QUOTES FROM TIMELINERS

— But mostly it was miracle and wonder, with little bags of pretzels for snacks. . .

— So the whole mess started when the Timemaster made his breakthrough.  Digitime, the little twerp called it.  Suddenly the past was open for travel, exploration, tourism. . .

— Why not time? Why not let us conquer the arch villain that, no matter what creams or lotions or workouts we tried, made us grow old and saggy and sick and dead? Why not enjoy time vacations, just a week or two in the pleasant country of the past? See Houdini escape, hear Hendrix at Woodstock, watch the Hindenburg crash and burn?

— “Demanding my rights,” is what the woman testified, but TTSA banned her from all future travel. “Suits me,” she said. “I have seen the past and it blows.”

— “Wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You’re saying my luggage is still in 1975?

“We — “

“But my phone is in it!”

“We’re so sorry.”

“And all those Pet Rocks!”

— Yet there would be more attempts to save history. If someone could kill the lone gunman whose shot in Sarajevo sparked World War I. . . If Sirhan Sirhan could be snuffed out before he stepped into that kitchen. . . Several travelers even went back to 1978 to convince Donna Summer not to record “MacArthur Park.”

— Time, the Artist, is a master of imagery.  We contain whole museums of memory, and we stroll, room by room, admiring certain canvases, ignoring others.  Given the chance to go behind the scenes at the museum, we jumped, drawn by a montage of reasons. . .