Me, Myself and I

In Short

This is a brisk, clever exploration of the "grandfather paradox" rendered through the eyes of a down-on-his-luck hobo. When Galahad "Gooseneck" McCarthy accepts a hundred dollars to travel 110 million years into the past to nudge a rock, he inadvertently creates a ripple effect that forces him to repeat the mission to undo the damage. It is a classic tale of temporal mechanics gone wrong, defined by the protagonist’s refusal to accept that he is just a pawn in a scientist’s increasingly chaotic experiments with reality.

The Story

Galahad McCarthy, a lanky, wind-hardened hobo, is resting in the North Carolina mountain shack of Professor Ruddle. The physicist, desperate to prove his theories on "intrareversible positrons," offers McCarthy a hundred dollars to pilot his crude time machine back to the Cretaceous Period. Ruddle’s only instruction is to move a single, innocuous red rock to demonstrate the machine's capabilities without disrupting the timeline. McCarthy, disinterested in the science but keen on the money, reluctantly agrees.

Upon his return, McCarthy finds that his simple task has drastically altered the present. Professor Ruddle is now a different man named Guggles, who is bald and—much to his horror—happily married. McCarthy’s act of moving the rock, and the subsequent emergence of a prehistoric centipede, has rewritten history. Guggles, now realizing his mistake, demands that McCarthy return to the past to shift the rock back to its original position.

The trouble begins when McCarthy arrives in the past and discovers another version of himself already there, tasked by a different iteration of the professor to move that same rock. The two McCarthys, both equally stubborn and committed to their instructions, inevitably clash. They fight, reconcile, and realize that a single trip is no longer enough to set things right.

As McCarthy makes further attempts to fix the timeline, the complexity multiplies. He ends up meeting a third version of himself. Each iteration of McCarthy is concerned only with his fee, leading to disputes over checks drawn on different, fictional banks. The paradoxes compound; every time McCarthy tries to "undo" his interference, he creates a new version of the present—or a new version of himself—that complicates the next attempt.

Finally, three versions of McCarthy find themselves inside the time machine simultaneously, attempting to return to the present. The machine, overwhelmed by the presence of three identical individuals from different points in the causal loop, refuses to function. Stranded and unable to return to their own time, the three McCarthys decide to return to the prehistoric island to "discuss the matter reasonably." Upon arrival, they find exactly what they feared: yet another version of the past, waiting to be disrupted, ensuring that the cycle of stubbornness and paradox continues infinitely.

How It Unfolds

The mission begins Professor Ruddle recruits the skeptical Gooseneck McCarthy to test a time machine by moving a rock in the Cretaceous Period. McCarthy takes the money, indifferent to the potential for world-ending temporal disruption.

The unintended consequence Upon returning from the past, McCarthy discovers the professor has undergone radical personal changes, including a new name and an unwanted marriage. The professor concludes that the disturbance of the rock caused these shifts and orders McCarthy to undo his work.

The collision of selves McCarthy travels back in time only to encounter a version of himself already present on the beach. Both men possess identical instructions and a shared stubbornness, leading to a physical fight over the rock's position.

The multiplication of paradoxes With each attempt to correct the timeline, more versions of McCarthy appear. The narrative tracks their increasing confusion as they argue over pay and the "correct" version of history while the professor's identity continues to fluctuate.

The final deadlock Three versions of McCarthy attempt to return to the present together, causing the time machine to fail. They realize that they have created an endless cycle, trapping them in a recursive loop of their own creation.

The People

Galahad "Gooseneck" McCarthy is a drifter who values his tobacco and his paycheck above the fate of the human race. He is defined by his stubbornness and a cynical detachment from the scientific world. As he encounters more versions of himself, he becomes increasingly frustrated by his own inability to resolve the situation, though he never abandons his quest for payment.

Professor Ruddle, who later shifts into the persona of Guggles or Roodles, is an ambitious but erratic scientist. He is prone to hysterical outbursts and deep anxiety regarding his social and marital status. He views McCarthy as a disposable, if difficult, tool, yet he is constantly baffled when his own experiments produce results—like an unwanted marriage—that he cannot control. The professor serves as the architect of the chaos, though he is just as subject to its shifting whims as the man he sends into the past.

In Its Own Voice

"Name ain't Noodleneck," he drawled. "Gooseneck. Gooseneck McCarthy, known and respected in every hobo jungle in the country, including here in North Carolina."

McCarthy asserts his identity against the professor’s condescending nickname.

"The centipede jumping out of the rock may have altered subsequent events sufficiently to make me a married man instead of a blissful single one, to have changed my name from Ruddle to Guggles."

The professor theorizes on the butterfly effect triggered by McCarthy’s minor interference.

"He yanked at the chronotransit. The last he saw of the professor was a confused picture of broken glassware, tangled electrical equipment and indignantly waving white hair."

McCarthy abandons the professor to his own chaotic devices as he plunges back into the time stream.

What It's Really About

At its core, this story is a satirical look at the fragility of causality. It suggests that even the most meticulous scientific endeavor is vulnerable to the sheer, unthinking momentum of human stubbornness. By making the protagonist a man who cares more about his pocket change than the "fate of human knowledge," the narrative strips away the grandeur of time travel. It argues that history is not a fragile crystal easily shattered, but a messy, repetitive cycle that humans are inherently ill-equipped to manage. It turns the classic "grandfather paradox" into a comedy of errors, implying that we are all, in a sense, stuck in loops of our own stubborn creation.

Why Read It Today

This story is a quintessential piece of 1940s science fiction that prioritizes wit and pacing over hard-science rigor. If you enjoy mind-bending paradoxes wrapped in a "blue-collar" aesthetic, you will find this highly entertaining. The dialogue is snappy, reflecting a mid-century vernacular that gives the characters a distinct, rugged personality.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the story's period-typical tropes. The depiction of the "hobo" lifestyle is romanticized in a way that feels dated, and the professor’s treatment of his wife as a "battle-axe" is a common, if tired, comedic device of the era. The pace is rapid—almost breathless—which mirrors the increasing anxiety of the protagonist as he realizes he is out of his depth.

What lingers after reading is the sheer audacity of the premise: the idea that the greatest discovery in human history could be completely derailed by a man who just wants to get paid and be left alone. It is a brief, funny, and surprisingly haunting meditation on the futility of trying to fix the past. If you appreciate a story that doesn't take itself too seriously while still delivering a satisfying, circular ending, this will stay with you long after the final page.