Some authors interview their characters. I enjoy that idea, but I decided to put a spin on it, and have characters interview each other. This week: Jane Austen, 200 years in the future, interviews her host and superfan Will Fleming, while visiting his estate.JANE AUSTEN INTERVIEWS WILL FLEMING
Will Fleming’s light blue eyes captured Jane’s curiosity. They widened and narrowed, gold flecks shifting like fleeting clouds, the nuances of his expressions changing through many thoughts. None of them, however, passed his smiling lips without first an indrawn breath and a considering pause.
He was a clearly man of first thoughts and second thoughts. As they sat in lounge chairs beside the pool at his house, Jane marveled that a single man in possession of a fortune could live in such a grand place without anyone to keep him company or keep his estate in order. The place was completely empty, save for them.
“Tell me about your family,” she inquired. “Have you many brothers and sisters? Do your parents and family live nearby?”
“I have no siblings. Both my parents are dead,“ Will said. He did not seem distressed, but matter-of-fact. “My mother died when I was a teenager.”
“I’m so very sorry to hear it. Teenager—what age is that?“ Jane was not familiar with the term, and she gravitated to the word to escape the dreadful fact of such a young man being entirely without family.
Will continued, seeming unaware his tale gave her distress. “I was fifteen when my mother died, of cancer. And my father died six years ago, while I was in the Navy. I was following his model. After he was gone, I had no reason to prove myself in the military. But I had made connections within the industries that serve it, so I went into computers.“
“Computers?” Jane was beginning to feel a fool for not understanding all these modern terms. There was so much to absorb, so many changes in a mere two hundred years.
Will smiled, his eyes crinkling. “I realize you have a lot to take in. Traveling into the future must bring many surprises. Computers are my field. The gadgets I spoke of when we had tea. I can show you the devices I have here. Working with these machines provides me a good living. A very good one.“
She returned his smile and looked around at the tall trees surrounding the pool and its little shed. Imagining the fields of his property that lay beyond the trees, she replied, “It clearly provides well for you.”
Jane was pleased that he did not judge her for her bewilderment about computers. She would have to look at his, but later. For now, she had seen enough wonders of the 21st century to make her long for a nice cup of tea and a lie-down.
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