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The Time Traveller and the Gypsy

Two very different people

By David A RobertsonPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
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The time traveller and the Gypsy

The time traveler looked at the Gypsy’s rather unkempt attire with a certain mistrust.

The Gypsy looked back at the time traveler with a mutually distrustful regard, despite the casual look of the fellow.

The Gypsy had spent the night under the hedge. Sleeping rough was part of their life and made for the character that they were.

In comparison the time traveler looked a bit frazzled as if he had consumed a bit too much LSD. In fact, he was on dopamine ordering anti psychotics which stabilized them enough to carry on as normal after travelling backwards and forwards to find what was going to happen and to find out how what had happened had happened. The effects of time travel stretched the mind something cruel, although the benefits of the information gathered were quite worthy of the side effects. To travel in time to visit the future and the past was a feat not for the faint hearted. The time traveler was brave to move in time not entirely knowing if he would or could return to the present and continue his life. However, time travel was necessary in order to continue the present. All manner of amazing feats were called for in the survival of humans.

The fact that the time traveler had to consume anti-psychotics to remain free in the present was simply a by-product of his occupation. One would think he would stop traveling in time so that he could come off the medication, however, it was not as simple as that. The urgency within him was a part of his mindset that sensed trouble in the future and his need to abate that trouble to prevent a disaster so that life would not be extinguished on Earth before it completed its reason for being.

Many sought the answer to the reason for the Earth human’s existence, and Time travelers tended to know what that reason was intuitively. They simply were not allowed to express it for the knowledge should not be communicated to a non-time traveling being.

The Gypsy had in fact consumed some LSD two nights before, which is how he happened to be under the hedge the night before. They had had to dance the first night round a big open fire that their friends lit to celebrate the betrothal of a cousin or two. The fact that the betrothal had happened months before had nothing to do with the fact that they still celebrated it.

The life of a Gypsy was not as free as it might seem, they had to negotiate entrance to town and village as people were automatically suspicious of their ilk. The suspicion was often misguided as they only usually caused trouble to cause a solution to occur for their family or wider community. There was a coincidental disappearance of items from property within the vicinity of a Gypsy encampment. The Gypsy would explain that local criminals pinched items when Gypsy’s were in the area and frame them, so they get the blame. Of course, the local criminals would simply smile and ignore the aspersion casting.

The time traveler knew this to be the case as he consumed thought of the future where he might help his conversationalist. Soon the time traveller had the picture and planned a diplomatic end to the meeting.

The time traveler sensed the coming dialogue and knew that what he was about to say would not give him much sleep tonight, another side effect of time travel. He always thought that it was worth it. One thing he missed though were surprises. He would really like something to happen which was a surprise. Or would he. Would he be able to cope with a violent surprise? He normally managed to leave a situation before it manifested into physical violence as he sensed through the time matrix, an urgency to vacate the area.

So, the meeting of the Gypsy and the Time Traveler was an amicable one, without judgement and without friction. The parting was a bit strange though and came about in the way documented below.

The Gypsy asked the time traveler, “Tomorrow? How far is that?”. The time traveler said, “Our tomorrow, is the same number of hours as today was yesterday away from today.”

Gypsy asked another question, not looking too baffled by the previous answer. “OK, what if I told you I want eggs for breakfast tomorrow, beans for lunch and sausages for dinner? Will my want be satisfied, or do I die tonight and never know tomorrow as you do?”.

The time traveler said, “I am not going to answer that question. I shall refer you to a friend of mine.” He pointed across the road and there was an undertaker. "Check with Billy Bob McTaverty. He shall help you find the answer."

Sci Fi
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About the Creator

David A Robertson

I am a writer, a bit too old to be budding. Nothing has been published yet. I am also a software developer. So perhaps something has been published already, :)

My Mentor is Liz Ferretti of https://www.writerrevealed.co.uk whom I admire.

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  • David A Robertson (Author)2 years ago

    Since writing this story I have had several insomnia ridden nights. I enjoyed writing this story as an expulsion of sorts, I would never advise taking LSD which is a substance that would likely change one's life. Possibly not in a positive direction. However, not talking about drugs, and not talking about Mental Health does not relieve the burden on society of these two areas. Which is a concern of mine. Neither, incidentally, would I expect a Gypsy to take drugs over and above another person in this world. I strongly advocate against narcotics and if you can save up to buy a camera, take some photographs of those you love. For instance, a tree, or the Sun through a tree. You get the picture. I shall leave it there, David.

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