Chapter 3
“Is it true it is 1875?” She asked drawing their attention back to her.
Both men looked at her strangely, “Of course. What other year would it be?”
Jo stayed quiet for a moment as if thinking, “If I tell you something do you promise not to judge until I finish?” She asked the pair.
They were curious, so both quickly agreed and nodded.
She grinned and jumped up. “One second,” She said rushing off into the cabin where she left her bag.
“That girl is very strange,” Junior mumbled to his father.
“She is,” His father agreed, “I like her. I think she would make a good wife to some man when she is older.”
“She would keep him on his toes,” Junior added.
“Exactly,” Senior said with a small smile.
“Sorry. I’m back” She said in a sing-song voice.
She came rushing in with her bag on her shoulder, placing in on the table and sitting down.
“I have many things in my bag, but one this should help me prove…” She spoke digging in her.
“Why do I never put it in my pocket?!” She scolded herself, the men couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Sod this,” She exclaimed and pour out half of her bag again on the table. Now they knew she was a girl she wasn’t so bother about them looking.
“Ha! Found it,” She pulled out her phone and pressed the power button.
The men continued to watch her as she played with the foreign object.
“What is that?” Junior asked her wide-eyed.
“I’ll explain in a minute. First…” She looked up to the pair, “I feel like such a spaz saying this,” She mumbled but they couldn’t hear her, “I am not from here.”
“I think we have gathered that much,” Cocky junior grinned.
“No. I mean I have no idea how it happened, but I am from 2014,” Cue the ‘you’re insane’ looks.
“Before you say anything I can prove it,” She quickly brought her phone in front of them both before they had a chance to react.
“What is this and how will this prove anything?” Junior asked looking at the screen.
Suddenly the screen started to flicker and the movie started to play.
Both men gasped in unison “What is this?” The captain asked not looking away from the screen.
“This is a mobile phone,” She handed it to Junior, “Go ahead play with it, touch the screen. It’s alright I haven’t got anything bad on there,” She told him.
He soon started jabbing at the screen randomly.
“I don’t know if telephones have been invented yet. But soon…” She trailed off.
“They are a thing that everyone in my day has,” She sighed, “Sorry, I have never been any good at explaining things. My dad always tells me I speak double dutch half the time.”
The captain looked up from the phone, “I had a friend like that,” He said thoughtfully, “I wouldn’t have thought you would have been able to convince me, but…” The loud sound of her favourite band cut him off.
Junior looked at the screen wide-eyed. His father looked back down to see what he was looking at.
Both men’s eyes were glued to the screen “Is this how women dress?” Junior asked holding up the screen to show a series of women, including one in a camisole top.
“Yes, that’s normal,” Both men looked surprised. She chuckled “That is nothing, some women walk around in less,” She tell them nonchalantly.
“I need that back now. I want to save the battery,” She said taking the phone back and turning it off.
“Battery?”
“It’s what powers it… Think of it kind of like coal,” She told him.
They nodded their head in understanding.
Without Jo noticing Junior picked up a box of Tampax again and opened it, only to find a paper covered stick inside.
She looked up once her phone was off to Junior hold an open tampon by the string as though trying to work out what it was.
“What are you doing?” She exclaimed snatching her stuff off the table and placing it back in her bag.
Everything that is except that one tampon Andrew was holding.
His father looked just as confused.
“What is it?” Junior asked in thought.
“No idea,” His father said.
They looked to Jo, her blush didn’t go unnoticed and only confused them more.
She took his hand surprising him and sending cold, but nice shivers through his body. She moved his hand above a glass and plunged the tampon inside and let go of his hand.
The men watched it expand to twice its original size. “It is to mop up spills?”
“In a sense,” She mumbled. “But it is so small. What use would it be?” Senior asked.
“You have a wife right?” She asked the older one. He nodded. “So you know all about the monthly bleed?” It took a moment for him to catch up.
“Yes, I know too. But I don’t see what this has to do with it,” The son spoke before his father.
She sighed. “Well, this…” She pointed to to wet thing in the glass, “Is used during that time.” Confusion….
“You stick it in your vagina and it catches the blood,” She said annoyed.
“Women use these often?” They asked shocked. “Some,” She shrugged, “But we are not here to talk about periods.”
Junior seemed to ignore her words, “You use these? Are you even old enough to have your… periods?” He said the last part lowly.
She rolled her eyes, “Yes, thank you very much. I am plenty old enough and have been for years now… If you are finished…”
“Years? How old are you? Is Jo even your name?”
The captain sat back and watched the two speak.
This is not what he expected out of his day. But who would?
“Yes, my name is Jo… Well, Joanne, but everyone calls me Jo and as for age… How old do you think I am?” She asked pulling off her hat to reveal her long shiny tawny brown hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.
Andrew Junior seemed in a trance for a few seconds before answering, “I was thinking thirteen, but now I guess more like fifteen, sixteen oldest.”
She bit back a smile and looked between the men, “Mr Captain?” He smiled at her nickname, “I think about the same,” He agreed.
“Good to know…” She placed her now packed bag on the floor beside her and pulled back her sleeves that had fallen again.
“I am…” Andrew senior cut her off much to his son’s annoyance, “Is that a tattoo you have?”
“Yes. I have a couple. This one is my dad’s though,” She said hold out her wrist.
He moved forwards and held her wrist, “You said your dad’s?” He questioned not looking up from her wrist.
Andrew Junior looked and seemed surprise.
“Yes. My dad has one the same. He said his sister designed two for him and his friend when they were teenagers. Then when they were old enough they both got it tattooed,” She explained, “I had always loved it and my dad suggested I got it done. So when I was old enough I did.”
“And how old do you have to be to have a tattoo in your year?” Andrew Junior asked back on the subject of age, whereas his dad still seemed to be still thinking of the tattoo.
“Older than sixteen,” She smirked. His eyes widen “Seventeen?” She shook her head. “Eighteen?” She nodded. “You are eighteen?” He was more than shocked, never did he think she was that old.
“No. I had the tattoo when I was eighteen,” She grinned at his expression.
“Older. Now I know your lying.”
“No. I am nineteen, twenty next month.” His expression told her he didn’t believe her.
She reached back in her bag and pulled out her purse and then an ID card.
“See…” She pointed to the date of birthday, “Born 1994 and I left in 2014,” He held the card but still found it hard to believe this pretty little girl…woman was not thirteen but nineteen.
“What is your father name?” The captain suddenly asked.
“Matthew Harris, why?” She answered.
“How old is he?” She was confused by his questions but answered anyway.
“Umm… He is….forty-five in August.”
“August twelfth?” He asked.
She looked at him shocked, “How do you know?”
He held out his own wrist which held the same tattoo.
Andrew Junior seemed just as confused as Jo.
She seemed to get an idea and went back into her wallet and pulled out a photo.
Then handed it to the captain. “That is my dad,” She told him and both men looked at it.
A spark of realization went through his eyes and he looked at Jo.
“This is your dad?” She nodded.
“Have you ever met his family?”
She shook her head, “He lost contact with them,” She answered.
“Do you know how old he was when he met your mother?”
She gave him a confused look but answered, “Nineteen… I think,” She mumbled something to herself, “Yes, nineteen, because my brother was born a year after they met,” She explained. “Why do you ask?”
He smiled and looked at her, “I thought he was dead….”
