Chasing Time

Synopsis

In the age of the Roman Republic, an olive oil merchant with a unique obsession with time is saved from financial ruin through the intervention of a shimmering Janus key that mysteriously reveals a path to recovery. Centuries later in 1965, that same ring is discovered by Tony Lucas, an eighth grader in Brooklyn with a unique ability for forecasting certain events, whose only dreams involve his beloved Yankees and his upcoming summer vacation. Tony soon witnesses the time-bending power of the key as it inexplicably transforms the front page of an aged newspaper recovered from a 1905-time capsule into an altered version dated 2025. The now enigmatic headlines and fragmented stories include a report of a disappointing season not yet played by his Yankees, a narrative on the activities of a former U.S. president, Bill Clinton, whom Tony has never heard of, and a chronicle of a miracle cure for an unnamed crippling disease, which cryptically includes only the phrases BMAA, almed, and the name George Janusowski. After the futuristic front page disappears as strangely as it had materialized, and he loses the key, Tony decides it’s best to leave the whole affair behind him. Over the ensuing years, Tony marries the love of his life, a wonderful English teacher named Ann, and embarks on an idyllic home life and a successful career as a university professor of American history. However, those headlines from his youth continue to surface periodically, especially as he hears the name Bill Clinton on the news and learns of his presidential aspirations. In the aftermath of Tony and Ann’s 38th wedding anniversary in 2018, their blissful life is turned upside down when they receive the devastating news that Ann has developed ALS, a crippling neurological disease that leads to paralysis and eventually death. Following weeks of exhaustive literature research exploring the extent of modern medical treatments, he realizes the futility of his quest to unearth a cure that could save Ann. Heartbroken at his failure, and completely dispirited as he watches his beloved wife descend into a state of near-death paralysis, Tony readies himself for their final weeks together when he eyes a vaguely familiar acronym, BMAA, in an article describing ALS. In an inspired moment, he realizes this is the same acronym he had read in the fragmented article from his youth and infers that the crippling disease for which a cure was reported is in fact ALS. Reinvigorated by these insights, he races against time to embark on an amazing quest filled with unpredictable twists and turns in an effort to rediscover the key and use it to unravel additional mysteries from the futuristic newspaper story that could save his wife. Tony’s quest takes him from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, to the Classical Arts Department at Harvard University, and to a dining service company in his home city of Wilmington, Delaware, where he uncovers important clues at each stop. Critically, he learns the letters almed from that altered front page refer to a Spanish olive oil-producing town, Almedinilla. This impels him to travel to Spain, where he encounters a congenial olive oil salesman named Pietro Rossi who recounts a story that he too had discovered an ancient Janus key years ago in a Brooklyn antique shop. His key also had the power to foresee certain events, but only for certain individuals who share with Tony an obsession with time. Pietro realizes his key is the same one from Tony’s youth, and gifts it to Tony in hopes that it can aid him in his quest. However, after rushing back home to his dying wife, Tony’s hopes for a revelation by the key fail to materialize, and he forlornly accepts the fact that Ann has just days to live. As all hope is virtually extinguished, Tony receives a phone call from an excited Pietro who reports the fantastic news that he has discovered George Janusowski, the final clue from the newspaper article. George is employed as an executive for a Polish, pharmaceutical company that is developing an experimental drug. Deducing that this drug is the same miracle cure mentioned in the newspaper headline, Tony meets with George to plead for a sample but is denied. In an emotional climax, Tony reaches the depths of despair in a dark tunnel during his train ride home, when suddenly the key lights up signaling a new revelation. Tony deciphers it in the form of a final baseball score for a Yankee game that is scheduled for later that night. He texts George the score to prove the prognostic power of the ring and is rewarded by delivery of the test compound the following day. Following a series of doses, Ann starts to regain much of her neurological function as she experiences a miraculous recovery that her doctors can’t explain. Weeks later Tony and Ann decide to donate the key to an antique shop so it may continue to help others with an obsession for time.