THE MOMENT
"Uhuh," Charles nodded at the kindly old gentleman. He wasn't trying to be patronizing; but, he didn't know how to respond to something like. If he hadn't served the senior citizen coffee twice already, he might have wondered if the patron was feeling toasty. As it was, he began to put together a game plan in the back of his mind in case the old man was going senile right there in his bar. The stranger introduced himself as, 'Tim', not that he needed much of an introduction. The name was also stitched onto the front of is black bowling shirt. "And you think I'm qualified to know that? I'm just a bartender," he replied. He was trying to work his way out of the conversation. If there was any truth to the claim, he definitely wasn't the person to be telling. And, in the more likely scenario, if it was all fiction, he didn't really care.
"It doesn't matter too much," Tim shook his head. "Just kind of working through my thoughts, you know? I hope you don't mind the conversation," Time smiled. He pulled a hundred-dollar bill from his pocket and slid it across to Charles. "I appreciate the ear," he added. If it had been any busier, Charles would've found it easy to ignore the offer. But, it was just after lunchtime, and the bar was overstaffed as it was. The waiter and cook were each doing busy work and idly chatting in the back while Charles was stuck behind the bar.
"I'll take it; but, why me?" Charles asked as he accepted the generous tip.
"I'm already here," Tim shrugged with a chuckle. "Now, don't take this personally, but, the person I usually get my advice from is Stephen Hawking's levels of brilliance. But, in this particular case, I'm thinking they might be too smart. They know a lot about time already, and I need an uneducated perspective on the matter."
"The matter of changing history...?" Charles asked. He was offended, but only on principle. He very much doubted the old man had any friends with that much intelligence, and he was insulted by the bald-faced lie. But, he was still a paying customer. "You seem like a perfectly ordinary person...," Charles added as he studied Tim with a critical eye.
"Thank you, that's my goal," Tim chuckled. "My official title is, 'The Flying Temporal Dragon of the Chrome Court', I'm a dragon, and I can control time," he said.
"Well, sure," Charles nodded. "You'd have to be something special if you can see the way the butterfly effect of your actions will affect the course of history," he added. It was meaningless word salad as far as Charles was concerned. But, the old man paid to be humored, and there was still a chance he wasn't all there. If he offered Charles another large tip, he might need to call someone to check on Tim's well-being. Other than a creative imagination, Charles couldn't claim Tim was bonkers just yet.
"Right," Tim smiled. "And, so the current issue is... something changed," he said. "It wasn't changed by me. And, it was something major, though I have no idea what it is."
"Then, how do you know it changed? Or that it's important?" Charles asked the most obvious questions so that he didn't have to think too hard and still sound like he was engaged.
"That's what I've been wondering too...," Tim nodded with a smirk. "Oh, wait. Maybe I can illustrate it like this...," he half-turned his body on the stool to gesture at the empty side of the bar. There were several windows letting in bright afternoon sunlight filtered through red curtains. "You've worked here... 12 years?" Tim asked.
"About," Charles nodded. He didn't want to admit how accurate the old man was. He even blinked for a moment as he tried to recover from the surprise. It was a lucky guess, or Tim really did have some sort of temporal abilities.
"And...," Tim made a clear effort to meet Charles' gaze and hold his attention. "...how long have those curtains been blue?" he asked.
"Not too long, three years would be my guess," Charles nodded as the clear memory surfaced. He could almost remember the exact day he helped the owner install their new blue curtains. But, all this talk of curtains was getting off-topic. Was Tim rambling about random things now? He was ancient, and it was a valid worry.
"But.. were you going to make a point or did we move to the topic of curtains entirely?" he asked. As he posed the question, something started to bother him. A stray thought took root in the back of his mind, and he turned to look at the curtains. He whipped his head around quickly, as if trying to catch them being any color other than blue; but, he failed.
"That!" Tim chuckled. "That's it right there. What color were you hoping for?" he asked.
"Red...?" Charles was unsure about his answer, mostly because he had no idea where it came from. "What happened?"
"You blinked," Tim chuckled, and at his words, Charles did end up blinking again. It might've been a coincidence, but he found that unlikely. The moment he opened his eyes again, he was staring at the red curtains on the windows.
"You did that?" Charles asked. Tim nodded.
"And, that's kind of what it's like. I know something's missing. I know it's important, just like you knew those blue curtains should've been red."
"Wait, wait, wait...," Charles had to physically step back from the bar as if giving himself more space.
"You changed those curtains... three years ago.. from now somehow? And that was all you changed?? How did we keep the same conversation going?" Maybe he was the one that had gone senile. It was hard to say when he couldn't trust his own thoughts.
"I've had a lot of practice," Tim smiled. "Seeing the effect of my actions helps me be more deliberate about the things I change."
"And.. you can just do that..?" Charles asked. It was a question that had already been answered clearly. But, his mind was still catching up.
"Yeah," Tim nodded. Charles stared at him for an extended moment, then he glanced at the windows before meeting Tim's orange eyes again. "okay, I'm all ears, and I want to help you work through whatever you've got going on...," he said. he was thoroughly interested now. "But, first... can we go back to the blue curtains? I think I liked those more."