[ WP ] You 're a history major . Your final exam is to travel back in time and successfully pass as a normal , everyday citizen . It 's not going well .

My plan was going great. All I need to do to pass is to lay low, not make any impressions, my grades are enough to carry me through this part of the exam. Easy enough right? Wrong. Everything blows up in my face when I decided to flirt with this little fox at the bar. She asks me if I wanted to go home with her, and hell yeah I do. So, about five minutes into our joy ride in a brand new 1948 Ford, our chauffeur brakes hard, and I mean HARD. We ’ re in the middle of nowhere, NY, surrounded by trees, and four or five dudes with Thompsons jump out of a couple of real nice whitewalls just by our passenger door. 
 
 “ What do these guys want Charlotte? ” I ask. 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry, ” she pleads pulling one of those pea-shooter pistols from under her layers and layers of burgundy dress. “ They want you. ” She holds the cold steel to my temple. “ You ’ re a great guy Royce, but business is business, and you ’ re the key to it all. ” 
 
 “ The hell does that mean? I don ’ t have anything to give you. Seriously. ” 
 
 “ Oh, but you do. Ever heard of that saying, knowledge is power? How about knowledge of the future, huh? How about that, honey? ” She can ’ t help but smile, I can tell it ’ s genuine too. She ’ s like a fox who just cornered her first rabbit, and I ’ m the stupid ass rabbit. 
 
 “ What do you mean? ” I try to feign surprise, but I just sealed the deal. 
 
 “ Don ’ t be coy, Royce. Just give us what we want and everybody wins. ” 
 
 I feel around in my pocket for the emergency button, the one that sends in the troops to get my sorry ass out of here, but it ’ s gone. 
 
 “ Looking for this? ” Charlotte asks, twirling her red hair around a finger and making the same seductive face that got me in the car in the first place. “ We ’ ve been trying to nab one of you travelers for a while now. ” 
 
 “ Ok. Ok. Just give me that, and I ’ ll tell you whatever you want. Just go easy on me. ” 
 
 “ Oh, oh, oh. A confession. ” She cranks down her window and a grizzly man with a cigar pokes his head in. 
 
 “ I heard, ” He growls, and takes my emergency button. 
 
 “ Please, ” I beg one last time, and I hear him throw it on the ground and crush it with repeated stomps. 
 
 He walks around, knocks on the passenger side door, signaling the driver to let him in, and sinks into the passenger seat. “ So, uh, what was it? Ron? Rick? ” the man with greased back hair asks while polishing his Thompson and taking a drag from his cigar. I clam up, wondering if I ’ m about to die. 
 
 He punches the dash. “ Speak when spoken to boy! ” 
 
 “ Royce, ” finds its way to my throat. “ God have mercy ” 
 
 “ Name ’ s Marvin, kid. And don ’ t bring God into this, Alright? ” 
 
 “ Uh, Yes. Yes sir. What do you want? ” 
 
 Marvin pivots around, cigar still hanging from his mouth. “ It ’ s more a matter of what do you want. Because, this can go many different ways. Just depends all on your preference kiddo. ” 
 
 I can see some of the wrinkles in his face now that he ’ s up close. He ’ s not old, but he ’ s aged, if that makes sense. Has to be thirty, thirty five maybe. “ Whatever ends in me staying alive ” I joke. 
 
 He beams at this, revealing what would be pearly white teeth if they weren ’ t stained from all the cigars I imagine he smokes. “ I like that. I do. Self-preservation is what keeps this world a turning. ” 
 
 He looks to Charlotte who has done nothing but bask in her self-satisfaction with her stupid little grin and skinny, fox face. “ Good job, sweetheart. You ’ ve done the family proud. ” And, finally, he beckons the driver forward. 
 
 “ Now we can finally take over the world. ” 

