Disclaimer: PotF: Never owned it; never will.
47/17
Chapter One - Keely's P.O.V.: Phil Doesn't Get It
You can do anything with a time machine, or so you thought. Time machines have their limits, it seems. At least two. While these incredible temporal conveyances can traverse the time lanes, they have no power over making the gears of government move any faster, so Phil could return to her immediately. Then, there's the other limitation of even the magical time machines: no matter how far back he traveled, Phil was still the same age himself, and not a day younger. Seventeen and moving away to college in just a few months, it's senior year and Keely finally got her wish granted. Phil Diffy came back to her, but things were different, not very different, but definitely different. It had only been a few months from her perspective, but for Phil, thirty years had passed. It's not that he looked disgusting or anything, he was still Phil, but being so much older, how could he ever again be her Phil? What would she tell her mother?
Like life, the condition of his return was that the trip could only be one way. Leave the comfort of the 22nd Century for the woman he loved? For Phil, that wasn't even an issue, but when to return? He considered returning to when they were both the same age once again, but after Giggling her history, how could he? Two marriage, both to men her own age, one met in college, the other after, and her being hurt each time? Age wasn't the issue, it was the companions. It was settled; he'd leave 2151 and go back before she had a chance to be hurt, the end of what should have been THEIR senior year.
Phil waved enthusiastically to Keely across the street, calling out her name; she stealthily gave him a little Queen-of-England wave, all the while hoping no one else would see and that he would wouldn't be so eager. He brought her presents from the future, a future he couldn't return to ever again. Politely accepting them, marveling over them even, she still acted differently. The skyak, once their passport to adventure, remained tucked away in its sphere mode; these days, Keely was too busy with school work to spend time with Phil. Dances at H. G. Wells were out for the couple without the school needing outside chaperones, let alone weekday lunches under their tree. There simply was no reason for a man approaching the half-century mark to be on the high school campus -- even one she use to stay up all night talking to.
Don't take this wrong, it's not that Keely didn't love Phil any more. For the longest time she wished he would find a way back to her; waiting was so hard, especially for a teenager. Other boys had noticed the vacuum in her dating life, and that had placed extra pressures on her to conform to the role of a typical teenage girl. True, they weren't Phil, but Phil was no longer the typical teenage boy. Liking younger boys ... loving Phil would be so much harder now. It wasn't just that he was older. Things were great when he first returned, so great! But as time passed, she noticed that keeping his secret felt different this time, being with Phil felt wrong.
She still loved him.
Phil was still her Phil on the inside. He still acted the same, as if he were her age, just looking bigger, stronger, and OLDER. If his body wasn't falling apart now, she reflected as she inserted her contact lenses, he probably would be soon, right? What would she have in common with an old person anyway? Sure, she had learned plenty these past months out of the classroom, but Phil had time to sandbagged three decades worth of living wild and crazy while he waited for the slow passage of temporal law to allow them to be together once again. Surely, he had to be living in a different stage in his life, while she still wanted to have her turn at being young. She didn't want to settle down just yet, maybe someday, but not now. Phil was so attentive, she felt trapped. She wanted her freedom to be young and live in a world of unknown possibilities.
Dear Diary,
The workload that comes with my senior year continues to trample me like one of Curtis's mammoths, and a woolly, at that -- and me with only one spear, having lost my favorite studybuddy. He's back, still it's not the same when we don't share the class or do all the normal things we used to. I want to be thrilled about our being a couple again!
Phil still doesn't get it. I'm a senior, but he's almost a SENIOR! When I'm 25, he'll be 55; when I'm 30, he'll be 60, ... when Phil's 104, I'll be 74! I'll be too old to be taking care of centenarian! Of course, at three-quarters of a century, myself, I'll don't want to be taking care of anyone. I want my kids and grandchildren to take care of me! Can you imagine Phil or any man being a father at 55, at 60? It's hard enough to think of him in his late 40s.
Phil's coming by tonight to talk.
He doesn't get it. I love him, but while I have my whole life ahead of me, he's in a different stage in life. I want to take chances, move to a new city, try different jobs, stay out late at parties, and a dozen, no, a hundred different things. Hop in my car and just drive and drive with no destination in mind, getting a room when I get tired, and exploring whatever new city I've ended up in. It's not like Phil's going to just leave everything behind just to be with me, not a chance.
When I close my eyes, Diary, he's my Phil, but he's trying too hard. It's like we've been apart for so long that I'm all he's thought about while we've been apart. How sad is that? He had the world of the future to enjoy and, instead, he dreamed about the two of us and our life together. Why didn't he just be young and live in the moment? Well, last night I told him to back off telling me how much he loves me, how I'm his world; I can't breathe anymore with all this attention. He used to just be there with me, loving, but so was I. We balanced each other out. Things are just out of balance right now and I don't know what went wrong or how to make things right anymore. I don't even know if I want to.
I want my old Phil back. This I know. I want to stop feeling this way and go back to being excited to be with Phil. I want back the Phil who worked the camera, helped me with term papers, the one I got out of jams as many times as he did likewise. The Phil Diffy who would go shopping with me on sale-mania mornings, happy to walk me to school and back again, and who took the time to prepare a post-birthday picnic for me in the park with my favorite things because he knew me on the inside. I want that Phil Diffy back, the one who'd hold my purse while I ran into the changing room, who'd serve me cold apple juice and my favorite snack ready from his locker with a smile. Where'd that Phil go? The one who'd send out signals to guys ogling me like he'd bury them; he didn't think I saw him do it, but an aspiring investigative reporter doesn't miss much.
Phil doesn't get it. I want to go back to feeling what I was feeling before. I want, I wanted, to marry Phil. Not today, but someday. I even told him so. My Phil would have waited, but this Phil, well, he says he will wait, too, and that after waiting 30 years, what's another ten or twenty? But he'll be even older then, 57, and I'll be 27; 67 and 37.
It's harder now. Before, I alone was in on Phil's secret that he was special and that made me feel special. To the casual observer, together, we were just a couple of average teenagers, but now, everything's inside-out. Everyone is going to notice us, stare, point and whisper, while only I know his secret that he is the same on the inside. Like I said, so much harder being under a microscope, I wish he --
There's his same knock! Phil's at the door, Diary. I'll spill later. Wish me luck.
17/47
Author's Note: I love seeing hits from Phil of the Future readers around the globe and it would be so nice to read PotF stories from your P.O.V. (Point Of View). Maybe you are in the same situation as some of the reviewers here by not having a word processor on your computer to create your own files to upload. There's a way around this!
1. Download any .txt text file from the internet and save it to your computer. It won't matter what it's about.
2. Using Fan Fiction's "DOCUMENT MANAGER under "PUBLISH," create a story document by selecting the textfile on your computer.
3. Now, select "EDIT/PREVIEW" in the "Document Manager" and you can delete the original text and replace it with your very own Phil of the Future masterpiece! In the Edit/Preview Document feature you'll have access to an online word processor to create and adjust the layout of your story: BOLD, italicized, underlined words; alignments to the left and
center
horizontal rulers
spell check, and even undo and redo.
My favorite feature is SAVE at the bottom of the page.
Three simple steps to absolute power over your own stories!
Looking forward to reading your versions of the adventures of Phil of the Future real soon.
Best
CraftyNotepad
P.S. my twentieth story!
