Jacob Misses His Mother

Parallel Lives Between A Mother And A Son

By: Mariann Carroll, October 13, 2025(Revised)

It is 2030, the year Jacob Malone discovered a special Camera that can take you back in time.

How did Jacob Malone discover this time travel device? He was picking some Marigold flowers from his basement garden, which had artificial sunlight. The camera was wedged between two of the marigold flowers. The Sun had just disappeared from the sky in the year 2028. It was a significant phenomenon, and people worldwide thought it was the year the world would end.

The Aliens finally exposed themselves entirely in the year 2025. Aliens live amongst humans freely without fear anymore. Aliens' technology was so advanced that it enabled humans to live on Earth without needing sunlight or the moon.

Jacob thought the camera was just a camera until one day he decided to play around with it to see if it still worked. Jacob took Photographic Science B.S. at (RIT) Rochester Institution of Technology and graduated in the summer of 2018. Jacob had used this type of camera in one of his courses, but they did not spend much time on the 1960 35mm camera. Jacob's father, Steve, used to be a photographer.

Steve taught Jacob how to use his Kodak Motormatic 35mm. Which was replaced with digital cameras. Jacob's father brought him to visit the George Eastman House Museum when he was ten. George Eastman Museum( built in 1905) is the World's Oldest museum dedicated to photography, and one of the world's oldest film archives was opened in 1949 in Rochester, NY. George Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak Company. The Eastman Mansion is still a museum and is kept in its original glory.

Jacob's dad, Steve, died in the year 2026 in Jail. His life of dishonesty finally brought him karma.

The first time Jacob went back to the past was two weeks ago. He accidentally went back to the year 2025 and stayed there for a few minutes.

Jacob learned the mechanics of using the camera by playing around with it a couple of times.

You have to press the Shutter button once to go to the past and press it twice to return to the original future date. The Shutter Speed Dial takes you to the year in the past you want to go to. The viewfinder will take you near the location it is pointed at or the location of the picture you place in front of it. The Film Advanced Lever takes you only two years into the future. The F-stop is the hour, and the focus ring is the minutes in the future or past you want to be at. The film compartment of the camera is used for something beyond human comprehension. There was a missing piece to the camera.

Every time Jacob goes to the past, he brings one or two Marigold flowers with him. He usually visited his mother, Martha. Jacob's Dad had sole custody of him. Steve prevented his ex-wife from being in Jacob's life. Steve had legal connections that gave him the upper hand in court. Steve's friend was the court Stenographer; she altered what people said to favor Jacob's father's case and win sole custody of Jacob. Steve's uncle was a lawyer who strongly influenced the judge in the case. Steve's uncle went to school with most of the Judges in the county who decided Jacob's custody when he was five years old. Jacob used the camera to revisit the year his parents divorced and discovered the truth.

When Jacob travels back in time, no one can see him. He found out he can bring certain things like flowers, butterflies, pens, pencils, etc. Jacob leaves them there for the person he is trying to communicate with, mostly his mom. Jacob's mom was very poor and paying a lot for child support. She can barely support herself. Jacob tried to give clues to his mom, but she was too sad to pay attention to them. Jacob's mom was always crying and looking at his baby photos.

Jacob's mom kept his toys, furniture, dragon figurines, collectibles, and school artwork from when he was still living with her. Jacob would stay with her for days. When he left, he would place the two marigold flowers from his basement garden on his desk, hoping his mom would know they were from him. Jacob would move the dragon figurines around.

When Jacob visited his mom in the past, the marigold flowers would be in a clay vase he made when he was little. The dragon figurines were put back in their rightful place. Jacob tries to hug his mother, but he cannot feel her. She seems to feel something cause Martha starts rubbing her arms.

Jacob tried to look for his mother in the present time, but was not able to. In 2032, Jacob went to the future to find his mother and found her on his 35th birthday at the church they used to attend together. She was sitting in a pew, talking out loud and crying. "God, please let me be with my son just once." Jacob cried, too. He put the two marigolds on the ground in the church entryway.

Jacob thinks his mom got startled because she dropped her purse, causing everything to spill on the ground next to the marigolds. He notices her electronic identification was on the ground, showing her address. Jacob quickly remembered the address and went back to his present time.

He drove to the address and saw his mother holding two marigold flowers outside her home. She looked up and saw Jacob. She said, "Are you Jacob, my son?" She notices the mole on his right cheek.

They hug each other for a long time. They spend the rest of the day reacquainting with each other.

Jacob promised his mom that he would visit her every day from now on. When Jacob got home from visiting his mother, two Aliens appeared before him. They were gray with large, very dark eyes on an oval, triangular face. They had three weird-looking fingers on their hands and three weird-looking toes on each foot.

They spoke an Alien language that Jacob could understand. They told Jacob they left the Time travel device on purpose so that Jacob could have his mother back in his life. Jacob returns the time travel camera to them.