Work In Progress

1.21 Walk Two Days In My Shoes

[Periscope and Aglet are sitting in Aglet's kitchen.]

Aglet: So how long were you actually there?

Periscope: Well, the travel itself took about two days there and then another two days back, so-

Aglet: Please don't tell me you walked all of that.

Periscope: I didn't, I just walked into the major part of Harmony.

Aglet: That's not too bad. You got drove the rest of the way?

Periscope: Yeah.

Aglet: So, how long were you actually there?

Periscope: Thirty days total. Some of it was for recovery time, you know how it is.

Aglet: I actually don't. I've never had a major medical procedure.

Periscope: Really?

Aglet: Yeah, no, I've never needed surgery, other than for my de-chipping.

Periscope: And that probably wasn't super major or anything.

Aglet: No, it was just under my skin. I'd show you the scar, but I don't know where it was.

Periscope: What do you mean you don't know where it was?

Aglet: Exactly that.

[There's a brief silence.]

Aglet: Do you want coffee?

Periscope: No, I'm fine. But hey, I'll be able to afford my own ridiculous expensive coffee, now.

Aglet: You got a job?

Periscope: Yeah, filing.

Aglet, joking: Ah, so you've subjected yourself to torture.

Periscope: I don't really think so. I used to file, before I enlisted.

Aglet, still joking: Why?

Periscope, whose mood has lightened slightly: Because, the hours were flexible and I needed work. I had a full-time job, too.

Aglet: Doing what?

Periscope: Well, it hadn't always been a full-time job, it just became one once I was done with school. I had a job in cloth manufacturing.

Aglet: What did you study in school?

Periscope: Usual subjects, plus forestation.

Aglet: Usual subjects?

Periscope: You know, English and math and all. Why, what did you study?

Aglet: Well, we learned history, and some math, but... once you got to a certain age, you started job training, and I worked in a chemical treatment facility, so I mostly studied science and machinery before I started working.

Periscope: How old were you when you started at the chemical treatment facility?

Aglet: Fourteen. Any younger, and it would have been an ethical violation.

Periscope: Why?

Aglet: Well, you get social and legal independence at fourteen. I was lucky that my parents didn't start trying to get me to court until I was sixteen.

Periscope: Did you ever choose who you were going to date?

Aglet: Dating and courtship aren't the same thing. I dated plenty. Courtship is for getting married, and all.

Periscope: Sixteen is kind of early to be married, isn't it?

Aglet: I don't think so.

[There's a brief pause.]

Aglet: I didn't even get engaged until I was eighteen.

Periscope: You were engaged?

[Aglet nods.]

Aglet: Legally and socially. Right up until I was leaving for the census.

[Periscope wants to make a comment on how young Aglet is, but reconsiders, because that would probably be weird.]

Periscope: I still think it's kind of young.

Aglet: What, you never thought about getting married?

Periscope: Not really. There were more important things to do. Not that I didn't want to ever, just that... I mean, there were a lot of other things that I was thinking about.

Aglet: Like?

Periscope, in an attempt to be vague: Moving out.

Aglet: Oh yeah, Dice told me you lived on your own.

Periscope: Yes and no. I had... roommates.

[Aglet considers the term "roommates."]

Aglet: How old were you when you moved out?

Periscope: I don't know. It's kind of hard to remember. Sixteen, I guess, because I was still in school, then.

[Beat.]

Periscope: I remember, I got my parents to sign emancipation forms, and even after that, the next Christmas-

Aglet: The next what?

Periscope: The next Christmas?

Aglet: What's that?

Periscope: It's just a holiday. People usually give gifts to each other. My younger sister-

Aglet: Sister?

Periscope: Sibling, I mean. I had two.

Aglet: Had?

Periscope: Yeah, had. I haven't seen them since, I don't really consider them family anymore.

Aglet: I didn't have any siblings.

Periscope: Lucky.

[They've both lost track of the story that Periscope was telling.]

Periscope: I can't imagine what that would be like.

Aglet: I don't suppose you can imagine much of what my life was like.

Periscope: You're probably right about that.

Aglet: Believe me, your life seems just as confusing. All of those Midwestern words that I can't recognize, and all.

Periscope: Midwestern words like "Christmas?"

Aglet: You say that like it's a word you'd use at dinner.

Periscope: Well, no. We don't really use that word except for, well... Christmas.

[Beat, but this time it's uncomfortable.]

Periscope: I'm sorry if it ever gets to be a lot.

Aglet: It's really fine. It's interesting to learn all of these new things that I haven't heard of before. It's nice to learn how other people were living while I was in the Commonwealth.

Periscope: ... Are you ever going to go back?

Aglet: Probably, at some point.

[There's an awkward pause.]

Aglet: Can never be too sure, though.

[credits]