Visitors

I was sitting in my living room watching TV. Well, the truth is that the TV was watching me. My head was bobbing up and down as I tried to fight sleep. It was only 7PM and if I had gone to bed at that time, I would have woken up in the middle of the night with no chance of going back to sleep. I was startled awake when the doorbell rang, and a young man started to bang on my door.

Before I could get up and open the door, he barged into my house and started talking.

“Great, I so glad to see that you still live here. When he come, this is probably the best place to meet.”

“Excuse me!”, I said. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house? How did you get in my house?”

I have a smart lock. It opens with my fingerprint. I never leave a key anywhere, so the only person besides me that can open my door is my sister. She was in Texas at the time, so I know she didn’t open it for him.”

The young man just laughed. “You don’t know who I am. I was sure that I, well, that you would have remembered this.”

“I’m calling the police.”

“No! Don’t do that. My name is Henry Walker. I used to live here.”

“This house has been in my family for 3 generations. How could you have lived here?”

The young man couldn’t have been any more than 20 years old. If he was any older, I would love to know his secret. When I was a kid, my grandmother lived here. But I do remember that she used to care for foster children. And he did look very familiar. They were younger than me, but they should all be over 20 years old now.

But he said that his name is Henry Walker. That’s my name. This was getting weird.

“Wait”, I said, “Your name is Henry Walker.”

Instead of responding, he looked at the photos sitting on the fireplace mantle.

“Oh Wow”, he said, “Look at Nana. She got old.”

He continued to look around the living room. He pointed to a ceramic bird on the table.

“Oh My God! It’s still here.”

“Stop! Stop! Stop”, I screamed. “Who the heck are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious”, he replied. “I’m y..”

There was another knock at the door. The doorbell rang. And the door opened.”

An older man looked at the younger man and said, “I knew that you would be here.” Then, looking at me, he said, “How’s it going, Henry?”

“Who are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious”, he replied. “I’m y.., we’re you.”

“You’re me.”

“I’m you from 2005”, said younger.

“I’m you from 2045”, said older me.

“Why don’t he remember this”, younger me asked older me.

“If memory serves me correctly”, older me said, “I was too tired for anything to set it.”

“Stop”, I said, “If you are both me, why are you here?”

“We came to get our picture taken together.”