08-Conversation

"So, ah... Isabel. I hear that your formal is coming up."
I looked up from my awkward Thursday breakfast. Unlike other teens, I made a point of getting up early on my father's day off. He was out a lot of the time. Even though he wished he could know me better, he also didn't want to get too close in-case I had some kind of hormonal breakdown. I always smiled when I though of this.
"Yeah, the Seniors dance is tomorrow night. I think I mentioned this to you a few weeks back." I said, taking another spoonful.
He nodded. "You're going with friends?"
"Yeah. Just me and Adie again."
"So, ah," he grunted, "No boys then?"
I grinned. "No, you don't need to worry just yet." I stopped, that sentence giving me an after thought. Did Arin count? ...No.
I had talked to him yesterday, explaining that I was ready to go along with his version of events for now, thinking it was unrealistic that anyone would make up a story like that just to fool me. And there was no way he could have organised the Resident attack (which I was still nervous about). Other than this, it just seemed to make sense to me, in an odd this-is-crazy-but-sounds-true-and-I-hope-I'm-not-going-mad way. He had nodded, flashed that confusing, calm smile, then told me about a few more things.
The group we had been a part of didn't have a name, something I thought was quite funny. ( "Oh no! We're being attacked by... those guys! ??") He said we were a collection of people from the 26th century. My role in the group had been unofficial leader, a position I could never gain back until my memories had returned. Arin had told a few stories of my fearlessness, my intelligence and my witty remarks at exactly the wrong times. I had been Isadore then, and I sounded like an entirely different person. Arin had come from the Anti-Nova Task Force, a group, he explained, that specialised in taking out Nova ships (I thought of them as space tanks) by sending a wave of energy out that fried the system. Then he had moved his shirt collar away so I could see a metal ring around his neck. He said that was his weapon, but he didn't bother to elaborate.
"Do you have a dress?" My father, Andy's question brought me back to the present.
"Yeah, Adie took me out last weekend. I'm all sorted." It seemed such a long time ago, before everything had changed.
He looked back to his food. "Okay." He dismissed.
Soon after, he packed up and headed off to meet with his mates. Most of them where construction workers as well. The project at the moment was filling in a new road, one out of the city, that led west. There was a small town, Cainport, at one point: a pub, board house, dump and warehouse. They were relics, untouched for at least a decade. The government, under new Mayor Christopher Lockhart, had wanted the old areas fixed because they were close to where they planned to put a new highway. But it had fallen through, leaving the construction workers with a half done job and no highway. After complaints from the residents, my father's crew had been paid to finish it.
Thinking about it gave me an idea, but I would have to investigate first.
There were definitely a lot of changes being made around here.