The Business of Time Travel Tourism

Chapter 16: The Infiltration

 June 29, 2014. Sunday.

It was another beautiful sunny morning.

Sally lay on her back snoring like a princess. George came and moved her by the shoulder, his eyes only half open. "C'mon Sally, get up. I need to go to work." He was dressed in a red striped pizza boy's clothes. On his chest, close to his heart, hung a badge shaped as a star with words: 'Extreme Pizza'

"I don't 'eel like it." Sally pushed her head under the pillow.

"What?" George sat down on the bed and closed his drowsy eyes.

"My head, it doesn't want me to get up. It hurts when I move."

"You were drinking!" George exclaimed. "You got wasted and now you feel the consequences." He began to shake her once again, only this time he showed no intention of stopping. "Is this what you do while I'm at work, drink?"

"Please, George, let it go, I need just a minute... ten more minutes."

"Geez, Sally, you did not expect that to happen did you?"

"I did not."

George took away her pillow by force and said, "If you continue lying like that, it will never go away."

"Noooo, please, nooo." Sally turned around and pushed her head face down into the soft bed. "How do I make it stop? There must be a way to stop it."

"There is a way. You need to get up and shower the pain away, the longer you are going to do nothing about it, the longer it's going to hurt."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sally got up and rushed to the bathroom. As she passed George, he could feel a strong reek of alcohol coming from her.

Smiling, he sat on the bed and stared at the wall filled with stickers. His eyes stuck on Alfonso's picture above one of the prints telling about the lucky winning streak. Its title said, 'A lucky man makes thousands in sports bets, then wins forty million in a lottery.'

George continued staring at the sad and tired Alfonso's face for a long while. Soon, his own facial expression became identical to the one of the villain. The wrinkles on Alfonso's forehead, the weary eyes, the wide mouth with drooped down corners gave him an appearance of a gruesome man. The tired face and black eyes stared into George's, who could not help but feel pity for the guy. What must have led the evil time traveler to the dark side? What motivated him to do the things he did? he thought.

Sally walked out of the bathroom dressed up in her uniform, which had miraculously straightened but not cleaned itself and sat by George. She said, "You were right, it feels much better now."

"Next time don't drink everything you are given, stick to one type of drink."

"Not even if someone gives me it for free and says that I'm pretty?"

"In such cases especially."

"Ok, George, you're so clever. Thank you for sharing." She dropped dead on the bed.

"Sally, do you remember the plan for tonight?"

"Yes."

"Do you truly, really, honestly remember it?"

"Yes, I go in at ten pm and we do it two ways. I do it my way, you do it yours. George, may I sleep now? I really feel like it."

"Ok, Sally, ok. See you in the evening inside Alfonso's place." George left Sally lying on her bed and closed the door behind him. He jumped on the roaring moped and disappeared leaving dust clouds behind.