If you’re old enough, you’ll remember back when there were prizes inside cereal boxes. Not just codes to play online but actual, physical prizes, right inside the box. Once I got a relaxation music DVD and a Dora game CD; I still have both of them in my house. I kept them; I don’t know why. I don’t like music much, and I was way too old for Dora when I discovered that game inside my Pops cereal, plus, being a guy, Dora never really was my thing. I imagine the junky little rings and other knickknacks I found in cereal boxes over the years are still at my mother’s house since she’s a bit of a hoarder and keeps everything :P
Well…anyway…back to my current situation…it was like that, only, instead of inside a cereal box, it was inside a pizza box, under the pizza. And instead of a cheap plastic ring with a large plastic gemstone, it was a real gold ring with a big, blue stone set in it. At first, I thought it must belong to one of the people who worked at the pizza place. It was weird. A man’s ring. I’d never seen anything like it. When I called the pizza place, the guy just laughed. Maybe he thought I was crazy. I looked at the ring more closely, hoping maybe there was a name printed inside or something. There was an engraving!
Come to the future. Marry me.
I remember that, when I had read it, my stomach did a little flip-flop. It seemed like the message was for me. The pizza was delivered to my place and I lived alone. I didn’t know what to think. Was it a prank? Or was there some crazy, stalker chick out there sending me a weird ring in my pizza? But it was the ‘come to the future’ part that really got me curious. I touched a magnet to the ring. It didn’t stick. So I knew it wasn’t iron. Either it was really gold or it was copper or aluminum or something. It seemed pretty elaborate and expensive to be just a prank.
So I put an ad in the local, online classifieds, advertising a found ring and requesting that the owner call me, with a description, to claim it. Then I sat the thing on my desk. My eyes kept being drawn to it all that evening as I worked on my computer. The stone was exactly my favorite color.
I remember wondering if there was someone out there who really wanted to marry me. But who? I ran through the girls at work and the other girls I knew. No one came up as a possibility. Could it be some Sci Fi fan with a crush on someone who didn’t even know her? The thought of some crazy Sci Fi, stalker chick creeped me out a little, but not as much as it should have…and the ring drew me. The way the light played on the stone…and it was flattering to think that someone liked me. That someone had chosen me, even if she were crazy.
As if in a trance, I slipped the ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit!
When I woke up in the morning, I was surprised to see I was still wearing the ring. I was being crazy! What was I doing? I sat up and thought through the logic again. It was probably either a prank or a gift from some crazy chick. If I wore it, the pranksters would laugh when they saw it. So what? I’d laugh right along with them. No big deal. If it were from a girl, she would see me wearing it. Then maybe she’d approach me. I was 35 already and had zero prospects in the love department. Maybe I liked weird Sci Fi chicks. And, this way at least, I’d know where the ring had come from.
Later, in the car, my mind swirled through the same thoughts again. But, in the end, I was glad that I had chosen to wear it. I was crossing a bridge, only ten minutes away from work, when I saw the semi truck. It had crossed into my lane and was right in front of me. I only had time to lift my foot from the gas pedal before all was blackness. But I never felt the impact.
I woke up in the future! A woman, a scientist named Bethany, explained everything to me. She told me that my car went over the bridge and the newspaper reported that my body was never recovered from the river. That’s why it was okay for her to bring me forward. The timeline wouldn’t be altered. The ring was the time travelling device. If I had not been wearing the ring, she wouldn’t have been able to save me. Bethany also told me that the human gene pool is dangerously small in this future time and that fresh DNA is needed. Bethany had studied records of the past and had chosen me out of thousands. Then she told me that she was single and hoped that my wearing the ring meant that I would accept. She was real pretty and seemed nice so I said, ‘Yeah’.
Anyway, Bethany said I could send this note back and upload it online, to the time right after the accident. She said it will be okay because no one will believe the story, but I know my mom will. So if you found this note, and, since you are reading this, you obviously did, and if you know my mom could you please just give a copy of this to her? And if you don't know her, just pretend this is a work of ficition. LOL!
I’ve been here almost a year now. It’s awesome cool and Bethany’s real nice. You’d like her, Mom. We’re expecting our first kid and, if it’s a girl, we’re going to name her after you. I just wanted you to know.
Thanks a bunch for passing on the message!
- Jordan
