What Should I Tell My Daughter by Victor Schwartzman

A Dad and His Time Machine

What Should I Tell My Daughter?

I have a daughter of two—what to do about her future relating with people (given what I know is feeble?) Being an experienced electrician, it became my mission to build a time machine to glean a solution (built in the basement, near the pool table, best I was able.) On a quiet Sunday afternoon (in June), while my wife was with our daughter, as she oughta, I traveled eighteen years into the future to ask her, as a peer, to consult on how to be an adult.

I found her in the living room, reading a hefty tome. She looked at me, put down her pen and said, “Again?”

“Darling, I've come from the past,” I explained, "to be better at my task as a dad, so we won't end up sad." And, then, "What do you mean, again?”

“The first time, you said I was thirteen and worried about me being mean. Then I was eleven and it was about Heaven. At six you worried I was up to kid's tricks. If I may be so bold, this time my age, how old?”

“Two,” I said. “Uh, when did I last I visit you?”

“Two hours ago or so. You keep inventing a time machine to feed your hunger and so keep popping up, each time a few years younger.” I slumped, stumped. “So what’s my crime this time?”

“It’s about relating to others, including possible brothers. Maybe it's sad but I only

want to be a great dad.”

“I can relieve you of this curse. First,” she told me, “buy me a phone when I’m five to keep me alive and not alone. Second, I reckon you should stop coming here. To me it's clear."

I thanked her and returned back eighteen years, to my fears.  I then would remain in my time, make it sublime and never worry about every little flurry. (I made her wait, she got a phone when she was eight.)

One year before this story begins, I think of my possible sins as a dad, looking at my new infant, learning each instant. So as a task, I decide to build a time machine to visit her in the future and ask what she knew about what I should do.

VICTOR SCHWARTZMAN BIO:

I’m 76, have written all my life, and currently am a retired Human Rights Officer living in Vancouver.  I’ve been terrible at submitting, but in the past, my stuff has been accepted by St. Vitus Prose and Poetry Review, Cherry Bleeds, and The American Drivel Review.  More recently, using Duotrope and a new commitment, I’ve been accepted by The Academy of Hearts and Minds and The Potato Soup Review.

I try to write focused satire, starting with an issue very important to me.  

I am involved with two weekly one-hour radio shows on CFRO FM in Vancouver. Soapbox Radio, which I produce and host, is on disability issues. World Poetry Cafe, for which I do the operating and editing, and some on air reading, is a poetry show heard in 138 countries each week, via live streaming. I write mostly flash fiction and poetry and have edited novels that were published (one in Africa and one in Nepal). The new writing is posted on my Facebook literary page, King of the Planet.