HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
“So. Forward or back? Lyndsey?”
“Back. We’re already going forward. When we get out of the tub, we’ll be in the future. Back would be real magic.”
“No, no, we’re not talking magic we’re talking science. The question was, if it were scientifically possible to create a hot tub time machine, which way would you go?”
“Still back.”
“Fine. Becky?”
“Oh forward. But it would have to be far enough. We already know the past. Forward past my natural life span.”
“Simon?”
“Actually, Neither. I’d just want to stay here with you guys and enjoy the time we’re having right now. Not go back to work, just stay here in the sun, drinking prosecco in the tub.”
“Melanie?”
“It has to be both or neither. Because there’s no point if it’s a one-way trip. No point going forward to get lottery numbers if you can’t come back. No point changing the past if you can’t see the results in the future.”
“But if you have to pick, knife to your throat?”
“No one had a knife to Simon’s throat.”
“Come on, don’t be boring!”
“If I have to pick then I pick both.”
“But the knife?”
“Okay back, by five minutes, to hide all the knives.”
We all agreed that something hideous must have happened.
“Oh God, we’re swimming in toddler soup, aren’t we?”
Considering the implications of Becky’s question, we fell silent.
