Time Travel

Famously, physicist Stephen Hawking pointed out: “The best evidence we have that time travel is not possible, and never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future.” Can’t you just see that event happening: “Hey Madge, look at this, people used gasoline to keep their cars on the road instead of using banana peels to keep their cars in the air”.

Jack Finney wrote one of my favorite time travel books, Time and Again, in 1970. The protagonist, Simon Morley, is asked to participate in a time-travel experiment developed by Dr. Danziger for the government. (Right away you know there is going to be a problem. When has government involvement ever improved anything.) Simon travels back to 1882; lands inside the Dakota in NYC. Grover Cleveland is President, the Statue of Liberty is sitting in pieces around the island, waiting to be assembled and real babies are drugged and used in department store windows for marketing purposes. As the story evolves, there’s a secondary plot regarding a historical murder, steeped with mystery, that includes a blackmail scheme and a massive fire. The murder mystery itself reverberates through the years to the present. Last, there is Danziger’s touching tale of his parents’ first accidental cute meet at the theater in 1882, which led to their subsequent marriage and, of course, to him.

As anticipated, Simon falls in love with 1882 and with Julia, but Simon's descriptions of the World Wars, the uprising of Castro (and the book’s historically accurate depictions of these events) cause Julia to want nothing to do with the 20th century. Simon wants to live with Julia in 1882 but the government will not allow Simon to do so. Danziger, in the interim, likewise has come to disagree with the government’s handling of his program and how it wants to change the past for a better future. Much drama and plot twists ensue, until Simon recalls how Danziger famously talked of his parents’ first accidental meeting, so you know which way this book will wrap up. 

Could there be a movie or two here, you say to yourself. Absolutely. Remember Somewhere In Time, one of the most romantic time travel movies of all time. Christopher Reeve lives in the present. Through some fluke in the universe, his character lands in 1912 and falls in love with Jane Seymour's character. My heart ached every time that 1979 penny appeared and sent him away from her. As an old lady, in his present, she asks him to come back to her. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; still one of the most haunting compositions by Rachmaninoff, plays throughout the movie. How can anyone not believe in time travel after reading that book and watching that movie?

Some years ago, we arrived at Mackinac Island via ferry, where the movie was filmed. I stepped inside the Grand Hotel hoping for some residual magic; ghosts traversing through fairy dust motes, sailing between the afternoon sun’s changing rays, but the only thing we discovered was that the Grand Hotel did not have air conditioning and no car traffic was allowed on the island. It was hot and humid and we walked or rode a bicycle. 

Another book, Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, in a collection of short stories, discussed Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which suggested that time passes at different rates for different people. One story tells how time travels so slowly while waiting for an engagement with a pretty girl, and how quickly time passes once she has arrived, while another story about a world without a future takes place only in the present. The stories are all about ‘what if’ time does this and that happens or if time does that and this happens. Also, the book is not long, so there isn’t much chance that your brain will explode with all the new thoughts and ideas that the book may counsel. 

One of Lightman’s stories is about the same day taking place again and again with different outcomes at the end of each day. How many times have we said to ourselves ‘if only I had done this, or done that’, the outcome would have been so different. Are there movies to coincide with Lightman’s book. As expected, there are dozens of them; remember Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, or Run Lola Run. And, in fact, if I had not waited an extra five minutes, I would not have met my husband, but I did wait and have been the happier for it. Time was on my side. 

Recently I emailed a very old photo of our school crowd to a friend. His immediate response was: “who says time travel is not possible”. We were both right there again, in that picture, young and fresh, on the brink of adulthood, with our entire lives in front of us. Is remembering a moment in the past the same as time travel. “If we could do it all again, would we, could we. . . . “ When we look up at a star, we are not seeing it as it is in the present, but as it existed millions of years ago.

Scandals

 Scandals abound all over the world and have done so since the first printing press became available to the masses, or at least to those who could read. The current celebrity scandals appeal to the most salacious gossips, with sex tapes, divorces, rapes and all manner of like prurient interests to such an extent that they have become ordinary. Likewise, on the other coast, every once in a while, a congressman or senator will be exposed as a skirt chaser and the country will again be shocked and appalled at the lecherous and lewd behavior of one who is supposedly the role model for his constituents. And a politician sleeping with a spy is not limited to this country. The Profumo scandal of the early 60’s made its way around the world. But really, there is no scandal like a royal scandal to whet the voyeuristic imagination. Ah, the whispers, the rumors, the innuendos, the ‘dare I say it out loud’ tidbits. While Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s son, was undoubtedly among the first to promulgate such scandalous misbehavior, it wasn’t until King Edward VIII came along, who really gave the world something to talk about. 

By all accounts, the soon to be King Edward VIII, the playboy prince, thoroughly enjoyed the privileges of his princely station. He was handsome, possessed of a serious “trouser snake” and enjoyed the charms of many a lady, single or married; married was even better, less entanglements. Unfortunately, he did not relish the idea of becoming king with all the duties that the role involved and was, in short, as shallow as a saucer. He found his royal duties quite boring and, most alarming for parliament, more often than not, ignored them. A year after his ascension, parliament was pulling its hair out. He felt the same. Wallis Simpson, twice divorced and an American, was the perfect antidote to his regal miasma. In desperation to remove himself from the royal throne, he declared that he could not rule without his love, Wallis, by his side and would not rule without her as his wife and queen. 

Winston Churchill came to his defense: “Why shouldn’t the king be allowed to marry his cutie.” While Noel Coward argued in opposition: “because England doesn’t wish for a Queen cutie.”

As is generally the case, there is a woman behind the man. The woman in question was Elizabeth, soon and forever to become the beloved Queen Mum. She was married to George, Edward’s younger brother. She realized that if Edward abdicated, George would be king and she was most unhappy about that outcome. She was very protective of her beloved husband. He was not in the best of health, he was shy, he stuttered, he had not been prepared for the role that was about to be foisted upon him. Their, and their daughters’, lives would forever be changed. And she was ticked off. No shy retiring English rose was she; she made clear that it was not advisable to incur the wrath of her prickly thorns. She turned to the Archbishop and the Prime Minister demanding a severe outcome if Edward abdicated. 

So, when Edward declared that he must wed his American twice divorced cutie, and step down from the role of King, Elizabeth pulled the royal strings taut. While Edward thought he would step down, then continue partying in his usual fashion with his cutie wife and anyone else who might discreetly catch his fancy, his younger brother King George, and his wife, had other ideas. The new King made it very clear that if Edward wished to continue to receive his very substantial allowance, it would not happen in merry old England. He must leave the country forthwith and not return unless and until invited to do so. Rut-row. (Elizabeth’s Cheshire smile could almost be seen throughout the entire British empire.) Ouch. Edward could not give up his allowance; how would he live in the manner to which he was so accustomed? There was nothing for it, so off to Paris he and his cutie wife went. 

And they lived the good party life in la belle Paree, that is, until they didn’t. The war came along and spoiled everything. There they were, with the Nazis about to march into Paris. “I say, Pardon me”, as he stood on the shores of Calais, waving to his English relatives. “What about me? Please, may I come home. They are bombing the country around here.” This war was inconvenient but ultimately, he thought, this could work out well for them. After all, once home, it would be awkward for the Crown to toss them back out again. Or so he thought. But wait, the Queen (she who must be obeyed) had other plans. She was determined that they would not step foot on English soil, ever! Instead, he was made Governor of the Bahamas and they spent the rest of the war on the islands, without air conditioning. 

After the war, he and his cutie returned to Paris where they lived for the rest of their lives. He was returned to England only after his death, as was Wallis, laid to rest beside him. 

There were certain, albeit minor, parallels between Edward and Wallis’ royal scandal and Charles and Camilla’s royal scandal but the latter paled in comparison to the former. What’s a tampon amongst friends. As the young are fond of saying: “TMI”.