Best Laid Plans

"The timeshack," urged Dr. Salt to his assistant and friend, Mr. Pepper. They shuffled in and closed the door behind them. The interior charmed Pepper with the beautiful painting on its wall and golden tea set.

"Oh, that's no trick," chuckled Salt, grabbing a toggle and pulling it down, "You're about to see evolution in motion."

Wheels of digits spun, slot machine-like. The dates on the sides of the wheels dropped rapidly. Pepper watched the landscape transform in reverse through the window.

What neither one knew was that a clan of mice had snuck inside, finding cover within the wall.

After a minute had passed, Salt replaced the toggle in its former position. Their surroundings slowly came to a standstill.

"I give you the world of the Paleocene Era!"

He opened the door. To their dismay, the mice crawled out from a hidden aperture and skittered out into the wild. Pepper tried to pursue them, but Salt took his arm and held him back, slamming the door shut.

"No!" said Salt, "We have altered time enough! What folly! I've seen those mice here before...thought I'd killed them all. And by the looks of them, they've drunk some of my intelligence-boosting formula! All we can do now is hope our present and future are not affected."

He grabbed the toggle again and pulled it in a different direction. The dates leapt upwards. Civilization gradually appeared.

The doctor and his assistant stepped out of the timeshack.

"Well, looks like nothing happened," said Salt, an upstanding mouse, "In fact, I don't remember what we were so worried about!"

"I wish I knew myself!" said Pepper, a darker mouse, looking just as dapper.

A mouse girl put down the book. Of all the worst stories! Mythical creatures such as humans are so old school!