A true, heart-pounding account of my cousin Timothy’s mind-warped day.

It was Fall. The leaves on the Georgia ground were brown with sparks of vivid shades of orange and red of leaves that refused to die.

Like many weekends at this time, it was tradition for my cousin and I to live our moments with our grandparents to spend our curiously eventful time. Our Grandparents lived at the time, within a large retirement community. In this community, the homes all looked very much the same, which lead to some serious confusion at certain points for our imaginative young minds.

As I was saying, it was a fall day, and as always, my cousin and I wrapped ourselves up in the great out-doors of the massive housing compound. As I fell into my own little seven year old world of saving all of the insects of the world, Timothy wasn’t so concerned about the crucial expressions of my efforts. Off he floated, unbeknown to me, disappearing for an hour before meeting me back at Grandma’s house.

“I just traveled forward through time!”

Timothy burst through the door screaming his declaration, his eyes wide, his breath fast and his voice shaky as he stood, terrified. I dropped the freedom crying cat within my arms as Tim began to explain with great alarm his epically traumatic event.

“I was walking through the woods.” He began. The trees starting looking all the same, but I thought I was going the right way to get back to the house. I saw this house and went inside, thinking I was back a grandma’s.”

Timothy took in a breath, wiping sweat from his face as he continued his terror laced tale.

“This lady that looked like grandma but way older, came to the door and said I could come in for cookies. So I sat down and drank some milk too, while she talked about life going on.”

“I thought it was grandma the whole time…just with more wrinkles, and I didn’t understand why she was treating me like a stranger. I figured out I time traveled and I had to get back again!”
Grandma stood by listening as Tim continued, a comical little smile in her eyes as he storied onward.

“So, to make sure she didn’t keep me in the wrong time, I waited til she left the room…and then I ran for the door at full speed and back into the woods. After a few minutes I was back here again…back to the right time.”

He grabbed a piece of candy as he shook his head. “Grandma…you wouldn’t believe how old you look then.” He said, shaking his head and eating his crunchy peppermint bite.