26
TALES FROMTHE FUTURE
“Hello, Sally,” John Heitzman said, and then fell silent. Or rather, he
spoke, but only to himself, not out loud: “How beautiful you are, Sally, and
your shining eyes, and the tiny wrinkles next to them are so beautiful, too.
You are just as beautiful and kind.” Aloud he said:
“I was just passing through, Sally. And I found out, well, that you lived
here, so I decided to visit you. And maybe stay the night, if that won’t put
you out.”
“I’m very happy to see you, Johnny. Of course, do stay the night. I’m here
alone for now. Tomorrow they’re bringing my grandchildren to spend a week
with me. There are two of them: my granddaughter’s nine years old, and my
grandson is already twelve. Come along into the house, Johnny, I’ll give you
an infusion to drink. I know just what kind of infusion you need. Come
along.”
“So, that means you were married, Sally? You have children.”
“I still ammarried, Johnny. We had one son. And now two grandchildren,”
Sally replied joyfully. “Why don’t you have a seat at the table in the gazebo,
and I’ll bring you your infusion.”
John Heitzman took a seat on a plastic lawn chair out on the house’s ver-
anda, and when Sally brought him a large wineglass with some infusion, he
asked:
“Sally, why did you say you knew just what kind of infusion I needed?”
“Well, my father would gather herbs and dry them and then make infu-
sions for your father, and they would help your father. I learned to gather
herbs, too. And my dad told me that you have the same hereditary illness as
your father, Johnny.”
“But how did you know when I’d come to visit?”
“I didn’t know, Johnny. You see, I gathered the herbs just in case. So,
Johnny, how did your life turn out? What do you do?”
“My life’s taken various twists and turns. I’ve done this and that. But I
don’t feel like remembering that now. It feels good here with you, Sally. It’s
beautiful. You have a lot of flowers, a garden.”
“Yes, it feels good here. I like it very much. The only thing is, do you see
over there, to the right? They’ve started building something there. It’s going
