A Time to Be Young

"Your car is so nice."

"I thank you for the compliment." he said as he slid $200 her way.

"For me?" Bridget said feigning surprise.

"I expect top level service for this. You understand?"

"Yes sir. Top level. And I'll even throw in a little extra."

"I appreciate the thought but it won't be necessary."

"Oh, but I want to. Indulge me."

"As you wish."

Bridget didn't even write down his order and was off to the back to quickly put those bills in her purse and lock it again in her locker. This was all rubbing Jill the wrong way so she took the opportunity to approach her brother directly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Tell me, what is the reason for your question?"

"Why aren't you in school?"

"It's lunch time."

"And you have time to come all the way over here from campus? How?"

"I have a car."

"David, you don't even have a license."

"I drive by my own authority. No one gives it to me."

Jill sat down and looked at her brother in the face. She was unknowingly getting aggressive as she leaned her body over the table to be closer to him. She was about to launch into reprimanding him but then she noticed his facial expression was so strange.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "What happened?"

David raised an eyebrow. "I'm ready to order and no one has taken my order yet. If anything is wrong, as you say, it is that. As for what happened, I came in here to have lunch and a glass of your world famous lemonade while it's here to be had. I can't see why you of all people would have a problem with any of this."

"Why are you giving Bridget money? And where did you get any money to give to her?"

"These are questions not leading to edification. There are so many sources of money to the point where a man limited in time such as myself will find that there is an unlimited supply that I can obtain. As for the girl with the cleavage, I assume overpaying her will cause her to give me good service but perhaps I was wrong in that assumption."

"But where exactly did you get this money?"

"I remember not."

"Don't lie to me."

"It matters not. Want you some? Is that the reason for the question? Ask you all customers such uselessness?"

"Cut your crap. You come in here flashing money to get my attention. Well, you have it. Now talk."

"I come here because ..."

"Sir." the girl with the cleavage said as she returned to his table. "I was about to put in your order but I must have written one part down wrong. You don't mind if I ask you again, do you?"

"Lemonade and the lunch special. And ..."

"No ice in the lemonade, right?"

"Very good. 'Tis so indeed."

"I'll be right back."

"I thank you."

Bridget lingered for just a moment as she likely wondered if Jill would get up and leave her golden patron alone but Jill was firmly fixed in place across from her brother.

"What was that about?" she accused.

"You are a very strange waitress." David said to her.

"I'm not the one acting weird. What's gotten into you? And you had better not have done anything illegal to get all this money. Is this from your student loans or something? Someone is going to rob you if you keep flashing all of that around."

"I am acting completely normally for one who is in the role of customer at a restaurant. I ordered my meal. I tipped my waitress. I am preparing to eat. Are these not the actions that every customer engages in? As for doing something illegal, you may not know this but I, as the sovereign, by definition can never commit an action that is against the law."

Jill was about to say something but the lunch shift manager had come out of the office and called to Jill to get back to work. Her brother ignored her as she left and he continued to act as if she meant nothing to him while he enjoyed his lunch. When it was time to pay the bill he gave Bridget another $200 and told her to keep the change so long as he could get a gallon of lemonade to take with him. At first the manager didn't want to allow it but Jill's brother wasn't going to take no for an answer. He offered another $100 for the lemonade and then hinted at a threat of other actions if he would be denied. The manager, seeing a good opportunity for the store chose to sell him a gallon of lemonade but insisted that he only be charged a fair amount and be given change.

On his way out of the restaurant Bridget went up to him saying that he had forgotten his receipt.

"And make sure you don't throw it away." she said. "There's some very important information, ahem, on the back."

While this was going on Jill was fuming. She watched from a distance all of these interactions and once her brother was outside of the establishment she rushed out after him and caught him just as he was opening the door to his expensive luxury car.

"Hey!"

Her brother stopped and turned to look at her. "Yes."

"What was all of that about?"

"Must you ask me to explain everything to you?"

"What classes do you have today?"

"None. Why ask you?"

"I know you have classes today. You can't skip school, David."

"How much make you a year?"

"What?"

"Your salary for one year, how much is it?"

"I don't know. About 20 thousand."

Her brother reached into his car and produced a shopping bag. Inside there were many stacks of hundreds wrapped together. He counted out, one, two, three.

"Where did you get all of this money?"

Her brother ignored the question and just continued until he'd counted to 30 thousand dollars.

"There. Now you can work here if you want or you are free to do as you like."

"I am not taking this money unless you tell me where you got it."

"You are tedious. Care you what source of income any other customer has? Why care you about me?"

"You're my brother. Of course I care about you."

"Jill. My sister. Yes. Well, now you have freedom. You have money and if you wish also free time. Use it."

"Answer me. Where did you get this money, David?"

"Usurpers have printed it and put it into circulation without my authorization or consent so I confiscated an appropriate amount until I can institute a proper financial system."

"What you just said makes no sense."

"Hello, Jill. What are you doing? Get back to work." said the lunch manager from the door.

Jill looked back at the manager and then looked at all the money in her hands that her brother was giving her. It was a quick moment of decision. She wanted to know what was happening. But she didn't know what was going on with this money. Was it real? He mentioned printing. Was it fake. There were too many doubts and though she wanted to get involved and maybe prevent him from doing something wrong she had to also take care of her own life. She went back to work.

...

On Sunday, Lilith was with Paul at church of all places, wearing her Sunday best and going through the motions. It sure was a funny place to take a girl on a date but she didn't mind so long as she got to be near him. He went to church so she was going to go to church to be with him.

After church services, there was a picnic that was being held in the nearby park by some of the congregation and everything was just a picture perfect day. Everything except the boy in the suit who was across the street from the park staring at the doctor's office.

There were many people who took note of him and someone even mentioned maybe calling the police since he looked like he was planning to rob the place. Lilith left the polite conversation she was in and decided to walk over.

He noticed her as she approached him but then ignored her as he continued to stand there looking at the corner of the building.

"Hello, I'm Lilith. I've seen you around."

He looked over at her and then looked up and down the length of her stance. "I guess I've seen you around too."

"So, whacha doing?"

"Trying to learn more about where I am."

"Well, a building isn't going to tell you much. Why don't you come over and talk with everyone. I'm sure we'd all love to get to know you."

He turned around and viewed off towards the picnic. "Hmm, as fun as that sounds, I'd hate to impose."

"May I ask where you're from?"

"You may." was all he said, not giving her the answer she wanted.

"So, I take it from your accent that you're not from around here."

"Indeed I'm not."

"Ok, so, where are you from?"

"I was born in a place called Louisiana."

"Oh, so that's a Cajun accent?"

"This is as far from a Cajun accent as Glagolitic is from Amharic."

"Alright. Well come on. You're bound to be hungry."

"I've already eaten, but I thank you."

"Isn't there any way I can ..." she started to say but he put his hand up to stop her talking.

"Listen." he said.

"To what?"

"Just listen. What hear you?"

"Nothing." she said.

"Listen harder."

She could hear the sound of the slight breeze in the trees, the sound of people talking across the way, and a car accelerating after the traffic light turned green.

"What am I listening for?"

"A name."

"Whose name?"

"When you hear it, you'll know."

Just then she heard Paul yell "Lilith!" from across the street. Lilith looked back over at her date and smiled.

"I have to go. Sure you don't want to come? I'd be happy to introduce you."

"I appreciate that but no. Not this time."

Lilith returned to Paul who looked concerned as he asked what she talked with that guy about.

"Nothing much. He just said how much he liked the town and he wanted to take in the view and the sounds is all."

"What's that supposed to mean." a woman nearby asked.

"I don't know. He just seemed like he was happy to be here."

Lilith and Paul enjoyed their picnic with the other church goers and Lilith noticed when David finally stepped away from the building and walked off towards the suburbs.

"He's a little weird." Lilith confessed to Paul.

"I hear maybe he has a few family issues he's trying to work out."

"Yeah, don't we all." Lilith commented.

...

From a safe distance Averium took note of the gathering in the park. The scent had brought him here but he did not see his ancient enemy. These were filthy city folks ignorant of the harm they were doing to their world. The scent was strong, too strong. His prey was close but he could not single anyone out. The old wizard was too dangerous to be approached out in the open. For now he would have to keep tracking until he could isolate the target.

...

Even in the middle of the day, as soon as Jill closed her eyes the visions came. She saw David pulling his broken body away from a fire as many men in armor clashed sword to shield behind him. Just as it looked like David might be far enough away to get free an arrow came down out of the sky and went right through David's leg. He would have screamed if he wasn't too weak to do so. He tried to keep going but the pain had him pinned to that spot. He was losing blood and his hands were too weak to hold down the wound to prevent the bleeding.

Jill opened her eyes filled with anger and grief for what she'd just seen her brother suffering through. Only he wasn't suffering. She looked around her apartment and saw that she was back here in the real world where men in armor didn't exist anymore. In this world her brother wasn't suffering at all. Instead he was wearing thousand dollar suits while driving around a two hundred thousand dollar car. It made no sense at all and word of the strange goings on with him were circling so much that FUCKING Helen of all people had called Jill to ask her what was going on with David. Jill had almost not kept her cool even just hearing that woman's voice again.

Jill pulled out the bag of money from under her bed. She looked at where she had tested the bills with the marker to determine if they were real. She had thirty thousand dollars in her hands and no idea what to do with it.

...

"So, this is what the RA's room looks like." Lilith said as she sat on Paul's bed.

Paul was sitting next to her so happy that they had had such a wonderful day together. Sunday was his locked in day off so he was able to dedicate the entire day to just his daughter and nothing else mattered. He held her hand and replied, "I know it's not much."

"But it's yours so I like it."

His daughter didn't seem to be content just holding his hand. She came closer to him and before he knew it they were in an embrace. He hadn't been this close to his daughter in years. At home it was always his wife in the way questioning everything every time Paul even wanted to just take his daughter shopping or out to lunch or just over to the DVD rental place for a movie. Nag, nag, nag, nag, nag and it never ended. But now there was just the silence while he was alone with is daughter and he could just love her with no interruptions.

He was thinking this when he heard the first sob. His daughter was putting her face into his shirt. She was trying to be quiet about it but she was crying all the same.

"What's wrong?"

"The smell." she whispered.

"I smell that bad that I make you cry?"

"No. It's a good smell. You ... you smell just like my dad. I miss him. I really miss him. I want to see him again."

"In time, maybe you will."

"I sent him a text but he didn't reply to me."

"Oh, well, maybe he just didn't have the time yet. Or maybe he didn't know what to say."

"He's hiding from my mom so he won't talk to me."

"You sent him the text today? Give it some time. I don't want to sound like I'm against the elderly but maybe he's new to technology."

Lilith raised up and punched Paul in the arm. "My dad is not elderly."

"Just saying."

"When you are his age, look as good, you will not."

"Ok baby yoda." he retorted with a smile. "I'll let you win that one."

She came close to him again and again it was quiet. "I'm worried for him."

"I'm sure he's fine."

"I don't think so. You don't know my dad the way I do. He never stands up for himself. He just lets the world and especially my mom just push him around. He never takes what he wants. He always just accommodates everyone else and leaves himself last."

Paul took the words but didn't let himself react. "And maybe that's part of why you love him."

Lilith seemed sad again and this time when Paul was holding her the only comfortable position to do that was to lay down with her in his arms.

"I got an idea." Paul began.

"If it's asking me to move in with you, I think that goes against the rules."

"If you want to sleep here, my door is always open to you. I just have to show them that we're family and it's allowed. You can have that spot on the floor right over there."

"The FLOOR!"

"You want to share a bed with stinky old me?"

She pulled herself even closer to him. "I don't want to be anywhere else."

Paul held her and again took the opportunity to cherish this moment. He didn't know how many moments he'd be allowed to have. How long was he going to look young? How long until he was discovered? What if the thing that was making him appear young to everyone was doing some harm to him that he didn't know about. How was he going to turn back so his little girl could see her daddy again?

"I was thinking about something your dad said to me." Paul started. "It was the last thing he said to me actually."

"When was this?"

"The beginning of the summer. I was trying to remember his exact words but it's all jumbled now."

"What did he say?"

"Well, he mentioned about maybe bumping into you while I was here but then he said something about a life adventure. He said he needed to accomplish something and he couldn't come back until he'd done it."

"Accomplish what?"

"I don't know. What do you think he meant? I don't know him that well so to me it could have meant almost anything."

"He's an idiot."

"Wait, what?"

"He's off looking for a girlfriend. Someone, anyone to replace my mom. He's trying to show her up that he'll be able to get someone before her. I just wish those two would stop it."

"How is a man in his sixties with no money going to get a girlfriend?"

"That's exactly my point."

"Maybe he just meant go see the beach or something."

"No, if he's off trying to have an adventure then it can only mean that."

"How are you so sure?"

"I know him. He wants to be loved. He's always doubting that anyone cares about him. He keeps trying to do things for people because he wants to be loved and he doesn't feel that he is. Why can't he just understand that already I love him?"

...

Jill approached the building where she had been informed her brother was staying and it didn't take her long to find him. Just out side on a concrete bench she saw him in his overly expensive clothes sitting with a blonde wearing similarly high fashion. Her shoes alone had to be over five hundred dollars and likely pushing a thousand.

Rich girlfriend, Jill thought. She stopped in her tracks and nodded to herself. Sure that didn't exactly explain all of it but it made sense. Her little brother got himself a rich girlfriend and he was mooching off of her. Well, now she definitely knew what to do with that thirty thousand dollars. She was going to give it back.

Jill centered herself and tried to find the right speed at which to approach so that everything could be normal and casual. She was just coming to say hello to her little brother. She'd get the girl's contact info and then go around David and give the money back.

Jill was approaching again and observing as she did so. She saw her brother make some hand gestures and the girl let out a funny sounding laugh. She gestured back at David and he did a fake shrug while maintaining his overconfident smug smile. He gestured again and the girl laughed.

"Is that sign language or something?" Jill asked when she got close enough.

"Ah, the beautiful Jill has graced us with her presence." her brother said and then he did some signs to the girl and the girl stood up to say hello, though she did so with her hands.

Jill was unsure of what to do in this situation. "Hi. I'm Jill. I'm sorry, I don't know any sign language."

"She says she can read your lips well enough." David interpreted. "Her name is Gwen and she is a student here the same as I."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were on a date. I just came by to see you."

Gwen read Jill's lips and started to protest that it wasn't a date, she was just having a nice conversation with David. She then said goodbye to David and as she left she kissed Jill on the cheek. David wave goodbye to her and together with his sister he watched Gwen as she left.

"Which think you is her real name, Gwendoline, Guenevere, or Gweneth?"

David sat again on the bench but Jill didn't know what to do. "I'm sorry, do you even want me to be here?"

"It is always a pleasure to have your company. Tell me, fair Jill, brought you me any lemonade?"

"David, you need to chill out. You're rubbing me and everyone else the wrong way. You need to be more careful cause if you're not they're going to run you out of town."

David shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Please stop with all this and just try to be a normal college kid. Blend in. Go hurt yourself skateboarding down a flight of stairs or something. Stop bringing all this attention to yourself."

"Truly I tell you I do it not on purpose."

"And what's with that accent? Why do you sound like you're in the Bible?"

"I'm not sure what gave you that impression. My Biblical Hebrew is a bit rusty, to say the least so I doubt I've been slipping into ..."

"ARG. You know what I mean."

"This is the way I speak. Shall I apologize for it?"

"Look, you just got here. You're new for everyone. Is this really the impression you want to make? You need to give people time before you ... Look, I've already been called by the witch you call a social worker and some police detective guy. Enough already. You're going to get a bad reputation if you keep this up and no one will want to ever talk to you."