KEITH BURKHOLDER - SHORT-STORIES

​Keith Burkholder has been published in Creative Juices, Sol Magazine, Trellis Magazine, Foliate Oak Literary Journal, New Delta Review, Poetry Quarterly, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Birmingham Arts Journal.  He has a bachelor's degree in statistics with a minor in mathematics from SUNY at Buffalo (UB).

A Time Warp

  This traveler is now one thousand years into the future.  This happened to him when he traveled through the Bermuda Triangle.
                People have been warned not to travel through the Bermuda Triangle.  However, this traveler took a risk and now is one thousand years into the future.  His life will be vastly different now.
                He is in the sea here at a different location.  He will leave this area soon and row himself to shore nearby.  He is near Florida.  The change in events changed his location.
                He is safe and not injured.  However, when he gets to shore nearby, he will see differences in the world in general.
                This traveler is near Fort Lauderdale one thousand years into the future.  He will notice changes once he gets to shore.
                The pace of life has changed and so has technology.  This will be realistic to him and he will adjust to it.  When he went through the time warp in the Bermuda Triangle, the changes he will get exposed to, he will adapt to quickly.
                Change happens in the future.  This is how it will be for this traveler.  He will see these changes but adapt to them.
                He will be amazed to see how far into the future he is.  He has no idea how far he is into the future until he reaches land and sees life firsthand there.
                Florida has always changed with the times.  This is no difference now one thousand years into the future.
                People during this time period have changed even more.  Crime has varied over time but has gone down as of late.
                Cars this far into the future are run on electricity.  Gas powered cars are becoming more obsolete now.
                This traveler will notice a few flying vehicles traveling in Florida as well.  This is especially the case for tour buses and taxi cabs.
                Over time, this traveler does reach land.  He is at a beach off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  He is happy to be on land.
                He has a feeling it is different here.  Little does he know, that he is one thousand years into the future from where he was from.
                Things change in the future.  This is just the way it is.  It is no different in a small amount of years or many hundreds, in this case it is a thousand years.
                The future can be mystery to anyone.  No one can tell how successful a future can be or if major changes will take place.  In this case, this traveler will see changes and they will be greatly noticeable.
                He is on the shore of a beach near Fort Lauderdale.  He then sees something unique happen to him.  This makes him feel comfortable.
                He turns into a person of the future.  He adapts to the times and it aware of how different everything is here now.
                The future is nothing for anyone to fear.  It happens as it does, and, in this case, it is one thousand years into the future.
                This traveler is a person who loves change, and adventure.  He certainly experienced this when he traveled through the Bermuda Triangle and is in this part of the future now.
                He walks down the beach and can see Fort Lauderdale in the distance.  He can’t believe what he is seeing now.
                There are people driving cars that seen to flying in the air.  Not all cars are this way, but many of them are doing this now.
                Eventually this traveler will reach the town of Fort Lauderdale.  He will be amazed at how different it is in the future.
                A thousand years is a long period of time.  He is in this time and his life will feel different than the present in which he is used to.
                This traveler will like the future a lot.  He loves change, and he will see this greatly the more he explores Earth this way.
                He can always go back to the present.  If he leaves the mainland and goes into the ocean he will instantly travel back in time to the present.  If he goes out far enough in the ocean this will happen to him.  He is really a visitor here and his home and life are in the present.
                He is walking toward town and can see differences in the future.  It amazes him how things have changed now.
                He continues his walk and continues to look around.  He even looks at the people here at this point in the future.
                Everything seems so different.  Then he sees a sign posted and notices he is one thousand years into the future.
                This is both scary and amazing to this traveler.  He continues to walk through town and looks around and continues to be amazed.
                The future is nothing like he imagined it.  It is more advanced that he realizes it, and this is how it is for him.
                The future will always evolve, and this is something he realizes.  He continues to be amazed by what he sees around him.
                As time passed, he did see a lot of this town and its differences now.  He will continue to explore this town for some time.
                He has no idea if he wants to go back home to the present.  He will live here and get more acquainted with the future.
                I wish him well as he lives here.  He loves to be a part of the future now and this will be his home for now.  The present will have to wait if decides to change his mind.  Take care, traveler, and live life as you know it and be good to yourself and others every step of the way.
 
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​Weird thoughts from a human perspective

Grace is like any other human on planet Earth.  However, her thoughts tend to be more out of whack than most.
                She has never understood how science fiction and happenings on planet Earth take over her mind.  Yet these concepts happen to her often.
                She can have such thoughts happen if stressed or relaxed.  For example, one time she dropped her mother off at home and she thought the garage door landed on her head.  Nothing happened, but the whole scenario was bizarre to her.
                Grace has a mind for science fiction.  However, she constantly wonders if life with aliens can and will exist.  She has dreamt of being taken away by such life to their home world.
                Grace has never told anyone about such thoughts.  She has kept them to herself and feels this is the best method for them.
                She has written stories about these thoughts and has really produced some great literature.  One time she was at a coffee shop and another thought that was bizarre popped into her head.  She imagined that a hand came out of the air and clutched the barista and pulled out the barista’s heart and the heart was beating in the hand’s presence.  Grace also had dreams of being pushed in front of an oncoming subway and being killed instantly.  These concepts happened to Grace because she had a stressful week at work.
                The moral to such thoughts is that anything can happen to anyone.  The mind is really powerful in its existence in the human body.  It still needs to be studied, but over time nothing else can be said.
                People will always continue to evolve in ways that are hard to describe.  Even in this story, the human is tested in everyday experiences.  Learn as you can from your experiences as in the case of Grace.
                For Grace is a fictional character with a huge imagination.  The imagination will always exist for mankind.  All one can do with an imagination is use it in a positive way, such as writing, and learn to observe it the best way they know how.  For the mind is a terrible thing to waste and only the future can be used as a springboard to better things good or strange for years to come.
 
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