With some time to kill before rehearsal and a desire to buy a magnifying glass as a gag in an upcoming birthday present, I darted into a CVS pharmacy, where I promptly became disoriented. Everything in this one was backwards: the main checkout counters were at the back of the store, by the municipal parking lot, while the druggists were in a corner at the front, away from the doors along the main street. I had no idea where to begin looking.
No doubt in reaction to my perplexed state, a young clerk approached me and asked if she could help. It wasn’t her fault I was now thoroughly bewildered. Standing before me was my First Love, from nearly 50 years earlier and hundreds of miles to the west. Right height and shape, right hair, right voice, same quirkiness, even the same intensely blue eyes. Somehow she hadn’t aged, while I, well, time tells. In some ways, this was time travel of the worst sort.
How could I say anything that would make sense? She’d never be able to answer the questions I would have posed her.
Jnana's Red Barn 
Time travel of the worst sort, indeed. (Did you ever find your magnifying glass?)
Actually, I did. It was to go with a book of Rembrandt etchings, just like the magnifiers they handed out at a museum exhibit. But that’s another story, isn’t it?
Hm. I think I feel a blog post coming on…