Notes from the Future: Dead Letter Office

[The following is selected from within a number of very thick file folders which fill at least two drawers in the Long-Term section of the USPS Dead Letter Office. "Long-Term" is a rather vague euphemism for files which cannot be otherwise resolved. Read on and perhaps clarity will rest on your shoulder and whisper in your ear.]

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Item: Letter
Lost: Date unknown
Found: Under a concrete paving stone near entrance to Bradford Station, 822 C Street, Hayward CA
Date Found: October 4, 1917
Condition: Stained, smeared. Envelope torn. Letter falling out. Typewritten. One fingerprint visible in lower right-hand corner, apparently blood.

Text:

Edward Hightower
2770 Pleasant Knoll Court
Hayward, CA 94541

October 3, 1901

Dear Tad,

My name is Veronica Torres. You are very young now, and will not meet me for a very long time. But I have to tell you some things that are really, really important. So you have to listen to me, you have to pay attention to this letter. It may seem crazy, it may seem impossible. But it is real and true, and if you pay attention then you will be far better off in the future.

You have an ability, Tad. It's a very special ability. Your obsession with numbers will help you in this ability, and your skill at finding patterns in numbers -- even when you don't understand the arithmetic -- will help you with this. Know that you don't need to be a mathematician to use numbers in your ability: it's intuitive and you need to follow your gut.

You need to train your ability, and you need to start today. Begin with the multiplication tables. Don't try to learn them at all, just play with them. Draw pictures around them. Doodle and sketch, draw whatever comes to mind. It's not a test, it's a way of connecting. When you notice patterns, see if you can find any spirals. There is no right answer. Only shapes and patterns. If you get tired or frustrated, just take a nap. You love naps.

If this letter has reached you, you can verify the following: you were born in South Lake Tahoe. Your older bothers have both backpacked the Roosevelt/Solomons Trail, though you may know this trail by another name and you will backpack it yourself someday. Hindenburg Airlines Flight 707 over Lockerbie, Scotland is what slowed the progress of the passenger jet, which is why you have a dirigible hanging above your desk. Move it before October 17, 1989 at 5:04 pm, please.

And pay attention to the patterns in that date and time.

Because you can verify all of the above, you know this letter is genuine. Please, please, please take it seriously even if you don't believe a word of it, even if history is different.

Tad, you are a very smart boy.

By now you've noticed the date on this letter.

Love (because I always will),

Veronica

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Analysis: Due to nonexistent address and unverifiable historical "data," this letter is deemed undeliverable and, therefore, dead -- until such time as the intended recipient appears providing proof that this communication is meant for him and him alone.

-- Charles A. French, Postmaster, Bradford Station
November 22, 1917