The Haunted Traveler Vol. 1 Issue 1

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there wit’ you!”
“Now, there’s no need to be hostile!” the stranger responded
calmly. “I just want to know what year this is and where
I am!”
“This is 1955, fool!” said Jones. “And you is in Birmingham,
Alabama, as if you ain’t knowing that already!”
A broad smile came over the stranger’s face.
“It works!” he said softly to himself. “It works!”
“Wha’ you talkin’ ‘bout, man?” Jones demanded.
“Oh! I apologize,” he said, shaking Jones’ hand. “We haven’t
been properly introduced yet. My name is Dr. Henry L.
Gooch.”
“I am likewise known as Abyssinia Jones,” said the man
with that name. “But you has still not explained to me about
who you are and where you have come from.”
“I’ll explain that now,” said Gooch. “I am from the year
2009, and I came here through the services of the time machine
that I constructed. I thought, perhaps, I would have
been able to transport myself farther back through the space
time continuum, but, as it is, being in 1955 is good enough.”
“Good enough?” answered Jones, surprised that he would
use such positive language. “Man, hush yo’ mouth! We has
got it bad here! I works twelve hours a day, and I barely get
enough money to pay my rent as it is! I suppose you all in
2009 are in the same position.”
“Actually,” said Dr. Gooch, “while many African Americans
remain impoverished, there is a much larger number of
us now who are well educated and financially affluent…”
“Hold up!” said Jones. “Wha’ you call our people, there?”
“African Americans,” said Gooch. “It’s the proper, politically
correct term for us in my time.”
“Dey don’t call us niggers there? Or colored? Or even plain
ol’ black?”
“Some of them still do. But racism in general is looked
upon much more unfavorably in all forms of life. So, unlike
conditions in your time, we tend to judge people for jobs,