Time

Now would be about the time when I’d post about a spot in the states that I visited. For the fifth post of the year, following the Mindless Peace chain of topics, this one falls under What’s Up World? The only issue being, I haven’t taken a trip since Seattle, a place I’ve already written a trilogy about and for those who have read that series, it’s clear I will not be returning. However, there is a place I’ve been that does not exist anymore.

The Mini Cooper automobile was about to arrive and I was nervous, nervous because this was the first generation of its kind and there were major problems with first-generation Minis. Should I tell the people? Can I? I said nothing, figuring I shouldn’t interfere with the fabric of time. Much of what’s to come is not even a thought inside the minds of those who will create landmarks in history. I could make a fortune being a future teller. I’d be the only one who ever told the truth. Fast food had was brand new and and decades away from being stuffed with preservatives. Morality was preferred over revelry. Technology was basically science-fiction. There I was, knowing all this already, having come from 2019 but how could I explain? I hadn’t the faintest clue as to how I wound up here myself.

I lingered around the area where the very first Mini Cooper was to be unveiled. Everything was black and white. The people, the landscape, stark and void of color. This included me, dressed in long, black fur and a wide-brimmed fedora. This is too far back. I’ll have to wait decades before truly exciting occurrences. It’s about twenty years until the seventies, thirty until I would get to live in the eighties. If I stay here I’ll be almost old in the 80s, I don’t want that. I’m in the Elvis era. I don’t want that. Respect to the King of Rock n Roll but my fandom he does not have. Also, no man was made to live a life like that. It’s cruel if you think about it. Who else is around? Sinatra? Could I actually go see From Here to Eternity in theaters? That’s crazy. Is it on DVD? Wait, VHS? I looked around the black and white scene. We are an eternity away from smartphones. People were talking to each other, with eye contact. What’s more, it was not strained or awkward or broken apart with needless glances at handheld devices. I bet people read. Not billboards but words, words on paper, books. I bet these people read books. The idea of a mobile phone would likely be taken as witchcraft. Maybe I could get used to people being people. My eyes could use a break from the screens. After all, I don’t know how I got here. Who says I can go back?

I walked down the street, it was night, I was surrounded by colorless scenery. Finally, I’ve made it to a simpler time. Disadvantaged, maybe, ignorant, yes. Also, refreshingly simple. I breathed a sigh of relief. The wild thought of having to wait a handful of years for my parents to be born shook me where I stood. I should go see if my grandmother is around and find out if she really did have Betty Grable legs. Oh my goodness, I have to wait years, over a decade before Michael Jackson arrives on Earth. I definitely went too far back. Although, it’ll be fun to see the greatest entertainer of all time ascend to the greatest heights in real-time.

I suppose now that I’m here, I should find work. Newspapers are in high demand. As a columnist, that certainly works out for me. Who should I write for? I picked up folded gray pages covered in black ink and in the next second my world had color again, my eyes were open, it was all a dream. I dreamed a beautiful dream. I had traveled.

Marlon Brando was in his prime. My favorite old film of his was suddenly my favorite current film. People weren’t distracted by phones. The world was simple. Life is better in black and white.