On regular day in a small regular town of Belmont, Massachusetts a not so regular boy named Parker just got out of school. Parker was an 11-year-old boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles on his nose. He looks like a typical 5th grade boy but on the inside he is quite above average. He is probably the smartest kid in his school, beside maybe Sam. Sam is his best friend. He is a red head with loads of freckles, and very tall and thin. Parker and Sam are the two odd men out. Their test scores are better than most high schoolers, and Sam even takes calculus lessons on Tuesday and Thursday.

Honk, Honk!

“Are you gonna get in the car already?” Said Grandma Rasco with a smile on her face.

“Sorry Granny.”

Parker called his Grandma Rasco, Granny. He liked the sound of it better, it sounded more happy and joyful than Grandma.

“So how was your day today?” Granny said with an enthusiastic voice.

“Ehh, it was just a normal day like always.” Parker shrugged and laid his head back on the car seat.

School always seemed too easy for Parker and he thought that it always would. He knew all the answers to every problem so it seemed like a waste of time to him. The only thing that really gave Parker joy was working the science lab with his father and learning new things about science.

“When is dad getting home from work?” He said knowing that the answer would disappoint him.

“Late as always.” Granny said with a sad tone. “But don’t worry about your father too much kiddo because tonight is board game night.” She said with a sudden rise of joy. “And I may or may not have a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the oven waiting for us.”

“Granny, have you ever felt like something is just not right and you want to fix it, but you can’t?”

“Yes, why?”

“I’m feeling that way right now.”

“Did something happen at school today that you need to tell me?”

“No, I just want Dad to come home early tonight.” Parker said with a worried voice.

Several minutes passed, both of them didn’t say a word while the classical music played from the car speakers.
“Here we are, home sweet home.” Granny said as they pulled into the driveway.

When Parker and Granny opened the door to the house they saw I large old figure on the couch watching TV.
“Hey Grandpa.” Parker said

“Oh, hello. How was yur day?” Grandpa said with his country accent.

“It was fine.”

“Tonight is gaaaamme night” Grandma Rasco said excitingly.

“It is indeed! What do you wanna play Parker?” Grandpa said

“Sorry or Trouble” Parker said

As the night went by, they played a number of different games and Parker went to bed.

The next morning Parker got up early in the morning and went into his father’s room to see him but he wasn’t there. So he went in the kitchen where grandma was cooking breakfast. 

“Good morning Granny, when did dad come home last night?”

She had not confirmed her son had come home. She assumed he came in late as he often did. She turned to Parker with the concern on her face, “Is your dad not still sleeping?” Parker confirmed his Dad’s bed had not been touched since the night before. Granny called out to Grandpa, that Gary had not come home last night. Parker immediately called his Dad’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. He had either turned his phone off, or the battery died. Granny called his office number, again no answer. Parker reminded Granny that he had been concerned the day before about wanting his Dad to come home early yesterday. Granny quit making breakfast and told Grandpa and Parker to get in the car for them to go check on Gary at the University. As they were driving to the University Grandpa and Granny got in an argument on whether their son was fine or if Granny was overreacting.

When they arrived at the university they asked the receptionist at the front desk if Professor Rasco had came to work yet.

“No, I haven’t seen him come in today. In fact, I don’t think I saw him leave yesterday either.”

When Granny heard this her eyes widened. She darted as fast as she could with her cane to the classroom. When she got there she slammed the door open and yelled “GARY!” When she said this a whole class full of college students whipped their heads around startled, and some of them had very concerned looks on their faces. One very kind looking student came up to Granny and said

“ma’am, what do you need help with?”

Granny told the young man she was looking for Professor Rasco. All the students told Granny that he was not in the class or the lab. They then went into the lab to look for clues of where the Professor could be. Parker noticed something odd with one of the projects that him and his father had been working on for a while now. “Look at this time machine Dad and I have been working on.” Parker said with a concerned voice. All the students gathered around it and wondered what the problem was with it. “There is some sort of problem with the transition between present and future time like almost something has been caught in the future.” Parker quickly darted to the test history of the machine. It said that it last started up last night at 10:30 pm. Parker looked at where and when the object that was transferred is in the future. The machine said that an organism is stuck in the middle of the future and the present and can’t get out! When Parker saw this, he swung his head around and said “Dad’s stuck in the future!”

“Oh my word!” Granny yelled.

So Parker and his Grandpa gathered up all of the students to help get their professor out of the future and back into the now.

All of the students and Parker were figuring out ways to reverse the machine to somehow get him back. They used the notes that the professor had already made the night before to run the machine. They tried and tried for many hours and their test came short. But Parker was not coming short and letting his Father get stuck in the future forever. Finally something clicked in Parker’s brilliant mind. A plan to get his father back. Parker gathered all the students together and made the plan go into action. They were going to reverse the system and put his father back into the present. “Ok flip the switch in 3, 2, 1.” An odd sound came from the machine and a beam of light suddenly burst throughout the room and THUD!

“Hello” a voice said.

“Father is that you?”, Parker’s eyebrows slowkly raised.

“No, it’s Pablo.”

“What, who is Pablo!”

“Just kidding its your dad.”

The family was reunited and they never worked on that old machine again.