The Haunted Traveler Vol. 1 Issue 1

28
Freedom 55
David Perlmutter
On November 30, 1955, Abyssinia Jones returned home
from his tiring and low paying job to what he hoped would
be a solid night’s sleep. Jones, who worked as a janitor at a
local steel mill, since he did not have the educational background
for anything higher in the job market, was silently
cursing the fact that he was “black”. Considering that it was
this very racial, social and political status that prevented him
from advancing any further than his current lot in life, he had
much to complain about. However, he was not allowed, by
both the hierarchy of his job and his “inferior” social status, to
make any comments in return to the degrading and discriminatory
treatment he received on his job, and so he planned to
voice these complaints to himself silently that evening while
he ate and slept in his “ghetto” apartment.
Immediately upon entering, he was blinded by a shaft of
yellow light, which retreated as soon as it arrived, leaving a
stranger in the room with a black remote control box in his
hands.
The stranger was an African American like Jones, although,
far from displaying a deferential weariness in his body and
facial posturing, the man was, in fact, a specimen from a
more advanced future- specifically, the year 2013. Jones, fearing
the worst, stepped back and addressed the stranger.
“You git away from me!” Jones ordered sharply. “I don’
know where you comin’ from, but you ain’t takin’ me back