Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson Page A
Authors: Richard Matheson
Tags: Fiction - Sci-Fi/Fantasy
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my own. Priestley speaks of three Times. He calls them Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3.
Time 1 is the time into which we are born, grow old, and die; the practical and economic time, the brain and body time.
Time 2 leaves this simple track. Its scope includes coexistent past, present, and future. No clocks and calendars determine its existence. Entering it, we stand apart from chronological time and observe it as a fixed oneness rather than as a moving array of moments.
Time 3 is that zone where "the power to connect or disconnect potential and actual" exists.
Time 2 might be afterlife, claims Priestley. Time 3 might be eternity.
� � �
What do I believe now?
That the past still exists somewhere, a part of Time 2.
That to reach it, I must, somehow, draw my consciousness away from Time 1.
Or is it my subconsciousness? Is that my jailer? The inner conditioning of a lifetime?
If that's so, I have something definite to work with. Using the principles of Psycho cybernetics, I can "re-program" myself to believe that I exist, not in 1971, but in 1896.
The hotel will help because so much of 1896 still exists within its walls.
The location is perfect, the method sound.
It'll work! I know it will!
� � �
I've spent so many hours on this book. Valuable hours, to be sure. Yet how strange that, for long periods of time, I've actually forgotten the reason I've been studying it.
But now I lift the photograph from the bedside table and gaze at her face once again.
My beautiful Elise.
My love.
I'll be with you soon. I swear it.
� � �
Just phoned room service for supper. Soup to nuts. Roast lamb. Salad. Big dessert. Coffee. And I'll finish the Bordeaux.
Lying here, glancing through her biography. Everything I've read is seeping into my subconscious, altering it. Tomorrow, I'll begin to concentrate on altering it completely.
Just ran across an intriguing item. In the back of the book is a list I didn't see before. A list of books she read.
One of them is An Experiment with Time by J. W. Dunne.
She had to have read it after 1896 because it wasn't in print then.
I wonder why she read it.
� � �
Seven nineteen p.m. Just ate. Stomach full. Content. Assured.
I'm lying here thinking about Bob.
He's always been so nice to me. So good.
It wasn't very kind to simply leave a note and vanish. I know he's worried about me. Why didn't I think about it before?
Why didn't I phone him right away, let him know I'm all right? He could be frantic-phoning the police-checking with all the hospitals.
I better let him know I'm all right before I travel really far.
� � �
Mary? Yeah.
Oh . . . not far away. Sure. I'm fine. Is Bob there? Hi, Bob.
Well, I'd . . .just as soon not let you know if-- Just personal, Bob. Nothing to do with- I had to, Bob. I thought I explained it in my note.
Well, that's all there is to it, really. I'm going to travel. Anywhere I want. I mean . .. I'm fine, Bob I-
I just don't want to tell you. Try to understand. I'm fine. I just want to do this thing my own way.
Look, I'm all right. I phoned you to tell you. So you wouldn't worry.
Well, don't be. There's no need to. I'm fine.
Yes. I can't tell you why. I just am.
No, Bob. Nothing. If I need something I'll let you know.
Not too far away. Look, I have to-
No, Bob, I can't. I don't want to-
Because . ..
Let me do it my own way. Please?
Bob, for Christ's sake!
� � �
I'm watching Carol Burnett. She's funny.
So is Harvey Korman.
Funny.
Would you like to know why I'm -watching them, folks? You can't hear what I'm saying but I'll tell you anyhow. Why am I watching Carol Burnett instead of going to sleep and preparing for my assault on Time tomorrow? I'll tell you why.
Because I've lost it.
I don't know when. It probably began when I was talking to Bob. Got worse when I re-listened to my voice talking to him. The exact moment it vanished is unknown to me.
All I know is it's gone.
I couldn't believe it at first. I
Time 1 is the time into which we are born, grow old, and die; the practical and economic time, the brain and body time.
Time 2 leaves this simple track. Its scope includes coexistent past, present, and future. No clocks and calendars determine its existence. Entering it, we stand apart from chronological time and observe it as a fixed oneness rather than as a moving array of moments.
Time 3 is that zone where "the power to connect or disconnect potential and actual" exists.
Time 2 might be afterlife, claims Priestley. Time 3 might be eternity.
� � �
What do I believe now?
That the past still exists somewhere, a part of Time 2.
That to reach it, I must, somehow, draw my consciousness away from Time 1.
Or is it my subconsciousness? Is that my jailer? The inner conditioning of a lifetime?
If that's so, I have something definite to work with. Using the principles of Psycho cybernetics, I can "re-program" myself to believe that I exist, not in 1971, but in 1896.
The hotel will help because so much of 1896 still exists within its walls.
The location is perfect, the method sound.
It'll work! I know it will!
� � �
I've spent so many hours on this book. Valuable hours, to be sure. Yet how strange that, for long periods of time, I've actually forgotten the reason I've been studying it.
But now I lift the photograph from the bedside table and gaze at her face once again.
My beautiful Elise.
My love.
I'll be with you soon. I swear it.
� � �
Just phoned room service for supper. Soup to nuts. Roast lamb. Salad. Big dessert. Coffee. And I'll finish the Bordeaux.
Lying here, glancing through her biography. Everything I've read is seeping into my subconscious, altering it. Tomorrow, I'll begin to concentrate on altering it completely.
Just ran across an intriguing item. In the back of the book is a list I didn't see before. A list of books she read.
One of them is An Experiment with Time by J. W. Dunne.
She had to have read it after 1896 because it wasn't in print then.
I wonder why she read it.
� � �
Seven nineteen p.m. Just ate. Stomach full. Content. Assured.
I'm lying here thinking about Bob.
He's always been so nice to me. So good.
It wasn't very kind to simply leave a note and vanish. I know he's worried about me. Why didn't I think about it before?
Why didn't I phone him right away, let him know I'm all right? He could be frantic-phoning the police-checking with all the hospitals.
I better let him know I'm all right before I travel really far.
� � �
Mary? Yeah.
Oh . . . not far away. Sure. I'm fine. Is Bob there? Hi, Bob.
Well, I'd . . .just as soon not let you know if-- Just personal, Bob. Nothing to do with- I had to, Bob. I thought I explained it in my note.
Well, that's all there is to it, really. I'm going to travel. Anywhere I want. I mean . .. I'm fine, Bob I-
I just don't want to tell you. Try to understand. I'm fine. I just want to do this thing my own way.
Look, I'm all right. I phoned you to tell you. So you wouldn't worry.
Well, don't be. There's no need to. I'm fine.
Yes. I can't tell you why. I just am.
No, Bob. Nothing. If I need something I'll let you know.
Not too far away. Look, I have to-
No, Bob, I can't. I don't want to-
Because . ..
Let me do it my own way. Please?
Bob, for Christ's sake!
� � �
I'm watching Carol Burnett. She's funny.
So is Harvey Korman.
Funny.
Would you like to know why I'm -watching them, folks? You can't hear what I'm saying but I'll tell you anyhow. Why am I watching Carol Burnett instead of going to sleep and preparing for my assault on Time tomorrow? I'll tell you why.
Because I've lost it.
I don't know when. It probably began when I was talking to Bob. Got worse when I re-listened to my voice talking to him. The exact moment it vanished is unknown to me.
All I know is it's gone.
I couldn't believe it at first. I
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