Page 6 of Fast Forward

“I’m still hungry. You wouldn’t deny your growing twenty-one-year-old son adequate sustenance, would you?” He raised his eyebrows.

William sighed and put an egg into a large machine, pressed a couple of buttons, and held an egg cup against an opening from which the now boiled egg emerged. He placed it on the table in front of Ryan, who began peeling off the shell.

“We really should upgrade the Kitchen Assistant,” Ryan said. “That one’s ancient. The new version not only boils the egg in five seconds but peels the eggshell for you too.”

There was no doubt about it; I was definitely in the future. Twenty-five years into the future. Genetically modified yolkless eggs and Kitchen Assistant machines that boiled them in five seconds. Maybe there were flying cars as well. Curious, I walked over to the window and peered outside. The street was quiet, except for a dog that appeared to be walking its owner and a little girl walking… rolling down the street with her mother. She must have those shoes with the inbuilt wheels. Nothing new, I’d seen them before. No one was on hoverboards and no cars were airborne, although the few vehicles parked nearby certainly looked different. More square-shaped – and taller – and not at all what I’d imagined cars to look like in the future.

“What are you looking at, Kel?” William asked, as I peered up, down, around and around, trying to spot anything outside that looked different.

“Um, nothing.” I said, stepping back and smoothing out my clothes with my hands, a gesture I always did whenever I felt uncomfortable. Which wasn’t often. Until today.

“Do you feel better now, having eaten?” he asked, slipping his arms into a suit jacket and shrugging it into place.

Translation: ‘Do you now accept that you’re really fifty and not twenty-five and have you finished with your mid-life-crisis freak-out episode?’

No.

“Yes, of course.” I reassured him. He was obviously anxious to get going somewhere. Some husband – rushing out the door on my birthday and leaving me alone with my egg-addicted, burping punk son.

“Good.” He leaned into me with lips puckered and I turned my face sideways so his kiss landed on my cheek. “I have to go, but I’ll see you at the office this afternoon for the meeting.”

“Ah… meeting?” I asked. “But it’s my birthday. I think I’d better, um… cancel the meeting.”

William laughed. “I don’t think so, honey. After waiting over a year for this opportunity we’re not going to let it go. Mr Turrow’s heading back to the UK tonight, remember? Today’s the only chance we’ll get and there’s more likelihood of success if we meet face to face than via e-pad.”

What was he talking about? What opportunity? Who was Mr Turrow? And what in the name of Dior was an e-pad? And I couldn’t work in an office, it just wasn’t possible. What happened to my modelling career? Unanswered questions swung from one side of my brain to the other like a trapeze, picking up others on the way and throwing them all over the place.

“Oh, and I’ll give you your birthday presents later on,” William added.

“Presents? There’s more than one?” Okay maybe he wasn’t such a bad husband after all.

“Yep, there’s two. And you’ll love them,” he said with a confident smile, before leaning in close to me again and whispering into my ear. “Actually, make that three. I’ll give you the third one tonight after our guests have gone home.” His cheeky wink sent a jolt of dread through my veins.

Does he mean what I think he means? Oh hell, how am I going to get out of that?

William disappeared through a door and moments later an engine revved, building to a crescendo before abating in the distance. I rushed to the window to watch, but the car didn’t fly. What a disappointment. If the universe was going to hold me captive in the future, you’d think it’d have the decency to provide technology that was more fun to experience than an egg boiling wonder machine.

The arrival of a tall white vehicle with fake flowers protruding from its top had me glued to the window, as a man walked up the pathway to our front door, a bunch of colourful flowers in his hand. Ryan removed his apron and opened the door at the exact moment a bell sounded and he took the flowers from the man’s hands, thanking him.

“Special delivery from Her Royal Highness,” he said in a posh voice, handing me the flowers.

“Who?” I asked, turning the card over to read the greeting.

Wishing you love and luxury on your birthday ~ Selena xx

Selena! I had to speak to her. She’d help me make sense of what’s going on, she’d believe me when I tell her what happened. “Where’s my phone?” I asked Ryan, plonking the flowers on the kitchen bench.

He looked at me like I’d asked him where my feet were. “Your phone?”

“Yeah, I need to call Selena, right now!”

“Then you better get your e-pad from its charger, Mum.”

There’s that e-pad word again. I turned side to side, not knowing what on earth I was supposed to be looking for. Ryan came up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “It’s okay, Mum. I’ll get it. You just sit down and relax, okay?” He led me to the chair and then disappeared into my bedroom, before emerging with what looked like a wristwatch. Just like the one William had used that morning. “Here you go.” He strapped it to my wrist. As soon as the clasp locked it made a subtle beep sound. He pinched the tiny screen and flicked his fingers in front of me, and I jumped in shock as a holographic menu appeared before my eyes.

“Selena, Selena…” he said, scrolling through the screen with his finger. “Here she is, although I bet you won’t be able to reach her as usual.”

Why the hell not? We spoke to each other pretty much every day. I pressed her name and the holographic screen disappeared. “Where’d it go?”

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