"The Time Machine"

I wrote a short story once titled:

“The Time Machine."  I received a rejection letter from an editor saying:

"We don't publish Science Fiction.”

Which proved he or she hadn't read it.

It was about how listening to an "Oldie” radio station could transport the listener back to happier times with a first love or some event which had made a lasting impression.

Today I was listening to Sirius XM’s 50s and 60s channels.  It brought back memories of pleasant and unpleasant times in Jr highschool, highschool and Vietnam.  I smiled, felt happy, felt sad and, for those precious moments, I was transported to the past.

It wasn't Science Fiction.  It was a brief relief from the reality of today.

For those precious moments I sang along with lyrics I've always loved.  For those precious moments I didn't think about the ultimate EVIL of this administration.

For those precious moments I didn't have to think about the soulless, cowardly Republicans in the House and Senate.  For those precious moments I didn't have to picture Murkowski, Johnson, McConnell, Vance and the rest who have stood silently by while our country's system of government is being destroyed.

Now I'm back home watching the news of today.  I'm listening to REALITY.  I'm hearing about a major News media company crumbling to the Mango Mussolini's lawsuit!  16 million dollars to Agent Orange to soothe his hurt feelings about a 60 Minutes story!

WTF?!  I'm so old I remember the New York Times and Washington Post standing up to Nixon's threats.

Network news was believable!  Anchors had courage, ability, character and the respect of their viewers.  Ah, the “Good Old Days," weren't they great?!

Today, Little Richard, The Cadillacs, Chuck Berry, The Righteous Brothers, Bobby Darin, The Beatles, Hank Williams and others transported my aching brain back to happier times.

My "Time Machine“ worked miracles for those “precious" moments.

Give it a try when you're at your limit of endurance.  Give it a try when the stress of “reality" becomes too much to bear.

It won't change reality but it might give your brain a “control, alt, delete" to reboot with a fresh tank of fuel to make “reality" a little easier to digest.

And to that editor who sent that rejection letter 40 years ago and to editors today, don't be so quick to mail that form letter rejection.  Maybe read the submission.  You might be missing out on a good story or article.

Rejection letters and comments are inevitable for anyone who chooses to expose their souls by writing poems, stories, books and screenplays.  But take a few minutes to read a submission before throwing it on the pile of rejected items.  You might discover the next Hemingway, Steinbeck, John Grisham or Shakespeare.