Tea for Two

Hiro came back into the room where he had left Carrie for a few minutes while gathering the tea supplies. He carried them in on a bamboo tray that was ornately carved with flying, fire breathing dragons. He walked to a low table and set the tray down.

"Have a seat," he motioned toward some pillows scattered around the table. Instead, Carrie stood gaping at the tray. Hiro sat and began to mess with the equipment.

"What is that? I've never seen anything like that." Carrie was baffled by the contraption sitting in the center of the tray. She knew what the cups and saucers were.

"Almond cookie type treats to go with the tea," Hiro answered.

"No, the contraption in the middle, what is that?"

"Oh, isn't this something? It is a Denubian teapot. From some future where this planet, Denub, catered to drinkers of fine tea. It does something that makes tea perfectly. I have no idea what it is made of, but it works within seconds to produce some of the best tea in the Universe. It runs on batteries, so it doesn't matter that my house here isn't wired for power."

"What? I thought you were a Samurai from some distant past and you dress like someone from the past and you have a teapot from some future?"

"Cassie, this is The Station. Everyone from everywhere is here. What happened when you shopped for your journal?"

"Well, I walked down the street and found a dry goods store and it turned into a Wal-Mart in front of my eyes and then I entered and purchased what I needed. Now that I think about it, it was laid out exactly like my Wal-Mart at home, not like some different Wal-Mart where I couldn't find anything. Isn't that handy?"

"It's not handy, it's how The Station is. But if you had wanted to shop in the dry goods store, you could have. Or it could have become any store in your era or any store in the future. What sits on that area here in The Station is a store. It become any store you want it to become. You could have shopped at … name some fancy store from your time."

"Niemen-Marcus, or Saks Fifth Avenue."

"Yes, you could have shopped there, if you had thought of that."

"Well. Mr. Samurai from the past, how did you think of a Bamboozled Teapot Store of the Future?"

Hiro laughed. It was deep, rumbling sound. "Denubian. You aren't the first person I've spoken to here. I met a Denubian who talked about the Universe's Best Tea and then was able to concoct the store. Do you think that Samurai look exactly like I do now? We don't. I really should have my hair tied in a specific topknot, but that always made my head itch. It isn't required here and so I don't do that. I carry my weapons because that is comfortable for me. Anything that I particularly liked, I've kept; that which I didn't, I've discarded.

"I've actually kept this portion of my house just as a Samurai house would be in 1600 Japan, but back in the kitchen, it's all modern. Circa 2300 in your time."

Carrie was stunned. She had no idea she would be able to have all of eternity here. She grasped now that she was the Author of this portion of her life and her Boss was without control here. She smiled to herself, but Hiro noticed the curl of her lips and smiled in response.

"Well, can we have some tea?" she asked. Hiro pushed three different areas of the teapot and within two minutes the couple was drinking some of the best tea ever made in the entire Universe.