Free The Age Altertron by Mark Dunn

to be helpful. “I have much more verve
now. Also, my vision is 20/20 again!”
“Thank you, Miss Lyttle. Now let us take myself, for instance. About the time
I turned forty I began to develop a little arthritis in my hands and a little
rheumatism in my back. It has only gotten worse with age. With my body clock
being reversed, both of my ailments have vanished. So, you see that for some
of us, there is great benefit to what has happened to this town. Perhaps it
would not be fair to those people to restore things to the way they were
before.”
“Tell him the other reason, Mayor,” said Miss Lyttle, who was still smiling.
She was, no doubt, still thinking about how hilarious it was to take a milk
cow up to a roof.
“Yes, tell Rodney—and me— the other reason,” said the Professor, who had
just stepped quietly into the parlor.
“Hello, Professor,” said Mayor Stovall, standing up and extending his hand to
shake. “I’m so glad you decided to take a break from your work.” Professor Johnson
took the Mayor’s outstretched hand and shook it formally and without pleasure.
“And you know Miss Lyttle, the children’s teacher, I believe.”
“Hello,” said Miss Lyttle, blushing a little.
“So, you have given the first reason why you want me to stop my work on the
Altertron. Now give me the second,” said the Professor.
The Mayor took a deep breath. “Well, we have a theory—see, we non-Professor
types have theories too.”
“Go on.”
“And our theory is this: whatever unknown party is responsible for all the things
that happen to this town, whether it’s for good or bad—”
“Mostly bad, Mayor. But go on.”
“Well, we theorize that perhaps they are merely waiting to deliver a change
to this town that we will agree to. And if we agree to that change, for example,
this turning back all of our body clocks by eleven-and-a half years—”
“Eleven years, eight months, one week, four days, and thirteen hours to be more
precise. However, I cannot be exact to the very minute and second without further
calculation.”
‘Yes, yes,” said the Mayor, taking out a handkerchief to blot his perspiring
forehead and neck. “Well, our thinking is that the— um—unknown party, whatever
it is—might be happy that we’ve found a change we like. And if that is the case,
why, they might just go and leave us alone. It is worth a try, don’t you think?
Especially since the other way—the constant building of new contraptions to
undo new challenges—well, that doesn’t seem to be working all that well,
does it? Just think, Russell: no more peach town or lemon town or bubbly town,
or talking in numbers or having flippers for hands. No more of any of those
things. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to finally be a normal, average American town
again? And perhaps they will even remove the force field and then I’ll be able
to take my family to Hawaii for a vacation. And who knows? Maybe Jackie will
become a Hawaiian and decide not to come back home!”
The Mayor laughed at his own joke, but no one joined him.
“And what happens to all of the limbo children?” asked the Professor. “Will they ever get to go to Hawaii, or will they have to live the remainder of
their days in a cloud?”
Miss Lyttle raised her hand as if she were one of her more enthusiastic pupils.
“I would like to say something. I would like to suggest that your time might
be better spent, Professor, using your scientific abilities to find the missing
children, rather than working on this silly machine.”
“It isn’t silly!” exclaimed Becky.
“Not only is it not silly, it’s probably the best way we have to bring our friend
Petey and all the other missing children back to Pitcherville,” added Rodney.
“And do you feel that way too, Professor?” asked Mayor Stovall.
Professor Johnson nodded.
“Then I will have no choice but to put it to a town vote. And since the voting