So I recently went to lunch at Pancho's with the wonderful Isaac-O and we had fun times. By the end of the meal we were attempting to build towers out of our chips (it's harder than it looks) but before then we were swapping stories about the little sweethearts that we get to deal with when we work with kids and talking about college and education classes and teachers and things like that. I'm not really sure where this came from, but at some point along the way, Isaac asked me if I had invented a time machine yet. I said I hadn't but I had learned a couple of reasons why you couldn't really invent a time machine. He said I invent a time machine and go back in time to tell myself not to be a physics major. I contended that if I went back in time to tell myself not to be a physics major and I listened to myself, I would never invent a time machine and therefore never be able to go back in time and tell myself not to be a physics major. This is the compromise story we came up with (with some embellishment). Imagine that music that always introduces a daydream or a back flash playing as the scene fades in a ripple from a booth at a Mexcian restaurant to the blue rectangular practice rooms of the South Caldwell band room.
High school Addie Jo and Isaac are shooting the breeze at some convenient break time. "So, Jaddie-o," Isaac says, "What do you plan to do with the rest of your life?"
"Well, Isaac-O, I intend to study astrophysics because it's just so much fun to say," Addie Jo replies with a laugh. Suddenly the scrap pieces of music and drill charts swirl around in an inexplicable and instantaneous tornado. Dramatic music based around the sound of magical wind swells and then drops off as the papers settle back to the ground, calmed by the arrival of two figures from a different place, if not a different time.
"Who are you?" Addie Jo demands as the figures approach the two friends. Isaac lists the other questions he might have asked, such as "Why did an inexplicable and instantaneous tornado occur?" or "How did you get here?" or "Are they going to clean up the papers? 'Cause they're all over the place and the tornado was not my fault."
The shorter figure flung back the protective black hood and swiftly declared, "Don't be a physics major."
After a few moments of silence, which the high school students assumed were for dramatic effect, the second figure pulled back his hood and said, "I told you it would take more than that to convince yourself to change your life plans." He proceeded to shrug off the rest of the black robe, revealing a faded button-up plaid shirt over a t-shirt and jeans. Isaac admired the fact that future him still enjoyed wearing converses.
"Maybe I just didn't understand me," the first figure replied. She turned back to her past self and said, "Don't be a physics major. Find something else to do with your life. Just tell everyone that you wanted to be an astrophysicist. That way you can still say it all the time. Trust me, your life will be much easier." She pulled her long hair out of her robe before taking it off and folding it over her arm. Addie Jo noted with satisfaction that her future self got away with wearing flip-flops before she realized what was going on.
"Wait a hot second. You mean to tell me that you came back from the future to tell me change my life? How did you get here?" she demanded of her future self.
"My question exactly," said Isaac.
"She built a time machine-" Future Isaac started, but Future Addie Jo cut him off.
"Don't tell her that! Then she'll want to do it! I mean, think about it- if you told yourself that you made a time machine, why would you want to change anything? Your future self has to be pretty awesome, if I may so say myself." She paused to smirk. "Besides, I think we might be early," she added, looking intently at her past self. "We don't have the same face."
Future Isaac contended that they did and that he was right. After a quick discussion, the story came out. After a discussion at lunch one day, Isaac had stated that Addie Jo should build a time machine in order to convince her past self not to be a physics major, since it had added unnecessary stress into her life. Since actors are better at conveying confident scientific information than scientists are, Addie Jo had believed him that such a thing could be accomplished and set out build a time machine, a task that she achieved in a remarkably short period of time, given the current financial crisis in the sciences and the lack of research on the topic. They both recalled that at that first fateful discussion of time travel, Addie Jo had insisted that her past self would immediately change her mind if given the opportunity.
"Then why did you come, Future Isaac?" asked Isaac. Future Isaac shrugged. "To see what would happen."
"Listen, past self," Future Addie Jo began again, "You don't want to be a physics major. I know why you picked it and I know what you're thinking, but it's not going to turn out the way you want. You're just not suited to it and you're not going to want to work through it and all it will give you is pain and suffering."
"And a time machine," Addie Jo retorted.
"I didn't remember that you were that snarky," Future Isaac interjected.
"If I told you that someone else would invent the time machine and you just made a cheap copy of it, would you change your mind?" Future Addie Jo asked herself pleadingly. Addie Jo turned to Isaac. "Am I really that bad of a liar?" Isaac shrugged and tried to look innocent. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Well, you know, it was a lot of work and I never got any credit for it. I mean, seriously, the flux capacitor by itself-"
"Flux capacitor? Really?"
"Listen, maybe you can tell yourself to be a little more creative with names. It'll be your idea if you don't change your mind now."
"Oh, well, by all means, if thinly veiled copyright infringement is my future, I have to change my mind." Addie Jo rolled her eyes.
"Gee, if self-depreciation is my past, maybe I should go back and change it, too. Oh wait, I can. Too bad you can't do anything about your future," Future Addie Jo practically snapped her fingers in her past self's face.
"Maybe I will," Addie Jo said.
"Good."
"Fine."
"Change your mind."
"I just might."
"No, seriously, change your mind. NASA shuts down your senior year of college and the graduate programs in astrophysics are some of the most competitive in the country. You'll live on chicken Ramen and peanut butter and jelly."
"Ah no! I hate the chicken kind!"
And with that fateful statement, Future Addie Jo started to fade from existence, swept away by the changing mind of a child. All the attention was turned to Future Isaac, who had confusingly in place.
"Why don't you disappear too? If I'm not going to build a time machine, you can't come back," Addie Jo said definitively.
"You must not have changed your mind all the way. See, look, you're fading in and out," Future Isaac replied. He and Isaac paused to watch as Future Addie Jo, hands on hips and glaring eyes, flickered in and out of existence while her past self changed her mind.
"But I built a time machine!" she said in protest. Finally, the flickering stopped.
"Oh, crap," said Future Isaac. "Quick, remind yourself that you need to charge your cell phone so you can go to Pancho's," he implored his past self.
"Charge your cell phone so you can go to Pancho's," Isaac reminded himself confusedly. Future Isaac laughed and then faded determinedly away.
"I don't even like Mexican food," Addie Jo said to Isaac as they stood up to start cleaning up the papers that had inexplicably flown around the room. "Apparently you don't like chicken Ramen either," Isaac commented. "It's just so salty," Addie Jo contended.
"So what are you going to do with your life now?" Isaac asked Addie Jo as they turned to leave the papers in a pile on their way out to the student parking lot.
"I dunno. I always wanted to be a photographer..." Engrossed in their conversation, the two friends headed out into the spring humidity, both failing to notice the photograph that fluttered down from an untraceable height. Their distraction was probably all for the best- no good discovering an iconic image fifteen years before it was taken.
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