Theo’s dark chuckle was enough to make Zack regret the question. “Let’s just say I bummed around for a while.”
Hannah stroked her lip as she recalled their first conversation. He’d called himself a rehab washout, a blight on the family tree who’d tried to hang himself at least once. She didn’t think a lousy time at law school would be enough to send him on such a spiral.
David stirred his carrots with an idle fork. “How long have you been an alcoholic?”
“David!”
He looked to Amanda in surprise. “What? We’re all friends here. Must we pretend?”
In the wake of Mia’s stern glare, David sighed at Theo with grudging reproach. “If I crossed any lines of decorum, I sincerely apologize.”
Theo grinned softly. If anything, the faux pas made him appreciate David now. The kid was a fellow misfit, all brains and no wisdom. He reminded Theo of himself, in better days.
“It’s okay, David. You’re not the first one to bring it up. And you’re right. I’ve had a problem for . . . shit, it started about two years after law school, so it’s been at least five years.”
“That’s a long time,” David said.
“You’re telling me.”
Zack furrowed his brow. “Wait. You said you’re twenty-three.”
“I am,” Theo responded, with a weary exhale. Here we go again.
“And yet you dropped out of law school seven years ago.”
“I did.”
Hannah shook her head in amazement. “Holy crap. You were sixteen?”
Theo shrugged nonchalantly. “I told you I came from a clan of overachievers.”
“That goes beyond overachieving,” Amanda remarked. “You’re a full-on prodigy.”
He shrugged again. “Well, that’s what they called me, but I never thought I was particularly brilliant. Just good at tests. In any case, I did a fine job squandering any promise I might have had. I flamed out early, then went on to do very stupid things. I won’t bother you with details. I’ll just say that when my karma finally comes rolling around, you’re not going to want to be anywhere near me. You’re going to want to find another planet.”
Upon seeing the heavy sets of eyes around the table, Theo felt a pang of guilt for darkening their day. His inner demon wanted to keep on pushing, to list his crimes and grievances in such exquisite detail that none of them would speak to him again. He’d become quite adept at burning bridges, and there was a certain comfort in setting these five flames in advance.
Indeed, just twelve hours later, Mia received a rolled-up warning from future times.
Don’t let Theo push you away. He’s a good man who’s hanging by a thread. He needs you all. The time will come when everyone will need him.
And I mean everyone.
—
Three days after the presentation, Quint finally agreed to remove the clamp from the lumivision. Czerny unlocked the console to the whole broadcast spectrum—thirty-nine channels, no waiting.
“Just thirty-nine?” Zack asked.
Czerny assumed Zack was joking. To Europeans like himself, even thirty-nine channels smacked of American overindulgence.
Despite the simple geographical hierarchy, the Silvers had an impossible time telling the stations apart by content. Whether it was National-1, Southwest-6, or San Diego-13, it was all the same archaic tripe. The sitcoms were filled with pratfalls and slide whistles. The dramas were as bland as meringue. Even the advertisements were blunt, unsophisticated objects—suit-clad spokesmen delivering the joys of soapsheets to fluffy-haired housewives.
Soon only Zack had the stomach to watch live programs. He lingered mostly on newscasts, and ran to Czerny whenever he encountered some impenetrable word or phrase.
“The reporters keep referring to some people as Deps. What are those?”
“Nickname for Domestic Protections agents,” Czerny replied. “They’re our federal law enforcers. Our FBI, as you call them.”
“What are predictives?”
“Predictives are illegal pills that supposedly allow people to channel their ‘inner temporis’ and see the future. It’s all bunk. Most are just cheap hallucinogens.”
“Why does the anchorman close out each newscast by telling me to ‘keep walking’?”
“It’s just an American way of saying ‘Be well.’ Dates back to a famous Roosevelt speech. I mean Teddy Roosevelt. I keep forgetting your history has two.”