Relatively Speaking

It is possible,  you know.

'Is this seat taken?' I enquired tentatively, of a man who looked remarkably familiar.
He looked up from a notebook filled with what looked like mathematical  equations on one page and a large doodle of a cat wearing spectacles on the other.
'Only by my thoughts,' he said in an endearingly heavy accent. 'They tend to wander in search of quantum interaction.'
I dropped into the vacant seat opposite him and stared straight into the eyes of the great Albert Einstein. He grinned at me, in full anticipation of what was to come.
'Aren't you…,' I began.
'Yes,' he said, retaining the grin. 'But today I'm absorbed by paradox.'
'Oh. Sorry,' I responded anxiously. 'I can come back when you’re feeling…. shall we say....a little more relative.'
He smiled at my response, the smile of a man who has travelled across the universe in search of truths.
'No, no. Sit.  Railway journeys like this are excellent places for misunderstandings.'
We rode in relative silence for a moment and stared through the window at what could have been yesterday or possibly might even be tomorrow. 
A field full of grazing sheep blurred into an impressionist painting.
'So,' I asked, 'are you thinking about time?'
'I was,' he said. 'But then I started thinking about a sandwich, and now I’m not sure which came first.'
I offered him half of mine, which he gratefully accepted and then inspected it very carefully.
'Interesting,' he murmured. 'If I eat this now, I will still be hungry five minutes ago.'

The conductor walked past and Einstein waved. But then the conductor froze and then reversed backwards down the aisle.
'Do you get that a lot?' I enquired.
'Only on weekdays,' he replied.
The train slowed as my stop approached.
'Well,' I said, standing, 'it was nice meeting you.'
He looked genuinely surprised.
'Already? But we were just about to meet.'
As I stepped out onto the platform, he leaned out the window and called out,
'Remember—if a seat looks empty, it probably isn’t!'
The train pulled away and for a second it almost seemed to go in two directions at once.
The platform clock said 10:32, though I wasn't sure that was true.
A lady standing beside me cleared her throat.
'You know that train doesn’t usually stop here.' she said, with puzzled tone.
I turned towards her. 'It did today.' I replied.
'Did it really?' she asked. 'Then you must be early.' she added triumphantly.
'Early for what?' I enquired
She smiled the way people do when they’re trying placate your ignorance. 'For the delay, of course.'
Before I could gather my senses the station speakers burst into life.
'We regret to announce that the 10:32 service will be arriving five minutes ago. Please have all tickets ready.'
A ripple of mild panic spread across the platform as passengers began rummaging through pockets they had already checked. 
Behind me, a familiar voice spoke.
I turned and Einstein was standing there, his hair slightly more unruly.
The train reversed back into the station with a sense of inevitability and
he gestured toward it. 
'Come. If we don’t board now, we’ll miss having already been on it.'
I hesitated. 'But where is it going?'
He considered this question carefully. 'Mostly forwards, but occasionally sideways and once, into a thought experiment involving a violinist; but that wasn't a journey we care to remember.'
We climbed aboard and Einstein took the seat opposite me. The same seat he had previously occupied, but this time from a slightly distorted angle of reality.
'So,' he said, with his now familiar grin. 'This time, you ask me the question.'
I opened my mouth, paused, and smiled.
“Is this seat taken?”

: Image courtesy of Dola