Eight years before Professor Thomas Eldridge invents a time machine, a man from the future
shows up with two policemen to arrest him for his future crimes. Knowing that he could never
be a criminal, Eldridge swipes their time machine and flees to three future times,
discovering that he’s wanted in each time for crimes ranging from potato theft to murdering
another man’s fiancé
All in all, Sheckley’s story is a perfect example of a causal
loop: I knew those potatoes would come in handy and that, given time, the girl would show up
safe and sound.