TT – MY LOST IPOD

Yeah, I told you that when you time travel, leave all your electronics at home. That only applies to going into the past. There, those things, even if they are bricked, can cause grave harm to the timeline, and they must be rectified, if possible.

Rectification of the timeline is hard work, believe me.

However, you may take any and all of your electronics into the future. No one will pay the slightest attention to your antiques. They will probably thing you are eccentric, at best, or a troublemaker at worst.

But I was younger, and just starting to timetravel through the portal, so I never took my own advice, which I gave you for free, a few months ago, hardwon as it was.

I made a short trip to 1978 (all my trips are short; a day or less). It was there I was listening to my music. Oh, I made sure there was nothing on the iPod, first generation, but oldies. Nothing new. I thought I was being cautious, but the iPod was new, and I loved listening to my music on it.

I kept it in my iPod in the pocket of my Scottevest, and I assumed it was well hidden. I was down in Wilmington, seeing someone, and going into the building. I was told to remove my jacket, so I did.

The rent-a-cop looked through it standing in front of me, but gave it back without comment. I carried it from there.

In my friend’s office, I sat down across from him at his desk, with the door closed. There was no one else there, and I laid my jacket on the empty chair next to me.

We were in that office, probably not more than 20 minutes, then I left. I was looking for information about one of my relatives who used to work for that company, a long time ago. He was very helpful in answering my questions.

After I left, on foot (time travelers always are on foot), it was a while before I thought of my music. But when I reached for my iPod, it was not there.

Now, how did it go away? Was it the guard? I could not believe that such a ham-handed individual could swipe it, especially standing in front of me.

Did my friend take it? Not a chance. He would not know what to do with something like that anyway. Even back in 1978, long before personal compters spread everywhere, he was electronics illiterate, and proud of it.

So where could it have gone? It would never have fallen out of the zipped up interior pocket of my Scottevest. My earbuds were still in the lining, but the pocket containing my iPod was empty, and still zipped.

I sat down somewhere, and spent a long time thinking. I was not sure how I could go back and look for it. Asking the guard about it was asking for trouble. Nor could I ask my friend again. Those people would only take offense at my questions, taking them as accusations.

Besides, I thought, if someone did take it, there is no way they would give such an artifact back. It would seem to be too valuable, especially with an Apple logo. At the least, they would think it to be a prototype of some sort.

I knew my battery only had a bit of charge left, and after that, it would be as good a bricked, since I was sure there was no way anyone could come up with a way to power it. If they tried, they would likely fry it, giving it too much amps or volts.

Besides, I still had the earbuds. No one could listen to anything on it, since there was no way they could discover the very little voltage necessary to power those tiny speakers. And it would not work with anything that this decade possessed for headsets.

I decided to leave it, and forget about it. What harm could come from it? No one would probably know what it was or what it was for. It was probably dropped somehow, and whoever found it would never figure it out.

Or so I told myself.

It was months before I found evidence of who might have had it.

Believe me, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I felt a chill, like someone had walked on my grave.

The person who found it, or who ended up with it, was me.

Me, back in 1978. I thought that building looked familiar. No wonder. The friend I went to see was my old boss. I was a long-time employee there when I went for a visit from the future (my present).

I never put two and two together. How dumb!

This is the old photograph that I chanced upon, cleaning out some papers in the garage. I had forgotten all about having that photo. It was an old color xerox of that photo, but as I started to throw it away, I suddenly noticed that the photo had changed.

Judge for yourself, as I sat for the photo late one night, at my drafting board. Who was it who found my lost iPod?

Regards,
Roger1

.

email – MyMac Magazine – Twitter – Advertise – Reviews Archive – Podcast