A Strange Vice (Sequel to Doctor Strangelove)

Chapter Four

"So, she's an actress."

Stephen jumped when he heard the voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Evanora standing there, looking almost the same except for her hair which had presumably become a little messy while she slept. 

"Yes. Actually, she just won the most prestigious award for what she does." Stephen puffed out his chest proudly.

"A Tony." Evanora nodded. "It's at the front of that cabinet, is it not? I could tell it was the most recent because it had less dust compared to the older ones."

"You're like the female Sherlock Holmes," Stephen joked. Evanora gave him a blank stare. Stephen cleared his throat. "But, yeah, that's the award. I couldn't be more proud of her."

"How long have you two been married?" Evanora asked.

"Just a few months," Stephen said. "We've known each other for twenty-five years, though. Since I was ten and she was four."

"And you only just got married a few months ago?" Evanora tilted her head. "It seems like you would have done it a long time before."

"We were busy." Stephen shrugged. "I had my career and she had her's. And then after the crash I got angry at her even though it wasn't her fault and no matter what, it would have happened anyway. We had a huge fight and I left, and here we are now."

"How... quaint," Evanora said with a smile. "I never really saw myself getting married in my dimension. It was a goal, but it wasn't the thing I wanted more than anything else in the world."

"I was the same way," Stephen said. "But that might have been because I couldn't keep a girlfriend because either I was a huge jerk who was too arrogant for my own good or they took me living with Rachael the wrong way, which I can understand. I'll go with the former." 

Evanora chuckled. "You don't seem arrogant to me."

"That's because you've only just met me," Stephen said.

"Does she tell you that you're arrogant?" Evanora tilted her head. 

"Well, yes," Stephen said. "But only when I'm getting too big for my britches."

"Odd. I thought spouses were supposed to raise each other up and not bring each other down," Evanora said. "I guess I must have been wrong."

"Well, you don't just tear each other down for no reason," Stephen said. "That would be her telling me I'm arrogant just to get her own way."

"I'll never understand humans." Evanora shook her head. "You're so complicated."

"Well, at least we're not all the same. That'd be pretty boring," Stephen joked. Evanora huffed a laugh.

"Yes, I suppose it would," she admitted. "So, when will your wife be back?"

"I don't know," Stephen said. "She said she'd try to be back by one in the afternoon."

"That's a long time to be away from you." Evanora frowned as she spoke. "Don't you feel neglected?"

"Sometimes, but it's her job. If she didn't do her interviews and be in shows, we wouldn't have a roof over our heads," Stephen said. 

A silence fell upon the two. Stephen was getting a little uneasy with all of the personal questions that Evanora was asking. Maybe people in her culture just didn't have a filter. He'd seen that in some species across the many dimensions. But now that Evanora mentioned it, he was feeling a bit neglected by Rachael lately. She'd just finished Anastasia and she had already signed on for at least two more musicals. And they'd just had their talk about starting a family together. Neither of them were getting any younger, and Stephen hated to admit it but he was starting to yearn for kids. Of course, it was Rachael's body and she was the one who would be carrying the child for nine months, but wasn't there the option of adoption?