" This may be a little weird but stick with me and you will see that this can be quite a ride. I decided long ago that time is type of energy. How else can you explain entropy? " Bill looked up at me with that pained look that said "not again!"

Poor Bill had been working beside me at the box factory for the last six months and was always telling me I have way too much "thinking time". but the fact is all we ever did was to put cardboard blanks on a conveyor belt for eight hours a day, and if I didn't keep my mind working on something interesting I'd snap. so he was just stuck with my ramblings, at least until he won the lottery, which he was certain he would eventually. I think it was his only retirement plan.

"See if time is winding down as entropy, then it must be energy." (Bill groaned at this point). "And if its energy then it must travel in waves." Now he looked as if he had to go to the bathroom really bad, But I was just getting warmed up and was really starting to enjoy myself.

"Now waves as we know can be affected by outside forces, so they can be compressed or stretched like sound waves." I know it pained him to ask, but I had him now. "What kind of thing could affect time?" He grumbled.

"I don't know." I said "But a island tribesman wouldn't understand the Doppler shift of a passing airplane, but he'd still hear it. so ma-by we'll figure it out later.The point is that if time is a wave then it will have valleys and crests. And if compression of these waves make the crests bunch up real close we might be able to see across from one to the other."

"You're full of crap." Bill almost cried (I think he was trying desperatly to get me to shut up.) "Someone would have noticed a thing like that by now. everything would look all muddled up."

"Not really, let's say that at the crests of these waves is your apartment, it would look almost the same from one day or one week to the next. Even if there were minor changes you most likely wouldn't notice. But if someone walked thru they would look like a ghost to you and you would look like a ghost to them. That is assuming you actually spotted each other."

The look of pain on Bills face at this point was a wonder to behold! So naturally I went on. "Bill what you don't get is, you should pay more attention that ghost you see may really be you from next week or ma-by last week depending where you are on the wave crests."

"What the hell is your point?" (He was really red in the face by now) Bill asked beginning to shake. "My point." I said "Is simply this, wright down the lottery numbers tonight and do it every week. Then if you see a ghost whip out that piece of paper and hold it up. And if the ghost is doing the same, go play the numbers he's showing you. You might already be a winner!"

Now I don't know if this is proof of what I said or not. But we had this talk about two weeks ago and Bill hasn't been back to work since. I really hope its because he won.

Learn more about this author, Robert Bertram.
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