About Time
I always knew we
were a fairly odd family.
First there was me.
Too tall. Too skinny.
Too orange.
My mum was lovely,
but not like other mums.
There was
Something rectangular,
busy and unsentimental.
Her fashion icon was the Queen.
Dad, well, he was more normal. He always
seemed to have time on his hands.
After giving up teaching university
students on his 50th birthday,
he was eternally available
for a leisurely chat or
to let me win at table tennis.
Yes.
And then there was Mum's
brother, Uncle Desmond.
Always impeccably dressed. He
spent the days just, well,
being Uncle Desmond.
He was the most charming and least
clever man you could ever meet.
His mind was on other things,
though we never found out what.
And then,
finally there was Catherine.
Katie. Kit Kat. My sister.
In a household of sensible jackets
well, what can I call her,
nature thing.
With her elfin eyes, her purple
T-shirts and her eternally bare feet,
she was then,
and still is to me,
about the most wonderful
thing in the world.
All in all, it was a pretty good childhood.
Full of repeated rhythms and patterns.
By the time I was 21,
we were still
having tea on the beach
every single day.
Skimming stones and
eating sandwiches,
summer and winter,
no matter what the weather.
a film,
no matter what the weather.
And then once a year, the
dreaded New Year's Eve party.
Yeah, I might just get one.
You're absolutely gorgeous.
I'm Katie. What am I drinking?
This is very expensive stuff.
Cheers. Cheers.
Come on, it's nearly midnight.
We're all going through.
We're going through.
Look, I've gotta find you a...
God!
Everyone makes little mistakes.
It's fine. Come on.
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year.
Sorry.
And so I woke up
the next morning,
hung-over, ashamed of myself,
and not realising
it was the day
that would change
my life forever.
Get up, stupid.
Dad wants you.
Hello. Sexy pyjamas.
Tim, come in.
Do
sit down.
That's very formal.
Well, um, yeah.
This is an odd moment for me
because I had
the same moment with my
father when I'd just
turned 21, and after it,
my life was never the same, so I
approach it pretty, um, nervously.
Okay.
When you're ready.
It's all very mysterious.
Right.
Tim, my dear son, the...
The simple fact is
the men in this family
have always had
the ability to...
This is going to sound strange,
be prepared for strangeness.
but there's this family secret.
And the secret is that
the men in the family can
travel in time.
Well, more accurately,
travel back in time.
We can't travel
into the future.
This is such a weird joke.
?t's seriously not a joke.
So you're saying that you and
granddad, and his brothers
could all travel back in time?
Absolutely.
And you still do? Absolutely.
Although it's not as dramatic as it sounds.
It's only in my own life.
I can only go to places where I
actually was and can remember.
I can't kill Hitler or shag
Helen of Troy, unfortunately.
Okay, stop.
Um...
if it's true, which it isn't.
Although it is.
Although it isn't, obviously. But if
it was, which it's not. Which it is.
Which it isn't.
But if it was, how would I...
The ?'How?' is
the easy bit, in fact.
You go into a dark place,
big cupboards are
very useful generally.
Toilets, at a pinch.
Then you clench
your fists like this.
Think of the moment
you're going to
and you'll find yourself there.
After a bit of a stumble
and a rumble and a tumble.
Wow.
Is as good a reaction as any.
I think I plumped for ?'f***!?'
but it was the '70s.
No, this is
so obviously a joke.
?t's not a joke.
Why would I lie to someone I'm
fairly fond of?
Okay.
But, when I come
back downstairs
after standing in a cupboard
with my fists clenched,
you're gonna be
in so much trouble.
Well,
let's see, shall we?
And, Tim, try and
do something interesting.
So much trouble.
I mean it. Really.
Right.
Wow!
You all right, Tim?
Yes. Yeah. Good, ace. Yeah.
Good, come on. it's nearly
midnight and we've got to find...
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoo! Midnight.
10, 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Happy New Year!
Thank you, Tim.
You're welcome, Polly.
Does Mum know?
Not a whistle.
Strange. And what about the whole...
Butterfly effect thing. What can I say?
We don't seem to have
messed up civilisation yet.
?t's gonna be
a complicated year.
?t's gonna be
a complicated life.
What have you
done with it?
For me,
it's books, books, books.
I've read everything
a man could wish to.
Any first thoughts?
Well, I suppose apart from getting
a slightly better haircut... Yeah.
Money would be
the obvious thing.
Very mixed blessing.
Utterly screwed up
your grandfather's life.
Left him without
love or friends.
genuinely happy rich person.
?t would be nice
not to have to work.
No, that's a real
recipe for disaster.
Look what happened to Uncle Fred.
Absolutely sod all.
Wasted his life.
You have to use it for
things that you really think
will make your life
the way you want it to be.
Come on,
Well,
to be honest,
I suppose, at the moment,
could help me get a girlfriend.
Wow.
Massive. Yeah.
The mothership.
For me, it was always
gonna be about love.
And that summer I walked
into the eye of the storm.
Her name was Charlotte.
Cousin of Kit Kat's
handsome but
nasty boyfriend Jimmy.
And she was staying
for two whole months.
Just one. Not both of them.
Tim,
will you do my back?
Absolutely!
Very keen!
Whoa! No. No.
No. No, no. No, no, no.
Is it in my hair? Yes!
Tim. Will you do my back?
Sure. Just give us a sec.
Okay.
Thank you.
Now...
Ooh. Nice.
?t's my area.
it was a summer of
suntan and torture.
Jay around for tennis
because I thought
he'd make me look good.
I was wrong!
What are you doing? No.
Charlotte just made both
of us look like idiots.
Bad luck, Tim.
How the hell are you meant
to concentrate on your game?
How are you meant
to live your life
with this sort of
sh*t going down?
It never got better
until suddenly
it was almost too late.
Well, Charlotte,
our final lunch.
No!
And it's been really, really
lovely having you all summer.
it has.
Thank you.
Thank you.
?t really has.
Hasn't it, Desmond?
Beg your pardon?
Lovely having
Charlotte here all summer.
Charlotte? Who's Charlotte?
Come on, darling. Charlotte,
sitting next to you.
Yes, of course. Of course.
Charlotte. Hi.
Lovely to meet you.
Have you enjoyed having
Charlotte here all summer, Tim?
Yeah.
There goes August.
I've introduced him to
most things, haven't I?
You did. You were
much more sophisticated.
In a quiet way,
I like to think.
Come in.
Charlotte. Yeah!
As it's your last night,
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"About Time" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/about_time_2157>.
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