Time Limit

"Oh," was the only come back Mr. Ronson could think of.

"Nope, no time trips for you." Mr. Sudberry nodded.

"But I paid."

"Doesn’t matter," Mr. Sudberry held up his hand to Mr. Ronson for quiet. "You are of a choice few. Of all the time trips being done these days, well over ten thousand a day now, every once and a while, there’s a person like you." Mr. Sudberry was looking directly into Mr. Ronson’s eyes.

"I didn’t mean to get angry. I was just disappointed. I’ll apologize."

"It’s not that, at all." Mr. Sudberry stood up.

"But, I. . . " Mr. Ronson was confused and becoming afraid.

"You are among a special group that can’t and never will be able to travel in time." Mr. Sudberry walked to the front of the desk.

Mr. Ronson looked at the ball with the smiley face in the glass case. "Well, if a wooden ball can time travel, why can’t I?"

"We don’t know the exact reason, but we know that certain persons have so much impact on this time continuum that the random forces that govern the universe prevent them from moving around in time." Mr. Sudberry’s eyes seemed to mist over.

"I don’t understand. You just said tens of thousands of people everyday are traveling back in time. Nothing bad seems to happen from that." Mr. Ronson was just confused now.

"Yeah, and they do all kinds of things back there in the past and it seems to make no difference to us in this continuum. We don’t ask, but it doesn’t matter what they do." Mr. Sudberry lowered his head. "But there are a few, like you, in which it does matter. It matters so much, that you’re stuck. You’re just too important to time."

"I’ve never heard about this before." Mr. Ronson hadn’t.

"No, and you won’t have except that you are one of them." Mr. Sudberry reached into his pocket. "Government secret. What do you think the Great men of our time would do if they found out that they were not in the restricted category? That they weren’t as important as they thought they were."

"I don’t know, be upset." Mr. Ronson didn’t know. He just guessed.

"Yes, and you don’t want those kind of people, with their kind of power, to be upset. So we, in the Temporal Bureau keep this a secret." Mr. Sudberry handed Mr. Ronson a plastic card. Mr. Ronson took it absently. "That card contains two million adjusted dollars."

Mr. Ronson dropped the card. Mr. Ronson looked down at it on the floor. "Excuse me." He said.

Mr. Sudberry picked the card up and handed it back to Mr. Ronson. "All yours with the prevision that you keep your importance in time a secret from everybody."

"I would be happy with a simple refund." Mr. Ronson was a cautious type.

"The good citizen that you are indicates that, but I insist, your government insists. Have some fun here in this time." Mr. Sudberry smiled and placed his pocket computer back in his pocket. "I hate to say it, but it’s time to go." Mr. Sudberry smiled. "Remember, loose lips sink ships." Mr. Sudberry placed his index finger over his closed lips.

"Ah, well, yeah, sure. Certainly." Mr. Ronson suddenly realized he was as important as he always thought he was. He was even more important.

Mr. Sudberry stopped at the door and bowed before he made his exit.

Mr. Ronson also realized that self-satisfaction was all he was ever going to get out of this knowledge. Well, except for the two million, yes that was some help.

"Ronson of the Time Elite." He said as he went out the door.