Five hundred thousand years ago …
I stayed inside because of the rain. There is food and it is warm here. She is roasting meat. It smells good.
Let’s play the game. I take the sharp stone and scratch the rock. It is your turn. Hah, I got you. I scratch the other way. I win.
It’s cold. My body is turning reddish orange. I’m pretty dried up and my veins are sticking out. I’m almost ready. The wind is blowing me back and forth and I can feel the abcission layer weakening. There it goes.
What a view. I’m floating on currents of air. I see my buddies coming down also. I am headed for a beautiful green patch. I make a perfect soft landing.
What a great ride.
He wore a shirt with black and white stripes. His beret gave him a jaunty look. While the crowds milled around he shifted from foot to foot in a pathetic dance. The bucket on the ground in front of him contained a few coins.
On and on he danced with an expression of utter boredom on his face.
…
Aha! Let the game begin. I see a big brute with blonde hair holding hands with his petite girlfriend. He looks harmless. I sneak up behind him and begin to imitate his walk. The crowd wakes up. I hear the whispers, laughs and titters. He looks back and I change into my dance and give him a warm smile. He smiles, turns around and keeps walking.
I step it up. I openly mock him now with funny faces and gestures and the crowd is roaring. I bet that will get some coins in my bucket. The girlfriend notices me and starts to laugh. She elbows her boyfriend and whispers in his ear. His face turns bright red. The girlfriend tugs on his arm. He whips around and confronts me with a tight smile on his face. I murmur apologies and shake his hand. The crowd applauds.
I walk back to my spot and dance.
They sent me down to meet the leader. I know this is crazy but it seems to be our only hope. I’m on my nanoraft rushing to the left axillary node. They insisted on meeting there even though I explained the dangers.
I saw it ahead perched casually on a membrane. It didn’t look alive. I wondered what was in that alien mind. I had been sent to make a truce. This is crazy. How am I supposed to communicate with that thing? I saw it moving. It looks like an ancient lunar lander.
It pushes a molecule toward me. Ah, that’s the game. I push a polymer back at it. This goes on for some time.
I think we are making progress.
I’m standing ramrod straight with my buddies. They will never break us. I look down at the water. I’ve got to pull myself together.
Heat rises up to meet us as we wait for our fate.
“Keep going. You’re not even close,” I said. The machine is emitting a high pitched hum as I watch the monitor. “Remember, we have to hit 10 to the 24th in order to get to yottahertz frequency.” The technician fiddled with the machine and the sound got louder. “We’re almost there,” the technician said.
…
“Those two guys are a real pain in the ass,” One said. The crowd agreed. Everyone watched the two men. “Do you think we should stop them?” Two said. “No, it was inevitable that this day would come,” Three said. The pitch of the noise increased to a painful level. “I think they have penetrated,” One said.
…
The air in the room shimmered. “Hey I can see shapes in the room. They are moving around,” I said. “Sir, I think they are watching us,” the technician said.
I am walking across the parking lot. I knew it would happen. I just knew it. A pebble the size of a pea hopped into the side of one of my sneakers. Damn, I hope it doesn’t get under my foot. I feel it wriggling down the side of my shoe. It’s like it is rappelling down my sock in an urgent quest to get to solid ground.
There it goes. Right under the most tender part of my heel. Ouch. With each step I imagine a tiny assailant with a dagger repeatedly stabbing the thick skin. I hesitate and continue walking. Of course it gets worse. Now it feels like an ice-pick is being pushed up into the fatty pad that protects my calcaneum. The pain is excruciating. It must have hit the bone.
I reach the car and sigh. I stand motionless hoping the pebble will shift to a less painful position. No such luck. Balancing like the world’s worst ballerina I unlock the door. I sit sideways on the seat and fumble to get the shoe off. The pebble is making a last ditch effort to permanently cripple me. I curse and try to untie the knots in the laces. Success. I stick an arm out and shake the shoe. I am certain that the vicious monster that savaged my foot will now reveal itself.
It was so small I almost missed it. It looks like a dirty piece of rice.
How can such an insignificant, tiny object cause such agony?
It starts three feet from one end of the porch. There is a ragged hole in the wooden planks that gets bigger every day. I placed an old piece of plywood over it for safety reasons.
Who knows what lurks down in that pitch black pit.
I’ve got to get it fixed.
…
He’s up there again. I hear him walking. Each step bends the planks and I think he is going to come down on top of me. I heard him say he wants to fix the hole. If he does that he might see me. That is not going to happen. This is my home.
How about that? I saw it on the news last night. Blue whales are no longer in danger of extinction. It’s about time there was some good news on that damn television.
…
“I say we do the Japanese first,” Cete said. “I disagree. In my opinion the Norwegians are particularly bothersome,” Leen said. The other members of the pod milled about waiting for the elders’ decision. “What about the Native Americans? They do it too,” Cete said. “That is true but honestly, they are a minor annoyance. I propose we send two armadas to engage our main enemies. It’s sad that they made us do this but our survival is at stake. We have no choice,” Leen said. The members of the pod whistled and keened in agreement.
…
I’ll be damned. What a thing. I never could have imagined this. I was watching the latest news about another oil rig that got destroyed. It seems that pods of whales have been attacking oil rigs in the North Sea. They knocked another one out of commission last night. Somehow they didn’t spill a drop of oil either. The oil workers all got off safe. It’s almost like the whales wanted to teach us a lesson. I’ll be damned.
It hit during the night. No one knows exactly where. I heard someone say we might not see the Sun again.
Because it’s dark all the time the looting has been bad. The people with generators can protect themselves. When the gasoline is gone no one knows what will happen.
After we used everything from the freezer we decided to try to live off the land as much as we could. We’ve been eating salads but the plants are starting to turn yellow. Someone told me that ‘s called etiolation. They are going to die soon, the plants I mean.
We’ve decided to try hunting. I bet squirrel will taste alright. I hope the geese stay around. We always hated them because they pooped everywhere. Now I see families roasting birds in their backyards.
One nice thing is the quiet. Since there is no electricity or Internet we have lots of spare time. We read by the fire and talk.
We never talk about the ash that falls over everything.
