Do you think old women had this attitude when starvation loomed just around the turn of winter? When half of babies died before they lost their first tooth, do you think grandmothers retired because they “put in their time”? Such a way of thinking is a luxury of the mass affluence of the modern gerontocracy. The geriatrics who butter their bread with transfer payments are living in a different world. Their vision is clouded not just by cataracts but by a mirage of easy living. But the illusion of modern abundance and safety is a thin veil for the mothers and fathers having babies and raising children. For them, time runs differently. The luxuries of 21st-century living fade in and out of view as quickly as a toddler’s shifting mood. There is no modernity for the laboring mother. Each contraction ratchets her backwards in time. The umbilical cord tethers her to a way of life that predates history. There is no comfort for the mother whose baby won’t latch. She descends back to the Bronze Age, with visions of emaciated little bodies dancing in her mind’s eye. Death and starvation lie just behind the curtain, close enough to touch. In our glorious abundance, we have removed survival from the modern consciousness for everyone except those tasked with keeping small children alive. The Reaper is kept away only by the daily labors and nightly toils of tired mothers and fathers. The sleep deprivation, choking hazards, bumps on heads, on and on the ratchet pulls them backwards in time. When the visitors come, why do they not see the Reaper who lingers just outside the door? Are their eyes so clouded by cataracts that they cannot see? Has dementia stolen their memories of the sleepless nights? The time travelers do not see nor care. They come to collect checks, attention and photo ops, not lift fingers. Soon, they will depart, back to the 21st century, leaving their children and grandchildren behind.