Charging Victories: Victoria's Mediterranean Challenge

I knew that being the only black girl in a place like this would be tough, but I had no idea it would be like this. The first day here was more than awkward, as I walked into the office to introduce myself to my new colleagues.

"You must be Victoria!" The man who spoke wore a t-shirt with a picture of a penguin surfing on an iceberg and wearing a pair of sunglasses. He was the other technology specialist at the school, his name is Bob. "It's nice to meet you! My name is Bob." He shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Bob," I replied politely. "So what are you working on?"

"It's nothing really, just messing around with VR," he said with a smile. I noticed from his desk that he was using one of those Google Cardboard headsets for his phone. "You know we're actually in the Iron Age right?" His face suddenly became serious. "Not everyone here has internet access out here, so that's why we have to work offline."

"Thanks for the heads up," I smiled back nervously. I felt like I've walked into a time machine and got transported back to the early 2010s when VR was all the rage. "What do you mean by 'Iron Age?'"

"Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't know unless you've been here before," said Bob as he tapped away at his keyboard furiously. "We're not in America or anything, we're in a small village in Sicily called Agrigento." He turned his computer monitor around so that I could see; on it was an image showing our school surrounded by ancient ruins and buildings.

"Oh wow," I said as I inspected his screen closely, looking at our view outside through Google Street View. "Wow..." My mind began racing about what else this place could be like if we were in such an ancient town: no heating, no central cooling... And then there were the bugs crawling everywhere, insects that were probably alive for thousands of years... My stomach began churning at the thought of it all. I quickly excused myself from Bob's office to visit the restroom nearby.

When I returned after washing my hands and splashing some water on my face, Bob was gone and sitting in his seat was another man wearing an orange shirt with the words 'Hasta la vista' printed on it. He was staring intently at me as I approached him nervously, wondering if he might try to speak to me or even touch me like some perverted old man trying to get a feel of my ass or something like that. But instead he kept silent and continued staring at me while drumming on his desk with his fingers impatiently until I reached him and sat down opposite him at my own chair next to him.

"So..." The man spoke in an Italian accent, smiling broadly as he looked at me through dark brown eyes framed with glasses that seemed way too big for his face. "You must be Victoria!" His voice was deep and hoarse and sent chills down my spine, but it wasn't unkind or evil sounding or anything like that--it sounded more like someone who's been smoking cigarettes for over 50 years without taking breaks every once in a while during which he could've gotten help quitting smoking cigarettes as opposed to someone who enjoyed doing so maliciously and intentionally towards others as part of some sadistic game they loved playing. "I'm Luigi, but everyone calls me Lou," he continued smiling at me expectantly until it became clear that I didn't know what he wanted me to say next; instead he just kept smiling at me awkwardly until Bob came back into his office carrying two pitchers filled with red liquid with ice cubes floating around inside them both while humming a tune while approaching us where Luigi and I were sitting opposite each other across from each other's desks facing each other waiting for him--Bob--to arrive before continuing whatever it was we were supposed to continue doing now that Bob had returned to us after being absent for so long without saying where he went nor how long we should expect him to be gone for nor if we should bother waiting for him or start working without him once he did finally return or even if we should wait for him indefinitely until some unknown time point far beyond infinity itself whereupon we would then begin working without him again because he never arrived back at all because somewhere along the line between leaving us behind and arriving back again somewhere else entirely different from ourselves he would have lost track of himself completely never realizing that somewhere along the line between Agrigento Sicily Italy 3rd century AD present day Earth and wherever else he thought himself now existing in 2018 year will have already begun existing there sometime many years ago already long before any of us even existed yet alone began existing there still unaware of himself ever existing anywhere else besides Agrigento Sicily Italy 3rd century AD present day Earth..."