The founders walked a short distance in silence, then exited a break in the woods. A mountain sculpture containing four enormous faces was visible in the distance.
     "That’s you!" Franklin gasped, while Washington and Jefferson gaped at their granite reflections. "Both of you! Even a purblind old fool like me can see sculptures that big!"
     Neither man responded. The hilltop remained silent and still, save the shrill whistling of the wind.
     Eventually Washington looked back and forth between Jefferson and his sculpture. Jefferson did the same to Washington. Neither man acknowledged the other’s glances.
     "Who are the other two sculptures?" Franklin asked.
     Silence again.
     "Where are we?" Washington asked.
     Yet another silence, the longest yet. And a chilling, ghastly calm. Even the air seemed still.
     Franklin peered at Washington and Jefferson. "When are we?"

* * *

Washington examined the large box on the hutch. It was made of a strange material that reminded him of the Watt wagon interior and gift shop bags, and had a slightly convex glass front. "An enormous camera obscura?" he speculated.
     "It is placed prominently," Jefferson replied. "It must be something of import."
     Franklin examined the large "camera obscura" and noted the small protrusions on the bottom of the invention. They were black like the rest of it, and difficult to see. Franklin began pressing them one by one. When he hit the rightmost button the device made a popping sound. Colored sunlight filled its screen and from somewhere inside it a deep voice boomed, "This is CNN!"
     Washington and Jefferson dropped the cipher pamphlet and phone, fell into seated positions on the edge of the beds, and gaped. Franklin joined them, and the founding fathers took their first hit of modern America’s most powerful drug.

* * *

After he completed his medical research, Franklin typed "starkers" into the Yahoo search prompt. Hits for everything from Tokyo bands to dictionary definitions to gothic lingerie companies were returned. Franklin typed "starkers wenches."
     "Really, Ben," Jefferson said. "Sometimes you are incorrigible. Do you honestly think humanity would squander an invention this powerful on starkers wenches?"
     "Hopefully. I haven’t lost all faith in the species."
     Five starkers wenches hits were returned. Franklin checked online thesaurus definitions, then typed, "naked women."
     "1.5 million hits?" Jefferson gasped. "That’s more than . . ."
     "More than anything I’ve seen so far." Franklin laughed. "For once, humanity did not disappoint."
     "How vulgar," Jefferson said. He nonetheless sat down and pulled his chair closer. So did Washington.

* * *

Franklin stopped walking and faced Paul with an incredulous expression.
    “America landed a man on the moon?”
    “Yes,” Paul said nonchalantly. “In 1969."
    Only two centuries after I lived! “Humans live on the moon?”
     “I thought maybe you had been living on the moon.”
    Franklin laughed.
     “Humans don’t live on the moon. We went and returned. Just a couple of quick, exploratory visits.”
    A couple of quick visits! He makes it sound like riding up to Boston.