139 Years to the End of the World

Door to Tomorrow, Part Five

There are two kinds of people. The ones who had their path in life chosen for them, and those who don't. The destined and the blank page. Perhaps you were born into a wealthy family, meant to take over the family business, or a child genius who always knew you were going to live a life of science. Maybe even someone born with some mental defect that prevented you from doing anything, destined to live a life constrained by your disability. Personally, I think those are the lives that are easy. For those of us that are set down a course we would need to chart ourselves, we are given the heavy responsibility of making decisions. It doesn't matter if we were derailed from our destined path or were born a blank slate. Once a life of decisions is chosen, we must expect to live with regrets.

Professor Leah Leslie Hulway was one of those that had her life set from the get-go. She was born to nothing, with null to her family name. She was destined for obscurity. "We were simple folks, just trying to get by everyday," she said as the church disappeared from us in the rear-view mirror, the setting sun behind it. "Dad was a grocer and mom a housewife. Had a baby sister two years younger than me who couldn't attend school for a year since we did not have enough money."

The bug-like yellow car she drove turned tightly as we headed back onto the small road that would lead us back to E.F.A Headquarters.

"How did you end up here?" I asked, looking at her rather solemn face.

I found the professor easier to talk with compared to the others I've met since I woke up, even more so than my wife. There also seemed to be a mutual attraction, though neither sexual or romantic. If I had to put a a finger on what it was, I'd say it was more of a curiosity.

She lingered on the question a moment, opening and closing her mouth as she attempted to form words before replying in an almost musically sad tone. "In the end, we could only afford school for one of us. At first I wanted my sister to go, but she practically cried me into submission. Said that I was always the smarter of the two of us."

She drove silently for a few minutes, and I waited intently for her to continue her story. The sun cut off at the horizon, bathing the surrounding suburban buildings with shingles that seemed aflame.

Just when I thought that perhaps the topic was too sensitive for her to want to talk about, she continued, "So my sister gave up her bright future. She had all that potential and she decided to past all of that to me. One thing let to another, and I ended working here, at the E.F.A as the decoder for your grandfather."

"You knew my grandfather?" I exclaimed in genuine surprise, before remembering that her entire career had been built around deciphering his predictions.

"Before that I was just an intern. Then one day, your grandfather walked in, pointed to me, and said, 'She'll be my translator!' which was weird at the time, cause he was speaking perfect English by my standard." She laughed at the memory and I could not help but smile. That was how my grandfather was as a person after all. And my fond memories of the old man had not faded, even after the discovery of his secret life. Leah continued, "You can imagine my surprise when I realized who he was. Back then, the E.F.A just got started. Barely a decade old, and this guy was already a legend, and I was to decode his visions."

"I know it's rude to ask," I said nervously, "But how old are you?"

"Physically, I'm thirty-four years old, same as you. Physically at least," she replied matter-of-factly. "But I've been alive for fifty-four years now."

I did the quick math, coming to the conclusion she had been frozen for twenty years total. "So you're actually older than me?"

She chuckled as I said so, "You're kind of rude, aren't you? First you ask a girl her age, now you're calling her old?"