Hello Dear Readers! This week’s Trifecta Writing Challenge is to write a story between 33 and 333 words using the third definition of the word year: 3 : a calendar year specified usually by a number <died in the year 1900>
The Knee Deepians
Melvin Foink was giddy when NASA announced they had discovered time travel — albeit accidentally. It seems one of NASA’s break-room physicists was trying to perfect NASA’s Nuclear Mr. Coffee Machine, when he randomly set the automatic timer for 6:36, pushed brew, and suddenly found himself knee deep in Mammoth Lake in the year 636 — cold, confused and coffee-less.
NASA had immediately capitalized on their Nuclear Mr. Coffee Time Machine by charging civilians $10,000 a pop to stand knee deep in Mammoth Lake in the year 636 for 45 minutes; the only stipulations being:
- that travelers remember to ”not mess with anything”
- that travelers remember they might never return
- and that travelers remember to wear Bermuda shorts (available in the NASA gift shop for $85)
The lucky people who had time traveled to Mammoth Lake, year 636, and returned alive were dubbed The Knee Deepians and had become instant celebrities who got their own talk shows or, failing that, their own reality shows or, at the very, very least — were invited to compete on Dancing with the Stars.
It took Melvin Foink six years to save up for his time travel ticket. He took on a few part time jobs in addition to his normal duties at the Peoria waste disposal plant.
On any given day, you might see Melvin earning extra cash by performing magic tricks at children’s birthday parties, or by washing cars at children’s birthday parties or by giving haircuts at children’s birthday parties.
The day finally came when Melvin Foink found himself at NASA standing in the line leading to the Nuclear Mr. Coffee Time Machine awaiting his turn to push “brew” when a commotion arose up ahead.
Everyone watched as NASA guards led a man away who was wild and inconsolable. He kept screaming, “Mammoth Lake is coffee! Coffeeeeeeeee!”
It was just Melvin Foink’s bad luck that NASA’s Nuclear Mr. Coffee Time Machine would suddenly pick now to go back to “just making coffee.”
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Until next time . . . I love you
Image from 123 RF Stock Photos:

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![creative-genius2[1]](http://lindavernon.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/creative-genius212.jpg)
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LOL!!! The stipulations, especially the third one, are too funny!! I really had a good chuckle over the Knee Deepians, getting an invite to compete on Dancing with the Stars! haha! Oh, and the picture… looks like me in the morning without my coffee! Very funny, Linda!
Ha ha! I know what you mean. I’m just like you Lisa. I definitely have to have my coffee FIRST THING in the morning and even if I had my choice between getting to go back in time or getting a nice cup of piping hot coffee assuming I had a Nuclear Mr. Coffee/time machine — I’d always go with the coffee every single time!
Poor Melvin! At least he got to experience a 12 oz brew of Mammoth lake year 636 although something tells me the taste would be cold and stale. I think Starbucks must have had a Mr. Coffee time machine because their coffee taste the same way!
Fortunately, a clever engineer discovered what happend, and I am now waiting, giddy with anticipation, for the delivery of my Ronco combination coffee maker/time traveller.
Giddy!
So cool! And to add to the giddy, I heard the Ronco version also has a can opener too!
Poor Melvin and his bad luck. Great writing. I read it to co-workers and we all got a good chuckle!
Oh my gosh really? I’m so flattered Jeanna! HA! That makes my day!
Great post.
Thank you Ruby!
Hehe…$85 Bermuda shorts. That’s a bargain by NASA’s standards
Bummer Melvin won’t make it to Dancing with the Stars now….
I know poor Melvin. All dressed up in his $85.00 NASA Bermuda shorts with no place to go!
Oh, I love this. Perfect early morning post to read. Hmm, I wonder when NASA will get to unfixing the Coffee Machine again. Maybe next time it’ll go to the future
Oh going to the future! I love that idea Varsha! That may have to happen next week!
Too funny! Loved it.
Thank you yogaleigh! And thanks for taking the time to come by and check out The Knee Deepians!
Very funny. Not sure why, but I have an image of George Cloony in Bermuda shorts…
Haha Kymminbarc! Oh I like that. I think I’ll keep George Cloony in the back of my mind in Bermuda shorts from now on! The could be my “happy place”.
lmao this is so delightful (:
Ah Thanks Draug419. I’m so glad you liked the story!
Loved the creativity of this piece. And the shorts. Hilarious.
Thank you so much KG. And thank you for taking the time to come by and check it out!
Hey Linda,
We tried emailing you but didn’t get an answer. Just wanted to make sure you credited your photo. Can you please slap a credit on there?
Love your creativity. As always.
Thanks Trifecta!
I don’t know where to begin to detail the details I love here. How about all of it from a coffee machine gone rogue, bermuda shorts, the name knee deepians and the final, mammoth lake is coffee. I laughed out loud. It’s so good.
Ah! Thank you Stephanie B! I am so delighted to hear you liked it so well. Gosh that makes my day! You comments always have a way of inspiring me! Thank you!
Heheheh…that would some stout brew, with the Nuclear option! I love your character’s names–they are almost characters themselves.
Oh thank you Tina. It’s funny because as soon as I have the name of the character it kind of dictates what they are going to do and say. I find it really helpful to come up with the name first. And thank you so much for coming by to check out my story!
Ha! I’m not sure I’d want to go back to 636 anyway; no coffee just adds insult to injury.
It sure does Annabelle! It would be boring enough to have to stand in Mammoth Lake for 45 minutes. But without coffee? Forget about it!
Frightening– I’m going to have a very hard time using the Funyuns vending machine from now on…
But at least I won’t have to stand behind Al Gore, and believe me, to stand behind Al is to be one of The Knee Deepennits.
Which ain’t good. At all. : P
LOL!! Mark, I hate to break it to you but if Al is buying Funyuns at the Funyuns vending machine, your turn is never going to come. There are some things in life that must be faced and Al Gore is one of them!
Unless, of course, we can figure out a way to get Al to use Nasa’s nuclear coffee machine and while he’s in 636, we’ll cut him off at the knees (deepians) and break the machine so he’ll be stuck in 636 eating Funyuns Fossils. But he’ll be happy there, don’t you think? No global warming and inventing the internet will still be ahead of him!