The Blink

 

November 2, 2020

 

Greetings from the second chance,

 

“Well, let’s see…”  He put down the wrench thing, and looked up, thinking.

 

“Many years ago, before you were, scientists created a method of altering time.  It wasn’t really time travel as much as a shift of sorts.  Like other things back then, it was first created by NASA for one reason but served another, and then one day everyone had it.  Like Tang, or calculators.

 

She waited, wanting to ask what ‘Tang’ was, but said nothing.

 

“It was a novelty at first.  People could use this invention, something that attached right to the clock by your bed, to sort of rewind the time that had just passed.  It was a little disorienting the first time, but no more unsettling than that feeling you get when an elevator first starts down.  You know?”

 

She nodded, not having ever been in an elevator that she remembered. 

 

“In that moment we could see what had just gone on in the last hour.  We would still be fresh from living it already, but you got this perspective that is missing when you’re just living it, so now you were like an observer.  Like watching a documentary, only it is your life, not like about giraffes or famous people.

 

We would see these gauzy images, ghosts of ourselves, and in those moments see our life as it really was, not how we imagined or remembered.  Going about our lives, doing small things, or important things.  Then they would fade and then dissolve, and suddenly you would be an hour earlier.  You would see this brilliant light, something that always made you blink, and then, well, you were at the beginning.  And there, this was the interesting part, you had the chance to make the hour different, if you felt like it. 

 

I don’t remember what it was called before but everyone just called it The Blink.  It was a novelty, something fun to do at parties.  Some people used it to study, or if they burned the toast it gave them a chance to save breakfast.  Like that.  I remember once I used it to find where I put the car keys, which was silly.”

 

She giggled, not because she really thought it was silly, but because he made a funny face when he said it.  She thought it was a funny face, but really it was his regular face too.

 

“What was beautiful was you could see your own experience, and those people you were with.  Sometimes, while you were in your own Blink, you could see the reflection of people you loved, what they were going through in that hour.  Even if you were, like, a thousand miles apart.”

 

“Like Zoom?” she asked.  Or Facetime? Or VR?”

 

“Yes, but, no.  It was what had already happened in the previous hour, so maybe like Tivo.”

She said nothing, not knowing what Tivo was, and now it would be distracting to keep track of all these questions, which she knew she wasn’t going to care about later.

 

“It was an extraordinary addition to our life.  I found out that, usually, it made people kinder.  Seriously.  You would see what you looked like, how sometimes you were thoughtless, or forgetful, or careless.  And then you could tweak things, make things slightly better, be better.

 

Then, of course, people began to abuse it, betting on football games, manipulating the stock market, until the government stepped in and regulated The Blink.  You had to get a license, some states didn’t allow it, all that.  I lost interest when that happened.  Too much fuss.

 

Also, it was causing social problems; it gets complicated when everyone is going back an hour at random times. And man, it was a nuisance on planes.  So they limited the use to once a month, and now you can only use it once at year, at 2:00 in the morning.  It’s not as much fun as it used to be.  Unless it’s ‘Last Call’.

 

The big deal was that it messed with people’s ages.  If you went back too many times, you can imagine, gets confusing, not only with your body but with voter registration. Anyway, they made it mandatory that you could go back an hour but every year you have to crank it forward the same hour to keep everyone at their natural age.” 

 

She nodded because he was looking at her expectantly, his eyebrows raised which was his way of asking if she understood.  She looked up at him, both of them thinking about what he had just said.  She tried to imagine watching this hour, Blinking, wondering what she would do different.  Nothing, probably.  She liked this hour.

 

“Anyway, that’s where it came from.  It’s really magical.  I know that’s a lot, but you are so smart, I know you understand.”  He smiled, in his goofy way, and then he went back to working on her bike.

 

“Mom.” Waited.  “Mom.”

“Hm?” Not looking up.

“Mom. Is it true what Anda said?”

Glancing up from her book. “About what Ila?”

“About The Blink.”

“I don’t know, Honey.  What is it?” looking back down at the book.

“I asked him what Daylight Savings Time was and he told me about The Blink.”

“Huh. The Blink, ok.” A beat.  And looked back up.  “Wait, what?”

 

Hope this finds you falling back,

 

David

 

 

 

Copyright © 2020 David Smith