Saturday Sweets

A sci-fi story for children, by Tom Söderlund

“Come, I wanna show you something”. The girl ran across the grass towards the tool shed. Her name was Nina and she was six years old. I was four.

“Here's something grandpa built, you'll see!"
She pushed open the door. The tool shed was dusty and full of stuff.
“There it is!" Nina said. In the corner stood something, covered by a gray tarpaulin. Nina tore off the tarp. A cloud of dust rose up.

Underneath was a home-made machine, as big as a refrigerator. It had a lot of gauges and dials. In the middle was a small seat.
“It's a time machine!” Nina exclaimed proudly.
“A what?” I said.
“You can travel in time with it. Check it out!”

Nina sat down in the seat and started turning on a dial that looked like a small clock.
“When do you want to go to?”
I thought a little. “Home to the city perhaps?"
“No, I asked ‘when’, not ‘where’. ‘WHEN’ do you want to go to?"

At first I didn’t understand the question, so I was quiet and thought about it a little more.
“Saturday sweets.” I finally said.
“Huh?”
“Saturday. We can travel to Saturday. Then we can go get candy.”
“Good idea” said Nina. “Sit here.”

I sat down on Nina’s lap. She continued to turn the meter while thinking aloud: “Today is Thursday... Saturday is in two days... and we want to arrive in the morning. Like that! And then the battery.”
Nina leaned forward and flicked a switch. An electrical buzz was heard and the entire machine began to vibrate slightly. A few lights lit up on the dashboard.

“Do you want to press the button?”
She pointed to a green button that said START in big letters. I reached out a nervous finger for the button. “But go on then, press it!” said Nina impatiently.

I pressed.

The buzzing and vibrations got stronger. A couple of lights started flashing. Then it went black, as if I closed my eyes. And then bright again. I felt a pressure in my ears, like when you ride an airplane.

“Are we there?" I wondered. “I think so”. I looked towards the window of the shed. It was drizzling outside. It hadn’t a minute ago.

We jumped out of the machine and ran out of the tool shed. Rushed across the wet grass towards the big house.

Inside the kitchen stood my mom and Nina’s mother. “There you are!" said mom. “Wanna go and buy Saturday sweets?"