20 In 5 -- Vol. III -- What Shall I Say To My Son...

By Dave MacPherson

Good parents worry
about their words
and deeds every day...

What shall I say to my son if I discovered he was going to travel back through time to the age of the dinosaurs for the sole purpose of stepping on a Jurassic Era butterfly so that all of history from that point on would be altered and he would get out of the calculus homework he was finding so difficult?

The first thing I will try to convey to him is my unwavering pride I have for him, because usually people contemplating time travel in order to destroy all of recorded history suffer from low self esteem and this seems to be a good moment to bolster his self image. Also, I will question how poorly he is mastering calculus if he can utilize the very fabric of time to aid in his plan. Einstein, Schroëdinger, Hawkins...none of them could travel back in time to squash a long ago butterfly. I will tell him that, “You, my son, can do what these giants could not and you should not worry about your calculus grade.”

If that does not suffice, I will point out the basic fallacy of such an intense interpretation of Chaos Theory. I will remind him that the world is large and time is long and it would take an immense disturbance to make even the tiniest ripple in the vast ocean of time. No matter how pretty the butterfly is, it is just an insignificant butterfly and its absence would change nothing. I will tell my son that even if he killed Hitler in 1930, the ever-moving tides of history and human nature would create another despot to create the very same Nazi Germany. All the same, only with slightly different color markings on its wings.

But if he insists even then with his plans, what shall I do? ...


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What? What can a Father say to a Son? To read the finish of "What Shall I Say To My Son...," you'll have to purchase a copy of the new edition of "20 in 5." Currently available directly from Smashwords in a variety of e-book formats. Or you can purchase it from the Mis Tribus eBook Store. 


Included are the ending to "What Shall I Say To My Son..." along with 19 other flash fiction stories. Brought to you directly by Mis Tribus.