An elderly museum curator discovers a portal into her youthful self that opens the opportunity for a handsome suitor.
Missing Opportunities
PRIM and proper, Susan rejects the ogling of insincere young men during her science and history studies. While other women revel in courting and domestic aspirations, Susan excels in radiocarbon dating. She endures career ridicule, taking twice as long as men to achieve the respect that comes with the wrinkles of time.
Loneliness accompanies her ascent to museum oversight, a position attained through attrition. Her underlings now include dapper young men resembling those she eschewed during her studies.
Merging Past and Present
Compounding her despair from social isolation is her ongoing parasomnia—sleepwalking with occasional risky behavior. She often awakens in the morning with no recollection of where she has ventured at night.
During favorable episodes, Susan raids the refrigerator. More often, she wanders through the shadows of museum artifacts, which come alive through lucid out-of-body experiences. The dreams that she recalls inspire elaborate exhibits.
On a typical workday, her virile assistant, Everett, unpacks crates of donated wonders. Together, they organize immersive exhibits that keep visitors returning for a chance to relive the past.
One exhibit of African tribal instruments replicates the corresponding sound when a visitor stands nearby. In another, the chilling room temperature and simulated snow send visitors on an Antarctic excursion to discover the Woolly Mammoth.
Everett aspires to find a bright and beautiful marital partner. To prevent Susan’s outcome, he doesn’t want time to slip away from him. So during work breaks, he finesses his profile for dating apps.
Following the donation of an aviation relic, Susan sits in the cockpit of a vintage fighter plane to escape her life of unfulfilled aspirations. She imagines herself as Amelia Earhart, successfully circumnavigating the globe.
A flick of a switch whirls the propellers and illuminates ominous cabin lights. She quickly shuts off the switch and exits the supposedly non-functional cockpit.
As she grasps the door latch, the smoothness of her hands sparks her dash to the ladies’ room full-length mirror. With her fingertips gently tracing absent facial wrinkles, she gasps at the favorable reflection of a bygone era staring back at her.
In Susan’s enchanting world, her regained beauty offers the chance to thwart the loneliness of her present life, provided she makes better decisions. During this vivid dream, her beau’s arms cradle her in a loving embrace.
“Susan, my love,” the soothing voice asks her, “Where will our next travels find us?”
Her heart flutters like propeller blades when responding. “The clouds will tug us through the heavens across dramatic skies no artist can capture on canvas.”
However, the youthful radiance is fleeting. Within 12 hours, the returning wrinkles on her hands signal her losing tug-of-war with aging. So, like Cinderella, she must abruptly flee from any event she enjoys before the masquerade becomes evident to her prince.
Despite her scientific background, Susan is merely an observer of the surreal events that defy explanation.
While dining alone before work, Susan ponders the effects of aging beyond wrinkles and gray hairs. It even affects her bland diet. Foods once near and dear to her become toxic with aging. Her life choices have left her with no one to inherit the mementos of history she has acquired within the mini-museum of her home.
In her dreams, she enjoys the non-toxic delicacies of her youth, with the prospect of bringing forth offspring. However, if her visions are a temporary reality, pregnancy would cause problems when she reverts to her present form.
Reconciling Reality
On a Monday morning, within an echoing room large enough for a small aircraft, she addresses her assistant’s giddy look of distraction.
“Everett, is something on your mind?” she asks.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he says, waxing poetic. “The most ethereal beauty has entered my life.”
“Certainly, I see. Young love,” Susan remarks with a bit of disdain for not personally fitting his description. “I admire it, but we should focus on ideas for the aviation exhibit.”
“Yes, of course.” He suggests, “What about a panorama on the walls surrounding the plane? In any direction a visitor looks, there’s a different aerial destination.”
Susan enthusiastically commends Everett for his input. “I like it. Cockpit audio and wind turbines could give visitors the feeling of soaring through the air. That’s the type of creativity that makes us a great team.”
During the busy weeks ahead, Susan spends much time within the youth-restoring cockpit. It becomes apparent that these visits coincide with Everett’s continuing moments of blissful distraction.
To reconcile her fantasies with her prince, she inquires, “Can you tell me more about the girl you fancy so much?”
She hears him describe the familiar female aviator in her dreams. He stops short of mentioning the name until his relationship progresses further.
Susan now believes they share the same surreal experiences. Romantic dinners and strolls beneath starlit skies fill the scrapbook in her heart. Her next encounter is one of visceral passion transcending intangible dreams, where she has no authority over Everett. As her visits become more frequent, their love intensifies.
Each time her present-day unattractive appearance returns, she suppresses the expression of her mounting feelings for him. When they stand close during work hours, Susan wants to take Everett in her arms and plant a kiss. Yet, a glance at the reflection in her makeup compact mirror restrains her, averting humiliation.
Their whirlwind parasomnia romance reaches new heights when Everett proposes marriage. She must defer a response, considering how to live ‘happily ever after’ in 12-hour increments.
The only way for their romance to endure is to reveal the secret of her beauty. If it’s true love, he will accept her natural appearance while enjoying the moments that venture into her pleasant past through the time portal.
Discovering Purpose
As they view the panorama in the pre-exhibition hall, Susan unveils a scene where a handsome young man proposes to a beautiful young lady. Her throat dries as she rambles incoherently, trying to explain its significance.
He rescues her from embarrassment, saying, “It’s an appropriate and inspiring visual. Susan, it’s time to end the mystery surrounding the love of my life.”
With a heart pounding like the bongos in the nearby African exhibit, Susan imagines the best outcome. Perhaps he realizes there is no difference between her younger and older self. Will he admit he wants her, wrinkles and all?
Susan hints at her desired outcome, “You know, I was a real looker in my day?”
Furthering the suspense, Everett says, “I’m sure you were. Here goes…. She’s in the museum right now. Just a moment.”
While he steps out to retrieve her, Susan’s anxious bewilderment dampens her underarms. Will he bring out her younger self? Are her moments with him an illusion? Have they ever even been in a relationship?
Everett hurries back, saying, “This is Julie. Julie, this is Susan. Look at the panorama we’ve worked hard on, Honey.” The turbines blow her wavy locks of hair like a runway model on a catwalk. Julie slowly rotates through the massive montage until hearing an aircraft disembarkation announcement.
Her eyes rest on the key image that he duplicates with perfect timing. Julie looks down to see him on one knee, proposing.
“My dearest Julie, you are my everything. I never want our intoxicating moments together to end–”
As he’s speaking, Susan wants to climb into the cockpit, transforming into her younger self, so he will make the right choice, but there is no time. When he pops the question, she and Julie respond in unison, “Yes.”
Ignoring the echo, Everett scoops up his fiancée, spinning her around before planting a kiss in front of his boss.
The sad reality sinks in that Susan’s coinciding fantasies are manifestations of parasomnia. Envy briefly wells in her heart, but reality suggests the absurdity of her expectations.
Susan may not have Everett in the flesh. Yet, she can content herself with living out her days with him within her sleep-related hallucinations.
The End
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