Olan L. Smith's Short Stories

FORGET ABOUT IT

FORGET ABOUT IT

©2017, Olan Smith

Now, where did I misplace October 10th 2017? Honestly, I looked under the bed, and it wasn't there. I look through every trash can, and no sign of it. Perhaps, I placed it on the top shelf of my cabinets; you know the ones above the refrigerator; you need a step stool to see into it, but it wasn't their either. I called my friends and inquired about them. "Dear friend, I lost October tenth. Do you know where I put it?" One said to retrace my steps, so I did. I got into my time machine and went back to the eleventh, and everything was fine, and then it skipped to Monday the ninth. What?!? The tenth vanished from history. I went back to my friend in a panic, and said, "The tenth is missing."

My friend replied, "I remember the tenth; clearly. I woke up late for work, and was chewed out by my boss," she said plainly. Let me check for you.

My friend jumped in her time machine in her back garage, and she was gone for a second, and returned. Yep, the tenth was there for me. I don't get it. Let me go check it out in your time machine. The two traveled to his place and she stepped into the machine and sure enough, the tenth of October was missing. She had no more left when she and the machine reappeared. She said, "That's damnedest thing I have ever run across, your Tuesday is missing."

I said, "Well, how am I going to get it back?"

"You can't. It doesn't exist." I suggest you report the theft to the time-police. Perhaps, we have a time theft on foot."

"A time thief, I've never heard of such a thing."

"Oh, I heard and read stories about them, nothing official. They are alleged to steal time to make their days on earth longer."

"That, my dear, makes no sense at all. How can they tack my day onto their life span?"

"I'm not sure, but some say it is like weaving a tapestry. Time is a physical thing, like a string, but in our case, time is more of a giant ball of yarn. A few snips here and there and you tie it onto your own ball of yard. The time-police are awful mysterious about their work; perhaps one of them stole it from you, or you were going to do something that day, and they just erased it. You know, most people miss a day here or there, and never think a thing about it. Do you want to file a report?"

"Nah, I'd rather just forget about it."