Emily had the apartment all set. It was decorated like a haunted house and she insisted that I wear a butler’s costume. I tried to argue with her but to no avail. Her mind was made up and there I was in a tie and tails, wearing these goofy white gloves! I felt like a penguin! Emily was dressed up as a witch and she made my future self dress up as a vampire. Of course, little Anna Marie got to dress up as an angel! Boy was I jealous but she did look so very pretty.

I was to greet the guests and show them into the haunted house where the witches and Vampires would take them over. The guests began to arrive and I just couldn’t wait for the Matthias’ to show up. The Dean and his wife were the first on the scene, both dressed as skeletons. Their two girls came dressed as some sort of cartoon characters. Anna Marie recognized them and they took off to play in her room.

By the time the Matthias’ arrived, the party was in full swing. We were almost worried that they weren’t going to show up. But they did. Christopher Sr was wearing a Frankenstein costume and I think his wife was supposed to be a vampyress. Then, I realized he was Herman Munster and she was Lilly, Herman’s wife! It was kind of cute. Their son Christopher came dressed as a little red devil, complete with a penciled on mustache and a red forked tail. Somehow, I thought that was appropriate. A red devil! Ha!

The plan was this. My future self insisted that he be the one to administer the DNA formula to the young boy. He did not want Emily or myself doing it in case something went wrong. I had prayed for a week that nothing would go wrong! My future self handed the young boy a bowl of potato chips, which were extremely salty and, when he offered him something to drink, young Christopher asked for Apple Juice.

Future Henry was back in a moment but he didn’t have anything in his hand. He smiled at the guests and pulled me into the kitchen.

“Henry”, he said, almost excitedly, “I can’t find my reading glasses!” I just looked at him with this blank look on my face.

“Reading glasses? What do you need reading glasses for?”

“I can’t read the instructions on the DNA bottle,” he said, “and I don’t want to make a mistake!”

“Well, give me the bottle,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’ll tell you what it says!”

“No!” future Henry insisted. “You need to be blameless in this! I need my reading glasses!” So, I went to look for future Henry’s reading glasses! Where the heck were his reading glasses?

It went off very smoothly. Once future Henry had his glasses, he brought young Christopher back his Apple Juice and he hovered around the boy while he drank it. He did not want Christopher to set the Apple Juice down and have some one else pick it up. The kid must have been thirsty because he drank it down without taking a breath and ran off to play with the rest of the children. Emily had insisted that we give a prize for the best costume and one of my graduate students won. She had come dressed as one of the apes in Planet of the Apes. It was really a great costume. Of course all the kids got a small “Halloween Treat” and everyone seemed to have had a great time. After the last guest had left, we collapsed on the sofa, too tired to clean up. Anna Marie was thoroughly exhausted and lay curled up and asleep on Emily’s lap. I looked over at future Henry, “Well? Is it over?” “The only way to find out is for me to travel into the future and look,” he said and stood up. “And there is no time like the present.” I nodded and joined him in the back room. Together we pulled out the Time Machine and reassembled it. Once it was ready to go, future Henry sat in the seat. “You need to get your family out of here, Henry, just in case we didn’t fix the future. The last time we activated the machine, one of those Terminators showed up, remember? I don’t want anything to happen to you!” “No”, I said with a smile, “I feel in my bones that we were successful. Besides, you said the Terminator phased in and was probably going to phase out and follow the machine into the future. You will probably be in more trouble than me!” Future Henry nodded and held out his hand. “It’s been great knowing you Henry,” he smiled, “even though I am you, it has been an experience! One I will remember always.” Pushing aside his hand, I stepped toward him and embraced him. “You will return and let me know that we were successful!” “I’ll be back before you know it!” I stepped back and walked to the door. I was going to lock it behind me in case one of the Terminators showed up but I didn’t get the chance. There was the loud pop that goes with activating the Time Machine. I felt the apartment shudder as the Time Machine disappeared and then there was silence.

I turned around expecting a Terminator and I frantically looked for my baseball bat. Then I remembered, we had put it away in the closet with the Time Machine. But nothing happened and I was encouraged. I didn’t quite know what to do and then I realized all I could do was wait. I felt a hand on my shoulder and Emily was there, still holding a sleeping angel. “Is he gone?” she asked and I leaned over and kissed her. “Yes, but he did say he would let us know whether we were successful in saving humankind.” Then there was the loud pop and the apartment shuddered as the Time Machine rematerialized in our back room. There was no one at the controls and I walked over to it. There, on the seat was an envelope. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper and a note, which was written in my handwriting. It said, “You and Emily can rest now! Go back into the kitchen and have a drink to our success! Dismantle the machine and have a wonderful life!” It was signed Henry. Emily was standing beside me and she pointed to the envelope. “There is something else inside,” she said and I realized she was right. I reached inside and pulled out a picture. There were four people in the photo. I immediately recognized future Henry and then saw that the beautiful lady next to him was Emily. She was quite a bit older, of course, but just as lovely as she is today. Also in the picture was another beautiful young woman and I knew right away it was Anna Marie, all grown up. Next to her was a handsome, dark-haired man who looked suspiciously like a younger version of Dr Matthias. It was young Christopher all grown up and showing no ill effects from the DNA formula. Then, I heard Emily gasp and she pointed to the picture. I had missed it but, held in Anna Marie’s arms, was a young baby! Our grandson, Henry! So we had been successful and everything turned out for the best. Well, almost everything. We did still have to clean up from the best Halloween party that the Wilson family ever had!