wasn't big enough yet.
"Don't be daft, we don't even live here yet. Shine that torch a little to the left will you?"
Dale adjusted the position of the light. "Oh yeah, I forgot. This stuff is still so confusing it makes my head hurt at times. So, this is a year before we dig it up, right?"
"Of course it is, what's the matter with you?"
"Me? I'm not the one that can't even dig a simple hole."
"At least I know where I am, when I am. There, it's done." Amanda got to her feet, admiring her handiwork.
Dale helped to kick the soil back into the hole then Amanda replaced the clumps of turf. She stamped down on it hard and kicked the excess soil around with her feet, spreading it so it looked fairly innocuous.
"Don't worry too much about that, we don't move in for another two months and the place is empty until then."
"So why are we doing it in the dark then?"
"Because, what if we got it wrong and somehow came to the wrong date? We can't be going around meeting ourselves, you know what would happen then. So don't look into the bushes."
"Oh, you and your paradoxes. That's rubbish. If we met ourselves then we'd just say hi, probably freak out quite a lot, then be on our way." Dale cast a glance into the bushes; he couldn't help himself.
"Well, maybe, but I'm not about to find out. If you're wrong then we could cause the entire history of everything to collapse in on itself, and I'm not being responsible for that."
"Okay, done. Ready?"
"Ready." Dale made a strange sound through pursed lips, looking like he was doing a bad impression of a goldfish, the pitch rising and rising, getting faster and faster.
"Will you stop doing that, it's so stupid. I've told you so many times already. Idiot," said Amanda crossly.
"What? Look, if I'm going to disappear and hurtle through the gaps in space and time then it's going to be dramatic all right? And for that you have to have some kind of cool sound as it happens, everyone knows that."
"Fine. You're going to always do this, aren't you?"
"I have so far, haven't I? Whooooooooooooooooooosh."
Dale and Amanda vanished. All that was left was a trowel that Amanda had rested against the tree and forgotten about.
It didn't matter, when she moved in she would find it and put it in the shed. Well, she already had, but that was in the future.
She thought about it as she saw it before she vanished. Time travel really was confusing — the best thing she'd found to do was absolutely just not think about it, it could seriously drive you nuts if you did.
Visitors
Present Day
Dale felt kind of deflated and could tell that Amanda felt the same way. It didn't feel right to be just sipping coffee in the living room when you'd just discovered that you'd sent a message back in time for yourself, or was it forward in time as they'd put it there in the past?
Surely something should be happening? Something epic, mind-boggling and totally weird should be going on right now. They certainly shouldn't just be sat on the sofa not really knowing what to do, staring at an empty tin of Quality Street on their Ercol coffee table. Amanda loved that table; Dale was amazed she hadn't rubbed it away to nothing but a pair of legs, the amount she polished it.
He knew just how out of sorts she was as under normal circumstances she would never allow a mud-covered tin to desecrate the surface of such a prized possession — she hadn't even noticed.
Dale got up and paced around the room, their new carpet still feeling luxurious under his feet after the bare boards they'd debated whether to strip and stain for so many months. In the end they'd gone for comfort over style; Dale was glad they had.
"Will you stop pacing about, you're making me dizzy. And nervous." Amanda stared at the tin, then tutted as she realized there was dirt on the table. She went out into the kitchen then returned almost at a jog with polish and two cloths, so eager was she to have found a task to occupy herself with.
"Don't be daft, we don't even live here yet. Shine that torch a little to the left will you?"
Dale adjusted the position of the light. "Oh yeah, I forgot. This stuff is still so confusing it makes my head hurt at times. So, this is a year before we dig it up, right?"
"Of course it is, what's the matter with you?"
"Me? I'm not the one that can't even dig a simple hole."
"At least I know where I am, when I am. There, it's done." Amanda got to her feet, admiring her handiwork.
Dale helped to kick the soil back into the hole then Amanda replaced the clumps of turf. She stamped down on it hard and kicked the excess soil around with her feet, spreading it so it looked fairly innocuous.
"Don't worry too much about that, we don't move in for another two months and the place is empty until then."
"So why are we doing it in the dark then?"
"Because, what if we got it wrong and somehow came to the wrong date? We can't be going around meeting ourselves, you know what would happen then. So don't look into the bushes."
"Oh, you and your paradoxes. That's rubbish. If we met ourselves then we'd just say hi, probably freak out quite a lot, then be on our way." Dale cast a glance into the bushes; he couldn't help himself.
"Well, maybe, but I'm not about to find out. If you're wrong then we could cause the entire history of everything to collapse in on itself, and I'm not being responsible for that."
"Okay, done. Ready?"
"Ready." Dale made a strange sound through pursed lips, looking like he was doing a bad impression of a goldfish, the pitch rising and rising, getting faster and faster.
"Will you stop doing that, it's so stupid. I've told you so many times already. Idiot," said Amanda crossly.
"What? Look, if I'm going to disappear and hurtle through the gaps in space and time then it's going to be dramatic all right? And for that you have to have some kind of cool sound as it happens, everyone knows that."
"Fine. You're going to always do this, aren't you?"
"I have so far, haven't I? Whooooooooooooooooooosh."
Dale and Amanda vanished. All that was left was a trowel that Amanda had rested against the tree and forgotten about.
It didn't matter, when she moved in she would find it and put it in the shed. Well, she already had, but that was in the future.
She thought about it as she saw it before she vanished. Time travel really was confusing — the best thing she'd found to do was absolutely just not think about it, it could seriously drive you nuts if you did.
Visitors
Present Day
Dale felt kind of deflated and could tell that Amanda felt the same way. It didn't feel right to be just sipping coffee in the living room when you'd just discovered that you'd sent a message back in time for yourself, or was it forward in time as they'd put it there in the past?
Surely something should be happening? Something epic, mind-boggling and totally weird should be going on right now. They certainly shouldn't just be sat on the sofa not really knowing what to do, staring at an empty tin of Quality Street on their Ercol coffee table. Amanda loved that table; Dale was amazed she hadn't rubbed it away to nothing but a pair of legs, the amount she polished it.
He knew just how out of sorts she was as under normal circumstances she would never allow a mud-covered tin to desecrate the surface of such a prized possession — she hadn't even noticed.
Dale got up and paced around the room, their new carpet still feeling luxurious under his feet after the bare boards they'd debated whether to strip and stain for so many months. In the end they'd gone for comfort over style; Dale was glad they had.
"Will you stop pacing about, you're making me dizzy. And nervous." Amanda stared at the tin, then tutted as she realized there was dirt on the table. She went out into the kitchen then returned almost at a jog with polish and two cloths, so eager was she to have found a task to occupy herself with.
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