Set a Purpose

Find out if Peter can convince Angela that his machine works.

Of course Peter always won first prize at the annual statewide science fair. But that’s a long way from making a time machine. Minus his mustache and long Chinese gown, he was Peter Lu.

“I don’t believe it!” I said. “I bet LAFFF is only good for a laugh.”

“Okay, Angela. I’ll show you!” hissed Peter.

He sat down on the stool and twisted a dial. I heard some bleeps, cheeps, and gurgles. Peter disappeared.

He must have done it with mirrors. I looked around the garage. I peeked under the tool bench. There was no sign of him.

“Okay, I give up,” I told him. “It’s a good trick, Peter. You can come out now.”

Bleep, cheep, and gurgle went the machine, and there was Peter, sitting on the stool. He held a red rose in his hand. “What do you think of that?”

I blinked. “So you produced a flower. Maybe you had it under the stool.”

“Roses bloom in June, right?” he demanded.

That was true. And this was December.

“I sent myself forward in time to June when the flowers were blooming,” said Peter. “And I picked the rose from our yard. Convinced, Angela?”

It was too hard to swallow. “You said you couldn’t send things back in time,” I objected. “So how did you bring the rose back?”

But even as I spoke I saw that his hands were empty. The rose was gone.