Re: A True Patriot (Chapter Three)
anonymous
April 22 2009, 04:40:25 UTC
Gina was extremely tired. She barely got any sleep from the past two days after pulling an all-nighter doing homework. But it was more than that. She also discovered the real deal about Alfred Jones.
She looked at the print-outs in her hand. Two of the pictures were black and white, a bit grainy, but she could still make out the details. One was dated to November 30, 1943 at the Tehran Conference; behind Josef Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill was Alfred with two other men, one with light hair and unusually bushy eyebrows and another who was very tall and wore bulky clothing and a scarf; she assumed the guy with the eyebrows had come with Churchill, and the big guy with the scarf was with Stalin. She looked at the second picture, which was taken after the fall of Berlin in 1945 with Alfred, the Englishman, and the Russian, looking the same as they did two years before.
And then there was the final nail in the coffin. A picture taken at the recent G20 meeting that showed Alfred, the Englishman, the Russian and several other men and women from other pictures she found looking no older than they did 63 years ago. What did this mean? Was Alfred immortal, and were these people with him of a similar nature? And what was up with his involvement in these historic events? Why was he with these important political and military figures from various points in history? So many questions floated through her head, she couldn’t think straight.
She folded the papers and put them in her back pocket. She took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Her gaze drifted through the courtyard of the university, whereupon she saw Alfred, looking as handsome as ever.
A feeling of sadness overcame her - she genuinely liked Alfred. If he really was ageless, then she, a normal human who inevitably would get older; how would this work?
Gina angrily shook her head. She scolded herself for thinking so negatively. She needed Alfred’s side of the story before she began jumping to conclusions. So she followed him as he walked off to the other side of the campus. She had at least two hours until her next class came along, so she had enough time.
She waited outside of his classroom’s door, counting down the long minuets as she tried to catch up on some reading. As soon as class was dismissed, she got up and greeted Alfred accordingly.
“Hello, Alfred,” she said sweetly.
Alfred delivered that award winning smile, which never failed to make Gina weak in the knees. “And hello to you too, Gina. Have you been waiting for me all this time?”
She shrugged and admitted, “Yes.”
“You know, you’re beginning to make me think that you’re clingy and desperate. Are you?”
Gina’s eyes went wide with shock. “No way! Of course not, Alfred! If you want your space, I’ll give it to you.” ‘Oh yeah, but you also happen to have a personality that demands being the center of attention anyway, huh?!’ she bitterly thought.
“So what is it?” he asked, shaking her out of her fog. “Was there anything you wanted to see me for, other than just saying hi to me?”
Gina bit the inside of her cheek. She decided that there was no use trying to put it off. “I really need to talk with you. Now.”
The sense of urgency in voice was more than enough to convince Alfred, so he followed her outside. She kept walking for a while, wanting to speak with him privately. What it was, he wasn’t sure, but the nervous movements of her walking made him wonder what she was thinking.
As soon as they were outside of the eyeshot and earshot of the others, Gina turned around. Her lip quivered, and she swallowed nervously. She reached into her pocket, taking out some papers. She handed them to Alfred and curtly said, “Explain this.”
Re: A True Patriot (Chapter Three)
anonymous
April 22 2009, 04:41:04 UTC
He took the papers and unfolded them. They were old pictures taken decades ago. He hadn’t changed physically since then, and neither did Arthur or Ivan. He supposed there was no use in lying or rebuffing this.
Gina pressed on, “You talk like you’re from a different time period, because you weren’t even born nineteen years ago. You don’t think in terms of one year or something because you’ve been alive for decades; centuries even. You don’t act like other guys because you’ve been around and through so much for so long.”
Alfred then gave her a hard look. “Then say it out loud. What am I?”
“Immortal… beyond human… Something beyond my mortal comprehension…” she panted. Her heart was beating so hard she was surprised it didn’t burst out of her chest.
Alfred’s hands touched her shoulders and she shuddered under his touch. His usually cheerful expression was replaced completely by a serious and dark look. “Do you want to know just exactly what I am?”
She wasn’t sure, but knew he would tell her anyway.
He pointed to the ground and said, “I am your country. I am this land that you were born in, live in and walk on.”
As expected, she didn’t believe him. “Are you sure you’re okay Alfred? For crying out loud, a country is a landmass, defined by arbitrary lines.” She continued to stammer her disbelief, unable to comprehend this.
Alfred reassured her, “Look, even I’m not completely sure of how this happened. Arthur,” he took a moment to point to the Englishman with the bushy eyebrows, “says that we’re anthropomorphic, but personally I think he’s just a bit full of himself. It just is.”
Gina couldn’t believe her ears. She had gone out on a date with, kissed and hugged her country. Everything became so messed up that if her thoughts had any shape to them, they’d be pretzels. After letting the information sink in, she found her voice. “So let me get this straight - you are this anthropomorphic personification of the United States of America. There are more like you, and you’ve been involved in every important aspect of American history. As long as this nation exists, so will you huh?”
“That’s about the gist of it,” Alfred nodded.
“So why are you here?”
“Because I wanted to visit Arizona; I don’t come here enough.”
“What about your job? You’re involved with politicians, right?”
“Yes, but I’m allowed on occasional leaves. I love to go through the colleges in the country so I attend them and then go off on my way once I’m done.”
Gina felt even more inadequate around Alfred than ever. She found it hard to believe that he would notice her when she thought he was a normal human, but even more so now that she knew he was actually the personification of her home country.
“So what makes me so special that you’d take me out on a date and whatnot? I’m about the most boring American citizen out there.”
Alfred laughed, “I thought I already told you - because you’re so different. Meeting someone like you is a rare occurrence. I like to meet the everyday people in this country, the ones who’ve pretty much made who and what I am.”
“Is that all?” she asked a bit skeptically.
Alfred added, “That, and because of this.” He then pulled her face up towards his and kissed her. She was shocked at first, but soon leaned into it. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him deeper. It felt so right.
As their lips broke away, they simply leaned into each other. Gina didn’t care that Alfred was a personified landmass, and Alfred didn’t care about his duties.
Suddenly, a realization hit her. “Oh no, I’m going to be late to my class!” She took her bag and ran off. “I’ll see you later, Alfred!”
As she ran to the building, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She wasn’t afraid of Alfred and she knew that he loved and cared for her.
She looked at the print-outs in her hand. Two of the pictures were black and white, a bit grainy, but she could still make out the details. One was dated to November 30, 1943 at the Tehran Conference; behind Josef Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill was Alfred with two other men, one with light hair and unusually bushy eyebrows and another who was very tall and wore bulky clothing and a scarf; she assumed the guy with the eyebrows had come with Churchill, and the big guy with the scarf was with Stalin. She looked at the second picture, which was taken after the fall of Berlin in 1945 with Alfred, the Englishman, and the Russian, looking the same as they did two years before.
And then there was the final nail in the coffin. A picture taken at the recent G20 meeting that showed Alfred, the Englishman, the Russian and several other men and women from other pictures she found looking no older than they did 63 years ago. What did this mean? Was Alfred immortal, and were these people with him of a similar nature? And what was up with his involvement in these historic events? Why was he with these important political and military figures from various points in history? So many questions floated through her head, she couldn’t think straight.
She folded the papers and put them in her back pocket. She took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Her gaze drifted through the courtyard of the university, whereupon she saw Alfred, looking as handsome as ever.
A feeling of sadness overcame her - she genuinely liked Alfred. If he really was ageless, then she, a normal human who inevitably would get older; how would this work?
Gina angrily shook her head. She scolded herself for thinking so negatively. She needed Alfred’s side of the story before she began jumping to conclusions. So she followed him as he walked off to the other side of the campus. She had at least two hours until her next class came along, so she had enough time.
She waited outside of his classroom’s door, counting down the long minuets as she tried to catch up on some reading. As soon as class was dismissed, she got up and greeted Alfred accordingly.
“Hello, Alfred,” she said sweetly.
Alfred delivered that award winning smile, which never failed to make Gina weak in the knees. “And hello to you too, Gina. Have you been waiting for me all this time?”
She shrugged and admitted, “Yes.”
“You know, you’re beginning to make me think that you’re clingy and desperate. Are you?”
Gina’s eyes went wide with shock. “No way! Of course not, Alfred! If you want your space, I’ll give it to you.” ‘Oh yeah, but you also happen to have a personality that demands being the center of attention anyway, huh?!’ she bitterly thought.
“So what is it?” he asked, shaking her out of her fog. “Was there anything you wanted to see me for, other than just saying hi to me?”
Gina bit the inside of her cheek. She decided that there was no use trying to put it off. “I really need to talk with you. Now.”
The sense of urgency in voice was more than enough to convince Alfred, so he followed her outside. She kept walking for a while, wanting to speak with him privately. What it was, he wasn’t sure, but the nervous movements of her walking made him wonder what she was thinking.
As soon as they were outside of the eyeshot and earshot of the others, Gina turned around. Her lip quivered, and she swallowed nervously. She reached into her pocket, taking out some papers. She handed them to Alfred and curtly said, “Explain this.”
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Gina pressed on, “You talk like you’re from a different time period, because you weren’t even born nineteen years ago. You don’t think in terms of one year or something because you’ve been alive for decades; centuries even. You don’t act like other guys because you’ve been around and through so much for so long.”
Alfred then gave her a hard look. “Then say it out loud. What am I?”
“Immortal… beyond human… Something beyond my mortal comprehension…” she panted. Her heart was beating so hard she was surprised it didn’t burst out of her chest.
Alfred’s hands touched her shoulders and she shuddered under his touch. His usually cheerful expression was replaced completely by a serious and dark look. “Do you want to know just exactly what I am?”
She wasn’t sure, but knew he would tell her anyway.
He pointed to the ground and said, “I am your country. I am this land that you were born in, live in and walk on.”
As expected, she didn’t believe him. “Are you sure you’re okay Alfred? For crying out loud, a country is a landmass, defined by arbitrary lines.” She continued to stammer her disbelief, unable to comprehend this.
Alfred reassured her, “Look, even I’m not completely sure of how this happened. Arthur,” he took a moment to point to the Englishman with the bushy eyebrows, “says that we’re anthropomorphic, but personally I think he’s just a bit full of himself. It just is.”
Gina couldn’t believe her ears. She had gone out on a date with, kissed and hugged her country. Everything became so messed up that if her thoughts had any shape to them, they’d be pretzels. After letting the information sink in, she found her voice. “So let me get this straight - you are this anthropomorphic personification of the United States of America. There are more like you, and you’ve been involved in every important aspect of American history. As long as this nation exists, so will you huh?”
“That’s about the gist of it,” Alfred nodded.
“So why are you here?”
“Because I wanted to visit Arizona; I don’t come here enough.”
“What about your job? You’re involved with politicians, right?”
“Yes, but I’m allowed on occasional leaves. I love to go through the colleges in the country so I attend them and then go off on my way once I’m done.”
Gina felt even more inadequate around Alfred than ever. She found it hard to believe that he would notice her when she thought he was a normal human, but even more so now that she knew he was actually the personification of her home country.
“So what makes me so special that you’d take me out on a date and whatnot? I’m about the most boring American citizen out there.”
Alfred laughed, “I thought I already told you - because you’re so different. Meeting someone like you is a rare occurrence. I like to meet the everyday people in this country, the ones who’ve pretty much made who and what I am.”
“Is that all?” she asked a bit skeptically.
Alfred added, “That, and because of this.” He then pulled her face up towards his and kissed her. She was shocked at first, but soon leaned into it. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him deeper. It felt so right.
As their lips broke away, they simply leaned into each other. Gina didn’t care that Alfred was a personified landmass, and Alfred didn’t care about his duties.
Suddenly, a realization hit her. “Oh no, I’m going to be late to my class!” She took her bag and ran off. “I’ll see you later, Alfred!”
As she ran to the building, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She wasn’t afraid of Alfred and she knew that he loved and cared for her.
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