The Traveling Farmer

It was another Monday.

I had woken up in a foul mood and my shoulder hurt something fierce after sleeping on it wrong. Most days it’s hard to face the morning since Abby died. She was the only thing that made me happy in this world full of rot and decay. Everything dies I thought quietly to myself. Yeah everything you’ll ever love dies or leaves you.

It was October and the wind cut deep out on the farm as I walked from the house out to the barn. The horses were getting a bit skinny, but they could still work hard. No more butter or milk on the table since I had to shoot the only cow we had cause she got pertussis real bad and nothing could be done. So really I was in a bad way. Thought about killing myself a few times but then who would tend the farm? Anyway thoughts like that shouldn’t be entertained for long.

After making my rounds on the family plot I went up to the porch to smoke my pipe. Even though my wife was gone I still smoked outside due to pure habit; or maybe a way to honor the dead. She never liked me smoking inside much, bothered her lungs she said. Bothered my lungs too I think.

After sitting with my thoughts and my pipe tobacco I retreated to the small library in that old farm house and picked up Abby’s diary again. Inside she had pictures of us before I left for the war in the pacific. I looked so strong then and chipper those days. How I loved our life in those days. She always loved me, that woman; even on days when I didn’t love her. I would thumb through those old pictures with a mix of joy and sadness. Joy that I had known her and a deep sadness that she’s gone.

Life had seemed to slow down as I got older, things got quieter and I seemed to do things in circles. Everyday was a repeat of the last. Feed the horses, gather eggs from the chickens, and then retire to the library. Nothing changed besides my disposition. I grew older and more defeated each day I was without my Abby. It seemed to age me quicker I think, that lack of laughter and love. But I was happy with the life God gave me, even if this was the way it played out; bitter and lonely.

But today when I went to put the old scrapbooks back on the shelf I noticed something different. Everyday I pulled out the same books from the same shelf so I knew just exactly what was in that library, it wasn’t a big library mind you so I truly knew each page and every story on those old dusty shelves. Strangely though, there was a little unmarked black book, down on the very bottom right. Out of pure curiosity I picked it up and brushed it off. The pages were yellow from age and mostly empty. I kept thumbing through until the middle where I found some notes. They read, 11, 15, 25, 35, 12, 5 with the words powerball 1968; which would be only two years from now. Now I’m quite curious as you could imagine at this little black book sparsely filled with random numbers and dates; none of which seem to go in order. I keep fumbling through but there are only a few other notes that seem significant, things like “Microsoft and IBM with a money sign next to it and beware of the Apple with a bite taken from it” and things of that nature. I didn’t quite know what to make of it until I noticed the handwriting. The handwriting was almost exactly the same as mine. Which I thought peculiar. Surely it was coincidence or some trick. So I placed the book on the shelf thinking it a thrift store find Abby must have gotten years ago. I then stoked the stove and went off to bed. Strange dreams I had that night.

The morning sun broke in through the window to wake me and I rose once again for a monotonous day. The same ritual ensued. The same melancholy feeling hanging over me. The same reminiscing over old diary entries. But something was different, that little black book was still a curious little thing. I opened it again to make some sense of it and low and behold there were more entries! I know you think me crazy as I tell you this but at the time I was only 45 or 46 and still had my marbles about me. Sure enough, there were new entries, things like “avoid the trip to Ireland in 1976, you will catch pneumonia that will prove near fatal” and “remarry, and have children for you won’t be able to spend this money yourself”. Now you must understand I lived alone, there was not a soul but me on this old run down plot. I began to grow worried, had someone broken in to play a trick on me as I slept? Did I just not notice these entries until yesterday? After exhausting all the possibilities in my mind I smoked a pipe with a curious look stuck upon my brow. I grabbed my shotgun, placed it beside my bed and didn’t sleep very soundly that night.

I awaken from a frightening dream the next morning to the sound of cardinals chirping outside my window. Right away I go down to check that little black book, breaking the habits I’d formed over many years. The horses could wait. Nervously I go over all the old entries making sure to notice any differences. Sure enough! There were more entries! Things like “Ronald Reagan president in 1980” and other events that had not transpired yet. And mind you these dates had no order but seemed scattered. One entry states “2001 America faces an uncertain future after world trade is attacked” and “be mindful to avoid years 2020-2023 as you will be older when visiting”. All of these entries are in my handwriting! And today the book was extensively filled. Instructions on stock prices and which companies to invest in, technologies described in detail that seem like something from a science fiction comic book. One of the most riveting was the entry “2025, life beyond earth is confirmed to exist within our solar system” the next reading “2032, man lands on mars, establishes colony.” At this point my confusion is mounting as I struggle to explain this new reality I find myself in. Then I find for the first time a name at the end of the final entry which reads.

“Thomas I know you will find this quite odd and possibly disturbing but you must follow the instructions in this book in order to live the life I wish I could have. I have left you with winning lottery numbers, important world events and companies to invest your winnings in. If you succeed in following my instructions you will have the life most dream of. Sell the farm after winning the lottery in 1968, you will win $20,000 with the numbers I gave you. If you invest into the companies I have listed you will become a millionaire and possibly a billionaire. I know this is hard to understand but this same black book appeared to me when I was your age in the very same year you find yourself in. I am you Thomas but from another time. Remember that season an old man wandered onto the farm soaking wet and hungry? There was a reason he looked familiar. You know this to be true. I couldn’t find reason in it when these same events happened to me but someday you will understand. I don’t know why this has happened to us but we are caught in some sort of loop. You too will one day will stumble back in time to this very farm and will slip this book onto the shelf. Each time the cycle repeats there are differences so you must not get too comfortable as anything can happen in this universe and time is a thing that can be edited like words on a page. Take heart to know this will all be revealed to you one day. Play those numbers my friend, that is the start. After that the story will unfold as it always has.”

Ps. Once you find the time machine, travel to the year 2052, in this time there is peace on earth. That is where I am headed, it seems like a good place to retire.

Best of luck

-Thomas