Robert Anderson experiences the passage of time. His old-fashioned doctor's office seems foreign to him. Everything in it:
"...was out of place, a tiny island in time which the ocean was swiftly eroding away; and I knew that inside of ten years I'd do best to retire." (p. 33)
Jack Havig, a youth last year, has become a young man with old eyes. Everyone grows from boy to youth to man but not as quickly as a time traveller. Anderson serves them both brandy and Jack consumes it like an experienced drinker. Although away from home from early December 1950 until the end of January 1951, he had been in San Francisco from fall 1969 until the end of 1970 and also into the further future. This time, the conversation is punctuated not by the wind but by steam hissing in Anderson's radiator.
Anderson's question is all too expectable:
"'You have a time machine?'" (p 36)
Legacy of Wells but Jack moves himself. He demonstrates, disappearing and reappearing, then standing beside himself for a minute. From this point onward, Robert Anderson is able to recount not the odd behaviour of young Jack but the career of Jack Havig, time traveller.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The cover paintings Norman Rockwell made for THE SATURDAY EVENING POST for over forty years sometimes depicted incidents in the lives of small town physicians set in the 1930's and '40's. Robert Anderson's office must have looked a lot like the consulting rooms of those physicians.
Rockwell also made cover paintings for BOYS LIFE.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment