The Time Machine, Part 2: The Unveiling

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:08:00 -0400

The anticipation was the best part, of course. As I thought about the time machine sitting inside the box my parents had shipped out to me, I kept flashing back to my life in the world of 1980. I remembered feeling accountable to the older stranger (the 42-year old me, I hoped) who would open the machine's cardboard boxes one distant day and judge me for their contents. I recalled wanting to impress him with my imagination and foresight. How strange it felt to experience those 30-year old memories as my own: to be outside the machine and inside at the very same time.

Tonight I cut away the fraying pieces of tape and pulled open the decaying boxes I had packed so long ago. Here is what I found:

$3.80 in change, mostly quarters from the late 1970s

One vial with gold dust from the “pan for gold” attraction at Knotts Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, California

A small folded booklet with the Los Angeles Dodgers schedule for the 1980 season

68 baseball cards from 1978-1980, mostly of players who were already famous in 1980 (Reggie Jackson, Steve Garvey, Mike Schmidt, etc.)

The Haunted Fort, book #54 in The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon

A copy of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson that was undoubtedly already starting to decay before I put it in the time capsule, taken from my parents’ shelf; my Great Aunt Janet’s maiden name is scrawled inside

The sports section of the Los Angeles Times from May 17, 1980, with a lead story highlighting the heroics of the Lakers rookie Magic Johnson in a playoff game against Julius “Dr. J” Erving and the Philadelphia 76’ers. The story begins like this:

“When they erect a statue of Magic Johnson in some prominent location in L.A., as they surely will soon, chiseled on the pedestal will be Magic’s favorite saying: ‘It’s winnin’ time.’ That’s what time it was Friday night in the Spectrum when Magic, a 20-year-old rookie, led the Lakers to one of the true upsets in National Basketball Assn. playoff history, a 123-107 win over the 76ers.”

40 issues of Sports Illustrated from 1979-1980, including this one (Orioles manager Earl Weaver on the cover), this one (Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw), this one (Larry Bird as an Indiana State student) and this one (Earvin “Magic” Johnson as a Michigan State student)

20 comic books featuring The Incredible Hulk (5), Captain America (4), Superman (2), Howard the Duck (2), John Carter, Warlord of Mars (2), Batman, Red Sonja, The Flash, Doctor Strange, and Dracula

A note signed by me, dated Saturday, July 12, 1980: “Tonight I seal the time capsule I have spent a month preparing. The Presidential election is 4 months away. Hostages have been held in Iran for 251 days. Enjoy the contents of this time capsule. They have monetary value, and value to those who read—and remember.”

The note, with its somewhat cryptic last line, is my favorite part. My younger self had no idea that 30 years later I would value traces of him more than any other souvenirs from the past.