Saving Sandy

Chapter 18 - Christmas Ball for the Oxford Colleges Produces Steam

Amelia, Eve and I all stood in front of the tall mirror in our room. We had done ourselves up in the attire for the dance. We three looked the picture of Roaring Twenties women, wearing the Great Gatsby dresses, headpieces, shoes and makeup. I wore my silver dress, Eve wore a gold one, and Amelia wore a green one. We all looked like tall Christmas ornaments in our shimmering dresses. We were just missing the red, a color we all weren't a fan of.

"If only I could take a selfie of us," I said and the two looked at me.

"What is a selfie?" Amelia asked. "Another futuristic thing?"

"Well, the name is futuristic. It's where you hold a camera in front of you and snap."

"Oh, we can do that!" Eve squealed and she got an old camera off her desk. It was an old Kodak camera, much like the one that Sandy had on him as he and George Malloy climbed up Everest. That was the main reason his body was trying to be found by scientists and historians—so people could find the camera and see if Sandy took a picture of the summit, which was proof that they made it up there.

Eve held the camera out as far as she could. We all smiled as she snapped. "Well, there is a 1920's selfie," I said with a giggle. "Not the first selfie, but the first picture to be called a selfie."

"Come on, girls, we must leave now if we are to meet the others down in the entrance corridor," said Amelia. We all gathered our little purses to match our dresses and left.

"So, what other things in the future are different?" asked Eve. "You never really talk about it."

"Oh boy, there are so many things that are different. For one, phones don't have a cord connected to them, and they have a screen on them."

"What is a screen?"

TVs didn't come out until the 4os, and computers didn't exist, at least the boxy ones in people's homes, until the 80s. The very big computers were around in the 50s. "Um... well, nevermind. It's hard to explain."

"I cannot imagine telephones without cords," said Amelia. "How would you reach another person?"

"Something called a satellite that sends signals from space."

Both girls gave me wild looks. I chose not to tell them much about the future since they would just be confused. Eve said, "Now I think you are making things up. Signals from space? Like outer space where the stars and planets are?"

"Yes, and again, it's hard to explain. Nevermind. People throughout this century invent a ton of really cool gadgets that people don't have right now."

"I can't wait to grow older and see them!"

I didn't know how old Eve lived to be, but maybe it was at least into the 70s since she was born in the year 1901, a year before Sandy. She would see the invention of the TV and the improvements of the telephone. She wouldn't see the cordless phones, and definitely not the smartphones and i-Phones, though. She probably wouldn't see in-home computers, either.

We stepped down the stairs into the corridor, and we saw other girls walking around and meeting each other for the dance. They were all dressed up and were a vision. Seriously, this decade had some awesome clothing, especially for the women. They wore similar dresses to ours in every color, beaded, mostly Christmas colors, and the girls had feather headpieces and bands. I had just a silver band around my head and silver 20s heels. All from London. Girls, no matter the decade, loved shopping.

"Hey, there you are!" shouted Naydeen as she wore a red dress and bright red lipstick, plus a red feather in her blonde hair. Angela was with her, wearing a white dress, and with red lipstick also. She had a band like mine in her brown hair, only hers was white, not silver.