Stealing Time

this way for?” Zoeturned to Elena. “And Elena, you must be nearly…”
“… nearly seventy, dear, though I don’t looka day over sixty-four, yes?” She laughed, a deep-throated—yetsomehow tired—sound. “I feel it in my bones, don’t you worry.”
“Nothing wrong with your bones, Mama. You’reas fit as a fiddle.” Varya stood up and moved over to the sink.“He’s safe for now, Zoe. How about you stop here for a few minutesand have a coffee and something to eat? It’s not going to be easyout there.” She jerked her head over her shoulder towards theportal and shuddered slightly.
There was something about the Time Lockwhich always made Varya feel like she’d come home. If you didn’tlook outside the window and you didn’t stay for too long, it wasalmost as if Kir had just gone to stay with his grandmother for theweekend. If you discounted the passing of time and the lack ofgrowth on Kir’s part, it almost felt normal. This was the life theyshould have lived. At times she’d been tempted to simply stay inthe Time Lock. To live this frozen existence for as long as thethree of them could stand it. But it wasn’t practical. Who wouldwork to provide the food? Who would maintain the portal itself?Varya shuddered at the idea of being trapped in the Time Lock towaste away.
Zoe took the proffered ham and cheesesandwich gratefully and swallowed a few bites. She had barely eatenin days. While she chewed and waited for the coffee to percolate,Varya filled in the gaps for Elena.
“Kir hasn’t aged at all,” Zoe interjected,still trapped in the same cycle of wonder.
Varya delivered the steaming mugs to thetable and sat down opposite her friend. She shook her head. “No, hehasn’t.”
“Not at the cellular level nor thedevelopmental. He’s still very much a four-year-old child. It’sincredible.”
“It is,” Varya agreed, though with much lessenthusiasm. “It’s halted the progression of the cancer as well. Thebreadth of what he knows is astonishing, as he’s built it up overthe past five years. But it’s all still within the bounds of whatyou’d expect from an above-average four-year-old. He can write, buthe still gets his ‘b’s and ‘d’s mixed up. He can read, but anythingbeyond two syllables he needs to sound out.’
“It’s fascinating. I’d love to…”
“… do some tests?” Varya shot her a wrysmile and a raised eyebrow. “Take some blood, maybe, do a fullbrain scan, submit him to a biopsy or two?”
Zoe grimaced and shook her head slightly.“Sorry.”
Elena clattered her empty cup against hersaucer. “Nobody’s doing tests on my grandson. He’s not a guineapig. Where’s my fresh tea, Varya? Why don’t I get any, hmm?”
Varya rolled her eyes but took her mother’sfreshly empty teacup and refilled it from the old-fashioned teapot, complete with crocheted tea cosy to keep the brew warm.
“It’s okay, it’s a natural curiosity for adoctor. I’ve had the same thoughts myself. Why doesn’t the passingof time seem to affect him? What is it doing to him on a cellularlevel, if anything?”
Elena took a sip and muttered into herteacup. “Yes, very worried about Kir. Nobody worries about Elena.The passing of time means nothing to an old woman.”
Varya ignored her. “Any changes would bemost noticeable in Kir rather than Mum, given he’s at a stage wherehe would normally experience rapid growth.”
“Unlike me who would normally beexperiencing rapid deterioration.”
“Ma! You’d normally be experiencingdecomposition if it weren’t for the Time Lock.”
Zoe startled. “Of course. You would havebeen…”
“Yes, yes.” Elena waved her hand as thoughit was the most natural thing in the world to live past herofficial expiration date. Though her coy smile gave away her truepride. “I’ve cheated the Rest Time Authority. I’m living proof thatyou can live past sixty-five and still be useful to society.”
“I don’t think they’d accept you as a casestudy, given your body is still sixty-four,” said Varyadismissively, though she smiled after saying it. She turned back toZoe. “Kir is not a good test subject.”
“No, no, of course not. I mean, he’s yourson,” said Zoe quickly. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s not what I meant. From an objectivepoint of view, he’s not a good test subject because he came in witha terminal illness. He came into the Time Lock pumped full of drugsto keep him stable for a few minutes longer. And it’s worked. Butany tests would be corrupted by the drugs.” She paused. “And hisillness.” She stared at the hallway entry, down which they heard aplucked guitar float from time to time. “Besides, I’ve had otherscientific priorities over the past few years. The effects of timestasis in motion on the human body is a study that will have towait.”

Chapter twenty-six
Elena
I never finished telling you about my Varya’s joy.We’ll let these two scientific women chat while I explain it toyou, shall we?
As I said, Varya’s joy leaked out of herthanks to her involvement in those terrible time thief cases. Butnot all of it was gone just yet. The hole was still small enough toplug and that plug came along when she needed it, right towards theend of the period of horror. The plug was just the size of a pea atfirst. She told me and nobody else, not even Sebastian. She justkept on working. He would have made her stop, you see, but shedidn’t want to. She was still trying to save those poor children,though her confidence was being shattered with each new failure. Ican’t imagine what she was going through. I was a primary schoolteacher, little kids, you see. When I failed, a few kids might beless able to read and write and count in tens than they otherwisemight have been. But they never died because of it. Not likeVarya’s work.
That pea-sized joy plug grew into apeach-sized plug and kept right on growing. It made the corners ofher mouth twitch upwards ever so slightly, even though fear andfailure conspired to regularly drag them down again.
By the time the police caught the thievesand stopped the horror, that plug was the size of a melon and couldbe hidden no longer. Her joy was watertight by the time she sharedit with Sebastian. He was