In this story by Jack Finney, a man notices some unusual things about his new neighbors. Individually these mean little until the husband relates a science-fiction story he claims to have written. The story envisages a dystopian future where most people struggle to make a living and face the virtual certainty of death and destruction through war. The result is mass emigration to the past thanks to television’s modern replacement… personal time machines. Could the story be true, and the young couple two of these time-traveling refugees? Themes include societal collapse, nostalgia, escapism, integration, time-travel.
