He hadn’t seen anything like it in his 20 years of teaching. The class inventor had outdone himself again. With his exceptional knowledge of time and space continuum, the student had managed to create a time travelling medium. One simply had to sprinkle a special solution on a printed photograph. The photo acted as a portal – anyone could transport to the time and date the photo was taken, but the person could only stay for 30 minutes in that point of history.
His sister wanted to try the time portal out. “There’s someone I wish to spend 30 minutes with,” she explained.
“Pacifico said it’s still in its testing stages, sis.”
“Pacifico is a genius. I know the thing works.”
They sprinkled the boy’s solution over a photo she printed from files she kept in her old Nokia N73. “Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
Pale laboratory walls vanished and the girl found herself surrounded by rose bushes and butterflies. The air was cool, just as it was in the north. She was exactly where the photograph was taken. At a garden in Cameron Highlands.
There she was. Stuck in a pose, smiling. The woman was wearing sunglasses. She wouldn’t know if the smile ever reached her eyes. “Teh?”
“Oh hey! Are you enjoying the trip so far?”
“Yeah. I’m taking lots of pictures.”
“Take some more! Here, I’ll take one of you.”
She wanted to tell her so many things but she just stood there and smiled at her mentor. Gosh, she missed here.
“Take a photo of me eating the grass!”
“What??? If you say so, teh.”
30 minutes. That’s all she had. It was a good five years between the present and the date in that photo. She decided to just live in it and not make any changes, lest the fluttering of the butterfly wings bring great storms in the years ahead.
“Sis, are you okay?”
It was over. The teacher looked at his sister and saw that the corners of her eyes were more than a little moist.
“I’m okay. Tell Pacifico I said ‘thanks'”.
scribbles and stories 