v23.2 - Merry Christmas!!

Morning folks,

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Yesterday was very unusual for me.  It had been raining outside all day which made for a wet dreary day.  It was almost like the weather was echoing my mood.  I left work as I normally do but this time I was approached by a strange man in a long black coat with a brimmed hat.  He wore sunglasses, despite it being completely overcast, and had a black beard.  He kept his head down slightly as he approached me as if he was ashamed of something wrong he had done.  He never said a word, just handed me an envelope, nodded his head as to confirm I was the proper recipient and continued walking down the street.  I had to stop for a minute as the reality of the encounter sank in.  Who was this person?  What was in the envelope?  I turned to yell at the man to stop but by then it was too late; the stranger was gone and there I was standing in the rain holding an envelope.

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I turned the envelope over in my hands and saw the name written on the outside, "Dad".  Of course I'm a Dad, but Dad could mean almost anyone.  Clearly this strange man had made an error and mistaken me for someone else.  I made my way to my car holding the envelope in my hand pondering whether or not I should open it.  After all, it was handed to me, why shouldn't I take a look at it?  I found my car in the parking lot amongst hundreds of others all quietly awaiting the return of their owners for that inevitable drive home.  I got into my car and sat behind the wheel for a few minutes looking at the envelope.  The rain had started to make the ink run and now the "Dad" was barely legible.  I turned the envelope over and over in my hand wondering if I should open it or not.  I turned on the overhead light in my car and held the envelope up to it and found there was something inside; it looked like a small piece of paper.

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After what felt like hours I decided to go ahead an open the envelope and see what was inside.  I slowly begin to tear open the side and opened the envelope to see the small piece of paper inside.  I tipped the envelope up and the paper inside fell out into my hand.  I quickly examined the paper and found there was a small message scribbled on one side.  At first I was confused by the message but as I reread it over and over again it began to make sense and that is when I realized this envelope was meant for me and nobody else; this stranger had meant to meet me at that exact time on this exact day to deliver this single message to me so I would read it at this exact time.  The message simple said, "Duck".

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I turned my head just in time to see a huge wrecking ball coming right for me.  I did the only thing I could think of; I ducked.  The wrecking ball slammed into the top of my car nearly ripping off the entire roof.  Had I been sitting up in the car, I would have most likely been killed instantly.  The sound was deafening as the wrecking ball slammed into my car tearing away the roof.  It was as if time started to slow down, I could hear every piece of metal bend and break, every shard of glass hit.  It only lasted a second but laying there in the front seat of my car it felt like hours.  There was glass everywhere and jagged pieces of metal sticking up where the roof of my car had been.  The wrecking ball had come to a stop now and in the distance I could hear yelling.  I was dazed and confused, I didn't know what was happening until a couple of men came running up to my car dressed in orange reflective vests and hard hats asking me if I was ok.  Later I found out that the wrecking ball had gotten away from them while they were trying to store it for the night.  It has been a freak accident, one in a million I'm told, and I was very lucky to have survived it.

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As the men were talking to me my mind began to drift back to that man who had given me the envelope that ultimately saved me life.  Who was he?  Could he have been me from the future?  Of course not, my future self would have died in that accident.  Could he have been my son from the future then?  My mind began to race quickly over the possibilities; the sounds of the men were slowy beginning to fade and then everything went black; I had passed out.

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Of course none of this really happened, I only wrote this story to get and keep your attention.  My drive home yesterday was just like every other day, but that's boring and nobody likes to read about boring things so I decided to spice it up a bit.  The stranger in the story was really my son from the future.  You see on that day I died and my son grew up without his dad.  In 2034 mankind found a way to send people through time; my son risked everything, even the future of mankind itself to go back in time to save his dad so he could have a childhood where his father was there for him.  I would never forget the sacrifice he made for me.

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Cheers,
Al