“I’m sorry, I can’t give you that information,” the lady behind the counter said.
“But I’m sure she attends this school,” the dark-haired teenage girl said back.
“Why don’t you visit her at her house?” the lady suggested. “School’s out in just a few more hours.”
“I don’t know where she lives. That’s why I’m trying to find her at school.”
“Have you checked the white pages?”
“What’s that?” the teenager asked.
“You know, the phone book. Residential listing.”
“I’ll look somewhere else,” the girl said, giving a sigh. She walked out of the room.
The school sat on the edge of the city’s downtown shopping district, and that on the edge of the business district. Cars filled the streets, people the sidewalks. Although the other schools the teenager had checked were filled with a lot of people about her age, she felt the streets had even more people along them. The girl looked up the height of the tall buildings, reaching higher than anything she’d ever seen at home. For her, this was the kind of place one would only see in a dream.
“That’s a very old fashioned style dress,” a teenage boy said as he walked up to the girl.
She looked at him. “Is it? I always wear outfits like this.”
The boy looked at the girl’s face. He stepped back, and looked at her from head to toe.
“Can I help you with something?” the girl asked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” the boy replied. “You remind me of someone else who wore outfits like this one. She’d be about your age now. Same black hair and brown eyes, too.”
“A lot of people around here look the same,” the girl told him. “Look at those men over there. They all look alike.”
The boy looked where she pointed. Three Asian men wearing business suits walked abreast down the sidewalk at the edge of the business district, facing the two. “No, not really. All three have different types of suits on, their heights aren’t very much the same, and their hairstyles all differ.”
“Really?” the girl said, looking more closely. “Maybe you’re used to it. Where I come from, people aren’t so varied in, well, everything. We have different heights and hair colors and styles, but there’s a lot of things similar to us. When I see a lot of people who share a variety unknown to me, isn’t it natural to have trouble recognizing them?”
“I suppose so. Where are you from, anyway? Another country?”
“You could say that. I’m not from around her.”
“Well, where’re you from?” the teenage boy repeated.
“No place you’d know of,” the girl told him.
“Try me. I pride myself on my knowledge of the world. I know every country. If you’re from a city I’ve never heard of, I’ll make it my assignment tonight to learn about it and its people.”
“If you insist,” the girl said, “but in return will you help me find a person I’m looking for? I only know her given name, and these school places won’t tell me anything.”
“Hm, going by only a first name, that sounds like a challenge. If my hunch is right, it might be an easy find. So, you’re from where now?”
“It’s a place you can’t simply read about in a book, but it’s a town called Aureum.”
“Aha, I knew it!” the boy exclaimed. “You are her!”
“Excuse me?”
“Just try and tell me you aren’t Arle Alsike.”
“How do you know my name?” the girl asked, looking from side to side. “The name I’ve been giving people here is Caroline. It’s my real name.”
“You mean you don’t even recognize me?” The boy stepped back a few steps. He spread out his arms. “Come on, look me over. Tell me you don’t know Samuel Montgomery when you see him.”
“Samuel?” Arle looked carefully at his face. “It’s you…” She ran up to him, into his open arms, wrapping her arms around him, holding him close. “It didn’t think I’d find anyone I know here!”
Samuel continued to stand with his arms out. He didn’t expect to invite a hug. As Arle held on to him tight, Samuel decided to hold her close to him. “You really do stand out in that outfit,” he said, her head beside his. “If you weren’t wearing it, I wouldn’t even have approached you. Now, who are you looking for? Is it Sarah?”
Arle nodded. “I’ve checked every ‘high school’ in the entire city. There are lots of them! But I couldn’t get anyone to give me any information. Most wouldn’t tell me anything, but some tried to be helpful. When I said I was looking for Sarah, they asked for her surname. They said there were hundreds of Sarahs in the school. Why would so many people name their child the same name?”
Samuel let Arle back away from him slowly. He put his hands on her shoulders while she looked at the ground. “There’s more than just matching names. A lot of different families have the same surname, so sometimes there’ll be two or more people with the same given and family name. Earth is a big place, and the concept of family isn’t the same as you have back home in Aureum. Let’s walk back to my house. Sarah lives next door.”
“You two live next to each other?” Arle asked as they started walking. “Does this mean you two’re married?”
“Married? Ah, no, it’s not like that. I don’t mean our rooms are one door apart, not like that. What I mean is, our houses are next to one another. I know housing’s a bit spread out in Aureum, with the bazaar and such at the center of town in Aureum, and this town’s actually a bit like that, but we’re not spread out. Houses, shops, and business buildings are all packed together as close and tightly as possible here.
“So, why are you on Earth? Are you really here, or are just dreaming? Are the jewels working again? Mine haven’t worked since that incident. Oh, and what became of Bernard, and everything else?”
“I’d rather wait until Sarah can join us. Then I can go over everything all at once. While we walk, please, tell me what life is like here on Earth. I have many questions about it. Like, I learned about these schools where many kids go to learn things, but I couldn’t easily find Sarah at any of them. What should I have done to make it easier to find her?”
“Well, checking the school is something of a dead-end. Sarah doesn’t attend a school.”
“I was told going to school was a requirement here.”
“Kind of,” Samuel said. “There are different kinds of schools. For Sarah and myself, we’re home schooled. Our parents and relatives teach us, and we go on a lot of outings to learn more.”
“Are you on an outing right now?” Arle asked him.
“I’m on the most difficult kind of outing, actually. Sarah’s 16th birthday is in a few months, and I’ve been going all over the place trying to figure out what to get her. I’m completely at a loss. Up until now, it’s always been simple things, home-made gifts. Now I have friends telling me something like that would be too childish. Actually, they say it started being too childish about five years ago, and Sarah’s just too nice to say anything about it.”
“That’s not true,” Arle said. “I mean, I don’t think it is. Where I come from, home-made gifts show more than thoughtfulness. She show time and effort. You see this dress I’m wearing? Piñole learned to sew and made this for me. It wasn’t for a holiday or a special event or anything. She did it just to show how much she cares as my sister.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m having so much trouble. “The home-made gifts were never as extravagant as your dress. How long are you staying? Maybe you can help me think of something.”
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be here, but I’ll go over that when we have a chance to sit down with Sarah and talk it all over. Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk with Sarah about, really. I’d like someone else to spend some time on Earth, as well.”
