“You worry? Why?”

“I’m due at the end of this month and I’m worry that something will go wrong.”

“Oh don’t you worry. He’ll be a healthy and beautiful baby,” Bette said reassuringly and quickly covered her mouth, realizing that she had revealed something she wasn’t supposed to.

Christina looked at her curiously and then her eyes went wide and she whispered, “He…I’m having a boy?”

“Oh shit,” Bette mumbled and her face flushed bright red. She was glad Maxine didn’t join them on a walk because she didn’t want her mother to see her talking the way a proper lady would never do. She didn’t want her family to know the truth. Telling Christina about the future was risky and difficult enough.

“You know, don’t you? You know everything that happens,” Christina looked at Bette with wonderment. “I thought it might be a boy because I’ve been craving salty food and eating a lot of cheese.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s what my midwife said,” Christina explained. “Craving salty food means I’m having a boy. Also I’m carrying low and out front, which is also means a boy…but you know for sure, don’t you?”

Bette didn’t see the point of denying so she simply nodded. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking when I said it but I can tell you anything you want to know…if you want to know.”

Christina bit her lower lip, thinking about everything she wanted to know about the future and about her own destiny. “To be honest, it’s very tempting to know why Tina looks like me and what happens to me and my family, but no, I don’t want to know anything personal. I want to live my life as an adventure. Whatever happens, happens. It’s good enough for me to know that you will be okay and live way longer than any normal human.”

“You are an amazing woman, Christina Kennard.”

Christina blushed and smiled shyly, “I don’t want to know anything personal about myself but I wouldn’t mind you telling me how the future looks like. Inventions, art, life…anything you had found interesting.”

“Well, there’s a great invention called cellphone. Remember we read about Alexander Graham Bell’s exhibition of a working telephone in Philadelphia in 1876? Well, his invention developed into something so incredible that it took me awhile to figure out. You can use this cellphone and talk to someone who lives all the way in New York and hear them so clearly like they are right beside you. And there’s this amazing thing called television. It’s like a magic box that shows moving pictures and movies,” Bette began talking with such excitement that Christina couldn’t help but smile.

Bette’s face was glowing with delight and her hands were animated as she tried to explain what the cellphone looked like. Christina listened with rapt attention, absorbed in Bette’s stories and enjoying every minute of it.

 TBC….