The Time Capsule

Selena

“James Christopher, don’t you dare put that Twinkie in the box!” I yell from across the kitchen, finishing up my letter.

I hear a chorus of laughter as James groans, setting the Twinkie back down onto the table. “We all know I’ll sneak it in once again,” he says, sending a wink my way. I fold up the pieces of paper and slip them into the envelope before walking over to the rest of the group, “you done dear?”

“yup. Finished with my letter. Did you boys get the main one written?” After the letter Amber and I wrote, which was deemed ‘stupid and girly,’ Greg and James decided they got to write this one. Indeed, that did seem fair, but that didn’t mean Amber and I didn’t write one of our own.

“yes. It’s short, sweet, and to the point.” James tells me, once again trying to cover the Twinkie with a piece of paper. I slap his hand away and he just smirks.

Amber laughs, “it says, and I quote ‘read the damn letters.’”

I was speechless and shook my head at the two of them. It was definitely good that Amber and I wrote another letter. “Okay, does that mean we’re ready for the last picture then?” I ask, setting my envelope ontop of the pile in the box and taking out the Twinkie.

“remind me what the point of this picture is? We already have a recent one of all of us.” Greg points to the picture taken at their wedding.

“Greg, it’s a sweet idea to take a picture exactly how we were 17 years ago. It’ll only take a second and then you can pretend like it never happened.”

“It would be difficult to pretend it never happened since we will be opening this box back up in twenty years.” He replies, starting a small argument between the two of them. I ignore their bickering and slap James hand once again as he reaches for the Twinkie.

“It’s going to get in there.” He jokes, leaning up to kiss me.

“in your dreams buddy,” I pull him up from his spot and lead him to the back porch to watch the sun set over the fields. James wraps his arms around my waist and sets his chin on my head, “twenty years…” I whisper, thinking about all the things that would happen between now and the next time we open up the time capsule.

“yeah. Twenty years. Our kids will be teenagers.” James says, obviously thinking aloud by accident because that’s not a ‘James’ thing to say.

“and here I was thinking about how you’d be the head editor. But I like your future better. Watching you have those threatening talks with our daughters’ boyfriend, definitely an image worth seeing some time.”

“who ever said she could date?”

I lean my head up and kiss him, “honey, she will be allowed to date. We’re not keeping that experience from her.”

James’ hold on me tightens pulling me closer to his chest, “which experience? Catching your boyfriend in bed with another girl or having an emotionally abusive boyfriend that scares you?”

“The boyfriend that will be her best friend first and boyfriend second. The one that will care for her even when they aren’t together. The one that will tell her all the reasons he loves her, even if it takes forever. The boyfriend that’s the first thing she thinks when she wakes up and the last thing she thinks before going to bed. The boy she dreams about while sleeping, the one she daydreams about while in math class. The boy-” James cuts me off with his lips, moving me so that I’m facing him.

“The boy that’s perfect for her.” He whispers and I can do nothing but nod in response.

“okay lovebirds, let’s get this thing buried.” Greg says, walking out to the porch purposefully ruining our moment.

“is everything in it?” I ask, glancing down at the box.

“of course.” He sends James a wink and I glare at the two boys.

“hand it over.”

“what, Selena, it’s closed and everything.”

“and everything? Does that include a Twinkie? Just hand over the box.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Greg, James, you two are not going to do this. We found out what happens, isn’t that enough? We don’t need to do this again.”

They look at each other almost as if they’d give in, but I wasn’t so lucky. “but love, what if Twinkies don’t exist in twenty years?”

“it doesn’t matter cause your 50 year old self won’t need the terrible item they have the guts to call food.”

“someone’s not a Twinkie person.” Greg says quietly, James laughs and I send him a glare.

“but our kids might like to try one. Think of our daughter and her boyfriend! They’d love a Twinkie.”

Amber steps out of the house, holding something in her hand, “I forgot to put this one item in.”

“what is it?” Greg asks, eyeing his wife carefully.

“it’s a present for you in twenty years. So hand over the box.”

“I can put it in. you’ll just take out the Twinkie.”

Amber and I share a look and she mouths ‘booklet.’ It took me a moment to understand what she was talking about but when I saw the flash of pink in her hand I got it. She was putting in her period-book from high school, something that would definitely freak the guys out in twenty years. “It’s okay I guess, the Twinkie can stay,” I smile at Amber and wink, “only if she can put her present in.”

Greg lets Amber put in the booklet and some other small item before closing the box up for good. “Are we ready now?” James asks, grabbing a nearby shovel.

“yeah, we’re ready to go bury this thing.” I reply, leading the way to the spot we chose. It was actually the same spot as before but this time our tech-geek made it easier to find.

“This is going to sound tacky,” Greg starts, making us all groan, “but, I think we all are thankful for burying this thing seventeen years ago.”

James nods, patting down the last bit of dirt, “he’s right, none of us would be where we are right now without it.”

“I like to think that it was Selena that brought us back together.” Amber chimes in, making me blush and bury my head into James’ chest. “aw, come on Selena, you know it’s true! Without your push to make everyone stop their job, take a vacation, and come dig up a box we wouldn’t be here. It’s one time that your whole ‘stick to the promises and rules’ has actually been fun. I would never have tracked down Greg if we hadn’t done this.”

“And I definitely wouldn’t be putting a woman’s life at risk if we hadn’t done this.” Amber slaps Greg, “what? It’s true.”

“I thought we were over this Greg.”

“no, you were. I’m still contemplating whether it’s safe for you.”

“my point being,” Amber continues, ignoring her husband’s response, “is that if it weren’t for you having the guts to not just call us, but to fly to our homes and drag us back here, we wouldn’t all be friends again. We wouldn’t finally be living our dreams.”

I feel James’ chest vibrate as he laughs, “well you’re not getting something that sappy out of me. And I must argue that you and I would have found each other eventually…since that’s pretty much what happened. But I’m glad that you were able to fix their relationship, or make a relationship out of them, or I don’t know. Is that good enough?”

His question causes me to laugh before leaning up and kissing his cheek, “yes dear, that’s quite enough.” With that we all fell silent.

Seventeen years ago we were the best of friends. Now, through quite an adventure, we’re back to being the four of us. Seventeen years ago we made a lot of promises. Now, we’ve kept them and continue to add more each day. Seventeen years ago we buried the time capsule. Now, we’re about to bury another adventure for our future, another glance into our past. We may be going our separate ways, and live states apart, but this time around we’ll be sticking together when it matters the most.