Dots and Zeros [Completed]

29. Eugene

I told Ramona I wouldn't let her drive my car. She wanted to at first, but I told her it wouldn't be a good idea. My truck has some quirks that you really need to get used to before being able to drive optimally. It's her charm.

She gave up arguing about it after I showed her I indeed have a license. Sam and their mom had already left in Ramona's car at that point. She inspected it like she's part of border patrol. She even asked me my birthday to check if it was really me on the license.

It took a while before Ramona felt at ease, at least visibly at ease. She hasn't said a word in the last twenty minutes. However, now that we're on the highway she's beginning to loosen up. I think showing her the radio worked helped. Now she's starting to get me to loosen up. By interrogating me.

'So what do you do exactly?' she asks.

I glance at her and quickly direct my eyes to the road again.

'I go to college,' I say. 'History major.'

'Really? How old are you?'

'Almost twenty.'

'I see.'

She pauses.

'Am I approved of?' I ask with a chuckle.

'What about this car?' she says, completely ignoring my comment. 'How old is this car?'

'I've had the car for about a year.'

'You bought it second hand, I hope?'

'I did.'

'Okay. So you're a history major?'

'I am. I'm in my second year.'

'Favorite time period? Answer this correctly, and I might approve of you.'

So she did hear my comment from earlier.

'Oh, a high stakes question,' I say. 'Fun fact, this was an essay question in my introduction class.'

'Let's hear it then.'

'My favorite time period is the Greeks and Romans. Some would say those are two different eras, but I like to put them together, since the Romans took so much from the Greeks and combined it with the engineering the Greeks didn't have.'

'Wisely said.'

'How about you? Do you like history?'

'It's more of a hobby,' she says.

I glance at her and see a small smile on her face.

'I'm currently doing research,' she says while making finger quotes while saying the word 'research', 'about the Middle Ages in Asia. Well, not their Middle Ages. It's more like the year 500 to 1500, which is Europe's Middle Ages.'

'That's cool. I can't imagine Asia went through the same progress at the same times as Europe.'

'They didn't. At all. They were much further along in everything, basically.'

'Interesting. Why is the world Europe and America centered then? If we were inferior in multiple ways for so long.'

'In some ways we still are to this day. But it's something I haven't figured out yet.'

'Sounds like a subject you could read about for hours at a time. Do you use the internet or also books?'

She extends her legs to stretch them.

'There aren't a lot of books on Asian history that isn't just about the big names of leaders and philosophers. At least not in English. But there's more of them compared to when I was your age. So much more.'