Chapter 7e
"You're a forward thinker, I like that." Paul took a long drink of his beer.
"So...?"
"It means you're ahead of your time."
I said, "I know what you meant, I don't know why you were asking me the year."
"Well," he said, "doesn't sound like you understand too well, then."
I said, "You're confusing me with the riddles, Paul."
He said, "That's no riddle, I just wanted to know what year it was. Turns out you don't know so I'll ask somebody else, no worries.
I looked down at my hands on the bar and their familiar curves and creases. Why had I chosen that year? The booze must have hit me harder than I thought. How much had I helped myself to this time? Not much, maybe. I turned. "Darren," I said, "what year is it?"
He stopped whatever he had been doing to rub his chin and think. He said, "Well, I guess it's all of them."
"Yeah," I said, "that's what I thought," then to Paul, "so why did you say I was wrong?"
He shrugged and said, "Because you were wrong. Maybe it is every year right now, maybe it's still only one, but it's not that one."
I frowned. "What year is it, Paul?"
"I guess it's the year of the rabbit but, hell, who knows?"
Considering the possibilities, that narrows it down to 1891, 1903, 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035. . .have I gone too far? I was born in the year of the rabbit (trivia discovered during my though on Paul's insight) so I would assume it would have to be one of the years past that. Then again, what if he doesn't actually know when the year of the rabbit is? I didn't, I can't expect him to.
I said nothing. Nothing. I drank down my beer in silence then another and another. "What the fuck," I said, "is the year of the rabbit?" I looked up to Paul, all smug and enigmatic, then to Darren, who was neither of those. The bar was empty and I was alone. "For fuck's sake," I said, and finished my drink, "finally a moment to myself."
Obtained key 9  |