Short story – “Ben’s Time Carriage”

“Ben’s Time Carriage”

“Where is he?”

Alexander turned to the man sitting in a frail wooden chair.  “My dear James, how am I supposed to know?  But, if you believe the word of the good Doctor, then it should be difficult for him to be–”

A brilliant flash of blue light filled the room, and both men raised their hands to their eyes.  When they lowered them a portly, older gentleman stood before them in a metal cage.  He opened a door, took a staggering step and began to fall, but Alexander caught him. 

“Benjamin, are you all right?” James asked.

“Yes, yes,” the man replied.  He laughed.  “Traveling through time leaves one … dizzy, for a few moments.”

“So you have done it then?” Alexander asked looking at the cage.  “Built a … time carriage.”

“Oh yes,” Benjamin replied, “and the things I have seen.”

James sighed.  “Were you able to do as we asked, or did you spend your time impressing the women in every century?”

Benjamin smiled.  “If you do not make time for the ladies, they will not make time for you.”

Looking in the cage, Alexander asked, “Did you memorize everything?  I expected you to return with countless books.”

“My dear Sir,” Benjamin replied, “do you think I would return empty handed?” Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out what looked like a thin glass rod.  He held it up and said, “Gentlemen, all of the books in all of our libraries would fit on this, with plenty of room to spare.”

“Surely not.” Alexander held out his hand and Benjamin placed the object in it.  Holding it up to his eye, he asked, “Did you find some minuscule printing press?”

“No, no, it’s …” Benjamin scratched his head.  “It is something that even I don’t fully understand.”

“How are we to read these … books?” James asked squinting at the rod.

“With this.” From another pocket Benjamin took out an object about the size of a small book made of a strange material.

“What is that?” Alexander asked.

“It is called,” Benjamin answered, “a computer.” Setting this computer on a table, Benjamin lifted the top and flipped it back with a click, so it was now twice the size but half the thickness.  He did this three more times until he had a stiff object about the size of a newspaper. 

“Amazing,” James said.

Benjamin held his hand out to Alexander who returned the rod.  “First we turn this on,” he said, touching the upper right corner of the computer.  There were a few musical tones that made the other two men jump.  “I’m sorry, I should have warned you.  It makes … odd noises at times.”

The surface of the computer had been a dull, bluish-gray, but now it turned black before it was replaced by an image in bronze of Benjamin himself.  Benjamin laughed.  “I couldn’t help myself.  This is … an instant painting of a future bust of me.”

Benjamin inserted the rod in a slot along the side of the computer and told the two other men, “Don’t worry.  This is a very …” He paused and mumbled, “What was the phrase?” to himself.  “Oh yes,” he continued in his normal voice, “this is a very ‘user friendly’ model.  I’ll be able to talk you through using it in only a few minutes.”

An hour later, both men were finally able to use the computer to read the information on the rod.  Once he was sure they understood how to use it, Benjamin told them, “Now, gentlemen, you have access to all the important historical events for the next three centuries.  With this you will be able to foresee all the difficulties this new nation will face and write the perfect Constitution for it.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an engagement I wish to attend.” He opened the door to the cage and stepped inside.

Alexander turned from the computer and asked, “Where is … or should I say, when is this engagement?”

“To answer both questions, Philadelphia in 2006.  They are having a 300th birthday party for me.  Courtesy requires that I attend.” With that he closed the door of the cage, and in a flash of red light, was gone.

***

I first wrote this story in 2008 as part of my 30 Stories in 30 Days Challenge I used to do.  I updated it for my 2012 collection Political Pies.  But I was reminded of it recently by all the talk of Originalism in regards to all the problems certain groups aren’t allowing us to fix, and figured I should repost it so I can share it easily. 

The original reason for this story, is every time I hear some schmuck say we shouldn’t do something because it “wasn’t the intent of the Founding Fathers,” I want to ask if the Founding Fathers had a crystal ball with which they could foresee all the problems the country would face, and thus write the solutions into the Constitution?  Don’t get me wrong, the Founding Fathers were some of the brightest minds of the Eighteenth Century.  Of course, we live in the Twenty-First Century where we have things like indoor plumbing and cyber terrorism.