Dave, an old man on the verge of dying, partakes in a time travel experiment, hoping to save his long-ago wife and young daughter from a car accident even though nobody has ever managed to change past events before.
If our hypothesis is correct and the Corvini-Langstrum effect is a form of time travel. . . then you may be able to change the circumstances and prevent her death.

Variants

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  1. “Sweet Song of Death” by Stephen Kimmel, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 1983.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stephen Kimmel