Page 31 of Simon Says

Sorcha cocked her head. “A future?” She looked as if the concept was unimaginable.

“Do you have some clothes? I mean some, you know, other clothes?” Rosie asked.

Looking down at the cotton gown she wore, Sorcha said, “Just this.”

“No problem. I’ll get some stuff and be right back.” To Deliverance, Rosie said, “You’re coming with me. I can’t trust you when you’re ‘peckish’.”

Deliverance gave Sorcha a smile that made her temporarily forget her name. Then the two of them were gone.

“Oh gods,” she said, “’tis true. I’m daft and seein’ things that are no’ there.” She took a step back toward the chair that occupied the room’s corner and sat down on the bright orange vinyl a little too hard as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Simon was justfinishing gin-cured Loch Duart salmon with Katy Rodger’s crème fraiche and horseradish when Rosie and Deliverance sat down at his table.

“Good news,” Rosie said. “She’s alive.”

Simon let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding for twenty years. He was so relieved he could cry, but he was much more interested in hearing about Sorcha. “She’s alright?”

“Well…” Rosie glanced at Deliverance. “Mostly.”

Simon’s brows came together. “Elora Rose, do not play with my feelings. Tell me what I came here to learn and be quick about it.”

“Okay. Prepare yourself. The bad news is that she’s in the psychiatric ward at the hospital because they must have gotten the idea that she’s not experiencing the same reality. Which, of course, is true, but made her look crazy anyhow. The good news is that she thinks she’s only been there a year.”

“A year?” Simon turned that phrase over in his mind as he spoke it, wondering if the experience had compromised Sorcha’s mind.

“Yes. This dimension moves slower. A lot slower. She thinks she’s only been here a year because it’s only been a year in this world.”

“How do you know that for a fact?” Simon demanded.

“Well, for one thing, she looks thirty. No more. She hasn’t aged. I don’t know whether to call that good news or bad news. You’ll have to make the call on that one.”

Simon was shaking his head like he was having a hard time processing. “She’s spent the last twenty years in a psychiatric facility, but thinks it’s only been a year?”

“Yes.”

“And she’s young?”

“Well, young is relative…”

“Thirty.”

“Yeah.”

“So she looks the same?”

“I suppose.”

Simon looked at Rosie. “I don’t.”

“No, but you’re… Crap. Are you really gonna make me talk about you being a handsome man?”

Simon sighed deeply. “How should I handle this?”

Rosie figured she wouldn’t be asked that question by Director Tvelgar more than once in a lifetime. So she decided to give it some thought and answer carefully.

“She doesn’t have any clothes. I’m going to gather up some things.”

“No shoplifting,” Deliverance interjected.

---