The first person to invent time travel isn't going to be a scientist. It'll be a working mom who has to get two kids to two different places in the middle of the workday one too many times.

OK, that was sexist. It could be a dad.

In any case, it's going to have to be someone who does it out of desperation, not just because it would be a cool thing to do. I'm talking about someone whose timetable and driving route has become so complicated that shifting time seems easier by comparison.

Parents have the skills. Even those of us who can't help their kids with fourth-grade math assignments still do algebra on a daily basis.

We start with a simple formula: "If Kid A is dropped off at 7:30 a.m., Kid B is dropped off at 7:45 a.m. and Mom X makes it to work by 8 a.m., what's the earliest she can schedule an afternoon activity for Kid A and still manage to pick up Kid B on time?"

Added variables really force us to hone our abilities.

What if Kid A is 12 miles away instead of down the street?

What if a traffic accident blocks traffic between Mom X and Kid B?

The most common variable: What if Mom X is running late?

It's not that bad during the school year, when everything is so structured that there's scarcely time to breathe from the time the alarm clock goes off to the moment Kid B finally drifts off to sleep.

During summer, though, visions of milk cartons dance through our heads as we wonder whether Kid A has made it to Point Z because his cell phone is going straight to voice mail. Is he out of range or out of batteries?

Then again, as I learned on day two of summer vacation, a cell phone is useless without a GPS tracker:

Me: "Where are you?

Kid A: "I'm at the beach."

Me: "Which beach?"

Kid A: "The one with the bike path."

We determined that he was, in fact, near the Pacific Ocean. The thing is, when you live on an island, you're kind of always near the Pacific Ocean.

As panicked as I was about Kid A's whereabouts, I couldn't let it consume me. Kid B was waiting for me to pick her up, and I still had work to do.

It wasn't the first time I'd found myself pondering quantum physics: Could I be in three places at once? Could I jump back and forth through time and space to collect both the kids and still get out of work on time? Could I fast-forward to the future to find out how the situation was resolved instead of figuring it out for myself?

I rescued Kid A without time-travel, but it would have been easier if I could have gone nonlinear.

Someone will figure it out. It's only a matter of time.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com. Read her daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.