Marley and Marley

by J. R. Dawson

• Release: November/December 2017
• Format: Short Story
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Audience: YA and Up
• Content: Definite Time Travel
• Original Language: English

He told me all the horrible things that would happen if I broke any Time Laws. Worlds would collapse. I would turn inside out. Important people would die and important things wouldn’t happen.

VARIANTS

2 English variants

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

• Unspecified Future Year

Timeline Models

• Into a Changed Timeline with Just One You: When the second old Marley returns to her time, there is only one Marley, and she no longer remembers ever a timeline where Jason died.
• Narrative Time: As the story unfolds for the second time, old Marley makes decisions that differ from what she remembers, and soon after each decision, she no longer remembers the other timeline. For example: It occurred to me, after we picked up Rufus the Dog (full name) and no men in black strode out from behind a tree to time-cop arrest me, that maybe the universe didn’t care if I had a dog. Nothing changed. Maybe Old Marley had gotten me a dog. Yes, of course she’d gotten me a dog. Little Marley didn’t know this yet, but Rufus the Dog would grow up to be three years old and he brought Old Marley and me together. At three, Rufus the Dog had to go away to a rescue because he would be happier with other dogs.

Time Travel Methods

• Generic Time Machine: Marley travels to the past in some kind of a pod, but few details are given.

Themes

• Caution! Do Not Destroy Spacetime Continuum!: He told me all the horrible things that would happen if I broke any Time Laws. Worlds would collapse. I would turn inside out. Important people would die and important things wouldn’t happen.3316
• Free Will, Fate, and Determinism: My part was set. No matter what I did, I would never live in New York. I would never have Jason back.
• Save “Lois”!: Despite the second old Marley’s lament that she’ll never have Jason back, she still sets up young Marley to stop Jason’s death.
• Self-Visitation
• Time Cops: the Time Law Department
• Time Montages: I saw all these moments from all over my timeline.
• Wisdom or Consolation to Your Younger Self

Groupings

• Escape Pod, Podcastle, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders (radio or audio series): #714, 9 January 2020
• The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (periodical): November/December 2017

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

1. From Omaha, Nebraska, when Marley is 28 years old ⋙ to Omaha, 16 years earlier. Note: Old Marley comes back in time to care for young Marley.
2. From Omaha, Nebraska, six years later ⋙ to Omaha, the same time that 28-year-old Marley left.. Note: Old Marley (now 34) returns to the exact time that she left.