I've got a story idea that I think will be funny and timely. The working title is "Sebastian Hits One for the History Books," though I've also been considering "Home Runs Away." Here's what I've got so far:

“I can’t believe it’s today!”

Timothy joined the parade of excited CHTers on their way to Notes Park. Everyone was gathering there today to celebrate CHT’s seventh anniversary. There would be a great picnic, with delicious food and fun games. Josiah was expected to give a speech, and Luke and Hosea had announced that they had a surprise ready for the celebration. Timothy had high hopes.

Tim came up behind Timothy. “I can’t believe I slept in!” he cried. “CHT almost left me behind!”

Timothy replied, “Sorry, I would have woken you if I’d realized. We’re all in such a rush!”

Whiz.

Just above their heads flew a small plane painted with the words, CHT RULES!

“Guess who?” said James, with the remote control in his hands.

“So that’s your toy plane?” asked Tim.

“Toy?” James protested. “This is a model of a Boeing T-7 Red Hawk!”

Daniel entered the conversation. “Let me get my plane, I’ll shoot yours down.”

Sebastian, armed with cap, ball, and bat, added, “I could knock them both down with a baseball bat. YEET!” he cried, with a swing of the bat, just missing Timothy’s head.

So the CHTers talked and joked until they had reached the park. Banners and balloons boasted of CHT’s greatness, and Daniel began to prepare fireworks for the night. Food was already being set out, so many decided that breakfast was the first order of business. Sebastian immediately set about organizing teams for a baseball game, while others preferred to sit and chat during these morning hours.

Hosea peeked out from behind a large contraption covered with a tarp. He had a huge grin on his face, as though he could hardly contain his secret. Luke, on the other hand, had his head inside the tarp and could be heard muttering to himself, so intently focused was he on his project. Hannah, in a surge of curiosity, walked over to the pair.

“So what is this?” she asked simply and suddenly.

Luke started. “Careful! One mistake and you could have never existed!”

Hannah was even more curious now. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I wasn’t supposed to say that,” chuckled Luke.

“Are you sure we can’t tell him yet?” asked Hosea. “It’s only a few more hours.”

“I guess we can reveal it now,” Luke deferred.

“Excellent!” Hosea cried. But he wasn’t content to tell only Hannah. He proceeded to gather all CHT in front of the unassuming tarp (which took quite some time, as his voice was low and undemanding, even when he was excited). “All right, Luke, we’re ready!” he called.

Luke emerged. “I’m not. Even if we reveal it now, you’ll all have to wait about an hour longer.”

“Wait for what?” asked Abri.

At last, Hosea burst, and began to deliver a presentation he had clearly well prepared. “Insomuch as this is the anniversary of CHT’s founding, it seemed fitting and proper to relive that occasion. To that end—”

“No need to be so formal and dramatic, Hosea,” Luke interrupted.

“That was dramatic…?” he muttered, more to himself than to Luke.

Luke pulled off the tarp. “We made a time machine so we can witness the founding of CHT seven years ago.”

After an awkward silence and some stifled laughter, Hosea remarked, “I was expecting a little more of something…” again trailing off into a mutter.

Timothy said, “Sorry, but we don’t exactly…”

“…believe you.” finished Abigail.

“How did you do this, exactly?” questioned Elijah, who was skeptical but interested.

“I’m glad you asked!” said Hosea. “You see, it all has to do with the relationship between the imaginary number and the speed of light in a vacuum, which is approximately 3.0 times ten to—”

“Okay, okay!” cried Tim. “If we believe you, will you stop mathing at us?”

“I guess. I mean, I wanted to explain it. It’s really not that complicated…”

“Anyway,” explained Luke, “I haven’t finished with last minute testing and refinements. You’ll be able to see it for yourselves in an hour or two, but for now, go off and do other things. Eat, or something. Could you get me a slice of cake?”

Most of the CHTers complied, though a few continued to hover around the curious contraption. Sebastian, who was still confident that the machine was a dud, focused on getting a game of baseball going.

The idea is that Sebastian hits a home run shot, but the ball ends up crashing into the time machine, creating a malfunction that alters the timeline and erases CHT from existence. CHTers then have to go back in time and fix the error to save CHT.

Do you like either title, or have a better one?
What do you think could be the specific event that the malfunction altered?
Are you interested in writing sections?

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