L'affaire Bob

6. Henry Pocker

-"So, Paul, as I've said earlier, you're my protegee, which means that you'll be under my watch as long as you stay with us here. I was the one who secretly watched you the past few years so that when the time comes, I would introduce you to our world and tell you about your true identity; I was the one who got all the documents and information about you stored and safely locked in the "Data Room", commonly known as DR, and I will be the one who will train you and teach you all about being a time traveler."

I was still a bit creeped out by the fact that she knew everything about me. But then I thought that this won't be weird or strange compared to what I'll be living from now on. Indeed, I had a feeling that my life was going to change completely, for better or for worse.

-"Now, hand me the LPAD, please," she continued.

-"Hand you what?"

-"The LPAD, the List of Places for Arrivals and Departures," she said, matter-of-factly.

-"Ah yes, my bad. I should have known that already. I mean, it's not like I'm new here or anything", I quipped.

-"So, are you willing to give it to me or not? You see, it's pretty urgent since your first lesson is starting in less than an hour, and that you need to familiarize yourself with the first few sites we're landing on."

-"Oh, I... I think that I forgot this document in the test room. Let me fetch it back."

-"No need, clumsy boy. What you need instead is a little sense of responsibility. The first lesson you are going to learn with me is how to be responsible and trustworthy because unlike poetry, liability is not one of your many hidden talents, I'm afraid," she replied, giving me the supposedly lost document.

-"How did you...!?" I started.

-"That was Samantha." she cut me off. "She took the papers out of the test room and gave them to me. You're lucky to have someone like her in your life, dear."

-"I know, right! If not for her, I would have been dead by now."

-"Trust me, I know that. She's my friend too, remember?"

-"God, yes I do. And Sam talks way too much, so I'm assuming you know everything about me, right?"

She didn't answer, but her smirk was enough to tell me everything I needed to know.

-"Anyway," she exclaimed, "let's take a look at this list. There are over a million landing spots we are already aware of, but we've only written the thousand most frequented locations. The first hundred are in Paris and its neighboring cities but in different eras. As you will notice later on in our practice, the distribution of the streets may differ from one century to another. That's why you might see the same name with a different year facing it."

-"Wow, that's quite a lot of information. Should I memorize them all?"

-" If you do not want to put your life and your friends in danger, yes. But don't learn them by heart all at once. Try memorizing ten per day and in less than four months, you will have known all the LPAD by heart. You'll learn the rest of it, the ones who are known orally, in our training. And sometimes, especially the first few times, you might end up in an area no one knows about since you aren't able to fully master your traveling powers. Oh, and, by the way, we have the faculty to travel to imaginary places that authors have created over time, so don't be surprised if you land in Hogwarts next to a sleeping Harry Potter, or a house constructed of candies and treats, where an evil witch is boiling kids alive.

-"Who's that Henry Pocker you were talking about? I've never heard of him."

-"He was created in 1997 and became pretty famous since then. Or should I say he will be created in 1997, to make it more clear?"

-"To be honest, I'm already confused, and nothing you say now seems clear or real to me. So you can do whatever you want, I don't think it will make a difference. Anyway, have you read it? Henry Pocker, I mean."

-First of all, it's Harry Potter, not Henry Pocker, and yes I did read it."

-"That's nice. Have you got any copies here in the base?"

-"Yes, Paul, we do have one in our library. Actually, we have all seven of them, plus the eighth book who's just a bonus, but they're amazing."

-"Awesome! I'll read it."

-"Sweetie, you don't understand, but you won't have the time to read a book, let alone a series of seven. Just focus on your training sessions, and everything will be alright."

-"But you did read them right? So I can do it too. It's not that hard."

-"Listen, for your sake, don't. Don't do it. It's better, trust me", she pleaded, as if to warn me and prevent me from doing something I will regret later on.

-"Fine. I'll try to avoid reading them", I began, "But I won't promise anything. Promises are just not made for me." I finished with a grin.

She rolled her eyes, then continued:

-"Whatever, dummy. Let's back to our original topic now shall we?"

-"We shall, dear lady."

-"So, as I was saying earlier, your first training is in half an hour. You will be with four other beginners and you will experience your first ever time-travel. You have now 30 minutes free, but I highly recommend you start getting familiar with the places written on the LPAD. If you need to take a rest, go grab a coffee at the cafeteria or eat something. You need energy for your upcoming lesson." And with that, she turned on her heels and left, without neither another glance nor another word towards me. 

I stood there, staring at her leave, then started shouting: Hey! Amanda! Wait! You didn't tell me where the damn cafeteria is!"

-"You don't need her for that you know."I heard a female voice say.

I turned around and saw a brunette staring at me with intense hazel eyes. This stare made my heart ache and my stomach do many summersaults. This girl, for an unknown reason, made me feel like home. She was younger than me, about 22 or 23 years old, but she had this strong aura around her that made every man run away screaming. 

I jerked around, hopelessly scanning the crowd in the hall we were in, in search of Amanda or Samantha, or anyone who didn't make me as uncomfortable as this girl did. 

 When I glanced back at her, I was looking at her from a different angle now. I saw the smirk she had on her lips, so her eyebrows slightly raised in a mocking way, and that confidence she had in her as if saying to everyone she crossed: "I'm the best, don't try to deny it". I immediately knew she was the kind of girl who destroys the world to get what she wants, and so that homey feeling I first had when I saw her was replaced by the irritation towards her that was starting to grow in me.

 -"There's plenty of other people here. You can ask them. You don't have to always stick around your girlfriend, she has a lot of work to do, you know."

-"Well, miss, firstly, she is NOT my girlfriend, and secondly, do you know, perchance, where is the cafeteria?" I asked, coldly.

And don't ask me how, but when she did respond to me, she somehow managed to add more ice than I ever would in her yet silky and seductive voice:

"You clearly can't see further than your nose, estúpido. I strongly advise you to scan your surroundings before speaking. You see, the cafeteria is only a few meters away. The magic trick to see it is pretty easy; no Abracadabra or Hocus Pocus needed, you just have to lift your eyes up and look at whatever you're searching for. 

So let's recap: where did the cafeteria turn out to be? Oh! That's right! Right in front of you, you idiot."

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