The Time Machine: The First Expedition (By Josh Pierce)

           “Wow Allie.  Way to set a guy up for failure.”  I said.  But really, way to go.  I had always wanted to go to the future, but Allie neglected to give me any supplies.  Five decades into the future, the cash I have in my wallet is completely useless.  All new presidents were on the face of every bill, and coins had been discontinued for at least thirty years.  I would look for a job, but my only entry point into my profession has been taken over by robots.  Also I would never lower my standards to where I must work at a hotdog stand, yelch.

            I could try to work at a catering business (the robots have only taken over the smaller jobs), but Allie sent me to February 1st, the time of year where no one wants to cater.  Just missed Thanksgiving and Christmas by a few months.  No demand for any chefs in that market currently.  After some trekking, I managed to find an IHOP that was hiring, and my asking for a job was the only application they needed.  I was instantly employed.

            I worked there for about four weeks.  The IHOP was only a twenty minute walk from my old home, which my key still worked on.  No one had occupied the building since my disappearance back in 2016, and the neighborhood became more hostile, until it just became empty.  I was the only resident on my block, though officially no one lived there.  I was squatting more than residing.  By early March though, I was taking orders early one morning when the booth to my left said something.

            “My, how the mighty have fallen.”  I recognized the voice.  Nick, a classmate I had in college, now fifty years older, looks up at me and mentions how I haven’t aged a day since my headline news breaking vanishing act.  I told him to come back at my lunch break if he wanted to talk.  Luckily he agreed, and I explained everything within minutes.

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