Dean has spent six years reporting this cramped little lab. It was both amazing how much he fit into it and how much he didn’t need to take out of it. Pens, pencils, notebooks, pictures: one of his brother and sister-in-law and one of his mom. Office supplies have always been supplied so there’s no need to take stapler or those plastic “IN”/”OUT” trays. Joke stuff that Peter put in his drawers: traffic cone, plaque that says “you take this piss”. He wonders what all of this means – if there’s some message from the cosmos in all of his accumulated stuff loaded into four cardboard boxes.
Dean hurried through the halls up to 774. He was nervous because other people knew that he was uncomfortable with Jack Newt. Glances and laughs seemed to take on a heightened import. He just wanted today to be over. He opened the door with his key and marveled for just a second about having a lab with a key.
When the door finally swung open, he realized that he had a lab and not an office. This was a large room. There was a desk with a solid oaken mahogany teak finish. Behind it was a large rollable chair, which Dean was already now planning to use in the annual office chair race at the end of second semester. Dean set his box down on his desk and threw himself into the chair; it was not as comfortable as he’d have liked but was a big improvement over a stool. From there, he surveyed the window and noticed a distinct lack of the girl’s track team. Two plants in pots, both large and overwatered. Filing cabinets, but no lab tables. No sinks. What was wrong with this lab? He decided to knock on the interior door in the north wall to try to find more.
“Come in,” the voice beyond announced. Dean entered.
“Hi, Jack.”
“Hello, Dean. Nice to have on the program. I’m glad we were able to keep you at the university. You’re work has been very highly recommended to me and when my assistant moved on, I thought that here was a chance to get a good man for the job.”
Dean shifted uneasily. He loved everything that Jack was saying but hated that Jack was saying it. That it made him feel uncomfortable was also Jack’s fault as far as Dean was concerned. “Why don’t I have a lab?” inquired Dean.
“You don’t need one, or rather...”. Jack paused and indicated the other half of his room. Dean just then took in the size – the sheer enormity of Jack’s office. It was probably 90 feet wide from his door to the soft serve machine opposite. There was a large stainless steel area with a grate that he was referring to now. It had the better part of a vehicle of some sort in it. Beyond that was a laundry chute sort of thing that appeared to have a vacuum motor attached to it. It was so much that Dean didn’t hear the answer.
“Sorry, what?” Dean stumbled out when the silence grew embarrassing.
“Time travel experimentation can, for the most part, be done from a normal office. There’s just a few tool over there and you and I can work on this ‘til whenever. Oh and something arrived in the time chute this morning. I didn’t open it since it was addressed to you.” Dean opened it while thinking about working next to this man for all hours. He was very angry when he opened the letter. He was a little confused when he realized it was from Jack.
Congratulations on your promotion and on your new nephew. Signed, Jack Newt.
“What new nephew?” Dean asked in what felt like his sixteenth straight question.
“Hmmm?” Jack was focused elsewhere.
“What new nephew?” Seventeen.
“What ‘what new nephew’?”
“In this letter you congratulate me on my new nephew. My brother’s wife is pregnant but the baby isn’t due for a couple of weeks yet.” Dean congratulated himself on getting through the speech without asking a question.
“I don’t know. I haven’t sent it yet.”
“You haven’t what?” Eighteen.
“What date did I write it?”
“April 8th. That’s three days from now. How did you…”
Jack interrupted before Dean could make it to nineteen. “That, my new friend and colleague, is the power of time travel.”
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