Page 27 of Fast Forward

“Thanks. Who would have thought that a common household bug would hold the key to the eradication of the cold virus, eh? I still shake my head in disbelief when I think about it.”

Holy crap… my sister found The Cure for the common cold! No wonder she looked all flash and we were meeting in a place like this. She must be worth a fortune! Okay, if I ever get back, I’ll never tease her about her bug collecting habit again.

Beep! A message on my e-pad.

Hi hon, the hardware store was all out of heavy duty stretchy rope I’m afraid. But I picked up this neat multi-pocket tool storage belt that I can wear. I’ll fill it with the supplies we’ll need: a can of whipped cream, jar of chocolate spread, a feather and one of those massage roller things. Off to buy them! xxx

Please, ground, swallow me up right now.

Beep!

P.S Can’t wait to see you at the meeting. Love you – W.

I opened my calendar. Meeting – 3:30 p.m. Okay, it looked like I would have to attend this meeting, since the YouthMagic facial wasn’t so magic after all. I had no idea what the meeting was about… and what was that UK man’s name again? Mr Tulson… Mr Turret… Mr Tugboat? Damn, I had no idea. One step at a time, Kelli. Right now, I was having an extremely long overdue catch-up with my sister. There was plenty of time before the meeting.

“So, what are you having?” Kasey asked, pointing to the inbuilt e-menu in the mahogany table. “Pick anything you like – my treat of course.”

A bottle of wine would be good. But I should probably have some kind of protein on the side to make it a complete meal. Actually, it could be best to avoid alcohol until tonight. I wanted to keep my wits about me and I did have to drive… unless my talking and mostly self-driving car had an option for taking complete control due to birthday-induced intoxication. Nope, better not take the risk.

“Let’s see…” I eyed the e-menu, but the words blurred slightly under my gaze. I leaned in closer, but they blurred even more, so I tucked my chin to my chest and leaned back. That made things clearer, but I could barely make out the words.

“What are you doing?” Kasey giggled.

I must have looked like a right idiot. “I can’t seem to read the menu. Is yours blurry too?”

“Put your glasses on,” she replied.

Glasses? I wouldn’t be seen dead in glasses and besides, I’d never needed them.

“Honestly, Kel, I know you hate wearing them, but presbyopia is a normal condition for people your age. You need the glasses to help focus on things up close.”

Geez, not another bodily defect. I’ll add that to the list of thirty-seven other afflictions for the middle-aged, shall I?

I pinched my e-pad and reopened William’s message. I had no problem reading that, but the text was three times the size of the e-menu, so no wonder. “I forgot to bring my glasses.”

“Then enlarge the screen.”

“Oh.” I tentatively pinched the screen on the table and hoped it functioned like the e-pad. It worked and a listing of the available food choices came into focus. “Hang on,” I looked up at Kasey. “You’re not much younger than me, how come you can read the menu so easily?”

“I had the surgery, remember? The surgery you were too chicken to have, so you opted for the glasses which you’re too chicken to wear?”

“Ah yes. Well, if everything can be enlarged, why even bother with the surgery or glasses?”

“Not everything in the world is written in holo-ink, Kelli. Technology hasn’t come that far.”

I stifled a chuckle. Kasey may have grown with the technology, but when you’ve been shoved into the future suddenly you realise how far it had come. I assessed the menu options and resisted the urge to express shock at the prices. Not to mention some of the strange food combinations. By the looks of it, genetic modification really did take off, despite all the protests. Turken, cranberry and camembert melt on broccolato rosti. What the heck was that? Turken… aha! Turkey Chicken. Broccolato… ah, so someone had found a way to genetically combine a potato with broccoli, huh? Ingenious for all the vegetable haters/potato lovers out there.

“What will it be, madam?” the waiter asked me as he approached.

Madam – or in other words… old woman. I was used to being called Miss and Love and Sweetie.

“I’ll have the turken, thanks.” I swallowed a giggle.

“And I’ll have the steamed salmon with roast vegetable salad,” Kasey said.

Wow. She was much healthier than I remembered. She’d always ordered things like fish and chips, pizza, or hamburgers. Salmon and vegetables? I was impressed.

The waiter disappeared into the kitchen and for the second time that day my stomach grumbled. Geez, what was wrong with me? Before, I could go all day without eating and now I couldn’t even last a couple of hours.

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