The writing prompt for this piece was a set of words to choose from to start our writing. I chose all of the words to include in this piece. The words were: And, Maybe, Time, Wait, Before, Now, and Thanksgiving.
The Inheritance
And the time had come. It was difficult to wait this long. The decision had been made before I was born. Now was the moment that I was to use my inheritance.
I never believed I would be able to do this.
My first Thanksgiving as a teenager was when my grandfather pulled me aside and explained it all to me.
“Harvey, you have been given a gift,” he said, “The firstborn male child of every other generation inherits it. When you reach your 21st birthday, at the exact time you were born, you must say these words:
The time is right.
I have no fright.
I need to use the power of flight.
Back in time is where I will go,
To the ancestor, that will let me know
The power that I hold within.“
My grandfather couldn’t tell me what that power he spoke of was. He told me that only the first one could explain. My grandfather was clear that my words would send me back in time to where the power originated and that all questions would be answered.
I had eight years to ponder this. Eight anxious, frustrating years of letting my imagination go wild. Just the thought of being able to travel through time was enough to feed my dreams with all sorts of alternative realities.
I couldn’t talk to my parents about it, for they were not of the chosen generation. They would have no knowledge of what was to happen.
You should note that a few days after my grandfather gave me the words, he passed away. At least, I think he did. He just disappeared one day and was never seen again. When I asked my mother about it, she informed me that all my grandparents had passed away before I was born.
Despite arguing that I had seen and talked to her father, she said I must have just been dreaming.
So here I stand, twenty years old at 4:22 in the morning, waiting for the second hand to reach 12.
Was it all a dream? Time travel isn’t possible, right? This is a foolish thing to do. But no one is here with me. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe this power that I have in me can be used to help this world. It certainly needs it.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1:
“The time is right.
I have no fright.
I need to use the power of flight.
Back in time is where’ll go,
To the ancestor that will let me know
The power that I hold within.”
