"1932?" I say as my voice shakes. Even the year sounds so foreign spilling out of my mouth.
Harry nods. I close my eyes to prevent anger that's building up. Damn it, Sunny and Casey. How the hell did I end up in damn 1932? I take a deep breath and open my eyes.
"Now what?" Harry asks.
"I don't know. I have no where to go. How am I going to hide my identity? I don't want to change history," I bury my face in my hands.
"Hey, it's okay. I'll help you. Think of the benefits of this," Harry says.
I remove my hands. "I only can think of The Great Depression, cause that's what we're in."
"At least, um.. the Empire State!" Harry says.
I shook my head. "I've been there lots of times as a child. And I don't want to go back either."
Harry sat for a moment. "What are you gonna do?"
"For now, it's best if this only stays between you and I," I nod and open my eyes.
"Then I shouldn't call you Jessamine. That name isn't common here. You'll have to dress like us, and just make up a name," Harry said and leaned back in his chair.
"Where would I live?" I say.
"You could stay with me for a few days," Harry shrugs. "I don't mind. It's interesting to help someone like you."
"Thanks Harry. How old are you?" I ask.
"I'm twenty as of February first."
"I'm eighteen," I say quietly.
Being confused must be my new thing. How do I get back to the present? Will I get back to the present? What's this remote for? How am I supposed to live here?
"Harry, what do the women do around here all day?" I question.
Harry clicks on a nearby lamp and stands up. "I don't know. I think they clean, and make their husband food. I don't have a wife so I wouldn't know. It's rare to see women outside on weekdays, unless they are going to the market or something."
"I see. So I'm supposed to stay here all day?" I ask him and stand up too.
"If you want to be really secretive, then I think you should become an average woman in 1932. And in the night, we could try to figure your problem out."
"Wouldn't it be weird if I stay here but we have no connection? That's what a person had told me yesterday," I questioned.
"I guess you're right," Harry runs his hand through his brown hair and drew his brows together.
I could just pretend to be his daughter. No, we're two years apart, people wouldn't buy that. I walked over to a cream colored radio box and messed with it before leaving it be. Harry and I just stayed silent.
"Lets go, I have some clothes for you," Harry walked down the hall and into the bedroom.
He came back out with a white collared dress and the length looked right above the ankles. There were white shoes to go with it. They looked like men dress shoes with laces, except they have a heel to it. I thanked him and took the outfit.
"These were my cousin's. She stayed her for a couple of days but then she moved to Michigan and left these," Harry gestures to the outfit. "You can sleep in that room across from mine."
I hope I can fit these heels. I walk in the bathroom that I spotted. It doesn't have a light. I quickly change my clothes and fold up my regular ones and stuff them in my purse. I close my eyes and try to remember the hairstyle that Margaret had. The braided bun. I opened my eyes and tied my hair and did the same style with my dark brown hair.
I exit the bathroom and walk into a bedroom. It was small, but luckily no trace of asbestos. Maybe it's in the basement. I set my clothes on the vintage wooden dresser and put my feet in the shoes. They were a little loose on my feet so I made sure to make the laces tight. Better loose than tight. I walk back in the hall and back to the main room, where Harry was sitting back in his chair.
"They fit. The shoes are a bit loose but they'll do," I told Harry and sat on the couch.
Harry looked up from some book and smiled at me. "No doubt, you're pretty."
"Thanks," I felt blush creeping at my cheeks but it went away quickly as it came.
"Harry, where do you work?" I ask him.
"I'm a construction worker," He beamed.
"Did you build the Empire State?" I ask.
"No," He shook his head.
One thing I've noticed about this is that the Twin Towers aren't here. Well, they weren't in 2014 either. So obviously this is before those towers were made. I'm barely panicking anymore, I'm fascinated by this place now.
"Is it hard to get money?" I ask him.
"Yes. Because lack of money and we're loosing jobs. Hopefully I'll keep mine. Why did you come to this year anyway?" Harry set his book down.
"I was trying to get to 2002," I tell him.
"Why?"
"No reason," I say quickly.
Harry jumped up. "I've got to get to work. I'll be back by eleven."
I frowned. "What am I supposed to do all day?"
"I don't know. You can stay here. There's a TV," Harry pointed to a small sized with a very small screen. "It's too much for me, it confuses me."
I nod slowly and fold my arms. "Well, okay."
"All right. If anyone knocks, tell them you're the house keeper. Wait no. Just run in the basement," Harry chuckles and his dimples cave in.
"Okay, see you later," I tell Harry and he grabs his construction hat before leaving out and closing the door behind him.
I turn around and look around the small house. It's certainly untidy around here for a person who lives by himself. I wonder why he's so nice to let me stay with him for a couple of days. I think I should start on the dishes. I find my way into the kitchen and spot overly burnt eggs on the counter top. Damn. I scrape them in a nearby bin and clear up all the dishes, washing them one by one since there is no dishwasher.
I grab a broom from the corner and sweep up all the dirt on the ground in the whole house by humming to a song. I don't know how to work that radio or TV, so I just won't use it. The refrigerator looks like a small box, a little taller than the TV though. I open it and see everything but breakfast. He probably burnt all the breakfast food.
Going to a market will give me something to do. That's on my list after I complete finding the market. I hope it isn't too far. At least I won't be cooped up here alone. Besides, I'm hungry and I could buy some fruit there as well. I take my purse and leave out of the house, taking a spare key that Harry left with me. I walk up the street and luckily at a corner I see a supermarket and I walk in. The temperature is cool. Men unpack meats and the women are cashiers.
I take a grocery cart and walk up the aisles, looking for things that could go in the house. How much money do I exactly have? I check my wallet and come up with $1,200. Average. This'll last me forever here. I find fruits like apples, applesauce, bananas, and strawberries.
I find dairy items cheese, milk, and eggs. I picked up a box of tea, and some bacon. I looked at some cereal, Kellogg's Bran Flakes. Good enough. I place that in my arms with the pack if bacon. Could you believe that if the bread is sliced, it costs more than the regular loaf? Out if the corner of my eye I glance at something I didn't expect. Candy bars.
There's candy here? They look like Milky Way. I drop the bacon and cereal that were in my arms and grabbed three Milky Way bars. There's three for 10¢.
I walk back to my cart, happy, now that I've got candy. A woman who looks in her late twenties is placing my bacon and cereal in my cart.
"Thank you," I smile at her. She has blonde hair and pale skin. She's pretty. Now that I realize, everyone here is beautiful. Margaret, that waitress, and now this lady.
"You're welcome. Gosh, your husband must have a great job if you can afford all of this," she says and I nod.
I put the candy in my cart. "I like your hairstyle."
"Thanks! I'm Shirley by the way," she tells me.
Shirley and I had talked an clicked instantly. She's so nice and kind. My total came up to $3.46 and thankfully, the cashier took the money without hesitation. I invited her over to Harry's, I hope he won't mind.
Shirley and I carried bags all the way down the street to Harry's place. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, cutting on the lamp.
I told Shirley to set the bags in the kitchen. She came back to the main room and looked around. "This looks like Harry's place.."
"It is Harry's place," I say quite hesitant. "How do you know him?"
"He works with my husband at a construction site. Are you his housekeeper or something? No, I don't see an apron.. you must be his wife!" Shirley gets excited and claps her hands together.
Shit. I'm not his wife and I sure as hell don't want to pretend that I am. But it's my only choice. "Well, my fiancé."
"I'm surprised he hasn't told me! May I take a look at your engagement ring?"
"Oh, uh... something had happened to it so Harry took it to a guy who can fix that," I tell Shirley.
"So happy for you and Harry! You'll soon be Mrs. Styles!" She beams.
That's his last name? Harry Styles. How am I even going to explain this to him? I push those thoughts away and just smile and act like I'm happy to be 'engaged' at eighteen.
At about six, Shirley decides that she has to leave to feed her children dinner and I nod, understandingly. I should probably make dinner for Harry and I. I glance at the small gas stove that obtains three compartments. I hope it's easy to use.
I take out some hamburger meat and decide that we'll have some hamburgers. I would have made fries, but I didn't pick up any potatoes. After thirty minutes, the food is done. I learned to work the radio instead of the TV. They had announced a movie that would be released on September eighteenth, 1932. It's a new child star; Shirley Temple.
In 2014, she's already dead as of that year. But here, War Babies is her first movie. And it's the one that the radio is talking about.
I eat my hamburger with some applesauce and listened to the music that came on. When I was done I put the leftovers away for Harry and cleaned the kitchen. I found some paper and pen and wrote a note
Your food is in the refrigerator -Jess
I left it on the table and went back to the main room. I lied on the couch and crossed my legs.
"And here is Night and Day, by Fred Astaire!" The radio said cheerfully and the slow, sweet song began to play. Certainly different from most music these days, considering that my favorite genre is pop.
This new life is very different. Really freaky because this is before Michael Jackson's time. The song still played and I tried to listen to the lyrics. It seemed nice. Maybe Harry will tell me about it tomorrow. I don't remember anything except falling asleep on the couch with the sound of the soothing song.
-
I opened my eyes and sunlight beamed through, threatening to blind me as usual. But when I looked around I was still disappointed. I'm not in my bed, or in my room, or in my house, or even in my right year. Every day that passes by, the hopes of me thinking it's all a dream fades away.
I'm still in my outfit from yesterday, highly uncomfortable. Damn, I hadn't took a shower since Friday and it's Sunday. I look at the wall and at the Roman numeral clock. Eight forty five am. Why so early?
I'll probably have to go to church with Harry this morning. On my bed is an outfit that Harry must've placed right here. It's a white button down collared shirt, a long black skirt above my ankles, and shoes that looked exactly like the one yesterday, just black.
I took the outfit and walked in the bathroom. There was indoor plumbing, fortunately. The tub had claw shaped ends that stood itself up. The shower pipes were all out, instead if inside the wall. I'm never going to adjust to this stupid life. I turn on the water and take a quick five minute shower. I've heard that in these years, some places didn't have indoor plumbing, Harry is very fortunate.
I style my hair into a halo braid and put on some lip stick from my purse while scowling. Then I put on my pearl earrings. Hopefully it won't get stolen. I look like an adult. Now, how am I going to explain to Harry that he has to be a pretend fiancé? I put on my clothes and tuck in my shirt and brung my skirt up a little, I have seen many other women do so here.
I walk out of the bathroom and my heels clack down the hall as I greet Harry. "Good morning, Harry. You should still be sleep, but then again there's church."
Harry isn't alone. Another guy is sitting with him and I think they were talking about a baseball game before I rudely interrupted.
"And who is this young lady?" The guy smiles and Harry jumps up uncomfortably and rushed to my side.
Harry spoke. "This is my friend William. And William this is..this is my wife, Doris."
"Soon to be," I corrected because that's what I had told Shirley.
"Congrats Harry and Doris, I wish the best! Though, I need to get going. See you Harry," William said and he left.
I walked into the kitchen and Harry followed me. "William is my best friend."
I nodded and opened the refrigerator to see Harry's food still inside. "How come you didn't eat? Did you not see the note?"
"Oh, I was. But I didn't know what a refrigerator was," Harry says, obviously confused.
"That right there?" I point to the miniature box.
"That's an ice box," Harry said.
"What?" I asked him.
"Ice box. Do you call it refrigerator?" Harry questions and I nod.
I closed the ice box. "So what did you eat when you got home?"
"Fruit and candy!" Harry smiles.
"That's not a meal," I scold him.
"It is to me. This morning I haven't ate anything yet. How did you afford all of that food? There's barely space in the ice box.."
"I stuffed it all in. I should buy another ice box. And you need to show me how it works."
Harry walks over to the ice box. "So every day the ice man comes with a large block of ice. Put it on top of the ice box. It keeps the food inside cold and eventually the ice will melt into this drip pan underneath. You need to repeat this every morning."
I nod and open the ice box, bringing out some eggs and bacon. I start to cool the food and Harry spoke from the table.
"You fell asleep on the couch. Listening to the radio," Harry chuckled.
"I liked the song!" I defend myself.
"Really what song?"
"It's called Night and Day by Fred Astaire," I tell him scraping the food on a large plate.
"It's a movie. That song got so popular that they put it on the radio," Harry said and I fixed his plate.
I put an apple to his plate to complete his meal but he replaced it with a banana. I put his plate in front of him and set my plate down too. Harry picks up his fork and starts eating.
"Why did my name have to be Doris?" I ask and bite in my apple.
He shrugged. "It was either that or Barbara."
"What time does church start?" I ask him.
"Ten."
"Ugh, do we have to go? Then everyone will know me," I sigh and grab a strip of bacon.
"It's not hard. Just imitate the women. Well, not the stuck up ones. Your name is Doris and you're my fiancé. Two weeks long."
"You make it seem simple," I groan.
"It is simple," Harry shrugs and put away his empty plate in the sink.
I place mine in the sink too and I think I should clean the kitchen.
"No, you don't have time. You should be grooming yourself," Harry says to me.
"Got any nail clippers?" I asked him walking into the main room.
"What?" He asks with a confused expression.
"Nail clippers," I repeat and Harry took the word in.
"Clip your nails? Here," he handed me a pair of scissors. The fuck?
"Never mind," I said digging into my purse and grabbing a pair of nail clippers. Thank you mother for forcing me to carry a purse. I seem like a goody goody but I don't want to use them scissors it'll probably peel my entire nail off.
I would like to go shopping here. I need things from here. I saw some things that I would like. I'll probably get it tomorrow. Wait what am I doing? I'm supposed to be finding a way to leave, not making a living.
"C'mon we're gonna be late," Harry grabbed my hand and had on some outfit as we left out the house.
Right before we get in the car I hear someone calling to us.
"Mrs. Styles!" I turn around since that is obviously me for now.
It's Shirley with..with John? Is that her husband? Multiple emotions rushes in my body. I'm so confused, how can a lovely and beautiful woman be in love with a prick who is convinced that all women, including his wife, are beyond stupid. Harry must have noticed my reaction because he tightens his grip on my hand. How husband-like of him.