"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."
Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All
right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may
take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."
"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near
despair.
"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of
minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may
take to have the project approved in my time."
The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.
Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed
herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.
She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A
world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.
She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.
"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think
of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take
both of us with him."
She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went
to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.
He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.
What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or
even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the
black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me
at all.
Even _that_ one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I
moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it
then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little
ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for
a dinner appointment.
* * * * *
There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi
must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that
possibility. She walked quickly to the door.
"Vassi?" she asked.
"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."
"What do you want?"
"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how
are you?"
"Go away."
"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."
"Go away. Please go away."
"You're not feeling so well?"
"No."
"Bad news, maybe?"
"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."
"I understand. I'll come back later."
Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a
television set. A door closed.
Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not
sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.
Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.
"They said it would work."
"Vassi!"
"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do
it with the cat first."
"Vassi, where are you?"
"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."
"Are you going to take me with you?"
"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."