The next morning, I awoke with the foggy feeling that Gary and his 4th of July potluck had all been a figment of my imagination, but when I saw the 8 track player sitting on my nightstand, I knew it hadn’t been a dream. I bit my lip and smirked, the apples of my cheeks sore from smiling so much, and the thrill of it all washed over me once again.
I practically leapt out of bed, as I exclaimed, “Oh, wow. Oh, wow.” I cradled my face in my hands and allowed my fingers to trace my cheeks as the wheels in my brain turned furiously, remembering everything from the previous night.
It was all impossible, but I couldn’t deny it any longer: I had traveled through time. I didn’t understand the whys or the hows, but for some reason this magical suitcase had chosen me as its companion. And I couldn’t wait to travel again….
I had so many questions, and no one to answer them. I felt a lurch from a particularly anxious butterfly in my stomach as I came down from cloud nine and my feet became firmly planted on the ground. Could there be consequences for time traveling? How did it work? Could I control it, or was I simply along for a ride? As far as I knew there wasn’t a manual for time traveling, so I decided to do the next best thing: immersing myself in all things related to time travel. For the next week,I watched movies and tv shows, poured over books and scoured the internet for anything related to the topic. I kept notes and read aloud to the suitcase, watched tv with it, shared everything I was gleaning. The suitcase remained resolute, only humming occasionally. That was enough for me to feel that I was on the right track.
Some time travel stories include an actual time machine, like Marty McFly’s DeLorean, or Doctor Who’s TARDIS. Some include more of a portal or “rip in time” theme. I wondered if maybe the suitcase was a little bit of both? It was while I was watching Somewhere in Time, starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, that something caught my attention. The protagonist is told that he must dress as though he is in the time period he wishes to visit and really believe he is there in order to navigate into the past.
Then I remembered how the suitcase seemed to hum with delight when I was sorting through my mother’s old things. And I’d been dressed in clothes from 1976 when I ended up traveling to that year. What if I simply needed an anchor to the past?
