Richard

RICHARD – 2078 A GHOST STORY ?

I was working at my desk last Monday around 3 p.m. when I heard what I assumed was the UPS truck stop in front of the house. The UPS truck stops at our house so many times I know the sound of the truck as it comes down the road. Since it’s usually a QVC package my wife ordered or a Thomson book, I seldom jump up and run to the front porch to see what he’s left. The driver, depending on which one it is, and we’ve gone through many drivers since we’ve lived on Wilderness Road, usually places the parcel on the porch and rings the doorbell before he departs. Sure enough, I hear the door bell ring.

I think nothing of it. Around 6 Moyna comes in from her afternoon bridge club and I think to check the porch. At first I don’t see anything. No packages. That’s strange, I think. I heard the truck and the doorbell. Then I happen to look down and see an 8 x 11 manila envelope. On the front it says FRED HUDSON. No address. No return address. No evidence that it was delivered by UPS. Very strange.

I open the envelope. Inside is a single sheet of paper. On the sheet of paper typed in a strange typeface I’ve never seen before are the words

THANKS, FRED!
Richard 2078

Now this is certainly odd. What is this?

I show it to Moyna. What is this?

I don’t know, she says. You say you heard the UPS truck earlier? You didn’t hear anybody else come up the steps?

Yes, I heard the truck and I heard the doorbell ring. I know of no one else coming on to the porch. That’s all I know. But SOMEBODY left this on our front porch. But who?

And what on earth does this mean: THANKS, FRED. Richard 2078.

Who knows.

Maybe it’s a joke. But what kind of joke? It makes no sense. I don’t know what it means.

Neither do I, Moyna says.

The next day I call UPS and speak to a dispatcher. She informs me that there was no delivery to Hudson at 716 Wilderness Road in Pelham yesterday.

Are you sure?

Yes, I’m sure.

OK, What now?

The next day I happen to be scheduled to have lunch with an old professor of mine, Dr. Charles Rose at Auburn. Dr. Rose is a retired professor of English. We try and have lunch about once a month. He tried to get me to go to grad school in English back in 1973. We talk literature and all kinds of stuff because he’s an avid reader like me.

I tell him the story.

Does “Richard 2078” mean anything to you, he asks me.

No, I reply.

So it’s not some kind of joke?

If it is, I don’t get it, I say.

Hummm. . . he muses. What about “Richard?” That name mean anything?

Well, I say, Richard is a common given name in the Hudson and Hankins (mother’s maiden name) families. Actually, now that I think about it, I’d say it is the MOST common given name in the history of both families.

Well, Dr. Rose continues, it seems to me that there are 3 possibilities.

1) Fred, you’re going crazy to put it crudely. You put the note outside your door and you don’t realize it. I know that’s scary sounding, but at this point, we have to say it’s a possibility.

Why would I do that? I say.

I don’t know. Crazy people do crazy things, Dr. Rose says, as he laughs to lighten the mood since I’m sitting there wondering if I’m going crazy.

2) Someone else put it there. A joke? But you say your wife convinces you she didn’t do it. Who else?

No one else. That doesn’t make sense. The note makes no sense as a joke from anybody.

3) Then here is the third possibility. It’s a message from one of your future descendents---Richard in the year 2078. He’s thanking you for something. By 2078 each individual will be able to chart his or her own genetic history, and maybe he’s thanking you for part of his genetic inheritance.

You are kidding, aren’t you, Dr. Rose? I can’t believe something crazy like that.

No, I’m not kidding. You and I have read some of the same popular physics books. Time travel is theoretically possible. All I’m saying is that under the circumstances, given what we’ve established, it’s POSSBILE.

I feel a cold chill entering my body. Oh, boy. Either I’m going crazy or this is a message from the future. Oh, boy. People are going to think I’m crazy either way! Oh, boy.

We conclude our lunch and Dr. Rose says, Let me know if there are any further developments. Maybe you should see a doctor just in case.

So---this is where it stands at the moment. I am really freaked out.

Who knows.