Time Travel with a Twist

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Amazon.co.uk: Kawaguchi, Toshikazu ..."In a moment, I am going to pour you a cup of coffee," she said as she set a cup in front of Fumiko.
"Coffee? Why coffee?"
"Your time in the past will begin from the time the coffee is poured..." Kazu said, ignoring the question from Fumiko, who was nevertheless reassured by the news it would be happening soon. "And you must return before the coffee goes cold."
Fumiko's confidence vanished in a flash. "What? That soon?"
"The last and the most important rule..."
The talking never ends. Fumiko was itching to go. "Too many rules..." she muttered as she gripped the coffee cup placed before her. The vessel was quite unremarkable: just a cup which had not yet had coffee poured into it. But she thought it felt noticeably cooler than the usual porcelain.
"Are you listening?" Kazu continues. "When you return to the past, you must drink the entire cup before the coffee goes cold."
"Uh. I don't actually like coffee that much."
Kazu opened her eyes wider and brought her face an inch or so from the tip of Fumiko's nose.
"This is the one rule you have to absolutely obey," she said in a low voice.
"Really?"
"If you don't, something terrible will happen to you.."

 This extract is from Toshikazu Kawaguchi's excellent novel, 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold'. The book tells the story of a small, back-alley cafe in Tokyo, which offers its customers a very unique opportunity: sit at a certain table (when it's free), order a coffee, and you can travel back in time. The only catch is that you have to drink your cup of coffee before it goes cold, or "something terrible will happen".

 Time Travel Hulk GIF - TimeTravel Hulk SteveRogers - Discover ...
Time travel has featured in literature and popular culture for well over 200 years now. Wikipedia states it was "popularized" by H.G. Wells in 'The Time Machine' from 1895, but Charles Dickensutilised a form of time travel for Scrooge's redemption in 'A Christmas Carol' in 1843, while Samuel Madden is noted as writing 'Memoirs of the Twentieth Century' as far back as 1733! Today, we cancall upon films and TV shows like Back to The Future, Doctor Who, and Avengers: Endgame for visual representations of time travel, all with their own specific rules on what can/can't be done while traversing the plains of human existence.

But Your Kids Are Gonna Love It | Know Your Meme
Samuel Madden when 'Memoirs of the Twentieth Century'
bombed.
Because, annoyingly, that's always the drawback of time travel - the rules. Endless possibilities of imagination, constrained by logical bureaucracy: don't interact with your past-self, don't change anything, don't bet on horse races, don't begin a romantic relationship with your own mother (I'm looking at you, McFly!). What makes 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' so interesting is that it stays away from those famous tropes and introduces a very simple rule instead: you only have a certain amount of time in the past before the coffee gets cold.






Challenge: Your challenge for today is to write a short story (or create a comic strip) about time travel, but with a very specific rule that the time travelers have to follow. You could think about:
  • Where your story is set
  • Who your characters are
  • Why they want to travel through time
  • How the time travel works (a machine, magic spell, a special chemical etc.)
  • What the rules are (no speaking to anyone, only a certain amount of time etc.)
  • How they will get back and the effect their journey has

, if your kids haven't seen Back to the Future yet (again, if so, how has this not happened yet?), I'm offering you an excellent opportunity to stick it on for a bit of research. Please feel free to send over any completed work!

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