Many Happy Returns

Two simple minded semi-retired brothers, Rufus and Roy, work afternoons at a university and science lab and enter an unauthorized area. They find several pieces of fascinating machinery, and with no one around, decide to try out a computerized unit that unknowingly takes them to Spain years before their time.

They hop a ride on a carriage which stops in front of a Clock Maker store with signage in English. They think their ride is for gratis but find that the carriage driver expects to be paid. Rufus tries to give the driver an American dollar, but it is not recognized as currency, and he is angry. An officer hears the ruckus of the driver yelling and takes Rufus into custody.

Roy decides he must get back to the U.S. in order to pawn whatever he can to raise money to buy gold, and then return to pay his brother’s fine. Roy follows the directions of the machine to “Return Home.”

He accomplishes withdrawing all of their cash and pawning enough merchandise to convert it to gold for the return trip. He returns to Spain, and rushes to the courthouse to pay Rufus’ fine, but the amount of the fine has gone up because payment was delayed. Roy offers a gold chain and a locket as additional payment, and Rufus is a free man to return to the United States.

Roy and Rufus go back to work but are called into the office. They are questioned by a detective about some items that were found in Spain at an archaeological site where some artifacts were stolen. They are taken to jail but are released until formal charges can be brought against them.

The brothers decide that they should liquidate all of their assets and buy gold, in case they are found guilty, and would then have money when they got out of jail. They store their gold in their maintenance locker at the university and science lab.

When a police order and warrant arrive at their workplace, they are asked to demonstrate what they did with this remarkable time machine that took them to Spain. They gather up all of their gold and carry it with them when doing the demonstration.

Feeling that there is no way they can win their case, they make a hasty decision to let the Computer Unit take them back to Spain. The onlookers, who are chuckling among themselves about the claims of the equipment, stand in awe as the machine disappears. Then there is silence. Absolute and complete silence.