Chapter 6 — Horses For Courses
Rufus talks about his theory about questions, and specifically how it relates to writing.
Followed by Chapter 6 —— Horses For Courses, in which Saskia and Mica visit the Santa Anita racetrack.
Listen to full episode :
Hello Friends,
Welcome to the sixth installment of this fun project.
Before turning to the next chapter of The Curve of Time, I want to talk about a theory I have about writing, a theory that says: it’s all about questions.
One dimension of this theory is that writing is about the questions that the readers are asking. Specifically, it states that: If at any point, the reader has no questions about the story … well let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.
Now this might naturally sound quite plot-centric, but the questions in the reader’s mind could include anything from questions of character, to the structure of the world in which the book takes place. And embedded in having questions, is the implication that readers care enough to ask them.
Of course, my own predilection does revolve around my pre-occupation with plot, but I’m not entirely alone in zeroing in on this element as the most essential. I believe Steven Soderbergh was once quoted as saying the three most important things in a movie are: “story, story, and story”. I get that some might argue that plot and story are not one hundred precent synonymous, but——at least in my mind——they’re certainly related.
This all leads me to what is probably an overdue call for engagement among you lot. Time for a call to action: So, now that we’re six chapters in, I’m very interested to hear what questions are on your minds.
To be sure, I hope you have had questions from the first line, to the first paragraph, to the first chapter, and so forth. I’d love to hear, if you recall what you wondered when you read the opening sentence: “The first time Saskia came unstuck in time, she didn’t spot herself in the background.” I’d love to hear what you are wondering after today’s chapter. What has piqued your interest thus far?
Out of curiosity I asked Claude (Anthropic’s LLM GPT) to review the first chapter of The Curve of Time a few months ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the questions it wondered. Of course, it would be even more wonderful if human readers were similarly intrigued. So, please let me know what questions you have wondered over the last few weeks. I’d love to compare and see how well they match the questions I was hoping to incite in your mind.
Until next week, be kind to someone and keep an eye out for the ripples of joy you’ve seeded.
Cheerio
Rufus
PS. If you think of someone who might enjoy joining us on this experiment, please forward them this email. And if you are one of those someone’s and you’d like to read more
And now, without further ado, Saskia will finally, as promised, meet up with Mica at the Santa Anita racetrack to show her how slipping in time works.
— 6 —
Horses for Courses
Saskia waited for Mica by the entrance to the racetrack. She had enjoyed the open morning practice as a child, though only once had she attended an actual race day. It was expensive and her father had always felt there was something less pure about the actual races. Racing to win a prize felt wrong to him, and the sentiment had rubbed off on Saskia.
The smell of horses wafted across from the owners’ stalls and made an odd juxtaposition with the automotive landscape that the giant car park in front of her presented.
She was glad she had exchanged phone numbers with Mica, and just to affirm that connection she texted the reporter her location. Noting the reminder she’d made on the phonetics of Mica’s name——M-I-T-Z-A——Saskia committed it to memory as she reflected on the transparent nature of her excuse to start a text chain.
Then, Mica tapped Saskia on the shoulder, returning her to the present.
Before they entered, Saskia stressed to Mica that slipping in time was still new to her too——that she was yet to figure out exactly how it all worked. And, with that caveat, Saskia made Mica promise that what she was about to show her was off the record. “Maybe later, you can write it up,” Saskia clarified, “but, for now, let me just give you a demonstration. Show you what I know.”
Mica easily accepted this stipulation. Indeed, far from believing that time travel was possible, she was still trying to make sense of the game Saskia was playing.
Once Saskia got them inside the facility, she indicated to Mica the two most important features——the finish line and the betting windows——with a light wave of her finger in either direction. Races weren’t scheduled to start for another ten minutes, but Saskia reasoned she could fast forward ahead, and maybe bring Mica with her. It was worth a try anyway. Not sure exactly how else to try bringing Mica with her, she took Mica by the hand and led her towards the finish line, slipping forward in time as she did so.
It was hard for Saskia to keep a grip on Mica’s hand as she pulled her, gently weaving past other spectators. To Saskia, it felt almost as if Mica possessed superhuman strength, resisting Saskia’s forward motion. Still, it made some sort of sense, Saskia reasoned to herself, that pulling someone else forward in time might be difficult.
Mica, for her part, felt like a parent letting a child lead them through a throng at the science museum. She could easily guess where Saskia was headed, and she casually let herself be guided that way.
As Saskia pulled them toward the home stretch of the track, she made an effort to speed time up exactly as required to time their arrival at the finishing line with the conclusion of the first race. It was the same way you might adjust your speed to avoid colliding with another car approaching an intersection from a perpendicular road, only Saskia wanted to time their meetings to coincide. Moreover, she had the ability to adjust, not just her speed as she moved towards the the final post, but also the speed with which she slipped through time.
As she dragged Mica, Saskia caught a glimpse of herself in the distance, over by the betting windows. Her other self distracted passers-by as she steadily trudged backwards, with an odd confidence that those behind her would part ways as she got to them. The backwards moving Saskia glanced briefly at her younger self and gave a little wave. She was moving slower, relative to the crowd around her, than Saskia herself was moving, but such were the vagaries of seeing yourself slip in time, even as you were slipping in the other direction. It kind of made sense if you considered the natural passage of time as the sort of state of zero change. In any event, she quickly lost herself.
Losing herself didn’t bother her, though. It didn’t even worry her that she’d seen her future self. In fact, it gave her confidence that she was on the right track. That her plan would work. She reasoned that her forward traveling self would arrive at the finish before her backward traveling self left, because her backward traveling self would need to wait for the race to finish, before leaving. That is, completing her reverse trek, her backward traveling self wouldn’t arrive at the finishing post until, long in the future, well after she did, making it unlikely she’d physically bump into her before she, in fact, became her.
∞
Arriving in the future, Saskia directed Mica’s attention to the jockeys and their horses as they galloped for the tape.
Over the PA system, the announcer called the final dash to the post: “Out Of Time leads Red Empress, who is finishing strong. Further back it’s Bees Knees and Wattage in a tussle for third. Red Empress is pressing, but Out Of Time still has legs. Half a length is a head now, but Red Empress can’t bridge the gap. And Out Of Time holds the finish. Out Of Time, followed by Red Empress and a length back to Bees Knees who seals third, having pulled away from a fading Wattage.”
Saskia pointed at the horses disappearing around the bend in the track past the finish line. “Did you catch that? Out Of Time first, Red Empress second.”
Mica nodded with a grin. “Sure. Out Of Time, one. Red Empress, two.”
“Great.” Saskia could barely contain a giggle. “Let’s go place our bets.”
Mica cocked her head at Saskia, askance.
Saskia grabbed Mica’s hand and started pulling her towards the betting ring. This time, though, she had no trouble leading the journalist. Her grip was sure. Perhaps it was her giddy excitement at what she was about to share. Who wouldn’t have been excited to share the act of time traveling? Especially backwards in time.
But it was more than that. Saskia’s strength increased dramatically. The more she slowed time, the stronger she felt. And of course she had to slow time first, because you can’t just go backwards in time, any more than you can switch your car into reverse without stopping first. It’d never work to simply throw it in reverse. At best, you’d hear a horrendous grinding of gears as the machine lurched to a halt, and assuming you hadn’t destroyed the engine, then, and only then, would you start rolling backwards.
Life, like a car’s motion, is continuous. If Saskia wanted to reverse time, first she had bring it to a stop. And before that, she had to slow it down.
But then, a funny thing happened. The more Saskia slowed time, the easier it became to hold Mica’s hand and guide her back towards the betting windows. It gave Saskia a giant rush. The rush you got as you felt yourself mastering a new skill. She was taking Mica where she wanted to. The slightest twitch of Saskia’s hand jolted Mica’s, as if the redhead’s hand had no momentum of its own to resist Saskia’s will. Saskia’s grip escalated without bound.
Then, at the moment her strength became veritably infinite, Mica clean slipped through Saskia’s fingers altogether.
Saskia was now traveling backwards in time, but Mica was no longer with her.
That’s it for chapter 6, hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing you all next week. In the meantime, if you’ve got a moment I’d be eternally grateful for a podcast review on your favorite platform.
Until next week, cheerio.
