Return to the Past: William Faulkner

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Return to the Past: William Faulkner

One Friday afternoon, I was sitting in my Calculus II class, taught by the one and only Dr. Larry Zettel. I was confused about the topic and wasn’t paying very close attention. My thoughts were drifting off between his explanation of anti-derivatives and thoughts of the other things going on in my world. I was remembering what a great time I had when I traveled back in time to interview A. E. Housman. It then occurred to me, I should do this again. The tough part was deciding whom I would interview. I finally decided to go to Oxford, Mississippi, to see William Faulkner because I had read his short story, “A Rose for Emily,” in class, and I had an idea of what it meant, but I wasn’t entirely sure. I snapped back to reality and class was finally over. I made my way back to my room. Later that night I placed a call to Jason back home.

“Hey, Jason, what are you up to?”

“A whole lot of nothing. What about you?”

“Well, funny you should ask. I was wondering if you’d like to take another trip back in time, using the time machine you built, which I must say, is your greatest invention so far. We would be going to Mississippi this time to see William Faulkner.”

“Sure, dude, sounds cool. When were you planning to go?”

“I was hoping you could go come on up now, if that’s fine with you. I already talked to JoJo, and he said he’d let his parents know you could take his truck.”

“Yeah, no problem, I’ll leave in ten minutes or so. See you in a bit.”

“All right, see you soon.”

A little bit later Jason showed up with Curtis, another one of my friends. We checked to make sure everything was operable so the trip would succeed. After everything was checked, we took off. We were heading, as I told Jason, to Oxford, Mississippi. I hoped I would find William Faulkner there on June 9, 1962. This time was going to be different. A different area, a different time. We didn’t know what to expect, and I still don’t really believe what happened on that trip.

We arrived with a flash and a bang.

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