The Universe Has Two Moms

by Time

I get it. You probably think you know me. At least I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me. “She flows like water,” “she flies when you’re having fun,” “she’s unstoppable,” “she heals all wounds, she’s money, she waits for no one.” You think you are at risk of killing me, so you try to save me, but I can’t be killed and you’re the ones who need saving.

It feels like forever, but it’s only been one of your centuries since I made the ill-informed choice to stay in the SpaceTime closet — the one built by your physicists who like to think I’m Space’s invisible twin. You know what they say, those physicists, right? “Time’s just like Space, except she’s less useful, more confusing, and there’s only one dimension to her.”

For awhile I enjoyed appearing mysterious and elegantly simple. But for the record, I’m done with that. If I spend another second in the closet pretending to be Space’s humble, hobbled and invisible twin, I’ll explode. And that kind of thing can only happen once.

That reminds me of a riddle. In the beginning there was what? Darkness on the face of the deep? The void? The Ein Sof? Infinite nothingness? The Word? A tiny ball of very dense Energy? Ha ha! Not a chance. In the beginning, there was — the beginning. That’s me. Time!