Epilogue

June 24, 1960

William munched on a sandwich as he watched his little brother run around the backyard. Their parents had been invited to dinner by some of the neighbours, so William was responsible for babysitting Scott until they got back. They had just finished moving in a few days ago. William's dad was a historian and researcher, and his work had directed him to America. Just a few months ago, they had been living in Russia. His line of work caused their family to move around a lot, but William's parents had said that the family would be staying where they were, at least until Scott and William graduated and moved out. There was a lot of history in America, and though his parents said that the two of them would be traveling around the country on their own sometimes, William and Scott would be able to stay in one place. William was fifteen, just old enough for his parents to consider him responsible enough to look after Scott for a while. Scott didn't even need to be taken care of though. Scott was eleven, and though he sometimes acted as if he were a child, he was quite responsible himself.

"Hey, William!"

William turned to see Henry running into the backyard. William hadn't known Henry for very long, and had only met him two days ago in school, but he was William's only friend so far. Henry was a bit of a smart-ass. He always seemed to have a sarcastic remark on the tip of his tongue. He had seemed annoying and obnoxious when William first saw him in school, but then he got to know him a little better, and now the two of them were friends. William was quite shy and would prefer staying indoors and reading to going out and talking to people, and Henry was loud and enthusiastic, so it was a miracle that the two had gotten along so quickly.

Henry slowed down his pace and sat on the porch next to William, a little out of breath. He ran almost everywhere; in stores, in his house, and in school, which had gotten him in trouble quite a few times.

"Hey," Henry said again. "How's babysitting going?"

William shrugged in response. "Not that bad. He's been out here for the past half-hour, spinning until he gets dizzy. He already had dinner, so I just need to make sure he doesn't leave the yard or accidentally hurt himself." He glanced sideways at his friend. "How's your day going?"

Henry shrugged. "Meh. My parents are making me get a job."

"What kind of job?"

"I was just thinking of getting a part-time one at that restaurant down the street," Henry answered. "I'd probably just be a waiter or something."

William grinned. "I've always wanted to work at a restaurant."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

William nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought you'd want to be a mechanic."

William shrugged. "I don't know. I wish I could be both."

"Well, why don't you?"

William furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Henry pivoted so he was sitting cross-legged on the porch facing William. "Make a restaurant and make it car-themed or something."

William scoffed. "Nah, that'd be dumb. What would I do, put a car in the middle of the restaurant and dismantle the engine for entertainment?"

"Yeah, maybe not the best idea," Henry replied. "But how else could you combine the two?"

William thought for a moment. He stared out at the yard, watching his little brother play. He saw an unpacked box of Scott's old toys sitting at the bottom of the steps to the porch. Scott had told their parents that he didn't even play with them anymore and that they could sell them, but their parents had insisted that they pack them "just in case". There was an old purple teddy bear poking out of the box, staring at the ground with blank eyes, and an idea sparked in William's mind.

"This is going to sound stupid."

Henry leaned forward eagerly. "What is it?"

"I could make a restaurant for kids," William began, "and make some animal-ish robots to be entertainment. I know, it's a dumb idea, but it's just a thought."

Henry blinked. "That's... That's actually a pretty good idea."

William raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Henry nodded. "Yeah. It's unique, and kids love animals so it would bring in a lot of money. You'd just have to sell fast food so people keep coming back."

William sighed. "Why are we even talking about this? We've still got three years to figure out what we want to do after we graduate. Besides, I know nothing about running a business."

Henry grinned. "Well, I was planning on taking some business courses next year..."

William raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Hypothetically, if we actually did do this, I could deal with all the business stuff and you could focus on the robots and all that."

William blinked. "Wait, do you actually want to do this?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't know. It's an okay idea. I think it would be fun."

William smiled. "Yeah, it would be pretty fun. But we've still got a few years left to decide what to do with our lives. Let's just keep it as a future possibility."

Henry nodded. "Okay. But if we did do it, what would we call the restaurant? Brooks and Afton's Super-Cool Fast Food Restaurant?"

William smirked. "I think you mean Afton and Brooks's. I'm the smarter one, so my name should come first."

Henry shook his head. "Nope. My last name ends with an 's' so if you make it possessive, it sounds like you're saying 'Brookses'. Also, you're getting it wrong. It's not the name of the smarter one that should come first, it's the name of the more good-looking one that comes first."

"So, my name would be first either way then," William quipped.

Henry playfully nudged William with his elbow. "Oh, shut up. You're just jealous that I'm so hot."

"That one girl you dated last year told me otherwise."

"At least I've dated someone. You wouldn't be able to get a date with a bear."

"Maybe in England I wouldn't, but here, I've got an accent. Everyone loves it. Three people have already asked me to the school dance next Friday and I didn't even know any of their names."

"Lucky," Henry sighed. He glanced at his watch. "I should probably get going soon. My parents recently gave me a curfew, and they said they'll ground me if I break it one more time."

"That sucks."

"Yeah." He looked back at William. "You want to walk me home?"

William rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "'Walk'? With you, it'll turn into a full-out sprint."

Henry shrugged. "I can't help it. I have a lot of energy."

William sighed. "I'd love to, but I still have to watch Scott until my parents get home."

"I can stay here and help you look after him," Henry offered. "I'm sure my parents won't mind if I'm late if I was helping you babysit."

"You're probably going to get in trouble," William reminded him.

"I don't mind," Henry said. "I just don't want to be alone in the house with my parents. I love them and all, but they're really annoying sometimes. And they wonder why I stay out late all the time."

"Okay, stay here if you want. It's not me who's going to get grounded."

Henry smiled. "Thanks."

The two of them sat back and stared out at the backyard. Henry did his best to put the idea of the restaurant out of his mind, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if they actually did this in the future. William was also thinking about the restaurant, but more than anything, he was just glad that his family would be staying here for a while. And whatever future that he might have, restaurant or not, he was sure that it would be amazing, as long as Henry was there with him.