Yesterday is gone

A perfect days with her husband

"Wow," Matthew sighed, visibly stunned.

"I know," Stephanie echoed. "It's just so cool. And big."

"Makes you think about how much effort the Romans put into making such an effort," Matt marveled "It's so pristine. The only thing that's damaged it is just time. How long did it take them? How many workers were there?"

"Agreed."

"Admitted most of it was probably slave labor, but at least the slave labor wasn't based on color.  Just somehow something even more ridiculous. Still, those corridors couldn't become smooth from slaves. You'd have to have a tradesman do that.  A lot of Rome would've had to put in an effort."

"Probably."

"It would've taken them so long. The plans themselves must've been just a pain. And then the amount of people to coordinate all of them. Though, let's be honest, a lot of coordination would've been from whips through slave labor."

"Indeed."

"Not that they didn't do a good job. I mean, I like the smooth stone. They clearly had a skilled tradesmen do that. The slaves couldn't do a job like that. Not that they couldn't ever do it because they were slaves, not that most slaves were black. It was that they weren't trained in that craft."

"Uh, Matth-"

"And the state of it. It's pristine. How long did it take them to build it? It had to've taken a lot of effort by everyone. And the only thing that's really damaged it is time."

"Matthew," Stephanie intruded. She motioned at nearby bench. "How about we take a seat."

Matt smiled. "Sure," he agreed, sitting down. He became silent, losing himself in the world around him.

Steph let out a sigh. Matthew had developed a tendency to accidentally repeat things when he saw something he knew a lot of information. By the time he reached the end of the list, he'd forgotten he'd mentioned the stuff at the beginning. He ended up in a never ending loop if she didn't stop him.

After re-collecting herself, Stephanie tried something with her husband.

"Matthew, where are you?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Are we on a bench?"

"Yes."

"When did we get here?"

"Never."

"What?"

"We've only ever existed on this bench."

"What about us getting married."

"We're married."

Stephanie held back a smile. "So clearly we must've been off this bench at some point."

Matt paused to think about it for a while. "I just woke up. I don't know how we got here. My last memory was crossing the street and-"

"Is that the Roman Colosseum?" Stephanie asked, desperate to change the subject.

Matthew turned to stare in wonder at the Colosseum. By the time his got from one side to the other, he'd forgotten what one side looked like.

"Excuse me," a lady said to Stephanie. "Can you take a picture of us?"

Steph glanced over at Matt. He was currently enthralled with just looking at the Colosseum.

"Sure," she cordially agreed. Stephanie stood up and the couple moved to stand in front of the landmark. She zoomed in, adjusted the brightness, and generally tried to get a good shot. She took about four photos.

"Here you go," she smiled, handing them back the camera-phone. "Have a good day."

"Thank you so much," the woman gushed, taking the phone back.

The couple linked arms and walked on their merry way. The moment Steph landed back on the bench, Matthew threw himself on her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and buried his face in her neck.

"What's wrong?" she asked, rubbing his back.

"You were gone for forever," he cried. "You were gone and I was sceard.

Stephanie mentally cursed herself. She should've known better. One minute normal time was practically a whole day of nothing for him.

"It's okay," Stephanie reassured, running her hand through his hair. "I'm here. We're in Italy on vacation. Everything's alright."

Matthew sniffed and separated from his wife. "I'm better. It's... it's okay." He tried to pat out the crinkles from his shirt and dried his eyes on his shirt. "So, uh, what's next?"

"Well," Steph smiled, "I'd planned that we could go on a tour of the place."

*

The couple emerged with crowed of people, the two holding hands. "That was so amazing," Stephanie smiled.

Matthew smiled, liking to see his wife so happy. "What was?" he asked.

"Turn around," Stephanie smirked.

Matthew turned around and stared up at the huge landmark before him. "Woah," he marveled. "It's so magnificent."

"I know," she grinned.

He continued to stare for a bit. "It's so magnificent," he repeated.

Stephanie smiled and watched him, love in her eyes. She loved to see him so passionate about... well, anything. He was just so gorgeous when he was happy.

"It's so cool."

"Yep," Steph agreed. "The second most lovely thing here."

Matthew continued to stay focused on the building. Stephanie never got to finish her compliment. She knew that Matt wasn't as naturally curious as normal people after the event. "You're the most lovely thing here," she thought to herself.

Matthew continued to stare at the building. A fourth minute passed. "Okay, Matthew, time to go," she tried to engage with him.

"Okay, one sec," he automatically said.

Another minute passed. "Hey Matthew," she said, "I have a yo-yo."

This got MatPat to look back. "A what?"

"A yo-yo," she replied, pulling out the toy from her pocket. She played with it for a second, then put it away. "Anyway, wanna go get dinner?"

"Sure," Matthew agreed, gulping a bit. His face clearly indicated that he didn't know what was going on.

"Well," she said, smiling a bit and trying to get him back on the same page. "We're on vacation in Rome. Shouldn't we do as the Romans do?" She winked to keep the mood up.

Matt nodded, seemingly unsure on what was going on. He clearly trusted his wife, so he took her extended hand and began to walk along with her. As they made their way back to the bus stop, he clearly heard something. He turned his head toward the noise. "Are they..." he muttered, "playing craps?"

Stephanie's head spun in the direction he was looking at the sound of that word. "Um," she stalled, "it would seem so."

"Is that even legal?" he asked, watching the people throw another round of dice.

"Probably not," Stephanie confirmed, tugging on his hand a bit. "C'mon, let's go."

MatPat just stared at the the betting going on and another toss of the dice. "Maybe I could-"

"Matthew!" Stephanie practically yelled.

Matt jumped and looked fearfully at his wife.

"We, uh," she cleared her throat, "the bus is going to be here soon. We have to go now."

Matt nodded, only somewhat scared. 

They continued to walk to the bus stop, but this time they weren't holding hands.