The one thing that they each had no doubts about was that she was in a hurry.
She was a thirteen-year-old and the youngest sister of the three. She wanted to be twenty. The fact was, for her, life was moving much too slowly. She was sick of being the youngest, always being treated like a little kid. He was the boy next door and a genius. He said he could help her by using his time advancement machine. They were neighbours. So, at the appointed time, in the early hours, she leaves by the back door. She silently makes her way to his house and is let in. They quietly creep up to his room, where the machine and the headgear are ready. Everything was set up, plugged in and ready to go.
He sat her in the chair and fitted the special headgear. The box on the table was humming softly. He stood over the machine and started to rotate the time advancer. It turned with a jerk, then jammed.
“No!” he shouted. “It’s running too fast!” He tried to close it down. “Oh! No!” he yelled again, “the on-off switch is jammed!” He ran to the wall and yanked out the plug. When he looked back, the chair was empty.
Meanwhile, far away across the country, a nurse entered a patient’s room. The old lady was lying in bed. The nurse approached and smiled down at her. In a comforting voice, she said, “I’m here to let you know that all of the papers have been signed and all conditions for euthanasia to be performed have been met.” She sat with her, stroking her arm, and added, “The attending physician administering the medication will be here shortly.”