In 500... (or less)

Being There is Half the Fun

The chair was far more comfortable than it looked. I leaned back and placed my arms on the armrests as a metal device not unlike a hair dryer at a salon was lowered over my head.

"Just relax, Mr. Hill, you'll be there before you know it." The technician seemed awfully young to be running this kind of equipment. "Breathe deeply, close your eyes and focus."

That was easy for her to say. This was my first trip, and I was having a few second thoughts about whether it was safe. I wish I could remember what they called the radiation coming from the metal thing floating over my head.

"Ok." It sounded like she was down a long hallway rather than standing in front of me. "The calibration is finished. Open your eyes. Slowly."

I was expecting the dull orange light in the lab. Instead, I had to squint into the bluer-than-blue sky. Then the shapes started to come into focus. Did the buildings really look like that? I tried to move, but my feet felt like they were welded in place.

"Not that way, Mr. Hill," the technician said. God, I could barely hear her now. "In your head, just think about moving."

I looked down. My foot lifted up and slowly went back down on the cracked sidewalk. When I looked back up, everything seemed so much clearer.

"Am I really here?" I asked the technician.

"Your body isn't, you can't interact with anything there. But all of the matter you see around you -- the birds, the people, the buildings -- it's all exactly where it was."

Walking came a little easier now. I could hear some of the ambient sounds around me. A car horn. Someone talking. I guess the sound waves all existed then too, it was part of the package.

I strolled down the street to a familiar house. My bike was in the yard. I reached for the door to go inside, but couldn't grasp it.

"Mr. Hill." Her voice sounded like an old radio transmission now. "Just go inside. You don't need to use the door."

I went inside. It was quiet, no one was awake yet. I hadn't missed it.

There was a creak upstairs. Then the sound of little feet pattering on the wooden floor. I smiled as I heard the bedroom door creak.

In the living room, the gifts were piled around the tree. Not as many as I seemed to remember, though.

The stairs thundered. Everyone was coming downstairs. I took up a spot in the corner.

"They can't see you, Mr. Hill." I had forgotten.

The little boy burst around the corner and into the room full of Christmas presents. My parents came in more slowly, sleep-deprived zombies hobbling into position.

If only I could have talked to them, this vacation would have been the best. Maybe some day they'll get the hang of this time travel. I'd sure like to give my mother a hug.