January 9, 2106

Kansas City

Pim Diffy, a.k.a. Dear Pim, stared at the blank wall of room 2006 of the Time Warp Hotel, lying as though ironed out on the floor, not really caring about anything. Her life was good – not great, but still good. Pim was just a typical retired celebrity these days. But deep inside she knew she had only lived her past lifestyle in a desperate attempt to correct things. And correct things she hadn't.

Pim reflected on her time in the twenty-first century. Sure, it was good, and it would have been a lot better if the time machine hadn't exploded trying to go back and fetch Curtis, leaving the Diffy family scattered through the centuries.

Oh, she'd made efforts to track them down. But these efforts, though reasonably successful, had still left her empty. She'd traced her mother to the late sixteenth century, and she'd recognized Phil from images of the Second World War. She'd not found Lloyd – or Curtis, for that matter.

As for Pim herself, she'd arrived in 2090, her lone hope being to draw the attention of past versions of Lloyd and/or Barbara. Of course, it was a virtual impossibility to pick one person out of a whole planet. She figured it would be easier to draw her target to her.

Which was why she'd made herself famous.

It had been surprisingly simple. One day in February 2100, she went out and said she was willing to offer advice to anyone who wanted it. By May of that same year, she was Dear Pim, a household name, beloved by the entire world.

But it had all come crashing down – more or less literally – with that horrible accident on Christmas Eve 2101. Her memories were still fuzzy, but she knew she was lucky to be alive, much less be in such good condition as she was. The whole ordeal felt like a bad omen. A nagging voice inside her convinced her that it was useless to try. So she gave up. Dear Pim was no more.

Nowadays, she was nowhere. Her life was in ruins, and she knew it too well. She'd mostly lived in hotels around the world, and most of them seemed extraordinarily tacky. Like London's larger-than-life petting zoo, or Tokyo's furnished toilet, or Kansas City's patchwork quilt of space and time.

Thinking about the last one, Pim shuddered. She recognized her surroundings: room 2006, modeled after the year 2006. It was creepy, but it made sense. This wasn't just a hotel room. It was a reminder – a reminder of what may have been the greatest time of her life. It was almost haunting to think that she would never go back.

Pim Diffy needed a miracle, but at this point it seemed merely to be wishful thinking. She sighed, knowing her life was completely and utterly ruined, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Pim's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sound that could only have been someone opening the door to her room. She wondered for a second why the hotel had neglected to give her a "Do Not Disturb" sign, then realized it really didn't matter.

She turned her head and saw her. She looked an awful lot like Pim, maybe a few years younger. Pim assumed, more or less correctly, that she felt she didn't need to be it the room right now.

Pim felt confused. What was this strange woman doing in here? Her mind was so muddled that it took a good ten seconds, maybe more, to make out that she was wearing a Time Warp Hotel uniform with a Time Warp Hotel badge. Pim also thought she was saying something, but her ears were so fuzzy she couldn't make it out. Well, it was an employee. It didn't seem to matter much, but there was no way this woman would just come here for the fun of it. Pim figured she'd just go with the flow.

As Pim regained control of her ears, the first words she made out were "Is Pim Diffy in here?"

"Right here," Pim said.

"There you are!" The woman walked over to Pim and handed her a sealed envelope. "This is for you." She thought, then outstretched her hand and added, "I'm Alyson Speckle."

Pim thought she recognized the name Speckle from somewhere, but she couldn't recall. So she just shook Alyson's hand and chuckled. "You know, letter-writing was kind of phasing out in the 2000s."

"I know. Not my decision."

Pim meditated on that for a moment, before turning her attention to the letter. With some difficulty, she opened the envelope and read the message on the piece of paper inside.

Pim Diffy,

I'm pretty certain it's a coincidence that we have the same last name. I know Diffy isn't a common last name, but just because two people share a surname doesn't mean they're related. But even if we are distant relatives, it still wouldn't change my opinion about you. You have maybe the most fascinating life of any living person, and I admire you because of that. Or maybe it's just that we have the same last name.

I know your days as Dear Pim are long over, but I feel as though there's some weird… force or something pulling me – or maybe just this message – to you. A strange and mysterious dimension of the universe, perhaps. Anyway, here goes.

I live in a small town called Pickford, and it's a wonderful place to live. Sometimes I feel like Pickford is in a deep, dark corner of the galaxy where the normal rules don't apply, only special Pickford rules, in place just to make it the greatest place in the world. I especially feel this way when I'm around Barbara Speckle, quite simply the sweetest woman in the whole world.

I love Barbara with my whole heart, and deep down I know I want to spend my life with her. We've had great times. But I just keep thinking about… the time capsule.

Not that long ago, Barbara and I were on a picnic date and unwittingly stumbled upon a time capsule. It had been buried there for a hundred years already, so we figured there was no harm to be done in opening it. Inside, we found great things. We sold some of them for a fortune, and became moderately famous for travelling the world showing off the others. But something was wrong.

Before we had found the time capsule, I had believed Barbara was just another girl that I would have sweet moments with, and then forget. That was how it had been with all my previous girlfriends. But after finding the time capsule, we spent more time together, and I realized she was the one for me. But I don't think she knows. I think she thinks that we're just close friends. It's probably because she knows that material goods make poor foundations for romance. The problem is that it wasn't built on material goods at all. It was there before the time capsule, and I just hadn't noticed it until we spent more time together.

And because of that, I'm stuck. I can't tell her I'm in love with her because she'll hate me for building a romance on material goods, and I can't not tell her I'm in love with her because then nothing would come of it. I can't do anything, and I desperately need help. If you would help me, I would be so very grateful.

- Lloyd in Pickford

Pim retracted her face from the letter in shock. What were the chances? Lloyd had mentioned that there was a weird force pulling him to write the letter. Was it a coincidence, or was this somehow supposed to happen?

Pim put down the note and tried to think about it, but her thought processes were more or less stalled by the realization that Alyson Speckle was still in her room. Pim motioned for her to leave, but she didn't go anywhere.

So there was a complete stranger sitting in her room. Pim sighed trying as hard as she could to focus on the letter. She couldn't. It was just too hard with someone else in the room. She realized, however, that something had to be done. She made her decision.

Pim stood up, walked over to Alyson, and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around Pim spoke: "Pardon me for asking this, but… could you take me to Pickford?"