Part 3 (1/2)
On the other end of the line Annie heard a shriek of delight. Oh, no, here it comes, she thought as Kay whooped happily.
”You've got a man over there!”
”Sort of,” Annie said.
”Sort of' What does that mean'”
”It means it's not what you think. Nothing is going on.”
”He's over there at nine in the morning, but nothing is going on' You expect me to believe that' Annie,
how stupid do you think I am'”
Annie sighed. ”He's a....” She paused. ”A friend. That's all.”
”Sounds like he's got one h.e.l.l of a s.e.xy voice.”
”Yeah, well, I'll introduce you when you get back, okay'”
”I'll be looking forward to it. But now I've really got to get going. Clark needs to eat before we go to
the airport.” Clark was Kay's four-month-old son. ”You've got the keys to my place, right'” ”Right. Don't worry, Kay. I'll take good care of Oscar.” ”Great. I'll see you on Tuesday.” Annie hung up the phone. James touched it with a tentative finger. ”Who were you speaking to'” ”My friend Kay. She's the doctor I told you about. She's taking a short vacation, but she'll be back on Tuesday. Until then, you can stay here, but then I really want you to see her. Okay'” James picked up the telephone and held it to his ear. She grabbed it away from him. ”What the h.e.l.l are you doing'” He blinked at her. ”I wanted to know how it works.” ”The telephone' Are you kidding'” ”I have never seen one before,” he said, stressing each word slightly, as if repeating obvious information for the benefit of a child. Annie hung the phone back on its hook and decided not to argue with him right now. It was obvious her words were bouncing right off him anyway. ”I think I'll go over to the mall and get you some clothes.
What do you think you need'” He shrugged. ”I need to blend in.” ”I don't think you'll ever do that, James.” She looked at him thoughtfully. ”I wonder what size you are.” ”I have no idea.” ”I suppose I could measure you,” she said doubtfully, looking at the too-tight pair of briefs. Somehow she couldn't imagine herself trying to measure his inseam. Just the thought heated her cheeks with a ferocious blush. ”I guess you'd better come along,” she said at last. James looked surprised. ”In these clothes' Are they suitable to wear outside' I thought you said--” ”You're right,” she interrupted. ”You'd get arrested.” And start a riot, she added mentally. ”Then I do not see how I can accompany you.” ”Come on upstairs. Maybe I can find something.” In her room, she made a more thorough search of Steve's old clothes. ”Ah-ha,” she said at last. ”Just as I thought. This should be okay.” She handed him an old pair of gray sweatpants with an elastic waistband.
He held them up to his waist dubiously. The bottom of the legs only reached halfway down his calf.
”That's okay,” she said, and retrieved a pair of scissors. She cut them off to shorts length, then held them up for inspection. ”See' Cutoffs.”
With the shorts on, he looked almost normal. Almost, but not quite. His shoulders, far more broad and ma.s.sive than Steve's had been, stretched the T-s.h.i.+rt, looking like they might burst the seams at any moment, and the shorts were tight around his waist as well, despite the fact that he was very definitely not overweight. Far from it. It was simply a matter of proportions. On a man his height, his waist was quite narrow. The shorts were also stretched tightly, bulging suggestively in the front and lovingly cupping his b.u.t.tocks in the rear.
She studied him thoughtfully. ”Even with those shorts on, you might just start a riot.”
”I beg your pardon'”
”Never mind.” She shook her head. ”You're decent enough, I guess. But you'll look better in clothes that fit correctly.”
She took a quick shower and changed. Then she headed for the garage, James following obediently in her wake. She still had Steve's car, a bright yellow Mini Cooper, but she didn't drive it much, because she wasn't really the flashy type, and besides, she couldn't drive it without getting tears in her eyes. As she usually did, she headed for her little blue econ.o.box.
She opened the car door and ushered him inside, then went around to the driver's side and sat. He was clearly uncomfortable in her pint-sized car. His knees were drawn up and he seemed to take up much of the available s.p.a.ce.
”You need to put on your seatbelt.”
At his blank look, she sighed, thinking that it was like having a very large child. She would have to show him how to put on his seatbelt. Reaching across such a large man was not easy, but she managed it, aware of an odd heat that spread through her as she leaned close to his broad chest. She was uncomfortably aware that he was no child. Snagging the belt with her left hand, she pulled it across him and latched it, then fastened her own belt.
Pressing the garage door opener, she backed the car out of the garage and down the driveway. As she pulled out onto the street, she noticed a nondescript green sedan pulling away from the curb on the other side of the street. ”That must be my new neighbor,” she said, glancing in the mirror and seeing a dark-haired woman in the car. ”About time she moved in.”
”New neighbor'”
”Yeah, that house has been sitting vacant for a while. It was built almost a year ago, but I guess whoever built it had their mortgage fall through. I heard someone was finally moving in there, though.” She put on her signal, waited, then pulled smoothly into traffic. The green car followed. Apparently her neighbor was heading for the city as well.
Her house was in a new neighborhood in southern North Carolina that was perched incongruously along a twisting country road, but it was only a five-minute drive to civilization. At the next intersection another car pulled in behind her, and she lost sight of the green sedan.
As her eyes flickered away from the rear-view mirror she caught a glimpse of James, staring out the window with deep interest. She could almost believe he really was from the future, she thought, seeing his wide-eyed gaze as he stared at the trees. Noticing her brief glance, he looked toward her and gave a slight smile.
”It is very different from what I am accustomed to,” he said, almost apologetically.
”Uh-huh,” Annie said dryly, trying not to sound too sarcastic. It wasn't the poor guy's fault he had amnesia, after all. ”You already mentioned they don't have cars in the future. So what do they use to get around' Airplanes' Helicopters'”
”No. We have a much more efficient method of getting from place to place.” He turned his head and looked out the window again. They were already entering the outskirts of the city, and fast food restaurants and gas stations lined the road. ”Besides, we do not have large gatherings, ever. People live most of their lives in their homes. Most people even work from their homes, and there is little need to go elsewhere. Occasionally two or three families spend time together, but for the most part people simply do not group together.”
Annie frowned, wondering how he'd produced such a vivid description of ”the future.” As far as she knew, amnesia simply caused a person to forget his past. He must be suffering from delusions as well. ”So no one goes out of their house' That sounds kind of lonely.”
”The trend toward staying at home started in the twentieth century,” James explained, ”when the videoscreen'no'” He broke off, frowning. ”When what you call television was invented. Eventually people stopped leaving their houses for entertainment altogether, since they could obtain most forms of entertainment at home. At the same time, people began working from their houses.”
Annie nodded absently as she maneuvered the car around a corner. ”I work from my house sometimes,” she admitted. She could easily imagine today's world leading to the society he described. But that made sense; he was simply extrapolating from today's trends, whether he was aware of it or not.
”Yes. Eventually most people will. With the advent of computers and what you call the Internet, children were able to learn at home as well. And once there was no need for people to leave the comfort of their homes for entertainment, work, or education, people naturally began spending most of their time at home.”
”What happened to the cities'” Annie challenged.
James frowned. ”We live in cylinder cities. Do you mean a city above ground'”
”Yes, like this. This is a city. An area where a large amount of people live.”
James gazed out the window at the five other lanes of cars. ”The aboveground cities are all gone. Indeed, everything on the surface is gone.”
Annie gulped. She didn't like where this fantasy was leading. ”Let me guess. Nuclear war.”
”What' Oh, no. I spoke imprecisely. I meant all human-made artifacts on the surface are gone. Everyone lives underground, and the surface of the planet has been allowed to revert to its wild state, in order to preserve the native wildlife. People may only go to the surface with a permit, and those are issued extremely rarely.”
”Everything is gone' What about the Pyramids' The White House' Important stuff like that'”
James shook his head slightly. ”At first major historical landmarks were preserved. But eventually people lost interest in going aboveground, even to see significant landmarks, and it was decided that those buildings might as well be dismantled, and the area surrounding them permitted to return to nature. In my time, the surface of the planet is entirely pristine.”
That was so obviously impossible she couldn't help but challenge it. ”What about food' People have to grow crops, don't they'”
”All our food is grown on satellites and then shuttled to distribution centers,” James explained. His voice was so even, so lucid, that it was hard to believe he was nuts, even though that was clearly the case. ”They keep cows on satellites'” she said, unable to keep the skepticism from her voice. Definitely delusions as well as amnesia, she thought grimly, wis.h.i.+ng rather desperately for Kay to return. Although Kay probably couldn't do much but refer this poor guy to a psychologist.
”Cows'” James paused for a moment, as if what she'd said made no sense. ”Oh, I understand what you mean. The spaghetti I ate last night had cow in it, didn't it'”
”Beef. It had beef in it.” James frowned. ”But I thought it was dead cow.”
”It's called beef.”