Historical Imperative

By James Henry Taylor

(Short story.) In a world where time travel is commonplace, a man tries to change his present by visiting the past--"and the grandfather paradox be damned."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781300196631

Book preview

Historical Imperative

Historical Imperative

James Henry Taylor

Historical Imperative

by James Henry Taylor

ISBN 978-1-300-19663-1

© 2012 by James Henry Taylor

Historical Imperative

November 2: fifteen years to the day. It happened to be a Sunday this time, so, as he generally did on Sundays, Levon just lay in bed awhile before rising. His gaze strayed toward the ceiling, then toward the window where morning sunlight filtered around the heavy curtain, then back to the ceiling again. He didn’t try to stop the tears welling up in his eyes. Quite the opposite, in fact: a part of him was pleased to think of them as penance.

Exactly fifteen years ago, the police, in response to three reports of gunshots being heard, had found Rachel’s body on the scenic walk under the eastern end of the Bay Bridge, a fairly neat hole through her left temple and a much larger, more ragged one through her right.

There had been no serious suspicion of murder: the pistol was still in her hand and there were powder traces on the cuff of her coat. The one peculiar fact had been the pair of spent cartridges lying nearby. No one had ever been certain why she’d fired twice, or what had happened to the first bullet, although an eccentric old woman who’d set up housekeeping underneath a corner of the bridge swore that Rachel had taken a shot at her. The detectives thought it more likely, given Rachel’s lack of experience with firearms, that the gun had simply gone off by accident.

Whatever the explanation might have been, in Levon’s mind he