A Strange Package

Liz scrolled through her phone for the 50th time that day. Her pinky finger sore from the weight of both her phone and her insecurities, as she compared herself to the other women she knew. Their posts, with images of their smiling children next to fresh baked cookies with captions like, “Nothing like time with my mini. My heart is so full #fromscratch”. She rolled her eyes and a guttural sound emanated from her throat.

“Oh please”, she said out loud. Her own three year old was on the other side of the room, painting the bottom of her feet with Ketchup. Oh well, she thought. At least she was enjoying herself.

A knock came at the door and she nearly chucked her tepid cup of coffee across the room. She crossed her sweater around her middle, being sure to cover the smudges and spills that came with second day pajamas. She opened the door a crack, poked her head out and saw a small package sitting on the doorstep.

“Oh look Al. Wonder what daddy’s bought now?” she asked her toddler, who was now expertly coated from toe to ankle in ketchup.

“I like chetchup mommy. It’s yummy to lick on my toes.” Alex replied.

“Oh. I see.” Liz added enthusiastically, eyebrows raised, and made a mental note to spend some time researching educational toddler activities later. She picked up her phone and sent Pete a text.

“Your package is here”

“What package?” He replied. She snapped picture of the box with her phone.

“Not mine” He said. She gave the box a questioning look. Had she ordered something and forgotten? The box was a simple worn brown cardboard shipping box. It had obviously been sitting around for a while. The shipping label even looked old, as if it had been addressed years before. The handwritten letters were fading and smudged and the front of the box had her address in neat black ink. There was no return address anywhere. She carefully cut along the brown paper tape that held the box closed. Inside lay a small black leather book. No, she hadn’t ordered this. She closed the flaps and inspected the label again. There was no recipient listed. At the bottom of the label was a handwritten fourteen-digit number labeled “tracking”. That was odd. She paced over to the window and split the curtains apart with her index finger. Everything appeared to be in order.

She picked up her phone and dialed the post office. After a brief, but fairly unpleasant conversation with Cheryl who works at the post office, Liz learned that no such tracking number exists, and no, of course they do not hand write tracking numbers on packages.

Liz opened the package again and pulled out the black notebook. It too appeared to be very old. She leafed through its pages. They were all blank. She ran her finger over the binding and fanned the book open, giving it a shake. A small folded paper fell out of the book onto the floor. She stooped and pinched the soft paper between her fingers, carefully pulling it open at the creases. Once unfolded, she read the words on the page. They were handwritten in the same neat handwriting as the front of the box.

Dear reader,

Well this is a bit odd. I’m finding it quite difficult to come up with the words to explain these current circumstances. I suppose I’ll just have to come right out and say it. It’s me, and I’m you. There really is no easy way to say ‘I’m you, from the future’ but here we are. In reality, I’m you from the future, but also living in the past. It’s all quite confusing, I know. There are things you will be wondering about, but I can’t say much. As you’ve likely surmised, time travel is approaching you in your not too distant future, and is now a part of my past. I cannot be more specific because, well, the science of time travel is tricky. Now, this is very important. I have something I need you to find. To be blunt, it’s worth a lot of money. It’s necessary that you find it, and use this money to fulfill your potential. That may seem vague to you now, but it will become clear to you in time. The future requires this. That is all I can say. Not to be too cryptic, but it was necessary for me to protect this item from others, and so you will find below everything you need in order to find its location. Best of luck in this journey, and trust me, things will come out in the end as they were meant to.

Sincerely yours,

You/Me

“Holy Shit,” Liz murmured.

“Holy Shit!” Alex repeated.

“No, no, Al. No, that’s a grown up word.” Liz scolded half-heartedly. Below the handwritten letter was what appeared to be a clue. Liz read on.

In a place from before, in the very first stone.

Take the corner.

Things can get sticky but you always pull through

Tracking it down will be easy, because A always comes first, B always second, and C always third.

You have all that you need, so don’t toss a scrap.

Liz turned the paper over in her hands, and set it beside the box. She was going to need a fresh coffee for this. She walked into her small kitchen and brewed a fresh pot. “Hey Al, Let’s get some fresh air” she called to Alex, who had smartly removed every wet wipe from the package and cleaned a majority of the ketchup off her own feet. Liz’s lip twitched into a small half smile as she admired the workings of her toddler’s brain. With a fresh cup in hand, Liz pulled the door to the balcony open. The apartment she shared with her husband and daughter was a two bedroom upper unit in an old house. The house sat on Main Street in the small town she and Pete had grown up in. The balcony looked out over Main, and she could see the municipal building, library, and a number of locally owned shops form it. It was her favorite place to sit and think. She sat in one of the old wicker chairs and Alex busied her self by emptying the dirt from a pot of flowers onto the floor.

Liz took a deep breath and looked out over the street. Either this was a prank, which she thought unlikely, or it was intended for someone else. Or it was real. She chuckled at that, but allowed herself to entertain the thought, and came to the conclusion that it was at least a reasonable use of the rest of the afternoon.

Back inside, with Alex freshly bathed and parked in front of the TV, Liz gathered everything together and pulled out a fresh notepad and pen. She read over the clues again. She flipped through the black book forwards and backwards, held its pages up to the light and even got dangerously close to the old dry pages with the flame of a match.

You have all that you need, so don’t toss a scrap. She was sure she was missing something. Then, it struck her like a frying pan to the back of the head. Actually it was a toy car that struck the back of her head, but she had it figured out anyway. She hadn’t thrown out the box. TRACKING it down will be easy. She copied the tracking number onto her notepad. After a quick Internet search on cyphers she began decoding the numbers. A always comes first, B always second, and C always third.

WALNUTANDGROVE

“Walnut and Grove!” she shouted.

“Walnut and Grove?” Pete asked. Liz lurched in her seat. She hadn’t heard him come in. “The library?” he asked.

“The Library?”

“The Library is on the corner of Walnut and Grove. Good to see ya, Liz.” He smirked.

“Hi! Sorry about that. Got caught up in something” she stood hugging him. They talked a while about their respective days over take out. Liz left out the black journal. Pete put Alex in yet another bath to wash her dinner off her body, and Liz grabbed the black book and headed for the door.

“Going for a run.” She shouted. Pete’s head popped out of the bathroom door.

“Did you say a run?”

“Uh. Yes.” She replied shortly.

“You can’t run.” He prodded. “I’ve never seen you run”

“I can run. I run.” She said defensively. Why did she say she was going for a run? Idiot.

“Ok” he chuckled.

Liz scowled and pulled the door behind her. The library was only two blocks away. She wasn’t entirely sure what she would do when she got there, so she opted to walk, reading the note over again as she approached the library. It must have been the place from before because it was very old and it was also situated on the corner. She stood suspiciously in the dark in front of the old library.

WHOOOP!

Liz jumped, clutching her chest, she spun on her foot to find a police cruiser parked right behind her.

“Hey Lizzy, what are you doing?” came over the cruisers speaker. Liz cringed at the casual use of her childhood nickname.

“Oh, Hey Jimmy. Just out for a run.”

“A Run?” the speaker boomed, “You can’t run.” Liz let out a frustrated sigh. Jimmy Baker was a good friend of Liz’s growing up, and was now a sheriff’s deputy.

“Ok Jimmy, you’re free to go. I’m not planning on robbing the library tonight.” She replied. Maybe.

“Ok then” the speaker laughed. She rolled her eyes as the cruiser peeled away.

She stared at the white granite stone for some time. CORNERSTONE! Her brain shouted and her heart quickened. The very first stone, TAKE the corner! She bolted around the side of the building. She remembered learning about the corner stone on a field trip in second grade. Liz grabbed at the stone, dug her fingers in the crack, and pushed it. Nothing happened. Maybe it was a prank after all. She searched around, found a stick in the landscaping and began to pry. Things can get sticky, she thought, but she pried and pulled and as the brick came loose she heard a small clink as something fell from the crack. She placed the brick back in the opening and picked up the small coin. It was just a plain penny. She lifted an eyebrow and inspected it closer. In the dark, it was hard to see, but it appeared to be silver. The year on the penny was 1944. She pulled out her phone and began to search. A zinc-coated steel planchet had not been used to create many pennies in 1944, making a zinc coated penny from 1944 a rare find. One had been recently sold in auction for $115,000.

She felt her stomach drop and her eyes widen. This was real. She couldn’t believe it, but everything was different now. Liz felt like she was the only person on the planet. She couldn’t even remember the walk home, her mind thinking through the complexities of space and time, and how she was now straddling the chasm between the two. She was a time traveler! A time traveler with a LOT of money! She busted through her front door, face flushed with excitement.

“You really did run” Pete sounded surprised.

“Everything is different now, Pete” she declared.

“Ok?” he gave her a perplexed look. “Hey, did you see this?” he offered his phone, an article was pulled up on the screen and she read the headline.

Eccentric Billionaire and Philanthropist Ted Humphries Sends Lucky Few on Time Travel Themed Treasure Hunt for Rare Coins.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me” Liz exclaimed.

“I not shit you, mom” Alex replied from across the room.