As the title of my story indicates, Im a science-fiction
writer; unfortunately, not a very successful one, which is probably why
youve never heard of me. At any rate, this story is about time travel.
Where Donald Trump comes in, youll see as you read on.
Time travel has long been a science-fiction staple. In
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells foresaw a future world in which one
species preyed on another, not an optimistic projection. Britains Dr. Who
travels through time in what Google tells me is a police box and
Id thought was an old-fashioned phone booth. More recently, in the
The Outlander, a beautiful English nurse goes back and forth to
18th- century Scotland through the means of some mystical stones; not likely,
but who cares as long as Clair and Jamie engage in those steamy sex scenes. So
time travel is certainly not a novel subject and ordinarily I wouldnt be
writing about it except for recent events, such as the election of Donald
Trump.
Okay, to get to it, lets go back to the time when I was
in college and became a teachers aide to a professor working in the
college lab. The professors name was Henry Hinkley, a man of about 40
then. He was a physicist and was working on what was then the radical idea of a
driverless car. He was one of those scientists who liked to tinker around and
so my job consisted mostly of handing him various tools for use in connecting
or tightening up things. Unlike the popular concept of a professor, Hinkley
wasnt wild-looking. He looked and dressed like a conservative
businessman. He was also interested in the stock market and spent a lot of time
studying financial journals.
I discovered he had another interest one day when I mistakenly
opened a door at the back of the laboratory and saw another car in there,
somewhat similar to the driverless car but not the same. This other car, he
told me after Id sworn an oath of secrecy, was actually a time machine.
His hope was some day to drive the car, which bore some resemblance to the
DeLorean one in the movie Back to the Future, to some point in time
years ahead. Think of it, he said, if you could see the stock
market pages of the Wall Street Journal. You could make a fortune.
Of course I was skeptical about time travel and told the
professor so. He then proceeded to give me an explanation of why it was
possible, at least theoretically. I cant say I understood it but it had
something to do with Einsteins special theory of relativity and also his
theory of gravity which united space and time as spacetime.
Evidently, spacetime allowed for so-called wormholes,
tunnels through spacetime. It was my impression that Professor
Hinkley thought he could drive his DeLorean-type car through one of these
wormholes and so get to some time in the future.
Whatever the professors intention, his work on both of his
projects came to an end shortly before the end of the term because he suddenly
disappeared. I simply assumed hed gone on his summer vacation a little
early and didnt concern myself too much about him. I was immersed in my
own struggles to pass my courses and also with a girl Id met in my
English class. I certainly didnt think that Hinkley had gone somewhere
into the future.
Then, sometime at the start of the presidential campaign last
year I happened to catch the end of a TV program on Donald Trump in which his
advisors were introduced. One man who was introduced as a science advisor
reminded me of Professor Hinkley. I was intrigued and so I wrote a letter and
addressed it to Trump Tower. Somewhat to my surprise, about a week later I
received a letter back. Yes, Professor Hinkley remembered me. He appreciated
the help I d given him on his projects. He was pleased that the
driverless car had become a reality, or almost so. If only hed had the
computer knowledge back then; oh, well. And oh, yes, hed made a
breakthrough in time travel; his DeLorean-type car had somehow made it through
a wormhole and brought him into the future. As unlikely as it seemed, Donald
Trump was going to win the Republican nomination and then go on to beat Hillary
Clinton to become the next president. Hed made a sizeable bet on this and
he advised me to do the same. He was hoping to get some advance information on
the stock market but hadnt been able to yet.
That night I discussed Professor Hinkleys letter with my
wife. She scoffed at it. Time travel? That was crazy. Your professor is a
crackpot. And it was even crazier to think Donald Trump would be our next
president. I tended to agree with my wife. Nevertheless, I placed a modest bet
on Trump at quite favorable odds. Well, you know what happened. I wished
Id bet much more but as it was I did clear enough to take my wife on a
European trip, the first vacation wed had in years. When we returned, I
wrote again to Professor Hinkley, this time in care of the White House. I hoped
he could give me some more inside information, perhaps on the stock market.
This time I received a letter from the White House saying that
Professor Hinkley no longer worked there and that his whereabouts were unknown.
He hadnt praised Trump enough and so had been dismissed. No, just
kidding, that last bit is my own fancy, based on news reports about Trump and
his revolving staff. So Im back to my sci-fi writing but still hoping to
hear from the Professor and maybe getting that advance stock market
information. Id also like to know, is it possible that Trump will win a
second term.