Dr. Samson Candella has finished his fist visit to his past in his Wish machine. It is a success. The moment has arrived for a second experiment. He plans to send a stranger into the Wish Machine.
Something wonderful happened to me in the Wish Machine. The experience staggered me. I reeled from the shock of reliving that moment of my childhood. That a person could actually relive a past moment was wonderful beyond imagination. Yet, I had done it. I had returned for an hour to my 1935 childhood. I was ready to prove that anyone can travel to the past; not their real past but a past so like their own the difference was negligible.
More than my personal triumph what the Wish Machine could do had tremendous significance. Why? I shall tell you why. Somewhere in the infinite variations of possibilities of other parallel worlds, people have discovered the answers to all the great questions of our age. Should I be lucky enough to find my way to one of those worlds I might make our world a new paradise.
Tempted as I was to tell the world about my success. I held myself in check. Some person other than I must enter the Wish Machine. They must repeat my experience and give me a detailed report on the result.
I walked across the campus to Molly’s Bake Shop, I ordered a fresh bear claw and a cup of coffee to clear my mind. I found a place in the back where I would not be disturbed. There I sat alone with my thoughts deciding what to do next.
My next subject would be a stranger; someone that knew nothing of parallel worlds and alternate realities. When I returned to my office I called the campus newspaper, The Tattler, and placed an advertisement in the Help Wanted section.
Help Wanted
$100.00 for a one-hour session
Contact: Dr. Samson Candella
P.O. Box 7, Physics Dept. U. of M.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Phone 388-8007 or come in person.
For two days no one called or came. I wondered if anyone would answer my advertisement. Was I offering enough money? I was reasonably sure the Wish Machine was safe. I had eliminated all other problems to my satisfaction. My new radiation counter had come and there was no radiation about the Wish Machine. It was clean as a whistle.
On Tuesday there came a soft, rather tentative rap on my office door.
I called, “Come in.”
A lady of indeterminate age opened the door and stood in the doorway. She hesitated, no sure whether she should come in.
Next week Dolly Collyburn, Cafeteria lady for the University, becomes Sam’s second experiment.
