Time travel is a concept that has sparked imagination among humans since the dawn of time. The idea of going to any point in time ever, altering the past or learning about the future is bound to attract the attention of some. An example of this is Leroy Dotty, who found interest in having a second chance in life using a time machine made using inspiration from one of his favorite childhood movies, “Back to the Future” but due to a miscalculation, he goes too far back in the past to the day his parents meet. He then mistakenly prevents them from meeting, which messes up his timeline completely.

Professor Leroy Dotty is an overqualified mathematician who works at a community college in Richmond, BC. He was depressed because he was destined for greatness, always told he would be the next big thing and getting offered many scholarships by the biggest schools, but is stuck in a job he hates working all day to come home to a small apartment that seems to be in an endless cycle.

One day, Leroy, during his daily routine, saw an old classic, “Back to the Future,” on the television. This movie was one of his favorites when he was younger. Leroy thought, “What if I could go back in time and tell my past self to work harder and live up to my full potential.” Leroy remembered Sarah Smith, a brilliant physician who was one of his colleagues at the community college and how she always mentioned time travel. Everyone thought she was crazy for dedicating all of her off-work hours to time travel, including Leroy. The next day, Leroy goes over to ask Sarah for help. Sarah was hesitant at first but, after a while, agreed to help Leroy.

Sarah explains that she has not been able to complete a “time machine” because she has not been able to create a device capable of manipulating the temporal dimensions. For the next couple of months, they worked tirelessly on this “time machine,” but now they needed something that would keep them safe when traveling across the space-time continuum. Nothing worked, and they were about to give up, but then Leroy remembered “Back to the Future” and how they used a car to travel across time. Leroy ran it through the calculations, and everything was checked out. So, Leroy sacrificed his 2006 Honda Civic to use it as a “time machine”, and now it was time to test it to see if it worked.

“Leroy, we should really test it before using it. Who knows, it could kill you,” says Sarah. “We’ve gone over this. I would rather die trying to fulfill my dreams than live another day” says Leroy. Sarah nods as Leroy steps into his Honda C ivic. Leroy put in the date for 2002, days before he left for Oxford and turned on the car. Before he knew it, he was driving through what appeared to be a pitch-black tunnel next to him. He saw past moments in time going from most to least recent. He sees his first day at his job, the day his parents died, and then he sees the moment he is about to leave for Harvard, but it does not stop; it speeds up and keeps going. He sees the day he took his first steps, the day he was born. Suddenly, a shining blue light blurs his vision, and he finds himself parked in a garage.

Leroy gets up and asks the nearest person what day and year it is. The person responds: July fifteenth, 1980. Then Leroy noticed this person was wearing the exact same leather jacket his dad gave him the day before he died, it was his dad! So, he decided to follow his dad around all day long until his dad met up with his friends and went inside a club. Leroy followed them in when he saw his mom dancing in the distance. He went into the corner next to the DJ and watched. He sees his dad approaching his mom when a crowd of people starts dancing in front of him. He moves a bit to get a better look when he trips over a wire, causing a spark that instantly turns into a flame. Everyone started yelling and running towards the exit. Meanwhile, the flame turns into a huge fire, engulfing the entire club. This caused his dad to not speak with his mom, and they went their separate ways.

Leroy Dotty was panicking; he needed his parents to meet, or else he would disappear. Suddenly, his arm disappears and then reappears. He knew he had to go quickly. He started following his mom until her house and left. Now that he knew where both of his parents lived, he knew what to do. He had to invite them to a party and hoped they would meet. So, Leroy prepared for the party, but more of his body started to disappear and reappear more often as well. When everything was ready, he sent out the invites. Weeks later, the party started with everyone showing up. His mom showed up first, and then his dad. He watched from a distance, and then it happened: his dad went over and got her phone number. They talked all night, and at around 2 am, they both left. Leroy knew his plan had worked and returned to his time. He went through the entire process again, and before he knew it, he was back.

Leroy Dotty started noticing some new things, like he had an Oxford diploma, meaning he finished university this time, he was married to Sarah, his parents were alive, and he worked at the University of Richmond. Leroy’s accidental time travel, inspired by a childhood classic “Back to the Future” cautions us to reflect on the consequences of altering our existence. Leroy now realized that it is important to chase after your dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem.