THE TIME TRAVEL STORY (PART 1)

EXT. NEW YORK CITY: THE GIRL TIME TRAVELERS EMERGE FROM MACY'S WEARING EXPENSIVE CLOTHES:

ISABEL (VO): "That was fun. Where's Tony?

CLARE: "He's coming! I see him. Hey, look at this...a satin and tulle swing dress for only 5 dollars! And gloves for two dollars! That cleaned me out!"

KATHY: "I got this round collar jacket for 4 dollars. Can you believe that? But that cleaned me out, too. How about you, Irene?"

IRENE: "Mine cost a little more than that, but I still have lots of money left."

ISABEL: "That's because you Xeroxed your money. We had to buy old dollar bills at collectors prices, the kind that are silver certificates."

TONY WALKS INTO SC.:

TONY: "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Irene, you Xeroxed your money!? I told you that everything we took back to 1952 had to be from that era. You said you understood that. If that fake money changes something in 2015, I could lose my job for taking you here. We could all be arrested!"

THEY CROSS THE STREET:

IRENE: "Calm down, Tony. Nobody said anything. They all took it and gave me change, so what's the harm? Even the gun store took it."

TONY: "Gun store? You bought a gun?"

IRENE: "Yeah, from that store. A cute little revolver. They're legal in 1952.

TONY: "Throw it away. Toss it in a trash can. Get rid of it. I could lose my job."

IRENE: "Stop with the job, already. Everything's fine. Don't be such a wimp."

THEY PASS A ROW OF PANHANDLERS:

TONY AND THE GIRLS WALK PAST THE PANHANDLERS, PRETENDING NOT TO SEE THEM. ONE OF THEM GETS UP AND CHASES IRENE. HE PASSES HER THEN BLOCKS HER WAY.

BUM: "'Just a dime. That's all I'm askin' for. Won't ya help a guy out?"

TONY: "Um...Irene, I have a dime. Here, take it."

IRENE: "I don't want your dime."

BUM: "C'mon, take it. Do a good deed."


.........CONTINUED IN PART 2  [this entire story and text (not photos) copyright Eddie Fitzgerald 7/30/2014]

THE TIME TRAVEL STORY (PART 2)

IRENE: "Why, you pathetic little fool. Get out of my way."

BUM: "Look, all I'm askin' for is a dime, lady. A pretty lady like you...it's not gonna break you."

KATHY: "Haw! It looks like you have an admirer, Irene."

IRENE: "Oh yeah? Well let him admire this."

BAM! BAM! SHE SHOOTS HIM, AND TOSSES THE GUN DOWN A SEWER.

WITNESS: "Oh, my God...she shot him!

A PASSING AMBULANCE STOPS:

AMBULANCE TEAM: "He's dead...a bullet through the forehead! 'Anybody see who did it?"

WOMAN: "I saw it! That lady over there did it. They argued about somethin' and she just took out a gun and shot him."

TONY (DISTRAUGHT): "Wh...why'd you do it Irene? You promised you'd be careful. YOU PROMISED! That's why I took you along. You promised you wouldn't speak to anyone in this time. You promised you wouldn't allow anything you do, no matter how insignificant, to influence anybody in any way. And now this."

IRENE: "Oh, there you go being a wimp again. Nobody cares about him. He was just a bum. And besides, most of these people lived their lives and died long before 2015. What you're seeing are just shades. It doesn't make any difference what you do to them. They're not real.

CLARE: "I don't know, Irene. They look pretty real to me."

 IRENE (CONT): "Anyway we'll be out of here in an hour."

IRENE (CONT) (VO): "There's our ride home now."

CROWD: "You ain't goin' anywhere, Lady! Somebody call a cop!"

IRENE: "Get your hands off me! Don't touch me!"

SHE TAKES SOMETHING FROM HER PURSE AND QUICKLY UNFOLDS IT.

IRENE: "Okay, people...let me introduce you to 2015!"

TONY: "IRENE! Where did you get...you weren't supposed to..."

ZZZZZRRMMM! A LASER BEAM THEN AN EXPLOSION THEN A SERIES OF NAPALM-LIKE PLUMES OF FIRE OBLITERATING HALF A CITY BLOCK: 

CROWD: (SCREAMS OF PANIC)

MORE DESTRUCTION AS THE BEAM SWEEPS ACROSS BUILDING TOPS:

CROWD: (MORE SCREAMS OF PANIC)

TONY DRIVES UP IN A CAR, SCREECHES TO A HALT, SHOUTS TO THE GIRLS:

TONY: "Get in! Get in! We've gotta get to the airport!"

This entire story and text (not photos) copyright Eddie Fitzgerald 7/30/2014)

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I'd need parts 3 & 4 to tell the whole story, where the "Cleaners" come in, but I think I'll end it here. Finding pictures to illustrate what I wanted to say took hours, and I still didn't get the photos I wanted. *SIGH*

MORE ABOUT TIME TRAVEL

I haven't been able to stop thinking about time travel since I posted about it last week. I still don't believe it's possible but it sure is fun to think about. It's especially fun since old photos indicate that the point of origin for the travelers might have been right here in good old 2014 or thereabouts.

Take a look at the lady in the 50s bus above. Isn't that a digital snapshot camera? It looks like a camera you can buy right now.

And this photo from the 40s (above, circled red on the right)....what's a 2014 hipster doing in this crowd? He looks like somebody you'd see in Starbucks. Was he Photoshopped in? I don't know.

Lots of old photos contain pictures of people who are still here. How did that come about?

And why do old photos contain so many pictures of people in modern dress?

The other day I was looking at some pictures (above) by the 40s/50s jazz cover artist, James Flora. I almost did a double take. These covers look like they were done in Illustrator or Flash, computer programs that wouldn't exist for another 60 years!

You have to wonder why people would choose to live in the past. In order to bet on winner-known-in-advance horse races, I guess. Or maybe the near future didn't shape up so well and these travelers are refugees. I wonder if any of them were able to go back?

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P.S. Here's a link to the site where I got some of these photos.

http://www.ryot.org/evidence-of-time-travel-popping-up-all-over-the-internet/84113

WHAT IF TIME TRAVEL WORKS?

I don't believe in time travel, but you have to admit that it has great story potential.

A lot of time travel stories have the practice heavily regulated for fear that someone might change the past and thereby alter the future. I prefer to imagine that safeguards will be in place and that time travel will become a safe and popular entertainment like amusement park rides are now.

People who elect to ride into America in 2014 will take blasters with them to protect them from Al Capone's gangsters. Capone died way before 2014 but only the A students will know that and besides, as long as they stay in their seats, nothing they do...even with lasers...will effect anything in our era.

The tracks will take their cars down suburban streets and into houses where they can see how people in 2014 lived. Even the most mundane things we do in our time will appear exotic and awe-inspiring to the time travelers. Of course they'll be invisible, so no one in our time will know they're being watched.

Everything will turn out fine as long as the cars keep moving and so long as no traveler attempts to get out or leave something behind.

The problem is that someone (above) always breaks the rules. Someone will find a way to get out of the car and mess with the people in our time.

Will they still be invisible after leaving the car? I don't think so. Of course, coming from the future they'll no doubt find ways to avoid being seen.

You could be walking down the street in 2014 never be aware that a mischievous future person was near-by.

If we're lucky the worst that will happen is a prank where some future person deliberately loses a 2014's set of keys.

But it could get worse. A girl might deliberately cause an accident just to see what happens when two gasoline cars collide.

"After all," she'll reason, "it's not as if I hurt two real people. These people in 2014 are just shades. They lived their lives and passed away a long time ago. Why can't I have some fun with them?"

Hmmmm. The future had better figure out a way to prevent passengers from leaving the car. Of course a really determined person could still make trouble. They might be able to sneak an android into 2014, someone who could pass as a local but who still takes her orders from the future. It could get nasty.

Yikes!