And at least she wasn’t drooling now.
‘My God!’ Rashim’s voice echoed from the next aisle along. A moment later he appeared at the end of the freezer aisle gazing wide-eyed at something sitting on the palm of his hand. She waved him over.
‘What’s up, Rashim?’
He hurried over and held his hand out. ‘Are these strawberries real too?’
Great. He’s found the fruit counter.
Liam put some more boxes of Coco Pops in the trolley. Bob looked down at them.
‘You already have five boxes of Coco Pops.’
‘Aye, well, ’tis better to be safe than sorry.’ He nudged Bob’s arm. ‘Anyway, you like them too.’
‘They are acceptable to my digestive system.’
‘Oh, come on… admit it, you actually like them. I’ve seen the way you gobble ’em down.’
‘They are low in protein. I require large amounts of Coco Pops to sustain me.’
Liam offered him a sly grin. ‘I’ve seen you slurp that chocolate milk, like a cat lapping cream.’
‘The milk is the more beneficial food component of the two.’
Liam shrugged distractedly. ‘Ah well.’ He surveyed the other cereal boxes stacked along the aisle. ‘Hey look, Bob. You can even have Coco Pops with funny pink teddy bear shapes in it.’ He picked the cereal box up and held it closer to get a better look at the far too colourful package design. ‘What do you reckon those little teddy bear fellas are made of?’
Bob scowled disapprovingly. ‘Probably nothing particularly nutritious.’
‘Maybe not, but it looks fun.’ Liam dropped the cereal box in the trolley. He smiled up at Bob. ‘You remember what fun is, don’t you?’
‘I can supply a definition of the word and several thousand cultural references to the word including — ’
‘Never mind.’
Chapter 18
7.25 a.m., 12 September 2001, North Haven Plaza, outside Branford
Maddy brought the tray over to the booth and sat down opposite Foster. He wasn’t looking so good this morning. Perhaps a couple of sleepless nights hadn’t helped. Perhaps it was the artificial lighting in this coffee shop. He’d looked healthier in Central Park: sun on his face and a fresh breeze ruffling the tufts of snow-white hair on his head. Healthier and happier back there.
‘Coffee, milky and sweet, just how you and Liam like it.’
‘Thank you, Maddy.’
She sat down, grabbed her latte and looked out across the mall. There was a toddlers’ play area and a fake palm tree, beyond that the mini-supermarket where the others were food shopping. She thought she caught a glimpse of the bristly top of Bob’s coconut head above an aisle. An hour’s stop over here, that’s what she’d told them. An hour, grab something to eat, then she wanted them all in the RV and back on the road. The further away they were from New York, the better.
Foster sipped his coffee, testing the heat with his lips. ‘I think it would be safer if you were to head somewhere else. Somewhere other than Boston.’
‘Where, though?’
‘Anywhere.’
‘Why?’
He took his time answering. ‘I just think it would be safer.’
‘They can’t know where we’re going. We lost them, right? We got clean away.’
‘What if they know your family lives in Boston?’
‘But those support units… they don’t know me. They don’t know anything about me. How the hell are they going to guess my folks live in Boston?’
‘They know something about you, Maddy. They found you after all, didn’t they?’
‘They found our field office. Maybe we’ve been… I dunno… leaking traceable tachyons. Maybe we just got careless and left a breadcrumb trail? All the coming and going backwards and forwards in time, that’s going to leave some kind of a mark, right? Some kind of a trackable signature maybe?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. In fact, you probably know as much, if not more, about this technology than I do now.’
‘You think?’ She looked up from her styrofoam cup at his craggy face, seeing the ghost of Liam in there among the folds and wrinkles. ‘Maybe so,’ she said. ‘After all… not so very long ago, you were just a young lad from Ireland, weren’t you?’
He looked like he was going to say something, then laughed. ‘That’s about right.’
‘Foster, there’s something I’ve always wanted to know.’
‘What?’
‘How we got picked. Selected. Me, Liam and Sal. You too, I guess. I mean, who knew so much about us? Who knew I was on that plane? Who knew Liam and you were on that particular deck on the Titanic? Who knew exactly where Sal was in that burning building?’
‘I… don’t know.’
‘And how come they knew we had the necessary skills?’ She rubbed her temple. ‘Not that that’s helped so much. I’ve messed up more than I want to think about.’
‘The three of you were perfect,’ he replied. ‘Perfect recruits,’ he added. ‘You’ve done so very well.’ He patted her arm gently. The lightest touch. ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself. From what I’ve heard you tell me, you’ve been busy saving history over and over.’
‘Well, more like fighting fires. But we’re here still. The world’s the same as it ever was. For what good that does it.’
‘Oh, it’s important, Maddy. History can’t be changed.’
‘Yeah, yeah… has to go one particular way, I know.’ She lifted a plate of sausage patty bagels off the tray. One for him, one for her, and more for the others when they finally came over to join them. That is, if the bagels lasted that long. She was famished.
‘Did you have many missions, Foster? You know… back when you were Liam, I guess.’
‘A few. Enough.’ His smile looked sad. ‘Enough that I ended up like this. Old before my time.’
‘Long before your time.’ She could cry for him, cry for this wizened old man sitting opposite her. ‘Foster, you remember telling me about how travelling through time can age you?’
‘Yes.’
She almost stopped herself. ‘Were you serious? Are you really only twenty-seven?’
‘I think so.’ He sighed. ‘Twenty-seven, perhaps twenty-six. It’s easy to lose count of the field cycles.’
She could only imagine how Liam must feel looking at him now that he knew this fate was awaiting him. That all too soon his body was going to be irreversibly corrupted by time travel.
‘What were the others like? The team you were with before us?’
‘Young. Like you… and having to grow up fast.’ He looked away. His voice had faltered. He sipped his coffee, gave himself a moment to regain his composure. ‘Only they never got a chance to grow up properly.’
‘Were you very close?’
He nodded.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry. They lived an extra life. They had extra time, so they did. Not many people get to have that.’
‘You miss them much?’
His gaunt face wrinkled painfully. Maddy realized this conversation was hurting him. ‘Stupid question, I’m an idiot. I apologize, that was — ’
He shook his head. ‘No need to apologize. I have the three of you now. We’re just as much a family together as the others.’
