Further Into The Future!

Chapter 5

When I woke up the next day a new nurse was cleaning my room. She smiled at me when she saw I was awake.

"Professor Bedford, how are you this morning?" she asked.

"Fine, thank you," I replied. "I'm excited to meet my new owners."

"I hope they're nice."

"How did you know I was a professor?"

"You're pretty famous around the hospital, Professor," she said, folding a clean bath towel and placing it gently on the counter. "We all know about your time traveling."

"Really?"

"Yes sir. We're all very honored to be serving such an accomplished scientist."

"Thank you," I said.

"Why do you keep watching this movie over and over?" she asked. Redd Rescue was still playing on the wall across from my bed.

"What else could I watch?"

"Anything," she said. "What do you want to watch? Sports? Music? The news? The weather?"

"The news!" I said excitedly, like a kid picking out his favorite flavor of ice cream.

"No problem," she said.

"Do I have to move to another room?"

"Move to another room?"

"Yes, to see the other projection? Or can you bring it to this room?"

She lifted one eyebrow suspiciously. She wore so much makeup that her eyebrows appeared to be painted on. They curved up strangely at the outer edge, so they were always tilted downwards, giving her a mean appearance that contrasted with her behavior.

"Oh, Professor, you really are crazy, aren't you? You should be in the nuthouse. I'm getting nervous in here with such a whacko," she said, laughing. "CNN 1, please."

The image on the wall changed from a close-up of James Redd's handsome, weathered face to that of a woman sitting at a polished wooden desk, her shoulders up straight, speaking to the camera. "CNN" was written behind her in big, italic letters. The circular American flag was inside the curve of the "C."

"Oh God!" I said.

"Volume up. Up," the nurse said. The newswoman was now speaking at a conversational volume.

"I can't believe it. This entire time, I could've been watching the news instead of that stupid movie!"

"I'm sorry, Professor. That was one of the reasons we thought you were crazy. We all like Redd Rescue, but not that much."

"This is fascinating," I said. "How many programs are on at once?"

"It depends," she said. "I think a few hundred, here."

She raised her thin, winding eyebrow again. "I've never had to teach someone about watching the wall before."

"You've never met anyone from 1949 before," I said.

"Right, Professor."

The woman on the screen had straight, shiny blonde hair that wrapped around her neck and fell over her left shoulder. She wore big glasses with thick red frames that matched her red shirt, which had a big black stripe running diagonally down the side and a neck hole so large that it exposed one of her shoulders. Her earrings also matched her dress, and her eye shadow, which I found quite strange.

She read the news enthusiastically, smiling often and even pumping her arm once.

"Today Hammer announced the implementation of his Neighborhood Dance program, which, you will remember, he promised a year ago as part of his 'Bring America Together' program."