Many years ago some optimistic spider had built a web inside that drawer. I brushed aside the web and examined the envelope. It was yellow with age and made of parchment. The envelope was addressed in a flowing and neat script that kids today simply aren’t taught. The ink was no longer black but had turned slightly brown.

To find a letter in a forgotten drawer of an old desk might be considered unusual, but not remarkable. What made this remarkable was that the letter bore my name and address on it.

Was this some kind of a trick? I had just moved in two weeks ago. The paint had to have been decades old. I carefully peeled the flap of the envelope back and saw the letter inside. I pulled it out and opened it.

It said simply,

“June 18th, 1888.

Dear Jim,

When Anachrotech offers you the chance to travel back in time to record the Gettysburg address. Don’t go or you will be left behind.

Yours,

Jim”