A Futuristic Affair

Chapter Three

Fred awoke to a knocking on the bedroom door. ‘Fred!’ he heard Alfred calling out to him. ‘Fred! Wake up.’

Fred got up rather groggily. He glanced at the mirror on the wall, taking in his dishevelled appearance. He finger combed his hair before opening the door.

Alfred was dressed for work, and he looked drop-dead gorgeous. Fred had to struggle not to stare at him too obviously.

‘I have to go for work.’ He said. ‘I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I’m sure you’ll be alright here. I’ve given Xora and the androids instructions to prepare and serve lunch at one. Are you okay with that?’ Fred nodded. ‘You can use the game room, or the movie room, or the library upstairs. If you want to go out, just tell X55 to use your retinal pattern to lock the house. Since we are the same person, our retinal patterns would be the same, so there would be no issue. Understood?’

‘Yes.’ Fred said, a bit overwhelmed.

‘Good. I am going now.’ Alfred said. ‘Your breakfast is at the table. Ask X55 for clean clothes, he’ll get you some so you can bath and change.’ He was about to leave, when Fred called out to him. ‘Wait.’

‘What is it?’

‘Wh…when would you come back?’

Alfred frowned. ‘I told you I am not sure.’

‘I…. Fred hesitated. ‘I am really confused. Because of the whole time travel thing.’

‘If you want to go back to your own time, you c-‘

‘No!’ Fred said, somewhat aggressively. ‘I don’t want to go back to my own time. I want to stay here with you.’ He immediately felt embarrassed. ‘I didn’t mean-‘

‘You know you’d eventually have to return, right.’

‘I know.’ Fred said, rather miserably. ‘I….I just like being here. That’s all.’

‘Well, as much as I like staying here talking to my past self, I really have to go for work.’ Alfred said. ‘I’ll see you in the evening.’

As much as I like staying here talking to my past self. Fred was not sure if he felt pleased or disappointed at those words. On one hand, he rejoiced the fact that Alfred liked talking to him. On the other hand, it was apparent he only saw him as an extension of himself, nothing more. He sighed.

He went to have breakfast, and then decided to go to the library Alfred had mentioned. He was surprised to hear that there still existed physical libraries in 2032. Guess Kindles haven’t taken off the way they were expected to.

Fred couldn’t find any of his favourite type of books. Apparently his reading tastes would eventually change a lot, for the library consisted almost entirely of nonfiction. Mostly biographies of great men and women who made great strides forward in business or technology. Fred yawned. He had never been one for nonfiction, and he never thought he ever would be. But apparently he was wrong.

His eyes landed on one particular book, Steps to success by Alfred Quinn Walker. It took him a minute to realize he was staring at a book he would eventually write. Alfred Quinn Walker. The name sounded strange even in his head.

He flipped through the book, skimming through the pages. The writing was rather technical and really boring. The realization that he would one day author a book like that one was an embittered one.

He decided to leave for the movie room, and was pleasantly surprised to see that his taste in movies hadn’t changed as much as his taste in books had. It took some time for him to navigate through the system, but when he did, he was rewarded with a wide selection of movies to choose from. He chose Clashers, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie that looked interesting.

‘You have good taste in movies.’

Fred was halfway through the fourth instalment of the Clashers franchise. He turned around to see Alfred smiling at him.

‘Clashers is one of my favourites.’

‘It is really great.’

‘By the way.’ Alfred said. ‘I’ll be going to have dinner tonight, with Jodie and her husband. Would you like to join us?’

Fred looked bemused. ‘Who would you say I was?’

‘I’ll just say you are a friend. I’ll get you some clothes and stuff. I am sure you’ll have a nice time. You’ll like Jodie, she’s a great girl. And her husband, Dan is a cool guy as well.’

Fred nodded, in agreement. There was little else he could have done, anyway.

Jodie Hamilton looked nothing like his high school girlfriend. She looked extremely sophisticated. She was dressed in a wine coloured cocktail dress, her platinum blond hair let free with curls at the ends. She was very pretty, and very glamorous. Her husband was a tall, dark and handsome man who spoke with a foreign accent Fred was unable to place.

They were at an upscale restaurant that naturally did not exist in Fred’s time. Alfred introduced Fred as a close friend of his. Jodie and Alfred then began to talk business.

As the two of them got deep into conversation about their company, Fred found himself intrigued. He could make absolutely no sense of the conversation, yet the fact that he would someday become capable of talking that way was astounding.

‘So Fred.’ Dan said. ‘What do you do?’

Fred was about to tell him what he routinely told people. That he worked for Starbucks. However, he realized how out of place that would make him with his present company. Noticing his hesitation, Alfred answered for him. ‘He is a junior manager at our company.’

Fred found Dan surprisingly easy to talk to, despite the fact that they had almost nothing in common. He was a high profile lawyer who enjoyed golf and horse riding in his spare time. He admitted that he understood little of business as well. ‘It was never my cup of tea.’ He said.

‘I never thought Alfred would turn out to be a cradle-snatcher.’ Jodie said, while they were having dessert.

The three men looked bewildered at that. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, it is obvious the two of you are lovers.’ She said. ‘And Fred, you don’t look any older than twenty.’

‘I am twenty-three.’ Fred said indignantly. ‘And we are not lovers.’

‘Oh, come one. I was not born yesterday, you know. You are obviously lovers.’

‘We are not.’ Alfred asserted.

‘Alright, if you say so.’ Jodie said, clearly not convinced. Alfred rolled his eyes at her.

‘Funny how she thought we were lovers.’ Alfred said, on their way back.

Fred thought of the Ship of Theseus problem he had read about a long time ago. According to the Greek legend, the Ship of Theseus had all its planks replaced one by one as they decayed. The question arose, whether the ship, all of whose components replaced was the same ship.

In the fifteen years between him and Alfred, everything would change. The two men were nothing like each other. Everything about him had changed, from his looks, his tastes, his habits, his personality….. He did not even have the same name as he did. So, were they still the same person? Was Fred Quinn still the same person as Alfred Walker whom he had nothing in common with?

Fred did not think of going back to his own time. His fear of time paradoxes were long discarded. He often thought about it, he once went as to place the pill in his mouth. But, in the end he chickened out and spat it into his hand. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t return to a normal life, and just forget Alfred.

He spent all his time in Alfred’s house, watching movies or gaming. Alfred introduced him to his friends, most of whom mistook him for his lover. After a while, he stopped correcting them.

Jodie and Dan often came by. Fred found himself rather unexpectedly finding a kindred spirit in Dan. He seemed to like the same kinds of books and movies as him, and despite being pretty brilliant himself, he almost felt as lost as Fred did when Alfred and Jodie started to talk business.

One day, Alfred returned early from work. ‘I have family coming over for dinner.’

‘Family?’ Fred looked confused. The only family he had was his mother, who lived in Canada. Who used to live in Canada fifteen years ago, he corrected himself.

‘Yes. My stepmother, Barbara and my two half-sisters. Seeing Fred’s confounded expression, he said ‘Didn’t you know your father had remarried?’

‘No?’

‘He was married for quite some time by the time I reconnected with him, and I got along well with Barbara. You should meet her, and Sarah and Vanessa. They’re your half-sisters too.’

Fred wished he hadn’t put it like that. It made his attraction to him sound almost incestuous.

Barbara turned out to be a placid, plain-faced woman who looked about fifty. With her were two teenaged girls. The older of them was a tall brunette who looked around sixteen, who was glued to her phone. The younger was a slim girl of about thirteen.

‘He’s kind of young, isn’t he?’ Barbara said, examining Fred.

‘No, no.’ Alfred said, hastily. ‘He’s a distant cousin of mine. He used to live in America. He had to move quickly to London, and had no place to stay, so I decided to let him stay with me.

‘Oh, what a nice thing to do.’ Barbara practically squealed. ‘Your father would have been so pleased that you are doing a nice thing like this.’

‘It’s not a big deal, Barbara. Fred’s family, and I’m helping him out.’

‘But, all the same, it is really sweet of you. Not everyone would do that in today’s world.’

Sarah finally looked up from her phone during dinner. ‘So, you are a manager at Legolas?’

‘Junior manager, yes.’

‘That’s cool.’ She said, and continued to make small talk with him.

She talked in an exaggeratedly cutesy manner about seemingly irrelevant topics. ‘You’re so funny!’ She blurted out, at a seemingly unfunny joke. Fred frowned. Was she flirting?

This is gross, he thought. She was technically his half-sister. And it was weird that she was flirting with him anyway since, according to Alfred’s tale, they would be cousins. Or perhaps they wouldn’t be related by blood. Maybe she believed he was his cousin on his mother’s side. Either way, it was weird.

He shook his head. Was it in any weirder than the fact that he was in love with his own future self?

Where had that come from? He knew he liked him, but in love? Was he really in love, with himself?

‘I need a beer.’ Alfred said. He was apparently really tired of making small talk with his stepmother. It was quite a relief when they left.

Fred got them both beers, and the two of them sat companionably, next to each other. He feltlike his heart ached at Alfred’s presence.

‘You know.’ Alfred said, rather melancholically. ‘I like having you around.’

Fred stared at him. ‘I’ve been lonely for some time.’ He added. ‘I’ve lived alone ever since I ended it with Michael.’

What does he mean?

‘You are a great guy.’ He added. ‘I had no idea I was such a great guy at twenty-three.’ He inched closer to Fred, and hugged him.

‘I like having you around.’ He repeated. He ran his fingers through his hair.

Fred knew he was probably drunk. But, he had to take the chance. It is now or never.

He planted a kiss on Alfred’s lips. ‘Why did you do that?’ Alfred asked, confounded.

‘Because I like you.’

‘Fred, what the f**k?’