Time's Tempestuous Tangle

Matthew was once a scientist. He lived in a village that had been settled for two centuries. The village was surrounded by a small forest, with no roads leading to it. He lived in a small stone house with his wife Rose and daughter Heather. Matthew loved them more than anything in the world, but he grew tired of their simple life.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” Matthew said to Rose. “How much longer we can do this?” She asked him. “We’ve been doing this for years now. It’s time to grow up and get used to it.” Rose said calmly. “But I need more out of life than this! I need something new! Something exciting!” Matthew argued. “Why would you want to travel through time? What could be more exciting than right now?” Rose asked in disbelief.

He didn’t have an answer for her so he just left the room, slamming the door behind him as he stormed out into the village square, where a crowd had gathered around a man sitting on a stool with two boards resting on his knees. The crowd was talking amongst themselves, and as Matthew approached he realized that they were discussing the boards that the man held onto his knees. They were talking about what was written on them, and what it meant for the village.

The man sat there in silence as everyone discussed his boards, but then, finally, he spoke up. His voice was hoarse and raspy from many years of smoking cigarettes and yelling at his children. “So what do you think? Do you still want to go back in time? We are running out of time here people! We have to make a decision soon or we will miss our window! You all know what happens if we miss our window! We will miss out on everything! We will miss out on history itself!”

"Excuse me sir," Matthew said politely after interrupting the man's speech. "Can I ask you something?" The man looked up at Matthew with piercing blue eyes. "Sure, kid what is it?" He asked kindly. "Well...where is this 'window' that you keep mentioning?" Matthew asked. "Oh well, it's actually very simple," the man replied pleasantly. "Well, where is it?" Matthew repeated impatiently. "Well...it's right here in front of us today!" The man smiled broadly, revealing yellow teeth stained black by years of tobacco use. "It's today!" He repeated emphatically before continuing on once again with his speech.

"You know," he continued after taking a short breath, "today is Thursday, isn't it? Where does Thursday fit in? Well, it fits right smack dab between Wednesday and Friday, doesn't it? Doesn't that seem strange to you?" The man paused briefly to scratch his head before continuing, "I mean, why does Monday come last when Monday is clearly the most important day of all weekdays because Monday is when all good things happen?"

He chuckled at his own joke and then said, "Don't worry, I'm just kidding—I'm only kidding... Let me tell you one thing about Mondays: Mondays are the worst!" He yelled angrily. The man then regained control over himself, taking another deep breath to calm himself down before addressing an individual within the crowd who seemed particularly engaged in his speech. "Now, let me tell you something, my friend—Thursdays fit right between Wednesdays and Fridays, which makes Thursdays extremely special!"

The man continued, "So, my question to you is this: why do Fridays belong between Thursdays and Saturdays? Doesn't that seem strange to you?" The crowd waited patiently for someone else to respond. Finally, someone did reply, "Yes sir, I suppose it does seem strange, doesn't it?"

The old man, satisfied with the response, said enthusiastically, "Exactly my friend! You get it!" An awkward silence fell over the crowd. However, they realized that no one had an explanation for these apparent peculiarities in the days of the week. As they dispersed, Matthew couldn't help but feel as though his desire to explore the unknown and experience something more from life remained as strong as ever.