Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) by John A. Heldt

Author:John A. Heldt [Heldt, John A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John A. Heldt
Published: 2016-09-01T03:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 31: MARK

Los Angeles, California – Thursday, April 9, 1959

Mark knew he was in trouble the second he saw her hand go up. He had expected Mary Beth to follow the lecture closely. He had not expected her to participate in the question-and-answer session that followed. He braced himself for the worst when Professor Austin Ballinger, author of six time-travel novels, called on the pretty brunette in the second row.

"First of all, thank you for coming to campus," Mary Beth said. "It's not every day I have the chance to hear someone speak on a topic as exotic as time travel. This has been fun."

Ballinger reached for a glass of water on his lectern, took a sip, and then returned his attention to the complimentary young woman. He folded his hands and smiled.

"I'm glad I met your expectations. Do you have a question?"

"I do," Mary Beth said. "You said a minute ago that time travel is still a product of science fiction and will remain so until science catches up to fiction. Is that correct?"

"That is correct," Ballinger said. "I think we will eventually develop the means to send people forward in time, but I believe that moment is decades, if not centuries, away."

"Do you believe in other possibilities?"

"What do you mean?"

Mark looked around the small lecture hall and saw that Mary Beth had grabbed not only the professor's attention but also that of a hundred other people. He wondered whether she had been this inquisitive in her classes at the University of Alabama.

"I mean supernatural possibilities," Mary Beth said. "I mean time portals and time tunnels and other things that exist outside the boundaries of science. Do you believe in them?"

Ballinger grinned.

"As a writer of science fiction, I believe in many things. I am a man who is open to nearly every idea and possibility. As a professor with advanced degrees in engineering, physics, and mathematics, I am from the Show Me State. I am a man who believes what he can see or smell or hear or touch. I am a skeptic of the first order."

"I see," Mary Beth said.

"You seem disappointed."

Several in the audience laughed.

"I guess I am," Mary Beth said. "I was hoping you could comment on other possibilities. I would like to believe that time travel is not something that only our descendants will see."

Mark smiled and shook his head. He wondered how long Mary Beth would toy with an expert who clearly had no clue. He now hoped she would do it all day.

"I would like to believe that too," Ballinger said. "I would like to believe we will someday stumble upon something magical, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. If a time portal or a time tunnel or something similar existed today, we would surely know about it."

Mary Beth sighed.

"I'm sure we would. Thank you for taking my question."

Ballinger nodded at Mary Beth and then scanned the audience for more raised hands. Failing to see any, he took another sip of water, shuffled his papers together, and smiled.

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