Gifts Through Time

It was a regular day of the year 2152. Fourteen-year-old Burton “Burt” Francis was, as usual, in his regular hang out in the historical archive library of the Sacramento Public School. “Closing time now” echoed the impatient librarian’s voice. Burt quietly proceeded out of the library with his book – a paper-based book he had been reading for weeks now, about a very interesting man called Benjamin Franklin.

Quite a lot of things interested Burt about this man. For one, they shared the same birth date – 17^th January and the same initials B. F. Secondly, this man had discovered electricity by flying a kite in a storm! Alas, there was nobody else to share Burt’s enthusiasm about this important man, because frankly, nobody cared about history anymore.

Burt was, what people in the year 2152 called a most peculiar boy. He passed all his subjects, but he had an unnatural interest in history, a subject not even taught in schools now. It only existed in historical archive libraries, and Burt’s school was one of the few that had these. Who could care about history when people were devising strategies to keep themselves from being extinct and inventing light-speed travel to other habitable planets.

In fact, people were not even interested in the Time Machine, an invention which could send things to a past time! Actually the Time Machine was not terribly useful. Every country had only a one-time machine, and they operated it once a year. It consumed a lot of resources, and there were strict rules of what and whom you could send things to. You were allowed to only send lightweight things like paper or cloth, and you could not send anything that could somehow change history. The Government of the United States operated it every year on the 4^th of July.

It had been Burt’s long-time dream to send something to the past. And now, reading about Benjamin Franklin, he knew exactly what he wanted to send to whom. But it would be a difficult task. The Government only approved requests if they were not sent to a historically important person and if it was deemed to be harmless enough not to change any circumstances of the past. They would definitely not approve a written letter, leave aside sending it to the discoverer of electricity.

So Burt researched and researched how to get his request approved. He found out the name of Benjamin’s father – Josiah Franklin, who he thought might not be famous. He decided to send a paper kite, with a hand-drawn picture of a key on it. He was sure that nobody knew what a key of olden times looked like since everybody had digital locks now. He would send the kite not to the doorstep, but to the shed, where he was sure young Benjamin would have spent his days playing. He hoped that his kite would inspire Benjamin when he made his most famous discovery. After ensuring all the details were correct and saying a prayer, Burt finally submitted his request to send a package through the Time Machine to the date of January 17, 1720, where Benjamin would be fourteen (just like himself)

Days passed quickly. On July 5^th, Burt received a message saying “Your package – a kite with a picture, was successfully sent to Josiah Franklin’s shed on January 17^th, 1720. Have a good day”. Burt was thrilled.  Finally!! But a suspicion arose in his mind, what if he had changed history unknowingly? He went running to the historical archive library the next day. He pored through the books – everything was still the same. Burt had never felt happier in his entire life. His gift had somehow been important enough for young Benjamin Franklin, and in a way for the entire human race. 

That day was a turning point in his life. He increasingly became interested in physics, just like the fourteen-year-old boy to whom he had sent his gift. When Burton grew up, he made groundbreaking, earth-shattering discoveries, and inventions. How do I know all this? Because, my dear reader, I write to you from the year 2248, where Burton is as famous as Benjamin Franklin, using invisible ink to hide it from the officials who scrutinize the packages sent through the time machine….. Have a good day and never stop dreaming.