Stephen Marlowe

“ Because if you destroyed Angus Haney's time machine there wouldn't be any such thing as time travel and you wouldn't have built your own machine. So you forgot. The episode sort of never existed for you."
"I'm terribly sorry I can't help you, fellow." A genuine look of sympathy in his eyes.
"There's no such thing as time travel. For everybody but me. I'm the one guy who proved time travel was possible—before the first and only time machine was destroyed."
He leaves. The head medics confer. I know what they're saying. I'm nuts. Time travel is impossible so I must be nuts. ”

“ He stares at me. He's Great-great, all right. He frowns and says, "I could not possibly be interested. I never saw you before in my life. And obviously, there is no such thing as time travel." He shakes his head sadly and starts to leave. ”

“ All the attempts at my life had been made at home, either by my wife Sue or our boy Sam. Sounds nuts, because we're a pretty happy family usually. But there it was. Either Sue or Sam could have snafu'd the pulley on the extension ladder and either one of them could have turned on the gas jets after I had dozed. As for the drained brake fluid, Sue didn't know a spark plug from the carburetor air intake, but Sam was a hot rod with his own beat-up jalopy and knew as much about cars as anyone since old Henry Ford himself. ”

“ I said, "Angus is as good as my client right now."
"I will give you," the well-preserved middle aged man said, "ten thousand dollars to help me destroy Angus Haney's time machine."
"And win or lose you won't have my family try to kill me any more?"
"Win or lose," he said.
Great-great—I got to call him that because I never learned his name—waited for my answer while I did some of the fast thinking a private dick has to do every working day of his life. When opportunity knocks, a private dick can't pass it up. He won't keep his shingle up long if he does because the work isn't exactly steady. ”

“ I still had the wife's car with me, but she could pick up mine at the service station on her own way to work.
I was too excited to eat breakfast. It isn't every morning you start out to earn ten thousand dollars.
I drove across town to the address on Angus Haney's card. Great-great was already waiting for me, and pacing the sidewalk impatiently. The frown lifted when he saw me and you could actually see him relax down to the tips of his toes.
"I can take care of the machine," he said. "You watch for Angus. If Angus tries to stop me, you take care of Angus. All right?" ”

“ Great-great stood poised with the metal pipe at the top of its arc, ready to bring it down with crushing force on the delicate control bank of the machine. Angus seemed to stop in mid-air as he leaped for the pipe. ”

“ It's funny how a silly little habit can save your life.
I got into the car that morning and was thinking of nothing in particular—except maybe the cases I hoped to be getting downtown in my one man private dick office. We live at the top of the city's highest hill, my wife and our son Sam, who's seventeen, and myself. At least it's the highest hill in the residential district and the highest one I know of. So out of habit I patted the brakes to test them as the car began to roll down the slight incline of the driveway. ”

“ Sam was still lingering over his coffee before heading over to the high school. Sue was doing the dishes and humming. She turned around and said:
"S'matter dear, something wrong with the car?"
"You better ask Sammy," I suggested.
"Sammy? But why?"
"I don't get it, pop," Sammy said still drinking his coffee.
The other two times I had said nothing. Accidents. You don't accuse your own wife and son of trying to kill you unless you're sure. But the drained brake fluid was no accident. ”

“ There's hardly anything to explain. Your wife tried to kill you by almost cutting through the pulley rope of your extension ladder, but you got off with a strained ankle. She tried to kill again by leaving the gas jets on one night in the kitchen. But you awoke in time. Your son tried to kill you this morning by draining the brake fluid from your car. ”