CHAPTER 8: THE FUTURE THAT LIES AHEAD

Sally cleaned the whole house while waiting for her mother. It was a boring summer of May 1957. She swept their floor and wiped tables. She also dust off the dirt from their windows. She sat on one of the chairs again and sighed. Yes. She was only fourteen for this period. She put her left hand on her left cheek. There's something wrong with the whole journey. If somebody made her go back to the past, that person should also delete her memories of the future. She's getting crazier every time she would think that she might be stuck in this time of her life for many years again. How come she could still remember her and the thoughts about her being stuck in the past when she came from the future? She decided to go outside for a walk. She locked all their doors just to make sure. As she observed the other houses at least three meters of distance from theirs, she could say everything was generally quiet. This kind of environment is totally new to her. She also glanced at the nearby house and on what the people are doing. Surprisingly, they just left their door open without worrying somebody to go inside. "Hello! Can I help you?" A lady in her mid 40s greeted her with a smile. She stepped back a little as she gave her an awkward smile. She looked really polite that she's not used to it. "Why are most of the doors open?" "Well, they liked it that way, dear. Some of the neighborhood also came to visit that's why." She answered her in a cheerful tone. Sally couldn't help but frown a little. "Wow...so you mean the neighborhood knew each other so well? I am just wondering because houses were far from each other." "Yes. Everyone is very friendly." The lady is just chuckling at her expression. She seemed really amused at Sally for acting like that. She sounded very curious and excited at the same time for asking cute questions about what she sees. "I am just wondering. You know, you couldn't tell when thieves will attack houses." "Whoah, that's too much negativity coming from a young girl like you." She replied with a giggle. Sally couldn't help but to feel so annoyed. "What do you mean, ma'am?" "For the record, there wasn't any case in our place for the past three months. Everyone in the neighborhood knew each other pretty well. We don't have those kinds of people that you're talking about." "Oh, I see," Sally nodded as she looked around. People with fine-looking vintage dresses and suits greeted each other as they passed them. Others were waving at her as the woman giggled at her reaction. "Young girl, you're acting as if you're new to this place, well in fact, you're not. I could see you sometimes." "Sorry, miss. I am just stating possibilities, you know." "As far as I could remember, you're the quiet daughter of a housekeeper in the neighborhood, right?" Sally looked at her expression. The way she said those words were not rude because she's smiling. "R-Right," She smiled back in an awkward manner. "I never thought I could talk to you like this. It's nice to meet a pretty girl like you." "Thank you," "I am Felly Sanders. Your mom knew me already. Please tell her that I am needing her service for the next two days." "I will, thank you, Felly." Sally nodded and smiled at her. She bid goodbye and started off going to the opposite direction of where Sally is heading to. She couldn't help but to stare at the blank space. She couldn't even understand people at this period of time. Are they really this modest? Or were they taking sarcasm to the highest level? She couldn't even tell when one is already indicating it to her. As far as she could remember, she couldn't remember this exact thing from her past. All she knew was being successful, she never realized the fact that her mother was working for other people for both of them to live. However, she didn't like the part that her mom was all glammed up, she even put on a nice vintage dress as if she will be attending a date of a lifetime. It cringed the hell out of Sally. So this was an 'old school flirting moments looked like. She sighed as she continued gazing at the places around the neighborhood. She saw a butcher's shop. She was amazed how big the price tags were from a long time ago. She couldn't believe that it was even seen even three meters from where she is standing right now. She also passed by a public library in the middle of the town. It is next to the capitol. Sally admired how big and spacious the public library is. She went inside with a smile. Good thing the librarian is really accommodating. Sally knew that the librarian might assume her to be a hard-working student that she didn't bother asking a lot about her. "Well, if she loves to read, who are we to stop her?" "Jill, what if she will mess around? Look at what she's wearing. She's almost dressed in rags, our books might get dirty." Sally frowned when she overheard one employee talking to the librarian. She looked back and she could see that employee looking at her from head to toe. Wow, even from a long time ago, she never thought she could be discriminated so easily. She closed her fist and continued to one of the aisles full of fiction books. When she passed by the comic books, she stopped and opened them right away. Sally opened the book and read it as she walked between the aisle. While she's looking down, she bumped into somebody. "S-Sorry..." She said as she met his gaze. Those pair of brown eyes...it's like expressing something she never found in anyone else's gaze. It suddenly wanted to melt her on the spot she couldn't help but to swallow hard. "It's fine." He smiled and walked past her. Everything was in slow motion at that time. Sally never understood what was the purpose of why her heart suddenly beat so fast. She turned her back and checked on him again. She realized that he's taller than her. His shoulders were a bit broader but Sally could assume that his age were almost the same as her. It's the first time that she encountered a moment like this and she never thought that it could be this intense.