章 6: Chapter 6: Starting Time, Part 6
Cyrus walked from room to room looking at the mixture of antique and modern articles in her house. Her kitchen especially had an early 1960s feel to it, with vintage cups and bowls, yet over in the corner was a food processor. On her stove sat a teakettle and a coffeepot. He looked around to see if she had a modern coffeemaker, but there was none. In her cabinets were products clearly from the past and others he'd never heard of before. On her wall was a calendar with what looked like a musical group pictured on it. It was a black-and-white shot of five smiling young men with long hair. At first, he thought it was the Beatles, but as he got a closer look, he read that it was a band called The Dave Clark Five.
Katya came in as he was paging through the other pictures. "Did you know that The DC Five would have been as big as the Beatles if it weren't for one pinpointed moment in their career that went wrong? Isn't it queer how one decision at a single point in time can change the course of your whole life?"
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"I was there, silly," she answered. "Come on and see the rest of the house."
He looked around her front room and noticed a black dial telephone on a stand. Her bathroom had a pedestal sink, a clawfoot bathtub, and more products from the past such as Lifebuoy soap, Pepsodent Toothpaste, and Watkins Cocoanut Oil Shampoo.
They walked down a hallway where she opened the door to her bedroom. He was surprised to see that her bedroom set was ultramodern, as well as the pictures on the wall.
As they were leaving, he tried the doorknob to the next room, but it was locked. "What's in here?" he asked.
"Oh, that room holds deep, dark secrets," she answered. "You're not ready for this one yet."
Cyrus looked at the door and noticed that it didn't match the other doors in the house. While they were smooth and wood-paneled, this one was old-fashioned. It was solid wood with raised panels. Even the knob was different: it was glass or crystal with a brass key plate behind it.
"Come on, Kat, do you mean to tell me that you're going to keep me guessing?"
"I'm sorry, dear," she answered. "I promise to show you one day, just not yet. Please don't ask me."
"Okay," he grumbled. "But I hate secrets."
Katya grabbed his hand. "Are you ready to go, or would you like me to brew us some tea first?"
"No, thanks," he said. "Let's go; I'm starving."
They had to wait about twenty minutes for a table, as the place was always crowded on Friday nights. After their order was placed, they clinked their juice glasses and sat back to relax.
"I heard that a video store once stood on the spot of this restaurant," Cyrus stated. "And after that a Walgreen's drugstore."
"What's a video store?" Katya asked as she started in on her salad.
"You know...a place that rented movies to watch on your TV. Way before I was born, they started out with videotape cassettes."
"How quaint," she answered. "You mean that folks used to run out to a store and rent a movie to take home?"
"Uh-huh," he answered. "My parents used to do it."
"Hey, Cy, I don't know anything about you, really. Just that you are a Callahan and an accomplished time pilgrim, and that I like you."
Cyrus blushed. "I like you too, Kat; that's why I asked you out."
"What took you so long?" she asked.
"I don't know. I wasn't sure you would say yes. You never go out with people. Besides, I thought maybe you would just ask me."
"Ask you out?" she asked, surprised. "It isn't proper for a girl to ask a guy out on a date."
"Since when?" Cyrus asked. "In my experience, girls do more asking than boys. My dad said that trend started in his day."
"I must come from a time when it wasn't proper," Katya said. "Well, anyway, I'm glad you did."
"So, what would you like to know about me?" asked Cyrus.
"Everything."
"Well, there isn't much to tell. My parents had me and Cathy almost nine months to the day after they got married. I was born first, and three and a half minutes later my baby sister Cathy was born. We grew up while they were building National."
"You have a twin sister?" she asked.
"Yes, Cathy was born Katherine June Callahan. We used to time-travel together, but she lost interest in it and pursued a career in finance. She's a bigwig down at Marshall Field's on State Street."
The waiter brought their steak entrées. The smell was intoxicating.
"But what about you, Cy?" Katya asked as she prepared her baked potato. "What are you all about? What are your hopes and dreams?"
"Well, let's see. Unlike most men and even my father, I don't like sports that much, except for the Cubs. I would rather sit at home and watch a good movie with someone whose company I enjoy than sit around watching football or hockey with my friends, even Seth. I do it, mind you. Here's a for instance: I'd rather be here with you right now than down at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs sweep the Cards."
"But they're in first place," said Katya. "Everybody here is going wild about it. They say that they could go all the way. Cyrus Callahan, you're fibbing me. You almost had me before you went too far with your Cubs line."
"Oh yeah?" he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out something. Katya looked at his hand and saw that he held two tickets for that very evening's game with the Cardinals. "I think this proves my point. If you would have said no, I would be there right now."
"Oh, my!" Katya said. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. You just wanted to know what I'm about. Here's something else. I like trains, and I like chocolate, and I love this steak. I like an occasional beer and hotdogs. I really like to time-travel, and I like you."
"All right, then," said Katya. "But you didn't tell me about your hopes and dreams."
"That one's harder," he answered while taking a sip of his Mangosteen juice. "I never had a want for anything. What everyone says about me is true. I'm my parent's golden child. I grew up with time-travel research, and I wanted nothing else. But I will say this: one day I'd like to settle down and do the domestic thing and also travel-I mean the real type of travel. All of my time pilgrimages have been here in the United States. I'd love to explore Europe, past, and present."
"I'd go with you," Katya said. "I've been to Europe and Asia in different timelines, but there are billions of possibilities that I haven't experienced."
"What else would you like to know?" Cyrus asked. "It's easier if you ask point-blank questions."
Katya thought for a second. "All right, so tell me about religion. Your dad's a Roman Catholic and your mom's Jewish. How did they raise you?"
"They literally raised Cathy and me in both faith traditions. We'd go to temple on Saturday and then to Catechism afterward. Then on Sunday, we'd go to Mass, followed by Hebrew school."
"Didn't that get confusing?" Katya asked.
"Surprisingly, no. We were taught the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Testament in both places. Then the New Testament seemed to follow the stories nicely, at least for me. I chose to become baptized in my dad's church while Cathy follows our Jewish roots more. The great thing is, I still honor our Jewish customs as well, and we have wonderful Christmas and Chanukah celebrations at my sister's apartment. So, what about you? Do you follow a faith tradition?"
"It's funny," she answered, "part of my temporal memory loss took that away, too. I can remember sitting in a church or temple with my family and seeing the leader up in front. The thing is, with the way I remember him dressed and the beard, he could have been a rabbi, priest, or a Muslim imam. So, I studied all three faith traditions and came to the conclusion that I must have been an Orthodox Christian. I have a Russian name after all."
"So how did you come to that conclusion?" Cyrus asked.
"Well, besides the fact that for me Christianity makes the most logical sense as a faith based on love-and I do want to stress, for me-one time in a stressful situation I noticed that I was crossing myself from right to left, the way the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics do."
"You mean that Eastern Christians cross themselves differently than we do? I never knew that. So, you were Orthodox?"
"If I wasn't, I am now," she answered. "Okay, Cy, I have but one more question."
"Shoot," he said.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, why?"
"You said shoot," she answered.
"I just meant, ask your question."
"Shoot means ask?" she inquired. "Oh, never mind-here it is. You had two tickets for the Cubs game. Seth is out of town. Who were you going to take?"
Cyrus paused. He wasn't expecting that question. Although he didn't have a steady girlfriend, he did date various girls in the city. He knew that just a phone call would produce an escort at any given moment. He took his good looks for granted, and every girl loved his black hair and bright blue eyes.
"Oh, I don't know. I was going to call a friend," he answered.
"A girl, no doubt," she said. She was just teasing him, enjoying watching him squirm. She knew it was perfectly all right for him to have friends of the opposite sex.
"Ah, maybe," he answered.
"Do you date anyone from work?" she asked.
"No, never."
"Well, I wouldn't say never there, blue eyes," she said, her eyes twinkling.
Cyrus was saved by the dessert tray. He picked a traditional chocolate layer cake, while Katya chose strawberry shortcake.
"Okay, to be honest, I did date Dawn Knight for a short time. I like her a lot, but it just didn't work out."
"Why?" Katya asked.
"No reason, really. I liked her more than she liked me, and I think she found someone else."
-- 贈り物
が届きました 
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット