At twenty-one, Justin Kloster has it made: one more year of college and then happily ever after with his sweetheart Megan. Then his forty-year-old self shows up to prevent Justin from making terrible mistakes that will lead to an eventual nasty divorce with Megan.

Turtledove tells the story twice: once from the Justin-21’s point-of-view and once from that of Justin-40. Together, the stories form a short novel-length work that can be read in either order.
—Michael Main
I was stupid. I didn’t know enough. I didn’t know how to take care of her.

Tags

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Variants

(3)
  1. two-part story.
    Justin Counting Stories by Harry Turtledove, two pts. [may be read in either order], Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 1999 [“Counting Up”] and Asimov’s Science Fiction, December 1999 [“Counting Down”].
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Harry Turtledove
  2. from Justin-21’s PoV.
    Twenty-One, Counting Up by Harry Turtledove, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 1999.
    3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Harry Turtledove
  3. from Justin-40’s PoV.
    Forty, Counting Down by Harry Turtledove, Asimov’s Science Fiction, December 1999.
    4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Harry Turtledove