Xavier’s face hardened when Victoria accused him of lying. [color=00aeef]“I very, very rarely - if ever - lie. I lied to the officers about what I was doing to end up dressed like this … but that was what is a paradoxical attempt to preserve the lives of billions of people. I have never written before because someone always did that for me. I never said I didn’t like grits, but that I suspected they were made wrong. I was hoping to try some here to check that fact. The people who made my grits in Atlanta probably never saw real grits.”[/color] His face softened again. [color=00aeef]“You aren’t seeing me at my best. Please, please be patient with me. I am trying to explain myself a step at a time. The concepts I have to explain haven’t been considered yet. But let’s take your suggestion and I will explain more on the way home.”[/color] When the bread got out to him he tasted his food gingerly at first breaking off a small piece like a European, smiled at the taste, then took bigger bites. Soon he was wolfing it down. It was funnier to watch him eat a peach. He didn’t know what it was and just said it was fuzzy. The peach was the size of a softball, not one of the tiny bitter things sold in grocery stores in the next century. But he had been watching other people eat and figured it out quick. He sliced it in half to pop out the pit. Then he cut a slice. His eyes flew wide open as he took his first bite. He had to fight back a grin. [color=00aeef]“Okay, peaches are definitely on my list of good things,”[/color] he managed to say with his mouth barely empty for an instant before popping in another bite. He tried to offer some to Victoria. Once they had paid and were on their way back. He started to talk again. [color=00aeef] “I promised to explain some things. Where do I start? I am sure you realize I haven’t been completely honest. So I am going to describe something impossible to believe. I don’t know how good your math is, but most people today - in 1870 - think we live in three dimensions. Space. Length, width, and depth. But there is a fourth dimension - Time. You think we pass through it in one direction and that one direction is the only way to go. Past, to present to future. “But what if we could move in the opposite direction? Remember, I said impossible. You must NOT repeat what I am about to tell you. The idea won’t be considered until the next century. I am going to suggest a hypothetical situation. I man decides to go back in time to meet his grandfather when he is a young man - before his father was even born. His grandfather invites him to go hunting and they have a terrible accident. He trips and his gun goes off killing his grandfather. “This is called a paradox. If he killed his grandfather before his father was even born, then he will never be born. And yet if that were true, how could he have gone back in the first place to create the paradox?”[/color] He paused to give Victoria a chance to think about his story. [color=00aeef]“The first woman to become a president happens in the 21st century. She will be a senator from Texas. Women will vote, become scientists, soldiers, police, pilots, astronauts, politicians, doctors. It will take time, but things change.”[/color]