Commoner Knowledge part 8

Part Two- Earth

It was raining. I stared out the window at the leaves being blown down the street. In Rainess, it was summertime, but somehow it was winter on Earth. That wasn't the biggest difference between the two worlds, however. Not by a long shot.
Anxiously I sat in an office in a police station, listening to the endless chatter and ringing of something called a "phone" outside. This world was everything and nothing like I had imagined it. Its science was centuries ahead of my world's. Here they had horseless carriages, devices that communicated through thin air, and boxes which showed sound and pictures. Everything ran off electricity, the buzz of which rang in my ears and gave me a constant headache. This sound- the racket of a thing that didn't exist on Rainess- wasn't even noticed by the people of Earth.
The door behind me swung open and I jumped, startled. An officer entered, drinking something hot and bitter-smelling from a mug. He shut the door and made his way around me and the desk, taking a seat behind it. Finally he set down his mug and looked at me. 'You need anything?' the portly man asked.
'Oh, no, thank you,' I said quietly, looking at the floor. The man made me nervous. Well, everybody did.
He flipped open a folder that looked new, aside from the drink stains. 'I'm Captain Woody Meyer,' he introduced himself, not glancing up at me. 'All right. Let's see what we have here.'
I tugged at my pants. The strange material was somewhat rough. It chafed at the scars on my legs.
The captain finished with his folder and, after another gulp from his mug, looked up at me. 'Okay. Name, please.'
'I thought I already gave it to someone,' I said, pointing at the file. 'See, it's right-'
'Please just give me your name, kid.'
He seemed tired. I looked at the floor. 'Right. Sorry, sir. It's Arthur. Arthur Lysander Noble.'
'Thank you.' He scribbled something down and drank from the mug. 'Date of birth?'
'20 August.'
'What year?'
'Um...'
We were silent. Finally he asked, 'Do you know how old you are?'
'Twenty-tw— No, sorry. Twenty-three.'
Captain Meyer stopped writing and glanced at me, then continued. 'Place of birth.'
'Uh… I don't know.'
Though it pained me, I lied to Captain Meyer. Just as I had lied to everyone I had met on Earth. I knew that if I said anything about Rainess, I'd be considered a lunatic. After all, if Earth was just a story to us, then what would we be to them?
At this the captain stopped and set his pen down. 'You don't know?'
'Yes. Or rather… I don't remember.'
He stared at me for a moment, then flipped a page in the folder. I read it upside down: "amnesia". Captain Meyer let it fall and faced me again. 'I'm no expert, but from what I've heard of amnesia, the symptom is that you can't remember anything. Not, you can't remember convenient information about where you came from and who you are.'
'Um… Well…' I looked past him, out the window. I was wringing my hands.
He didn't look convinced.
'…But I don't… Er…' I sighed, still avoiding eye contact. 'I'm very sorry, sir. I honestly don't know what I said I don't know.'
The captain softened somewhat. 'Stop apologizing, son. Like I said, I'm no expert. We'll have a proper psychologist look at you soon. We'll figure out who you are.' He grimaced, trying to be reassuring. He failed.
'…Thank you,' I said.
Captain Meyer leaned back in his chair again. 'So, Arthur-'
In my whole life, only the few people closest to me called me just Arthur. The complete lack of formality felt strange, but oddly good. I smiled just a little.
'-What kind of accent is that?' He gestured vaguely in my direction.
'My what?'
'Accent. It ain't from around here, that's for sure. I've never heard anything like it.'
I hadn't considered this. 'Um… I have no idea?'
'Huh.' The captain rested his cheek in his hand, his little finger catching the corner of his mouth and skewing it sideways. He studied me, then glanced beyond. Something caught his attention, for his face lit up and he sat up straighter. 'Kate!' Captain Meyer called.
A young woman poked her head in the door. 'Yes, Captain?'
'Get in here. I need your knack for languages.'
'All right. Just a minute, sir. I need to go put this away,' she said, indicating the load in her arms.
'Take your time,' Captain Meyer waved her off, returning to his mug. She smiled and continued down the hall.
He set down his mug and shook his head. 'That young woman is the best detective I've ever seen. I don't know why she hangs around this little town.'
This remark surprised me. I didn't know how to answer, so I just shrugged.
The young detective returned. 'What's up, Captain?' she asked.
Captain Meyer gestured at me. 'This young man washed up on the beach a few days ago. He can't remember where he's from, but he's got a funny accent. I thought that could help identify him.'
She sat down next to me. 'Hello, I'm Detective Kate Brown.' Smiling, the young detective held out her hand. I looked at it blankly. There was an awkward pause. She put her hand down.
'I'm Arthur Noble,' I said awkwardly. 'Sorry, I don't know what… this…' I waved my hand around, '…is.'
'Oh, don't worry. In many Western cultures, people greet each other by shaking hands. It's a sign of politeness,' Detective Brown explained.
'Oh…' I began, but Captain Meyer cut in. 'Well, there you go, Katie. Whaddya think?'
She turned to me. 'So you know your name, but not where you're from?'
'Um, yes. My name, how old I am, but… Not really anything else…'
Detective Brown frowned in concentration. 'Did you check missing persons?' she asked the captain.
'Yes. Nothing matching his description. We only found him two days ago, though.'
'Hm.' She looked at me again and said something I couldn't understand.
I was alarmed. 'What?!'
'You didn't understand that?'
'No!'
'What was that, detective?' the captain asked, amused.
'Swedish,' she answered. 'Is this your natural hair colour?'
'Um… Yes…'
'Yeah. See, his coloring is Scandinavian. But I couldn't place the accent, so I tried something… exotic.'
Captain Meyer chuckled. 'You are amazing.'
I watched, lost. The detective smiled her thanks and was about to say more when the door burst open.
'Woody!' someone exclaimed. I turned around to see a short, round woman. She had long black hair with streaks of red in it and wide brown eyes.
'Woody,' the woman said, stepping inside, 'Woody, my serviceman fell through again. You promised me it would happen this time!'
'Ugh.' Captain Meyer's face fell into his hands. Then he looked up again. 'Ellen, I'm a little busy here…'
'No, Woody. You said to come to you if I had any trouble. Well, I had trouble! My serviceman fell through again. This is the third time this has happened. Surely in this miniscule town you don't have anything more impor…'
She trailed off, and I saw she was staring at me. I flushed and looked past her.
'Oh my God,' Ellen said. She walked towards me. 'Is this your natural hair colour?'
'… Yes…' I answered again.
Without even asking, Ellen ran a hand through my thick hair. I shivered. 'Um, could you please- Madam…'
'It's so soft!' she exclaimed, petting my hair as if I were a cat. I shied away. 'Madam, could you please stop-'
Captain Meyer and Detective Brown stifled a laugh. 'Arthur, Kate, this is Ellen Rosenberg. I grew up with her husband.'
'It's a pleasure,' Detective Brown said. Finally Mrs. Rosenberg left me alone. 'So, Woody?' she said. 'You wanna help me out here?'
The captain sighed. 'Detective, could you please deal with Arthur? Ellen seems to be in dire need of my attention.'
Detective Brown stood up, snickering. 'All right. C'mon, Mr. Noble.'
I stood up, giving Mrs. Rosenberg a wide berth.
On her way out, the young detective stopped. 'Wait a minute. Sir?'
'Yeah?'
She paused, thinking. 'I think I know a way to solve everyone's problems.'
Captain Meyer drained his mug. 'Go on.'
'Well, we don't really have anywhere for Mr. Noble here to go until we find out who he is, right? And Mrs. Rosenberg needs a serviceman.'
'Where are you going with this, Detective?'
'Why don't we have Mr. Noble enter the serviceman programme?' the detective said. 'We know where he is, he isn't idly sitting around. I mean-' she turned to me, '-wouldn't you rather have work to do than hang out in the station doing nothing?'
'I suppose so.'
'See?' Detective Brown appealed to Captain Meyer and Mrs. Rosenberg.
They looked at one another. 'Works for me,' Mrs. Rosenberg shrugged. 'Who is this Mr. Noble, anyway?'
Now the police officers looked at me. 'That's what we're trying to find out,' Captain Meyer said. 'Arthur here washed up on the beach two days ago. Nobody knows where he came from, him included.'
Mrs. Rosenberg continued to study me for a moment. 'That sounds just fine,' she said. 'Probably couldn't be worse than the convicts I've been promised.'
'Wait- convicts? Just what is this serviceman programme, anyway?' I asked.
The Serviceman Programme, it turned out, was a community service programme the city had begun to implement a few years ago in which homeless people and minor criminals would be assigned to neighborhoods and charged with the upkeep thereof. Surprisingly, it worked quite well.
Captain Meyer was reluctant to lease me out in case someone came looking for me or I remembered who I was. But, knowing neither of these things would happen, I convinced him it'd be all right. Detective Brown was right: I'd rather have something to occupy my time than spend it mooning about, contemplating my mistakes.
I had a job, and a home of sorts, as the serviceman for Dreaming Street and the adjoining Barger Park. Mrs. Rosenberg, who owned the apartment building at the end of the street, was president of the Homeowner's Association and my boss. There was a large shed that had been converted into a very simple room behind the building's parking lot, and that was where I lived. I kept the yards and homes on Dreaming Street neat, tended to any maintenance needed, and cared for the park's lawns, benches, and play structure. It was hard work. Even after the first day of training- let alone when I actually began working- I was exhausted. I realized that I had never truly worked a day in my life before then.
Eventually I grew used to it, and had enough energy at the end of the day to go to the library to try to educate myself about this strange new world. Often I went to the beach, too, hoping that by some miracle Duncan or Zak or somebody would find a way to take me home. But nothing ever happened, and I would simply stare out at the endless grey sea.
So passed November, my first month on Earth.