"That depends on what we're talking about." Yes, as Cobb studied Jolly talking, the man was looking quite reluctant indeed. "As I say, we found your seeds at a campsite in 1913. We brought them back, they reanimated, and they're blooming quite gloriously over at Hipkiss Conservatory, you can see them pretty much any time you wish. It took a little longer to find you, as I say, just last month. So all told ... you went missing August 1859, and now, here you are back home ... in December 1919. It's been over sixty years, sir."
Cobb shut his eyes and groaned. "Missus ... Heffernan ... "
"Yes, your devoted housekeeper. I'm afraid she passed away a long time ago." Jolly strove to be upbeat. "If I do say so, sir, this is now an age of wonders -- including yourself. The old gas lighting in this house has been replaced with electrical, perhaps you've noticed. We now have a phonograph, a device for hearing operas or symphony orchestras whenever you like. There is also a telephone, a device for talking to someone far away so long as you know their telephone number, and there have been advances in radio, a means of communicating instantly across vast distances. We have mastered manned heavier-than-air travel and invented the aeroplane, and the horse has been replaced as a means of transportation by a machine known as an automobile, and another known as a motorcycle. There is much for you to see." Jolly calmed down a little. "Of course, we also just had a simply horrible war with Germany, and after that an epidemic of the influenza broke out, but that seems to have died down."
"Glad to have missed it all," Cobb grumbled. He looked hard at Jolly again, piecing something together. "Jolly, you say?"
"Yes, sir. I am the grandson of your good friend Roger Jolly. He told me many great stories about you when I was a child. We Jollys have been looking after this place."
"I am very much obliged," said Cobb, at last feeling more like his old self. "Roger Jolly was a great man."
"I am very much inclined to agree, sir ... Sir, you may not wish to get up just yet."
"Why not?"
"It's a precaution. Something has happened to you. Your face, even your birthmark, and now your name checks out, but we still had to be sure. You see ... you are now over seven feet tall."
Cobb looked down, then realized that he remembered this particular table and that he was filling up more than his fair share of it. "My word ... !" He felt his throat. "My voice even had a different regisiter."
"Yes, it's more basso profundo now. I don't want you to worry, I've had the plumbing reworked to better accommodate you, with bathing and such, and you will be pleased to know that your favorite tailor, Brumbelow Brothers, are working on a new wardrobe for you."
"Jolly ... I am very much obliged. And please ... no more Sir. Your granfather just called me Cobb, and now so may you."
"It would be an honor ... Cobb."
Cobb sighed and turned. "After sixty years frozen ... I think I could use a couple more hours of a nap."
"Very good, sir. Whatever you say. And again: welcome back."
Welcome back, Cobb murmured as he shut his eyes. Frankly, he was hoping it was all just a crazy dream ... |