The Time Keeper

When her mother calls to wish her a Happy New Year, the phone rings with the loud, annoying sound Ethan had reprogrammed so she could ignore her mom’s calls. The sound startles Sarah just enough so that she realizes what she is doing and gets out of the car and the garage. She makes it outside, where a neighbor calls 911. She is rushed to the hospital. As the clock strikes one, she is admitted to the ER.

Next to Sarah in the ER is Victor Delamonte, who has been admitted just moments earlier. He had stopped his dialysis and is given a blood transfusion. Victor had given Roger a directive earlier in the evening that if he changed his mind for any reason, he would signal it with a single word, “Grace.” When he heard Victor say it, Roger stopped everything and called an ambulance.

This is a story about the meaning of time that begins long ago and continues years from now. In the future, in a crowded ballroom, Dr. Sarah Lemon will be celebrated for curing “the most dreaded disease of our time” (221), saving millions of lives.