Peculiar Times

 You've traveled to the past and changed something. What did you change, and what are the consequences?

He appeared suddenly one day. I ran to the laundry room after hearing a loud noise, and saw an old man rummaging through the clothes drier. He removed a single tube sock, nodded to himself, and disappeared in a flash of light and sound before I could say anything. It was peculiar, to say the least.

-

I received the order in the morning. I am to relocate to a new housing pod in the eastern sector before lights-out. Any belongings I leave behind will be incinerated.

I saw it as I emptied my clothing storage unit. A single sock. I lost its mate decades ago in a peculiar event that replays in my mind every now and then. I am certain my memory has muddled the details, but I still have a mental image of the old man in the tight jumpsuit digging inside that ancient clothes drier.

I look at myself briefly as I pass a mirror screen, and I have a sudden realization. Glancing at the clock, I hastily leave my pod for the time web facility. It will be an expensive trip, but I know it must be done. I enter the date and time of that peculiar memory into the control panel, and listen to the device loudly spool its local chronospace. It is finally time to retrieve that sock's mate.

(written 2021 March 1)