-hundred times removed 😉
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That would solve a lot of societies problems.
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Think of the impact that would have on which way people voted in elections, if they were armed with hindsight and knew which manifesto promises would be kept or broken!
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Love a good time travel post… this one is dark… can you change the past or just relive it?
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Well, Laurie, if I ever try it, I’ll let you know … that is, if I arrive back at this point in time and have this same blog 😉
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Really enjoyed this little snippet. Guess because I’d love to go back to my past and give myself a few good smacks. 🙂
But I wonder if the need to drink excessively is more psychological than physical — one purgative may not work.
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I’m guessing that the need to drink excessively is a bit of both, but the woman in my story loves this guy enough to time travel repeatedly in the hope of finding a fix for his destruction of their relationship through his alcoholism.
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The time travel adds an interesting dimension. Sad to say this situation is life for so many people. It takes a real miracle to cure alcoholism.
My sister tried to fix things for six years, but when he started coming home drunk and choking her until she passed out, she knew it was time to travel. 😦
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It’s a cruel business. Alcoholics can often promise time and time again to reform themselves, and on each occasion they say it, they probably mean it absolutely, but then they succumb. It takes a strong person to kick the habit, but I’ve known those who have. So tragic for your sister, though. If there was repeat violence involved, then she had little choice but to leave. I hope she has made a new life for herself, and isn’t too mentally scarred by the ordeal.
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A bit like Groundhog Day! Ah if we could change the past that easily. Genie in a bottle perhaps?
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Time travel is such a fascinating subject and can make one’s head spin thinking about it. If we could change the past, it might not have the result we envisaged and some people we know and love might never have been born or crossed our paths. Have you read Stephen King’s time travel novel titled “11.22.63”, all about someone travelling back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination? It’s one of Stephen King’s less well know novels, but one of my favourites (that is, after The Stand and Dreamcatcher).
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No. I haven’t read that novel. Will put it on the list. Thanks.
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Love it! I love the sci-fi element and great juxtaposition of an everyday situation with “infinite possibility.” 🙂
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Thank you, Cynthia 🙂 I guess that infinite possibility is both the beauty and the danger of time travel.
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A purgative was one of my mother’s favorite cures for whatever ailed you. That and Cod Liver Oil. I learned quickly to not complain of illness. Her cures were far worse than any sickness.
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LOL. So my question is did your mother purposely give you purgatives and cod liver oil to teach you to man up, or did she do it out of love, or did she do it out of a bit of both? 😉
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A bit of both, I think.
Although, I don’t ever remember her taking Cod Liver Oil. That is the most nasty stuff that ever touched my lips. One dose and I was cured for a lifetime. It took two weeks to get the taste out of my mouth.
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I hate the taste of cod liver oil. Krill oil tastes better, but no oil at all is better still. Only last year, so late in my life, I learned to swallow capsules and tablets without nearly choking myself to death. The answer is to turn your head to the side as you swallow. It opens the throat and hey presto, success! As a result, I don’t have to contend with nasty flavoured liquid medicines anymore. I think that even Mary Poppins’s spoonfuls of sugar wouldn’t disguise cod liver oil D:
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Dear Sarah,
I wonder if the time traveler will be able to fix the past. Love the cure. How will that change everything, though? Delightfully evocative story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
She’s desperate, so she’ll try anything to cure him, however unlikely it is to work. The nature of true love and all that…
I’m glad you liked the story 🙂
All best wishes,
Sarah
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This was a great take on the prompt and time travel… I can so understand her wish of changing the past but you that old time travel thing… the more you fix, the more you change; the more you change, the more you have to fix… and so the cycle continues…
In the end, one just cannot mess with what is done, can one? Or…. can one?? 😀
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Thank you, Dale 🙂 My instinct would be not to mess with time, but to somehow learn to forgive people their shortcomings, while being wise enough to know when to quit.
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We are on the same page! 😉
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Interesting idea. I love time travel stories…there’s always so many what ifs.
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Yes, time travel is fascinating.
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Sad, but hopeful. Hope the protagonist can get a fix on time travel–or that he finds a way to deal with his own problems in the future–I have a suspicion that trying to fix his for him wouldn’t work in any time period! Interesting story!
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Yes, I agree that the protagonist is the one who needs to have the determination to fix his problems, however laudable it is for his loved ones to try to do it for him.
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Oh goodness! Changing time, going back, maybe take me for a ride? 😉 Great writing, Sarah
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Thanks, Christy 🙂 If I knew how, I’d be tempted to go on that ride with you, but I’d also be scared that attempting to change things could risk opening Pandora’s box D:
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Nice exploration of the possibilities of time travel. Would we be able to change things if we could or we we be destined to just relive everything?
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I think that if we went back to a former time, armed with the knowledge of the consequences of ours or other people’s destructive actions, it would be very hard to resist meddling with things. The reliving thing would likely only happen if time travel undid your memories.
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Ouch… I feel it’s either time-travel or an Oedipus moment gonna happen.
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I hadn’t thought of the Oedipus possibilities here, but now that you mention it…
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Love the mind-bending nature of this Sarah – what has happened and what could happen.
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Yes, time travel is such a mind-bending subject. I’m still contemplating a rewrite of the first novel I ever wrote, which was a time travel one. Having left it to marinade for many years, I almost feel ready to grapple with it!
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I would probably make a grand mess of a whole lot of people’s lives (including my own) if I was a time traveler armed with good intentions… Best to keep that technology far from me! 🙂 Great story and extra points for making me think of the Kinks/Muswell Hillbillies: “Oh, demon alcohol! Sad memories I can’t recall…”
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Probably best to keep it from all of us. Perhaps it has already been invented and we’re here as a result of a time-traveller’s interference. Now that’s a thought! I just loved the Kinks, which now firmly places me in a certain age-group.
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