"So tell me," Laurel said, continuing to straighten out the tangles in Andrew's hair (which were in no short supply,) "what's changed in the past twenty years?"
Andrew thought for a while. "I guess not much, in the grand scheme of things," she said. "The USSR finally went under, so there's no more Cold War, just a bunch of little countries bickering and sometimes blowing each other up. But...that's really the only major thing I can think of, besides the Internet."
"The what now?"
"The Internet," Andrew said. "It's...you know those BBS things you could call into with a computer?"
"Oh, yeah," Laurel said. "We got some games off of one of those once, but my dad accidentally erased the tape."
"Um, yeah. Anyway, it's like a ton of those all hooked together, all over the world. Kind of like they predicted back in old 50s sci-fi stories, only with a lot more stupid people involved. But still pretty awesome."
"Oh," Laurel replied, continuing her grooming of her guest. "Cool, I guess. So the computers are better, I expect?"
It took a moment for the question to register with Andrew; as the tangles became fewer and farther between, the combing process was becoming rather comfortable and mesmerizing. "Uh, yeah," she said. "Yeah, way better. But all pretty much the same, compared to all the crazy stuff that was out there in the '80s."
"Huh, bummer," Laurel said. "So what about music and stuff?"
"Depends who you ask," Andrew replied. "Personally, I think pop blows even worse now than it did then, but there's been some cool stuff in other genres."
"Hmm," Laurel mused. "Well, at any rate it's good that we didn't blow ourselves up or anything. There, doesn't that look nice?"
Andrew looked around; there didn't seem to be a mirror anywhere. "Oh, right," Laurel chuckled. "Well, I guess you'll just have to take my word that it does."
Andrew smiled. "It feels better, anyway," she said. "Now...about this whole getting-home thing...any ideas? Advice?"
Laurel shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I haven't really had a chance to find out much about this place, since nobody wants me around. You probably have a better idea of what's where than I do."
Andrew sighed. "Damn. Well, I know there's two larger cities on the other side of this forest, so I guess we should maybe start looking there. I was just gonna fly over, but I don't think I can carry you."
"We can meet on the other side, I suppose," Laurel said. "I know this place like the back of my hand, so I can getthrough pretty quickly."
Andrew thought for a minute. "Actually," she said, "if it's all the same to you, I'll come with you; I'd rather waste some time walking than have to wait on the other side by myself."
Laurel grinned. "All righty," she said. "But I should warn you, I'm probably going to talk your ear off."
Andrew laughed. "I think you're probably going to do that anyway," she said.
Laurel smiled. "You better believe it!" she said. "I've finally got someone to talk to, and man, do I have a lot saved up!"
The two of them continued their conversation long into the night, until they finally went to sleep, Laurel circled around the firepit and Andrew curled up on the mat.