Author: Jenna Hanan Moore

Jane Rutledge invented a method for sending messages through time. It was the best she could do without more funding.

The Scientific Grant Agency refused to fund Jane’s efforts to invent a time machine without proof that time travel couldn’t alter the course of history. This invention would provide that proof, but first, she had to test it. She began with a message to her younger self.

***

Dear Jane Rutledge, aged 14:

You don’t know me, but I want to give you advice. Time moves faster than you can imagine. I should know; I’m an expert in time. Don’t put off chasing your dreams. That doesn’t mean you should do everything you want this very moment. Just don’t pass up the opportunity to study abroad or climb Mt. Rainier.

You also should know you don’t need to excel at everything you try. You won’t be as good at painting as you are at solving equations, but you don’t have to be Frida Kahlo to enjoy your artistic endeavors.

Sincerely, Jane Rutledge, aged 48.

***

She sealed the envelope and sent the letter back through time. She received a reply minutes later.

***

Dear Jane Rutledge, aged 48:

You may be the future me, but you don’t understand the present me. Adults never do. I know you’re trying to be nice and all, but please don’t tell me how to live my life. I get enough of that from Mom.

Sincerely, Jane Rutledge, aged 14.

***

Jane chuckled. In setting up her experiment, she’d overlooked a key variable: she’d forgotten how stubborn she was as a teenager.

To Jane’s surprise, a second response arrived two minutes after the first.

***

Dear Jane Rutledge, aged 48:

Keep sending messages to your younger self, no matter how snarky her replies. This correspondence will lead to the break-through in time theory you’ve been looking for.

Sincerely, Jane Rutledge, aged 54.

***

Jane began a reply to her future self, reminding her how stubborn her adolescent self was, when another letter arrived.

***

Dear Jane Rutledge, aged 48:

I suppose you have no intention of following my advice. You’re every bit as intransigent as you were at fourteen. But I had to try. The future of time travel’s at stake.

Sincerely, Jane Rutledge, aged 54.

***

With the future of time travel at stake, Jane tried reverse psychology.

***

Dear Jane Rutledge, aged 14:

You’re right; I don’t understand you, but I can tell you the one thing I regret in life. I spent too much time on my hobbies. Had I devoted just a little more time to my research, I might have proven my theories about time travel by now.

Sincerely, Jane Rutledge, aged 48.

***

Jane sealed the letter and sent it back in time, then waited for a response. And waited. And waited.

After an hour, she went to her studio to see if her letter had changed anything. The room was filled with richly hued paintings of nebulas, planets, and stars. The difference in quality between these and the paintings that had occupied their places two hours earlier was stark. Reverse psychology had worked!

When Jane turned to leave, she noticed a flyer announcing the opening of a gallery show featuring works by Jane Rutledge, an accomplished painter with an interest in physics and astronomy.

She returned to her study to finish preparing the grant application for her time machine and send a thank you note to her future self. But she’d misplaced the grant application, sending the note through time didn’t work.