Paul Atkinson headed off into the hills for his favorite walk.

The sun was shining but he soon passed through a thick clammy cloud before emerging on the upper slopes. He’d never encountered cloud on the hill before and he felt quite chilled.

Further on he saw Bill and Dolores. He called out and waved at them but they didn’t seem to see him. At the top he paused and admired his surroundings.

There was a new bench he’d never seen before. He noticed it had an inscription with these words:

“In Memory of Paul Atkinson who loved this place.”

Author’s Note: It would be comforting to think that we don’t really notice when we die.

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“Do I know you?” asked Sally plaintively.

“Yes. I’m your friend Dermott.”

Sally’s face cleared. “Of course you are. Hello Dermott.”

“Hello Sally.”

The two friends sat for a few minutes looking happily at each other. Gradually Sally’s face showed signs of confusion.

“Do I know you?” asked Sally plaintively.

“Yes. I’m your friend Dermott.”

Sally’s face cleared. “Of course you are. Hello Dermott.”

“Hello Sally.”

Outside in the corridor of the Dementia Unit a member of staff glanced in and smiled. Sally was happy.

As night fell and Sally relaxed into sleep, Dermott unplugged itself ready for the morning.

Author’s note: I think I’d be quite happy with a friendly robot if I got dementia and it would free up my family and staff to do other things.

Categories: Fiction, Rob Butler | 2 Comments »

The master builder maneuvered his spaceship into the correct position and began applying force to the moon. His young assistant looked puzzled.

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m putting this moon in just the right place so that if intelligent life does start up on that planet we’ve just seeded it will show them an eclipse against their sun.”

“Why go to all that trouble?”

The master builder smiled. “So they know I was here. Such a thing would never happen by chance would it. I like to think of it as my little motif; the signature of a craftsman.”

Author’s note: Having total solar eclipses by chance on the one planet where we know life exists does seem a bit of a long shot!

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Bernard Evans stepped out of his time machine and marched across to the memorial commemorating his famous arrival. There was a policeman standing guard.

“Hello. I’ve come back.”

The policeman stared at him.

“The first Time Traveler. I thought I’d travel forwards in time to the scene of my triumph and see what sort of memorial you’d come up with.”

The policeman took out his notebook.

“Right, that’s it. I’m arresting you on a charge of wasting police time.”

“What! Why?”

“That’s the third occasion you’ve done this today and I warned you last time not to do it again.”

Author’s note: It must get quite confusing for a time traveler to remember when they had been somewhere before.

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