The Old Switcheroo....

"I like to think of the quantum universe as being like Mike TeeVee in Willy Wonka."

"What? I mean...what?" Stella was used to Fred being a little bit random but even for him this was a weird non sequitur.

"You know how in Willy Wonka when they were showing how to get candy delivered by television and Mike did it to himself?"

"Okay, yeah..."

"Remember how they showed him floating overhead in the air in all of the tiny little bits? It looked like static just floating above them?"

"Sure..."

"Well I think the whole multiple universe thing is like that. Just floating all around us in tiny little bits, we just can't see them."

"Okay, and why did you bring this up?"

"Because I think I just switched universes."

"What?"

"I think I just switched. Like I was in one and now I'm in this one."

"And why do you think that? And wouldn't I have noticed?"

"Okay, first off, I don't think you would notice because to switch it would have to be one really close to the one you were already in. Like you can't move from here to way over there without walking across the room but you can sort of shift where you are standing easily."

"So I wouldn't notice because you are basically the same person as who ever you just switched with?"

"Yeah."

"And why do you think you switched?"

"Because I just had massive deja vu. Like I had already lived this moment. And I think I probably had. Just the me that was here before I switched didn't."

"That's what you think deja vu is? You are bouncing into a universe a few moments behind the one you were in?"

"Yep. It makes sense. You know what's going to happen because it did."

"Okay, say you are right, what about the you that was here that hadn't lived it and is now in a new universe a few moments ahead of where they were? What happens to them?"

"Haven't you ever walked into a room and had no idea why you were there? Like it's a complete blank how you ended up in the kitchen or what you are looking for in the linen closet?"

"So you think when that happens that you are from a different timeline where you knew why you were headed to the kitchen but that you ended up in a different timeline experiencing deja vu while the you that was there is now the you here and has no idea why they are in the kitchen?"

"Exactly."

"Okay...say that you are right. Why are you switching?"

"Because it's all around us. You can't help but run into a new timeline sometimes. The fact that it's not constant is probably more weird than the fact that it happens at all."

"So you aren't consciously switching. You can't control it. It just happens?"

"Right. See? You get it."

"Sadly, yes I do. And also it's not even the weirdest theory you've ever had."

"Maybe. I mean if I'm right, and I think that I am. The me that you knew is now talking to a different you in a different timeline and maybe they have had really out there ideas but maybe I haven't. You just never know which me is me in any conversation right?"

Stella just shook her head. The craziest part to her was that she completely understood what Fred was talking about. No matter the timeline.