We were anxious with anticipation for the night of the party to arrive. Emily had put in many hours getting the apartment decorated just so. We worried about the Time Machine being discovered but we felt we had enough room for the party and simply locked it away in the back closet. I had to partially disassemble it to get it into the closet but we were successful and then we sat back and waited.

The morning of the party there were still things to do but I had taken a moment to sit down and watch part of the football game on TV. The university was playing it’s cross state rivals and it looked like our boys were going to win. Future Henry was just sitting on the sofa and smiling. It really irked me because I knew that he already knew who would win this very important and close football game but he was not about to tell me. I toyed with the idea of betting some money on the outcome (with future Henry’s guidance) but he absolutely refused to divulge the winner.

Emily was in the kitchen and I heard her cry out and then there came a crash and the sound of glass breaking. I jumped up hoping she was unhurt but as I ran into the kitchen, I feared the worst. Future Henry was right behind me.

While Emily was unpacking the punch bowl, it had slipped out of her hands and dropped to the floor, breaking into a million pieces. Emily stood back, horror on her face and I knew she was heartbroken about it. As I watched, she bent over to do what she could about the mess and she accidentally brushed up against the counter and knocked one of the punch glasses off and onto the floor. It broke, joining the other pieces of glass scattered across the kitchen.

Emily started to cry and I went to her and hugged her, telling her it was all right. I remembered Emily came from the 19th century where the breaking of a punch bowl would have been a major tragedy. There was no Walmart they could run to and buy another, even if they could afford it. Where she came from, this was a serious accident.

Then I heard another glass break and it was future Henry. He had picked up another cup and purposely dropped it on the floor. He was smiling and I was just about to ask him what he was doing when he reached over, picked up another glass and held it out to Emily.

“Don’t you see? It’s the Butterfly Effect!” he smiled, urging Emily to take the cup. She held out her hand and took the cup from him, if only to rescue it so he wouldn’t break it like he’d broken the other one.

“Butterfly Effect?” she asked.

“There is a portion of the Chaos Theory in Physics called the Butterfly Effect. In simple terms it states that the flapping of a Butterflies wings, say in Chile, can start a chain reaction and so upset the sensitive meteorological dynamics of the world that an unforeseen and unforecast hurricane may be triggered by it off the coast of Florida.” Future Henry shrugged. “The Butterfly Effect.”

“I don’t understand?” Emily said, shaking her head. Intrigued, she had stopped crying and agonizing over the broken punch bowl.

“Drop the cup!” future Henry said with a smile.

“No!” Emily stated firmly, cradling the cup in her arms.

Future Henry reached over and got another cup from the counter and dropped it. It broke apart and Emily’s eyes went wide and her nostrils began to flare as if she was getting angry. “The Butterfly Effect!” future Henry said again and reached for another cup. Emily grabbed at the remaining cups and in doing so knocked two more off the counter and onto the floor. Her hand went to her mouth in horror.

“Once you dropped the punch bowl, it set off an irresistible chain of events which resulted in the breaking of, at least, four punch glasses!” He smiled and shrugged, pointing to the mess on the floor. “Certainly a profound example of the Butterfly Effect!”

Emily looked at him and then she began to shake her head at the absurdity of it. All unpleasant thoughts of the broken punch bowl left her and she looked at the cup in her hand. “Forgive me,” she said and dropped the cup. As it hit the ground and shattered, she began to laugh.

At that moment I was thankful for my future self, taking a bad situation and making Emily smile over it. The remaining glasses ended up on the floor and we laughed for a good 5 minutes or so. After which, we cleaned up the mess. That was when Emily said, “Now we don’t have a punch bowl or glasses for the party! I need a punch bowl and glasses Henry!”