Chapter 32 – News from 90 Years Ago

Putting down the map, Henry said, "I'm hoping to get a little of everything. But that last part really depends on luck. Doesn't it?"

The plump waitress gave Henry a once-over and teased, "Don't worry—with your assets, you'd be a hit in the San Fernando Valley."

In addition to being a tourist hotspot, the San Fernando Valley is infamous for housing over 300 adult film production companies.

Henry offered a self-deprecating retort, "Hopefully, I won't be reduced to that so quickly."

With that, he skillfully rolled up a strip of bacon on his fork and stuffed it into his mouth without even cutting it. While chewing, he gave a thumbs-up and praised, "Mmm, this is really good."

A small swell of pride bloomed on the plump waitress's face. "Eat slowly, then," she said with a grin.

Henry picked up his knife and sliced the sausage into neat sections. He wasn't about to perform the incredible feat of swallowing a whole sausage in one go. Choking to death was one thing—but being mistaken for a gay porn star in the Valley? That was a blow he wasn't ready to take. So, he chose to be a little more refined.

And his compliment on the bacon wasn't empty flattery. It really was delicious. He had picked this modest family restaurant for precisely that reason. His self-trained super-sense of smell hadn't let him down.

After cutting everything up, Henry continued eating with his fork while scanning the newspaper. The map's contents were already committed to memory, so he rolled it up and set it aside for later use.

The newspaper's headline centered on the imminent collapse of that vast red empire near the Arctic Circle. The article was written with great conviction.

At this stage, though, the Americans were likely just stirring up fear to steer public opinion. They probably hadn't anticipated that mere talk could unravel such a powerful nation.

Flipping through the paper, most other articles were related to Christmas—locations of events, donation drives, places offering aid, celebrity statements—all a collection of seasonal fluff.

Henry lingered longer on the entertainment and sports sections.

The NBA regular season runs from October to April, followed by the play-in tournament, playoffs, and the NBA Finals in June. Reports said Michael Jordan was leading the Chicago Bulls in dominating fashion. In his memory, 1991 marked the dawn of the Bulls dynasty. Throughout the '90s, the NBA would tremble under the reign of Black Jesus.

As for Major League Baseball, the season runs from April to October. It was currently the off-season training period following the World Series, so there wasn't much coverage in the sports section.

Between basketball and baseball, Americans had year-round sports entertainment. Yet, the country's most popular sport remained the NFL—American football. The pre-season starts in August, the regular season in September, and it all culminates in the Super Bowl in February.

However, unlike basketball and baseball, which attract international players and enjoy global audiences, American football is more of a national pastime—something Americans enjoy in their own backyard.

Turning to the movie section, the holiday season was in full swing. It's the busiest time for theaters and also the prime period for the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Harvey Weinstein had not yet come to dominate Hollywood's award circuits, so scandalous stories hadn't yet flooded the entertainment pages.

This year's lineup was impressive. Dances with Wolves, the romantic milestone Ghost, the iconic Pretty Woman, and the classic holiday comedy Home Alone were all making waves. Several famous franchises had returned with sequels: The Godfather Part III, Back to the Future Part III, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Gremlins 2, and the horror flick The Exorcist III.

To Henry's surprise, there was even a Captain America movie this year. The heavily fictionalized plot portrayed a version of the Captain who never sacrificed himself during World War II and instead rescued the U.S. President from an anti-environmentalist crime family.

In a world where the real Captain America actually existed, it was bold—if not outright audacious—for Hollywood to fictionalize his story like a tabloid biopic. It was like making fun of an honored war hero.

But then again, ever since Top Gun sparked a Navy recruitment craze four years ago, Hollywood and the U.S. military had been walking hand-in-hand. Letting Captain America save the President on screen? The Pentagon probably didn't mind at all.

Perhaps because the Captain truly existed in this world, the movie didn't receive the usual ridicule reserved for low-budget superhero films. There was no mockery of "five-cent special effects." Judging from the newspaper's flattering tone, it was being held in the same regard as this year's hit, Dances with Wolves.

Even big names like Kevin Costner, Whoopi Goldberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese had praised Captain America. Though, it was clear that much of the praise was aimed at the hero himself—an icon of anti-fascism from WWII—rather than the film's production quality.

Nobody dared to criticize the film openly. The Captain might be gone, but the U.S. military was very much still around.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army had even replaced Uncle Sam with Captain America in their "I WANT YOU" recruitment ads. That showed just how deep the Captain's influence ran—far beyond a single generation.

The entertainment gossip section followed, filled with both truths and half-truths. Nothing too shocking.

As for teasers of next year's films, there was almost nothing. Most of the attention was focused on award season, especially the upcoming Golden Globes and the Oscars.

While finishing the newspaper, a sizzling fried steak was brought to the table, accompanied by crispy fries. The bread basket that had been delivered earlier was already empty.

Henry hacked the steak into random chunks with his knife, then put the knife down and ate without any regard for manners. This was a family-style restaurant, not some snooty high-end venue. Nobody here cared about etiquette.

By the time he stuffed the final piece of steak into his mouth, he'd nearly finished the paper.

He topped off his coffee and waved to the waitress. "Sweetheart, do you have a Yellow Pages here?"

She pointed to the area below the payphone near the door, where a thick phone book sat.

Henry walked over, grabbed the Yellow Pages, and returned to his seat.

In this era—before Google, before smartphones—if you wanted business info, you didn't go to a bar and chat with the bartender or look for an informant in a shady alley.

You turned to the Yellow Pages, the go-to search tool of the day.

Telephone companies provided them free of charge, and they made their money through advertisements. Even without the ads, just scanning the business names gave a decent sense of what each company did.

There were even private phone numbers listed alphabetically.

If this had been twenty years later, people would be suing for "leaking personal information" left and right.

But in this era, it was perfectly normal.

Of course, the Yellow Pages weren't updated very often—once a year, typically.

And in that sense, they weren't much different from an old map or a static encyclopedia. But if you knew what you were looking for, it was still the fastest way to find information.

Henry flipped through the pages, focused, methodical. In a world where superpowers, politics, and nostalgia intermingled, sometimes all you needed was a steak, a cup of coffee, and a phone book to make progress.

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