“She was study­ing act­ing and liked to prac­tice improv in pub­lic. She’d say some­thing out­landish and was teach­ing me to play along, say yes to her instead of no. I was more nat­u­ral­ly a “no” per­son, she said. But she promised there was hope. Then she whis­pered that time trav­el was pos­si­ble.”