September 2010
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The first time I saw Miriam she was sprawled on the concrete sidewalk outside the history lecture hall like she'd just fallen from the sky.
Students strolled past, staring at their phones and wearing earbuds, oblivious to the world around them. I shifted my backpack to the other shoulder and knelt beside her, extending my hand.
"Are you okay?" I asked. She reached out and I pulled her upright. She was light, a wisp, and dusted off her jeans. She peered at me from under blonde bangs. I couldn't say exactly what I saw in her eyes, but something made me hesitate as their icy grayness took me by surprise. I caught the hint of a vague flowery aroma I couldn’t identify.
"What day is it?" she asked. Her voice wavered slightly for a second, as if she'd focused all her energy on speaking.
"What do you mean?"
"What's the date today?"
"You don't know?" I studied her, trying to determine if she was hungover or high. Her gaze remained steady.
She took a deep breath. "That's why I'm asking."
"September 7th. The fall semester just started."
"What year?"
I frowned. Nobody asked about the year. "2010."
She nodded. "Okay. That's good." She glanced behind her, and then to the sides, surveying the students detouring around us. "Didn't there used to be a bench here?"
I studied the concrete, unsure of her point. I'd walked along the sidewalk hundreds of times. "Yeah, I guess so. They must've taken it out over the summer."
She nodded as if connecting the dots in her mind. She tilted her head and cocked an eyebrow at me. "You seem like a nice guy, helping me up like that. How do you feel about buying a girl some food?"
I pulled out my phone and checked the clock. "Sorry, I'm running late for class. Maybe another time?"
She extended her hand. "My name is Miriam."
I took it, wondering what game she might be playing. "Hi, Miriam, I'm William."
She smiled. "What are you studying, William?"
I released her hand. "History."
"Perfect. I know a little bit about history. Plus, I could really use some food and a good conversation. I won't take up too much of your time."
I wavered. My girlfriend wouldn't be happy if she found out I took another woman to lunch, but something about Miriam intrigued me. Besides, she had a nice smile.
"You're a little bit forward, aren't you?" I said. She raised an eyebrow at me. "This feels awkward. Is this awkward?"
"Feels right to me."
"Okay, something's weird here, but I'll bite. There's a café right off campus."
Miriam tossed her head and brushed her straight hair back behind her ears. "Thanks, William. I feel like I haven't eaten in years."
I laughed at how she talked, like she meant it. Her speech carried a slight accent, but I couldn't pinpoint its origin. "Let's go. And maybe while we walk you can tell me why you asked what year it is."
She fell in beside me and I noticed she carried nothing with her. Students around us sported backpacks and laptop bags. Miriam didn't even seem to have a phone. Everybody had a phone.
"Okay, but first tell me a little bit about William. Like I said, you seem nice, but it can't hurt to be sure."
We strolled side-by-side across campus, the Boston sky blue and clear, sunshine raining down all around us. It was the end of summer and approaching autumn, one of the best times to be in New England, at least in my mind. Miriam hummed a tune I didn't recognize.
"I'm pretty boring," I said. "In my last year of grad school getting my master's degree in history, and after I graduate next May I'll find a research or teaching job somewhere close by, I guess."
"Where are you from?"
"Waterville, up in Maine."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
My step stuttered and I righted myself, blushing and not knowing why. "Are you always this direct?"
Miriam laughed, an infectious melody distracting me from her straightforward curiosity. "I try to not waste time. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
We reached the main road on the north side of campus and waited for the crossing light to turn in our favor. Cars zipped past, drivers intent on getting to their destinations as quickly as possible. The light changed and we jostled across the road in a knot of people.
"Yeah, I do have a girlfriend. We've been together over a year." It felt odd explaining my relationship to someone I'd met only a few moments earlier.
"Are wedding bells in the future?"
I shook my head. "TBD."
We reached the other side and I led Miriam to the right down the sidewalk. "What does that mean?" she asked.
"TBD? To be determined. You've never heard that before?"
We reached the restaurant and I pulled open the glass door for her. "There are a lot of things I haven't heard before."
I watched from the corner of my eye as she surveyed the menu board posted high on the wall behind the counter. A bored guy who looked older than he probably was hovered over the register. I watched Miriam's eyes dance over the options. My initial impression of something different about her continued to tug at my brain, but after several long seconds it hit me. She didn't wear makeup. As she turned and found me staring at her, I realized I hadn't been as discreet in my surveillance as I'd thought. Once again she raised an eyebrow at me.
"Now who's being direct?"
The guy behind the counter cleared his throat. Miriam ordered a turkey sandwich with all the toppings, and to make life easier I ordered the same. I passed my debit card to the guy, who swiped it and handed it back. I entered my PIN on the keypad.
"You're number 57," he said as he handed me the receipt.
I led us to a table by the window so we could watch the pedestrians. "All right, your turn," I said.
She flashed a sly grin. "But we weren't finished with you yet."
"You buy the sandwiches and you can ask the questions."
"Ooh, that's almost mean. Has anyone ever told you that you have nice eyes?"
I shook my head. "I have no idea what that means."
Miriam leaned forward, staring directly at me. "I've met a lot of people over the years, William, and I've learned to go with my first instincts. I haven't always been right, but I feel good about you."
"What do you do that makes you judge people like that?"
"It's not what I do. It's who I am."
"This sounds a little weird," I said, second-guessing myself about helping her. Had I just fallen into the web of an escaped mental patient? She didn't look homeless, although it still struck me as odd she didn't seem to have anything with her like money or a phone.
"I'm a time traveler," she said. Her eyes never wavered as she spoke the words.
"Bullshit."
Her intent posture collapsed as she burst into laughter. She smacked a hand on the table, trying to rein in her reaction. "You should see the look on your face."
"Was that supposed to be a joke?"
Miriam took several more seconds to calm down. She pressed both palms on the table, collecting herself and finally looking me in the eyes again. "It's not a joke, William. You can tell something's different about me, right?"
I nodded, thinking my best option at that moment would be to get up and walk out of the restaurant.
"And right now you're deciding if you should leave or if you should stay and hear what the crazy woman has to say."
"How'd you know that?"
She smiled at me like a kindergarten teacher explaining a lesson to a five-year old. "I've done this before."
The guy behind the counter called our number. I slid quickly out of the booth to retrieve our food and felt a strong urge to walk straight out the door. When I approached the counter I glanced back at Miriam. She stared out the window and I studied her profile. She appeared relaxed and unconcerned, and if I was going to make a break for it this would be the perfect time. I'd be out the door, down the sidewalk, and lost in the crowd before she realized I was gone.
But as I watched her I lost the will to escape. I knew I had to learn more. Why would she tell me she was a time traveler? I was no scientist, but I knew there was no such thing. I could always ditch her on the way back to campus after lunch. I picked up the tray.
When I set the order on the table and slid into my seat she slowly turned away from the window. "Thank you for not leaving," she said.
We each grabbed our food, drink, and napkins. I spread the wrapper around my sandwich and dumped the small carton of fries onto it. "What makes you think I was going to leave?"
"Just a hunch," she said around the first bite of her sandwich. She closed her eyes as she chewed, like eating it constituted a religious experience.
"About this time travel thing. Why make up something so crazy like that?"
She danced a French fry through a puddle of ketchup. "I don't have the luxury of small talk, William." I liked the way she said my name. "And you deserve to know who you're talking to. After all, you did buy me lunch."
"So, you're from the future and you wanted a turkey sandwich. Don't they have them where you come from?"
She pressed her lips together as if holding back another burst of laughter and smiled. "That's not how it works, at least not for me. I'll tell you as plainly as I can and then you decide whether to believe me. Deal?"
"Deal."
"I only travel forward through time, William. And I can't control it. There's something inside me that makes me disappear from the current time and then reappear in the future."
I set down my sandwich and took a sip of my soft drink through the straw. I decided to let her continue without comment.
"Sometimes I'm here for only a few hours, other times for days. I never know what situation I'll be in. That's why I eat whenever I can." To emphasize her point she took another bite.
I frowned. "You're telling me at any moment you could just disappear? With no warning? Where do you go?"
"If I disappear right now, I'll be in this same exact spot when I reappear. That's how it works, but I don't know when that'll be. It could be tomorrow, next week, or next year."
"That'd be awkward if somebody's already sitting there."
"You mean like sitting on a bench on that sidewalk earlier this year and today when I reappeared it was gone and I fell on the ground?"
It was my turn to chuckle. "Yeah, like that."
"To answer your question, yes, it can be extremely awkward when I reappear."
"How many times has this happened?"
Miriam regarded the straw in her drink before taking a long pull at it. "How many times has it been awkward?"
"No, how many times have you disappeared and then reappeared?"
She shook her head. "More than I can count."
"When did it start?"
"Well, this is the part where you probably won't believe me."
I leaned forward. "Pretty sure I'm taking everything you've said so far with a big grain of salt."
"Salt?"
"Just an expression. It means I'm not sure I believe you yet."
She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, at least I got a meal out of it."
Once again I thought of standing up and walking out. Miriam acted and talked like she believed what she said and I started to understand how scammers conned people. She seemed incredibly sincere.
"Really, though, when did it start?"
She took a deep breath. "About a thousand years ago, give or take a few decades. I couldn't tell you the exact date."
I stared at her, looking for any twitch of the eye to give away that she'd lied to me. She maintained the same posture, looking back and waiting for my response. I leaned forward, my meal forgotten.
"Why tell me this? We just met. I might be a total psychopath."
"I don't know what that means."
"It means I could be a person who wants to hurt you."
Her demeanor changed and she uncrossed her arms. She looked around the restaurant, as if seeing it for the first time. "When I meet someone, I know I'll probably never see them again, and when I meet someone like you, at least I can pretend like I'm normal. For a few minutes."
I started to speak but she interrupted me.
"I'm not asking you to do anything else. You can't fix me. Just talk with me for a few minutes and before you know it, I'll be gone."
Miriam's eyes glistened as she spoke, sadness creeping into her tone. I still wasn't buying it. "Okay, let's say this is all true. You're telling me at any second we could be sitting here talking and you'd suddenly disappear and I'd never see you again?"
"Yes."
"And let's say I did want to see you. I'd have to wait in this spot until you showed up?"
She lowered her eyes. "Yes, but I doubt the owner of this place would be very happy about that."
"How can you not control it? If this has been going on for a thousand years it seems you might've figured it out by now."
Miriam looked up and shook her head. "I've tried. The only thing I know is if I'm under stress it triggers me to disappear. Other than that, it's completely random."
I took a deep breath and leaned forward. "I'm a history guy, Miriam. Very methodical. Only the facts. You seem very nice and believable, but as you can imagine, I'm still not convinced. So, let's do an experiment. It seems like whatever you're wearing goes with you through your time jumps, right?"
"Yeah, it'd be kind of bad if I showed up naked every time."
"Does that include anything you're carrying or that's in your pockets?"
"Yes."
"All right, let's do this." I extracted a napkin out of the pile and grabbed a pen out of my backpack. "Here's my phone number. Put it in your pocket, and when you reappear, call me. You know how to use a phone, right?"
She nodded and took the napkin, staring at what I'd written for a moment, and then folded it and carefully slid it into one of her front pockets. "Thank you, William. This is the nicest thing anyone's done for me in a long time."
On that point I believed her. I smiled to myself and grabbed a couple of fries.
"I think you should – " I stopped. The seat across from me was empty.
Miriam had disappeared.
