Courthouse Time Machine

This is a short story:

At age 74, Judge Jamison is the oldest judge to ever have served on the Pierce County District Court. By statute, the maximum age for a judge is 75, so at the very least no judge will be older than him at retirement, since he knows there is a good chance he will make it to age 75.

Although many others may have succumbed to the monotony of the job, Judge Jamison has the right amount of intelligence to be a District Court Judge. He is neither to dumb to understand the basic tenants of the legal system, nor is he too smart to become bored.

Judge Jamison could have retired a decade ago, but he wants to contribute to the betterment of his adopted city of Tacoma, WA. He is a dreamer and an idealist. He has a good life and a loving wife. She is the most important person in the world to him.

As 2024 arrives, Judge Jamison is ready to start another year of doing justice in his community. As he takes the bench for the first time in 2024, he looks at the crowd in his cramped courtroom and smiles. He looks to his left, waiting for timer to activate the clock, letting him know they are on the record. The display reads three horizontal red lines, before his judicial assistant starts the clock. The display wipes away the three horizontal lines and displays the time. At 9:31 am, he announces, "We are ready for our docket for January 2, "2023." He was off by one year. That is when his life changes. He discovers that his courtroom has become a time machine. Whisked away to exactly a year ago based on a mistake, he has a chance to discover the nuances of time travel. He finds in himself facing the conflict between choosing material gain, or personal satisfaction.

Granted the gift, or the curse, of time travel, Judge Jamison attempts to come to terms with his new reality. Can he fix the past, or improve his future, or both. Possibly he has he lost his mind entirely.