It's kind of my take on what some things will look like in Oshawa in the year 2030.
Enjoy.
Grumpy Old Man Glover Too
By: Christopher Mackenzie Glover
Chapter 1- NOT EXACTLY AS PLANNED
The sizzle of wicks pierced the quiet night on this cool August evening in the summer of 1921. The burning orange glow filled the darkness with light.
In the distance he spotted them. Little bobbing white dots were coming towards his house from all directions. He had nowhere to go. The blue glow from the well blazed as the full moon shone brightly. He grabbed the bag with all his worldly possessions and stepped towards the hole. In an instant he disappeared at the exact moment that the massive explosion lit up the sky.
Chapter 2 – GRANDMA’S BIG GROUNDHOG
For nine months the urge to go over and dig up his grandma’s back lawn had been gnawing at him. Curiosity was getting the better of Cosmo. What had great, great, great Uncle David left for him? Tomorrow he was going to find out.
His Grandma Glover was heading to Florida to visit her sister and Cosmo had agreed to take in her mail while she was gone.
The next day he drove his bike to her house. Calmly he went to the garage and grabbed an old shovel. He measured out five feet diagonally from the back corner and carefully cut away a big chunk of sod and began to dig.
For ten minutes he dug until his shovel made a hard thunk.
He pulled out a metal box which was wrapped in several layers of plastic sheeting. He scraped off the thick mud and looked at it. It was an Elvis Presley lunch pail from the late 1950’s which struck Cosmo as odd. He carefully removed the plastic and opened the lid. Inside was another clear plastic bag protecting a letter in a browning envelope. Some other small objects were wrapped up too. Cosmo carefully took out the letter and shuffled to the last page and looked at the signature.
It was a letter from great, great, great Uncle David dated July 10th, 1957. This was very confusing. David was already 50 in 1921. He would have been nearly 90 when he wrote this letter, far too old to sneak in the yard and bury it.
He quickly filled in the hole and replaced the sod. It didn’t look exactly right, but close enough. If his grandma said anything, he would just say he saw a big groundhog in the yard.
Chapter 3 – A BEFUDDLING MYSTERY
Cosmo went home and took the box up to his room and studied it again. He lifted out the letter and began to read. He was having a major feeling of déjà vu, as this was eerily similar to the plot of the third Back to the Future Movie he had just seen a month ago.
Dear Cosmo (Chris)
I hope you are doing well. I’m sure you will find it strange that this letter is dated 1957 since I would’ve been 86 at this point. Actually I’m 66 when I’m writing this letter.
The night after you went back to 1989 I was planning to disappear as we had discussed the day before. Constable Rundle and several other police officers were coming to my property. I thought they were coming to search my property for the illegal liquor they thought I was hiding. Probably coming to steal it for themselves.
Unfortunately I had nowhere to go and had already lit the wicks on the dynamite. There was a full moon that night and I slipped into the time hole to escape. When I appeared I was still on my farm but it was covered with tall grass and bushes and the burnt out remains of my house were scattered all around.
I went to downtown Oshawa to try and find a place to stay, but from the cars I seen on the street and all the new houses, I knew I was definitely sometime in the near future. I had all my money with me so I changed it for new bills at the bank. I quickly discovered I was in 1941 and Canada was at war with Germany once again. I was too old to fight, but easily found a job at General Motors building tanks and jeeps for the war effort.
I shaved off my moustache so no one would recognize me. The last of my brothers and sisters had passed away only a few years before, but I wasn’t sure who else might remember me from that time.
Ironically, I ended up working for your Great Grandpa Jeffrey. I don’t think he ever suspected who I was, although I used to catch him looking at me strangely from time to time. I even worked with your Grandpa Glover for a short time.
I worked here for several years until 1957. You’ll be interested to know that the person I trained to do my job before I retired was your father.
About one year after I retired I became very sick with cancer and the doctor in 1957 only gave me six months to live. I decided to take a chance and see if the time hole could take me to the future and I could find a cure.
By the time you read this I will be either long dead, or lost in time. I have no idea if the time hole will take me forward or back into the past. It just seems to take us wherever it wants. I think it has a mind of its' own.
 |
| Samuel Glover's Grave in Union Cemetary. David's Father. |
Take care Chris; it was a pleasure to know you. What an adventure I had. My wife and daughters’ graves are in Union Cemetery. I bought a plot very close by in 1941. So no matter when I go I will be buried here. Please come by and clip the weeds from time to time.
Your friend Uncle David.
July 10th, 1957
July 10th, 1957
P.S. – My name was Fred Filbertson after I left 1921.
 |
| Downtown Circa 1958 |
Cosmo held the letter for a long time. It made him very curious.
What would it be like to time travel again? He had often thought about it since his first experience. David had ended up travelling in the time hole at least twice with no ill effects. He had a quiet life and stayed out of the way of history. Couldn’t he just do the same? Nothing would happen like it did in the Back to the Future movies. After all, real life is no movie. Then again he was making a decision about whether or not to time travel and that was just a wee bit out of the ordinary.
Chapter 4 – BAD THOUGHTS GO AWAY
The next day Cosmo went to Union Cemetery and looked for the graves. He found David’s family. About five graves over was a small grave with the name Fred Filbertson. The grave had one simple line, 'I’ve seen a lot in this life.' with only the date of death listed as April 1971. Cosmo felt satisfaction that David had lived a long life and found it eerie that he passed away a month before he was born. However, if he was gravely ill in 1957 how did he live another 14 years?
The overwhelming urge to travel back in time plagued Cosmo’s every thought for the next few weeks. What if he just slipped through for one day? David had gone forward in time, maybe he would too. The past or the present; it didn’t matter where he ended up. Each would be equally fun. He knew from all the other campers before that as long as he went back on the same full moon cycle he would return to his time. At least he hoped that was still true.
It was decided then, Cosmo would go through again. In about two months when Camp Samac opened for the summer he would put on his old counsellor shirt and slip in to the camp on a full moon.
Chapter 5 – SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS ONE THROUGH
It was a warm night on July 10th, 1990. The moon was almost a blood red colour. It was to be a nearly full moon for at least a few nights. Cosmo knew that wherever he ended up, the moon would be equally as full on the other end. He could slip into another time for a day and take some pictures. Even if he went to the future, Camp Samac would always be there. They would never build houses on that land.
He made sure he had lots of film for his Kodak Super Autofocus camera. He brought some food and water for a day or two, but nothing with packaging on it. He drank a big cup of tea so he could stay awake for the whole day. He even brought some old coins from different times. Cosmo had studied the Back to the Future Movies very carefully and he was fully prepared to make sure he did not interfere with the time stream or whatever the time travelling thingamabob was all about.
Close to midnight Cosmo was standing at the edge of the barrier leading to the remains of David Glover's house that the Park Rangers had built late the previous summer. He could see a very faint blue glow under all the bricks he had thrown there last year. Having one final thought about what he was doing he went closer to the hole and pulled out two bricks. The blue glow was strong and blinded him for a second. He staggered back two large steps, hit his head off a tree that wasn’t there a few seconds ago and lurched forward again. He stumbled over a pile of bricks and felt himself falling through the blackness to the ground. He got up and stumbled about fifty feet, but there was blinding pain on his forehead. The last thing he remembered was his face hitting the grass.
Chapter 6 – REALLY LOST IN TIME
The pain in his face wrenched him from sleep. He felt a bandage on his forehead and then a sick feeling shot through his body. He was somewhere in time, but where?
A screen to the right of his bed lit up. He could see his heart rate, blood sugar, brain activity level, blood type, etc. A crystal clear 3D picture of a man appeared and spoke, “How are you son? I’m Nurse David Cowan. Your Biosense Monitor indicated you just woke up. You’ve got quite a nasty bruise and cut on your forehead.”
“Where am I? Did you say nurse?”
“Well you’re in Toronto East General Hospital in the old city of Oshawa. We were hoping you could tell us who you are? You were found in the older part of Camp Samac Park unconscious.“
“I was? Camp Samac….Park?”
“Your DNA record, our face recognition program and your thumbprint actually said you were some 59 year-old man named Christopher Mackenzie Glover. Obviously our data server is acting weird. ”
Cosmo thought for a minute. He couldn’t tell them his real name. Now he knew he was in the future. 40 years in the future in fact. It was 2030. Thinking, he realized he must have staggered back after being blinded when he removed the bricks and gone through the time hole a second time when he fell forward. David had travelled 20 years in 1921 to 1941, so he must have gone double. At least he was beginning to learn more about how the time hole worked. For some reason it was now taking people to the future. It was just another one of those things he couldn’t explain and it hurt his head more just thinking about it.
“How long have I been here…Nurse Cowan?”
“Only 4 hours, but you still don’t look well. Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll figure this all out in the morning. The police said they would be back to interview you when you woke up and were feeling better. You must have tripped the park's after hours motion and heat detectors. Good night,” replied the nurse as the screen beside him went blank.
Cosmo was just about to nod off when he said out loud to himself, “I wonder if I could contact myself?”
Just then a soothing female voice on the screen spoke “Good evening, welcome to Internet Three. Begin your contact search on Yahgoogle. Please press your thumb to the screen to begin accessing your account.”
Cosmo had heard about this internet thing, but in 1990 it was supposed to be 15 years before it was in homes and in mass use. Cosmo pressed his thumb to the screen and a picture of an older man with a big scar over his left eye appeared. Information scrolled by on the screen below the picture. It said he was retired from some place called Ontario Power Generation, Darlington B Nuclear, and that he worked there for 35 years. He had two daughters named Ariana aged 41 who was a local city counsellor for Toronto East and Kaylee aged 38 a kindergarten teacher at Harmony Heights Public School, but no mention of a wife. Just then a voice came from the doorway.
“Psst, Chris are you awake?” said a voice from just outside his dark hospital room.
“Huh, who’s there?”
“No time to talk, get on your clothes, they’re in the closet by the washroom.”
Cosmo got up quickly but was dizzy from the pain in his head. He felt the big bandage over his left eye. He quickly pulled on his clothes and for the first time saw the face in the door. It was his older self.
“Hurry, the hospital DNA detector will only be fooled for so long, stay very close to me so it looks like we are one big person.”
Old Chris was moving very fast for a 59 year-old man. Maybe people from this time were in better shape, and he only looked like he was maybe 45. Thank God, he still had most of his hair too.
Quickly they got in his car which was near Parkwood Estate on the street. Amazingly this part of the city looked the same except all the street light bulbs were spiral shaped and all the lamp posts had solar panels on them.
“So is this a flying car? I can’t wait to fly,” said Cosmo to his older self.
“Uh, no. When I was your age I thought for sure we would have flying cars by now, but they just cost too much. Many people can now work from home and controlled computer traffic flow on the highways have eliminated a lot of the traffic congestion.”
Cosmo noticed the car didn’t really make any noise. The older Chris wasn’t even really driving, just pushing the odd button. The car was practically driving itself.
“Why is this car so quiet?” Cosmo asked older Chris.
“It’s a Buick Regal hydrogen car. It runs on purified tap water. It takes about a litre of water a day. Now the only oil is from the Arctic Ocean and it’s hard to get. Most cars run on either purified tap water or solar fuel cells you charge in your backyard.”
‘Amazing,’ thought Cosmo. He was still in shock to be sitting in a car with his older self and really didn’t know what to say. They drove north on Simcoe Street. Cosmo noticed that there were now many tall buildings and houses surrounding the brand new looking entrance to Camp Samac Park. A big sign said ‘University Ontario Institute of Technology.’ Many tall buildings stood where only yesterday it was the much smaller Durham College surrounded by farmland and Winfield’s Farm to the north. Another odd thing he saw was that there were Tim Horton’s Donut Shops every kilometre. Some even had two or three drive-thrus. In 1990 there was only one Tim Horton’s in Oshawa and it didn’t have a drive-thru.
The older Chris spoke again,” I know you have lots of questions, since I am you, but I can’t tell you much. In fact you’ve seen too much already. You can’t benefit from anything you see. Just seeing the internet and the cars you’ve seen is a lot of information. Besides, tomorrow you’re going back. Remember what happened to Marty McFly.”
When they got to the house, old Chris unlocked his door by simply saying the word ‘Open.’ The house was very nice and well decorated. The lights came on with voice commands too and Cosmo was taken to the living room and old Chris directed him to a couch that was more like a bed and already made up for sleeping. With all that had happened and the pain coming from his head, Cosmo fell asleep as soon as he hit the sofa.
Chapter 7 – TIME FOR A CHANGE
The next day Chris awoke but the pain in his head was gone.
Again he said to himself out loud, ”I wonder if they still have T.V.?”
Just then a small projector shone onto a large flat white area on the wall. A crystal clear 3D image of a nice smiling woman came on the screen.
“Specify program,” said the lady with the voice exactly like the computer from Star Trek the Next Generation.
“Star Trek!” In 1990 Star the Next Generation was by far his favourite show.
“Specify. Star Trek Original Series, Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Enterprise, Original Movie Series, Next Generation Movie Series, 2010 Movie Series, Star Trek The Next Generation Again, etc.”
Cosmo was nearly in a state of ecstasy at the thought of all the Star Trek he would get to enjoy over the next 40 years.
“Computer, television library off,” said the raspier but familiar voice behind him. “What did I tell you last night? You can’t know too much about the future. Geeez, don’t you listen? No of course you don’t. At that age I was a stupid little……”
Cosmo thought that the older version of himself was kind of grumpy. His older self gave him a warm cup of tea to drink.
“Listen just stay low today. You can watch any program you want from before 1990. Don’t access any of the news archives either, especially from 2001 and 2018. Actually, you can’t because I’m going to lock out any internet files from before 1990,” said the older and much grumpier version of Chris.
“Listen, I have someone for you to meet,” said old Chris.
Just then an older, but recognizable man stepped out from the hall.
It was great Uncle David.
“David. You’re still alive!” said Cosmo excitedly.
David motioned to old Chris, “Could you give us a moment? I would like to talk to your younger self alone.”
“Yeah, whatever, it’s not like I don’t know what you tell him. For all the good it did me.’’
“Well, who knows Chris,” David said, “Maybe this is the second time I’ve told you and maybe this time it will get through.”
Old Chris stormed off.
“David, how did you end up here?” asked Chris excitedly.
“Well I’ve only been here about two days myself. I tried three different jumps only a few days after I wrote you that letter and ended up here. I walked from the park onto the street. There was a shelter for the city bus outside the park entrance. I walked past it and the wall started talking to me! I asked for you and it phoned your house. You came and got me so fast I thought you must have been expecting me.”
“Well now that you just told me, I will be waiting for you. What about your cancer?”
“Turns out the type of cancer I have is treatable by a pill you buy at the drug store. Take the pill for four weeks and you’re cured. I’ve only taken the pill for two days and feel better already.”
“Wow, incredible!” exclaimed Cosmo.
“David, why is my older self so…grumpy?”
“Well from what I have found out from the talking wall, you were married once, but your wife died during something called the H4N9 Feline Flu Epidemic of 2018. I think I know something about how the older you must be feeling.”
“Oh yeah, your wife….”trailed off Cosmo without finishing.
“When the time comes you must try not to be so bitter. Find some purpose in your life, like I did with the time travelling kids.”
“What are you going to do now David?”
“I really don’t know. I may try to get back to my life in the late 50’s, but I need to stay here and finish the cancer treatment first. I got remarried in 1946 to a war widow. I didn’t mention her in my letter to you.”
Cosmo then remembered the grave and knew David would make it back and live another 14 years, but didn’t say a thing. Just then Cosmo started to feel an overwhelming urge to sleep. His eyes became suddenly heavy.
“Cosmo are you okay?” asked David.
“I … uh…don’t know…I ahhh, aahh.”
Just like that Cosmo passed out on the bed. David rushed to him very concerned. Then he heard old Chris’ voice from behind.
“Don’t worry, he’s okay. I gave him a drug to put him to sleep. He knows too much already. I wished you hadn’t told him about our wife. It makes him…us…bitter knowing we were helpless to save her. We’ll take him back to Camp Samac Park tonight. We’ll place him near the time hole and he’ll go back to his time.”
“But he jumped 40 years ahead this time. Are you sure?” inquired David.
“What do you think?” said old Chris smiling coyly.
“Wait a minute,” said David suspiciously. “If you didn’t want me to tell your younger self about Angela, then why didn’t you stop me?”
Old Chris just looked blankly at David and said nothing and David didn’t press the issue.
……………………
That night old Chris and David took Cosmo to the wooded area in Camp Samac Park. Chris and David placed Cosmo near the time hole. Carefully, with a long shovel, Chris dug up some dirt and dislodged a few bricks from the now over 100 year-old ruins of David Glover's original farmhouse. A bloom of blue light sprang from the ground. It was getting dimmer every year now as they were slowly mining the old dump for raw materials. Cosmo faded in and out a few times and then he disappeared.
David left the park with Chris.
“Oh crap, I forgot the shovel,” said Chris.
“No problem, I’ll go back and get it.”
David walked back to the wooded spot in the park. He held up the pencil sized flashlight and picked up the shovel. As he did he noticed a plaque near a garden and something in the writing instantly caught his eye. The name Glover.
He read the plaque.
Chapter 8 – IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER!
Cosmo groggily turned over and felt something tickle his nose. It was the tall grass from the area around the time hole. The sun was just beginning to poke through the night sky.
He turned over and sat up. Did he just dream his trip to the future? As he went to stand up he felt something poke him in the thigh from inside his pocket. He pulled out a little plastic container. He opened it up and found two little plastic cubes with a metal piece on the end of each one. The first one was about the size of a thumb. The second looked similar but was only the size of a pinkie nail and was much thinner. Neatly wrapped beside it was a folded piece of paper.
Cosmo opened the note and read it.
‘If you want to save your wife, you will need these plastic cubes. Keep them somewhere safe and dry. The technology to view the data on the bigger cube will be available around 2004. The smaller one in 2017. You must keep them protected until then. When the Internet starts to become popular in your near future, learn all you can about something called web sites. You will need the knowledge to help prepare you for what you will need to do in the future. I can’t tell you any more than that, everything you need to know is on these cubes. Try and resist the urge to time travel. I know it will be tough to do. Sincerely, yourself.”
At the same time back in 2030 depending on your perspective, old Chris touched the small dime size phone button on his ear. The phone rang and Chris waited for the voice he was hoping for.
“Oh hello dear are you enjoying your two month long trip in Australia?.....Good, good. What’s going on here? Oh, nothing same old same old…just your average typical day.”
“Oh hello dear are you enjoying your two month long trip in Australia?.....Good, good. What’s going on here? Oh, nothing same old same old…just your average typical day.”
THE END
