The Watch - Part 13

There was a slight breeze outside, but that was only there to cool us down from the heat from the sun that shone very brightly in the sky. It felt weird standing under an alien sun that was an exact copy of the one back home. Amy stepped out after me and locked the door behind her.

‘Today’s a scorcher, isn’t it,’ she said shielding her eyes with her hand.

‘It sure is,’ I agreed.

‘Luckily we’ll be heading in the opposite direction so we won’t have to worry about the sun,’ Amy explained. She dropped her keys into her bag and made sure it was done up tight before setting off down the road.

‘How far did you say the market was again,’ I asked.

‘Not far at all,’ Amy said, ‘just around the corner there,’ she pointed at a set of crossroads just in front of us that lead in four different directions. A set of traffic lights on each junction where a couple of cars were waiting for the lights to change from red to green.

‘Hey, I’ve only just noticed your fancy watch on your wrist there,’ Amy said pointing to the watch. I wondered when someone would bring up that topic. I wasn’t sure when, but I was certain that someone would. I hadn’t come up with a good cover story yet. I need to say something that is believable but isn’t too believable that it is borderline unbelievable, and that is harder than is sounds. Mainly because that doesn’t make much sense. All I have to do is think up with a cover story that is believable, and that is all. I can’t just say that I found it when I got home from college and when I put it on it allows me to do practically anything I want including change my clothes, travel to Parallel Universes, travel in and manipulate time when and however I want, can I? I know that the watch only ever sends me to Universes that I am known in, but how much of me do they actually know. Well, considering Amy pointed out the watch as if it was just a fancy watch, then it’s clear that she doesn’t know anything about it, and that makes it just an ordinary watch.

‘Yeah,’ I said before I could get anything straight in my head. After a short pause, I decided upon the story of how my parents gave me the watch as a late birthday present.

‘That looks as if it costs a lot of money,’ she said. I sighed inside. The cover story was a simple as that. It didn’t need to be some complex story. I think that I can get away with that cover story from now on.

‘They said that they had saved up for it for a couple of months, but they both have well-paying jobs, so money isn’t really a problem to them,’ I explained, making it up as I go along. I almost stammered my words as I forced them out, but I managed to carry on as if it was natural.

‘What features does it have?’ She said.

‘What do you mean,’ I said a little taken aback. I wasn’t expecting an interrogation. Wait, it wasn’t an interrogation, it was just a round of simple questions that I should have ready for before travelling to any such places as here. What did she mean by features? We turned the corner at the crossroads. The lights changed from the red to green and the cars’ engines revved up and sped away in different directions.

‘Well, you know,’ she said. No I don’t know. ‘Is it waterproof, does it do more than just tell the time that sought of thing?’

I wasn’t sure it was waterproof. Well, considering everything else my watch can do, why shouldn’t it be waterproof?

‘Oh,’ I said a little relieved that she only wanted to know those kind of features – the kind that you normally find on almost every day, albeit, expensive watches, ‘yeah, it’s waterproof and it has a calculator,’ I said figuring that it has to have one of those as well, ‘and it has an alarm clock and a stopwatch.’

‘Sounds awesome,’ Amy said.

‘It is awesome,’ I confirmed. I was relieved of Amy’s questions when we finally arrived at the market. The sudden change of atmosphere made her change the topic of conversation. Next time, I needed to be ready for when I travel. I have to be ready for those sorts of questions in the future. Hopefully, I can keep using the same story without having the need to keep coming up with a different one. I shouldn’t need to anyway. I know that certain circumstances change and all that, but I believe that cover story will work. I might be over thinking it a bit. All I want to do is enjoy today and have fun exploring the market with Amy.

‘Oh, I was hoping that stall would come around again,’ Amy said excitedly, half walking half jogging over to a large stall compared to all the others that I can see. The market is huge. Loads of stalls, in many different sizes running down both sides of the street. A couple of stall owners were yelling their products to try to get people’s attention, and a couple managed to hear the calls and head over.

The stall that Amy had led me to that was selling, from what looked like, every kind stationary stuff. This stall had the lot, from every colour and scent of pen to a lot of those relaxation things that you place on your desk that are designed to spin or clack together to keep you calm during a busy working day. If only I could remember the names of those things. I’ve always wondered how something that was clacking or spinning would help you relax and concentrate. I mean, wouldn’t whatever is moving on your desk distract you as it is always in the corner of your eye, but that’s just my opinion.

‘I’ve ran out of red pens,’ Amy said picking up a packet of ten, ‘and my ruler broke, so I could do with one of them. But the question is,’ she said looking at the various styles of rulers, 'which one do I get.’ She looked at me and said, ‘any ideas?’

‘Um…’ I said looking around. There really was a large range of rulers. ‘How about that one,’ I said picking up a purple coloured one. Purple was Amy’s favourite colour. Not this Amy, but the Amy I know back at home.

‘That looks nice,’ she said smiling. It turns out that both Amy’s are more alike than I thought. Makes you wonder, what the differences are, if they have any at all. Well, apart from actually talking to me, that is.

Amy purchased her two items and dropped them into her bag, again making sure that it was done up tight.

‘Right,’ Amy said, ‘this market has everything and anything you can possibly want, so what do you want?’

‘Um…’ I am only now realising something. I don’t have any money and all the money that I do have is in an entirely different Universe.

‘What?’ Amy asked looking like she had said something wrong. How was I going to pay for stuff without any money? I wasn’t, it was that simple. I need to come up with a plan now before having to break the news to Amy.

‘You don’t have any money do you,’ Amy stated. I nodded my head.

‘I should have known that you would be coming here without any money,’ she said smiling. I’m surprised that she’s finding this rather funny. ‘Tell you what,’ she said, ‘I’ll lend you some.'

‘What? No, I can’t let you do that.’

‘Well, you can’t walk around the market without no money,’ she countered, ‘what if you see something that you really like; you won’t be able to get it will you.’

‘Look, here’s some money,’ and she handed me a load of notes.

‘How much is here?’ I said taken aback by just how much money was actually sitting in her bag this entire time.

‘Are you really going to count it?’ she asked with her hands on her hips. ‘There’s enough there for what you want.’

‘I can’t take this much.’

‘Well then, spend some of it and you won’t have to,’ she said.

‘That…’ I said confused, ‘doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Neither does your refusing to take the money. Now we’re even. So, can we go and have a good time around the market now.’ Now that was clever. I was speechless from walking into a trap so easily. She defeated me, meaning there was only one thing left to do.

‘I guess we can,’ I said.

‘Awesome. Now, where do you want to start?’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson
(TonyHadNouns)