1880-10-12 “Since You Asked” by Merritt (born 2000)

A lot has happened for a Tuesday morning. It was 2 days ago that the time shift back to 1880 occurred for me and everyone else. Except Hannah.

Once we were alone at home—after Shay, Kent, Jacob, Tome and Will had left—she told Emma, Devon, and me that she was still the version of Hannah born in 2002.

“Well, there must be some purpose…” Emma said. “As if any of this makes sense, but it’s gotta, right?”

Hannah and I agreed, and Hannah added. “There must be some reason, right? I… We… need to do something?”

We didn’t know what. But Emma and I told that Hannah about the other Hannah’s idea to get jobs working for Will. This morning, we set out to talk to Will, thinking he also might have a Western Union message explaining why Hannah hadn’t shifted back.

As we walked along, Hannah said, “You know, Merritt, had there been no time-shifting, you and I would be working together at NYC SysCo.”

“I had that thought at breakfast. All this… bends my brain…”

We talked to Will about the jobs, and he eagerly agreed. “Engineers from the future! Indeed!”

Just then, someone came in. There was a lot of celebration between Will and a man that was eventually introduced as Dr. Milton Robertson, Will’s cousin.

“I’m on the train to New York from New Orleans. I thought I’d drop in on my Memphis cousin… I… have a question…”

Milton had received a letter from, yet another cousin, to come to a symposium in New York. On the agenda was a debate about Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table. Milton had a copy that he was pointing to.

“Seems,” Milton said, “some want to move scandium out of  group III with aluminum and boron. Others say it belongs there.”

From https://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/35_pt/pt_database.php?yearfield=1880

Will then looked at Hannah and me. “What do you think?”

Hannah quickly answered. “Your… the periodic table is in its infancy. Row 4… starts a whole new pattern. And gallium actually is on row 4, not 5. Eventually… everyone will know that between column II and III are… 10 more columns….”

Hannah drew out the first 5 rows of the modern periodic table, smiling and looking at me. “I had to memorize this for college…” About 2 hours passed before Milton decided he’d keep everything we told him “under his hat.” He shook his head. “No one would believe a Louisiana doctor coulda come up with all this. But, I’ll see that I support them that think scandium is in the wrong place.” Chemistry lesson complete, Hannah and I left, and as we walked, I asked, “Why on earth did you have to memorize 5 rows of the periodic table?” “Lots of people asked that!” Hannah laughed. “You’ll not believe this! The professor said, ‘What if you need to know someday and you don’t have Internet access?’ Then, this guy on the front row said, ‘Like when? Like if we went back in time and had to pass a quiz?’ Everyone laughed.” We looked at each other, smiling, and shaking our heads. “I knew about gallium, by the way…” “I bet you could have worked out most of the first rows, too,” Hannah added. “A few elements… but not atomic weights. Pretty amazing…” We were still talking about it when we walked in the parlor of my house. Hannah pulled away from me and hurried to the sofa. “What’s wrong.” A panicked look was on her face. “Merritt…” Emma came in. “What’s wrong?” Hannah smiled and looked at Emma. “I had fun today. I’m shifting… Maybe… another time…” Emma and I didn’t see any flashes or smoke, this time. But our Hannah was back.