Charlie had fought in World War One, Two and Three and he was tired of fighting. In 1976 he had invented what is now known as the Internet by accident when trying to fix the alternator in his VW Beetle. One of the many things he would end up regretting, but as things currently stood he was a salt and pepper 49 year old, working in a car dealership in Delaware.
A young couple were hovering around a Cadillac outside, but Charlie had bigger things on his mind than commission. It was 1986, every day for a year. This would not always be the case, so he had to stay focussed. He picked up the telephone and dialled his friend Alan’s number. Alan was only 5 years old, but nonetheless picked up.
“Hello?” said Alan, the sound of cartoons in the background.
“Alan, it’s Charlie. I don’t have long, it’s nearly time for me to split again. Do you have it?”
“Sure mister, I have it,” trilled the child gleefully.
“Good man,” said Charlie, exhaling with relief. “Now bury it under the roses at the front of the house like we agreed, right?”
“Sure thing, bye!” The line went dead.
Charlie trusted Alan, he’d always buried the GM every time before, and it would be there to collect on the next time round, and give Charlie another chance. He would keep digging every 1986 if he had to.
He heard a scream from the lot. The young couple had opened the boot of a Pontiac and the woman was crying hysterically.