The-Man-Who-Folded-Himself-David-Gerrold

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemb,ance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. First BenBella Books Edition July 2003 Copyright © 1972 by David Gerrold Revisions Copyright © 2003 by David Gerrold All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in case of breif quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Benbella Books 6440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 508, Dallas, Texas 75206 www.benbellabooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gerrold, David, 1944- The man who folded himself / David Gerrold. - 1st BenBella Books ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-932100-06-7 (alk. paper) - ISBN 1-932100-04-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Time travel - Fiction. 1. Title. PS3557.E69M34 2003 813'.54 -dc21 20021454554 Cover illustration copyright © 2002 by Alan Gutierrez Cover design by MelodyCadungog Distributed by independent Publishers Group To order call (800) 888-4741 www.ipgbook.com This book is for Larry Niven, a good friend who believes that time travel is impossible. He’s probably right.
I hadn’t seen Uncle Jim in months. In the box was a belt. And a manuscript. * * * He looked terrible. Shrunken. His skin hung in wrinkled folds, his complexion was gray, and he was thin and stooped. He seemed to have aged ten years. Twenty. The last time I’d seen him, we were almost the same height. Now I realized I was taller. “Uncle Jim!” I said. “Are you all right?” He shook off my arm. “I’m fine, Danny. Just a little tired, that’s all.” He came into my apartment. His gait was no longer a stride, now just a shuffle. He lowered himself to the couch with a sigh. “Can I get you anything?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t have that much time. We have some important business to take care of How old are you, boy?” He peered at me carefully. “Huh—? I’m nineteen. You know that.” “Ah.” He seemed to find that satisfactory. “Good. I was afraid I was too early, you looked so young—“ He stopped himself. “How are you doing in school?” “Fine.” I said it noncommittally. The university was a bore, but Uncle Jim was paying me to attend. Four hundred dollars a week, plus my apartment and my car. And an extra hundred a week for keeping my nose clean. “You don’t like it though, do you?” I said, “No, I don’t.” Why try to tell him I did? He’d know it for the lie it was. “You want to drop out?” I shrugged. “I could live without it.” “Yes, you could.” he agreed. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but stopped himself instead. “I won’t give you the lecture on the value of an education. You’ll find it out for yourself in time. And besides, there are other ways to learn.” He coughed; his whole chest rattled. He was so thin. “Do you know how much you’re worth right now?” “No. How much?” He pursed his lips thoughtfully; the wrinkled skin folded and unfolded. “One hundred and forty-three million dollars.” I whistled. “You’re kidding.” “I’m not kidding.” “That’s a lot of money.” “It’s been properly handled.” One hundred and forty-three million dollars—! “Where is it now?” I asked. Stupid question. “In stocks, bonds, properties. Things like that.” “I can’t touch it then, can I?” He looked at me and smiled. “I keep forgetting, Danny, how impatient you were—are.” He corrected himself, then looked across at me; his gaze wavered slightly. “You don’t need it right now, do you?” I thought about it. One hundred and forty-three million dollars. Even if they delivered it in fifties, the apartment wasn’t that big. “No, I guess not.” “Then we’ll leave it where it is,” he said. “But it’s your money. If you need it, you can have it.” One hundred and forty-three million dollars. What would I do with it—what couldn’t I do with it? I had known my parents had left me a little money, but—
Page 1: The Man Who Folded Himself David Ge
Page 5 and 6: Five hundred dollars a week “spen
Page 7 and 8: Different—? Without Uncle Jim, ho
Page 9 and 10: I wondered—could you put that muc
Page 11 and 12: A time machine? In a belt? Ridiculo
Page 13 and 14: eadout panel was easy enough to und
Page 15 and 16: Rich—? The word lost all meaning
Page 17 and 18: which one you’re going to choose?
Page 19 and 20: it I began to realize it was a one-
Page 21 and 22: Here was this person, Don, sitting
Page 23 and 24: I was both pleased and annoyed. Ple
Page 25 and 26: “You have to spend money to make
Page 27 and 28: Was he waiting for me in tomorrow?
Page 29 and 30: ecame Don and went back in time—w
Page 31 and 32: The world I came from is like my in
Page 33 and 34: enchanted: a fantasy of light and c
Page 35 and 36: in the future when I am the wrong s
Page 37 and 38: We were both stretched out naked on
Page 39 and 40: So this is love. The giving. The ta
Page 41 and 42: It was enough. I pressed against hi
Page 43 and 44: identical to the one I just left up
Page 45 and 46: Today President Robert F. Kennedy a
Page 47 and 48: individual is going to realize that
Page 49 and 50: found a new timeline. Either he doe
Page 51 and 52: I parked my ‘76 ‘Vette at the c
Page 53 and 54:
what I was shaped like under those
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And suddenly I was crying. Crying,
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* * * The baby proves something tha
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* * * Oh God, I feel alone. * * * G
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Her smell is there, but faint. I dr
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will be the last day she’ll spend
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was just before I met Diane—when
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“I can’t,” he whispered. “I
Page 69 and 70:
stand above his crib and just watch
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Dear Danny, Time travel is not immo
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The-Man-Who-Folded-Himself-David-Gerrold

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