tatterdemalion
[tat-er-di-meyl-yuh n, -mal-]
1. a person in tattered clothing; a shabby person.
2. ragged; unkempt or dilapidated.
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“Excuse me, sir, can you help me please? The girl asked.
Evan
wasn’t sure what to say. The girl had
simply walked up to him and asked for help.
She certainly looked like she needed it; that was for sure. The girl looked to be in her mid teens, but
her age wasn’t the most important thing about her. The girl was a total mess.
Evan
couldn’t tell if her hair was brown because of natural color or because of all
the dirt caked on it. Her face looked
like it would be fairly pretty, but there was so much dirt on it that it was
hard to really tell. The clothes she
wore looked like they had once been nice, if unusual, but now they were
horribly tattered and ragged.
“I’m
sorry, what?” Evan asked.
“I need
help.” She said again. “I don’t know where I am, I don’t have any
money or anything. I haven’t eaten in days;
I don’t have any place to stay. I don’t
know what to do right now.” She looked
at him pleadingly as she spoke. Evan
sighed. It was odd, but he couldn’t in
good conscious leave her in such a state.
“Alright,
fine. I’m not sure what to do about
shelter and money, but I can at least get you something to eat.” The girl’s face lit up when she heard that.
“Thank
you. Thank you so much.” She said.
“Yeah,
right. Come on, let’s go. I was just going to get lunch anyway.”
Evan led
the girl through the streets until they arrived at a small diner. He just hoped nobody would ask any questions
about the dirty, ragged teenage girl following him around. Fortunately, nobody did. The two of them got plenty of odd looks, but nobody
bothered to actually say anything.
“So,
miss, what’s your name?” Evan asked when
they had sat down.
“I’m
sorry what?” She asked.
“You’re
name?”
“My
name? What’s that mean?”
Evan
was quite surprised by that. Did the
girl have a name? Did she have amnesia
or something? He was getting worried he
had just done something he probably shouldn’t have.
“You
know, you’re name. What people call you?” He tried again. The girl thought about it for a moment before
responding.
“You
mean my designation?”
“I, uh,
I guess so?”
“Why didn’t
you just say so? I’m A.J. 37.” She said as the waitress brought the two of
them menus. “What about you?” Evan just sat there for a moment while he
processed what she had just said.
“Uh,
well, my name is Evan.” He said tentatively.
“Evan? What kind of designation is that?”
“I was
going to ask you the same thing.”
“Oh
come on, you know. Area A, Sector J, Number
37. I don’t even know what to make of your
designation.”
“Okay,
first of all, Evan is my name, not designation.
And I have no idea what you’re talking about with areas and sectors and
stuff.”
“Well,
now you’re just talking nonsense.” A.J.
said. She sounded quite sure of herself. “I mean, I’ve never even heard of this name
thing. And no Areas? No Sectors?
What kind of place is this that doesn’t even have those?”
Evan
wanted to say quite a few things to her.
He even considered whether she was joking or playing a game or
something. But she seemed so sincere
about the whole thing. He needed to get
to the bottom of what was going on with her.
“All
right, let’s forget about all that stuff.
Why don’t you tell me how you got here and why you’re in the condition
you’re in.” He said. He wanted to ask where she was from, but he
figured he’d just get some answer about those areas and the like.
“That’s
kind of tricky. I had just gotten home
from my education block, when a really big, bright light filled the room. Once it stopped, I found myself here. I didn’t bring any money, so I couldn’t
afford anything, and nobody was willing to help me. I’ve been living outside in the dirt for days
now. I can’t even contact my parents or
anything.” She said sadly.
“I…see.” Evan said.
Her story would explain why she was so disheveled, but that was about it. “Well, you’re obviously not where you were
before. Look, let’s just get some
food. It’ll probably be easier to think
then.”
A.J.
nodded and picked up the menu without bothering to open it. She looked at the cover curiously before
looking up at Evan. She seemed quite
surprised that the menu opened to several other pages, and even more surprised
when she saw the items printed there.
“What
is all this stuff?” She asked.
“Hm?”
“I’ve
never heard of any of these things, and I’ve never seen so many options. What happened to the standard meal selections? I was looking forward to a nice, warm blue
plate.”
“Man,
the more I hear you talk the more…” Evan
stopped dead. It was just like a movie
involving some kind of parallel world. A
mysterious light, a completely different place with strange customs. Everything fit. But it was impossible. That kind of stuff simply didn’t exist. A.J. looked up at him curiously at his half
finished sentence. “Never mind, we’ll
talk about it later. Just get a
hamburger or something. We can go to my
place after that. I think I have some
ideas.”
“Okay,
that sounds good. Um, what’s a hamburger
exactly?”
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Ooo, weird stuff. Fun! Maybe I'll continue this some time down the line, maybe I won't. I guess it kind of depends on what words I get in the near future. Or if I decide to continue it in another venue. That's less likely to happen, but hey, you never know.
Continue, please.
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