When Donald Davis walked into his 45th high-school reunion, he had two startling visions. The first was that the only signage he saw read, WELCOME HARLEY RIDERS. After discovering that he and his classmates would be sharing space with the bikers, Davis had his second surprise: "I was amazed to see how many parents had come." In The Time Machine, Davis offers us both the story of the reunion and the collectively remembered story of the classmates’ senior year. In 1962, Waynesville, North Carolina, was that small town where the school principal also served as a teacher, the football coach, and the Sunday school superintendent. One classmate spends his time in the bar wishing for a time machine, so he can go back to his teenage years with his accumulated experience.