Elevators Through Time - Book 1

Part 13: Quay, Max, and Leo

Part 13: Quay, Max, and Leo

After Kate and I left the vicinity of the parking lot, and I had explained to her that the trio of Ferrari's nearby were very distant relatives of the Model A and T Fords. I decided to treat us both for a relaxing time at the zoo. We would go to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It was the only large zoo for many many kilometers.

~====---- READOUT ----====~

Year: 1990 Time: 10:44am

Location: Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia

Level: Station Platform

_________________________

-------------------------------

We ventured to the nearby bus stop and waited for the bus which would take us to the nearby train station. From there we would take a train to Circular Quay.

Kate was calm but still very curious about the different type of dress code (or lack of one) for the people waiting on the station.

"Does that man have a broken sewing needle through his eyebrow?" She asked me once.

We arrived at Circular Quay in Sydney and we got off the train. Kate's eyes went wide as she gazed around a different type of bustling metropolis.

People in suits mixed with people with shorts and sneakers. Kate had many questions and I struggled for many answers.

"Alex... that loose woman isn't wearing much to cover up herself" she said, gripping my arm.

"Look away Kate, do not watch those who desire attraction through explicit means." I replied, gently turning her shoulder away. This was a problem in this time. Sex was starting to be an open topic, whereas before it was kept private, it went from concealed homes to common advertisements and then common clothing. It was disgusting.

"Don't they know that real beauty starts with the inner person first and then the outer looks?" I said rhetorically.

Kate smiled when she realised that I was patting her hand, which meant what I said was an indirect compliment to her.

We approached a set of escalators which both puzzled and frightened Kate. The demonstration of the moving sidewalk was in 1900 so this was new to everyone, so she wouldn't have understood the idea that you can move a surface while everything else stayed still around it.

We instead turned to the elevator, which we both felt more comfortable using.

"Wow, the buttons are like the ones at the Flatiron Building, but these ones are smoother and even light up around the centre," Kate observed, pressing the down button and seeing a circle light up around her finger. Although I have seen much more impressive things in Que'nesia, I was still enthusiastic in reacting to this.

We went down and out to an area alive with tourists and locals having a holiday. I had to explain to Kate that certain groups of people were not "squinting" but that they came from another land and just were born like that. I had to explain tourism to her which was simple, but she was amazed that there were different types of people from different places.

"I grew up only seeing people like me and only heard about black slaves, and I have never seen people like these. There are big people with shoulders so huge, and then people with skin so smooth on their face- ooh!! Those that have different colored hair! Where do they come from?" Kate pointed to a group of people from a rock concert.

"Oh, they are just people who live here but who like changing the colour of their hair. It's a new thing they do when they go to a party,"

"Your time has many strange things to see and experience, Alex," Kate said, smiling up at me.