If Ever I Should Leave You

by Pamela Sargent

Release: February 1974
Format: Short Story
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

A nameless narrator (called Nanette by an overly zealous copy-editor in the If publication) tells of time-traveler Yuri’s return as a dying old man and of the subsequent times when she visited him. I enjoyed that beginning part of the story, but the ending, as the narrator herself ages, spoke to me more deeply.

I met Pamela Sargent in Lawrence, Kansas, at Jim Gunn’s writing workshop. She was insightful and kind to the young writers who came to learn from her and other talented writers.

— Michael Main

All the coordinates are there, all the places and times I went to these past months. When you're lonely, when you need me, go to the Time Station and I’ll be waiting on the other side.

DEBUT

“If Ever I Should Leave You,” in If, February 1974.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Groupings

The Time Traveller’s Almanac (anthology)

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY: We haven’t yet mapped out the time travel itinerary.