Rock the Baby – Episode 9

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Break Away

I had to sit down. It’s been four days since the world as we knew it ended. Electronic devices don’t work any more. We have no power. We are running out of water and food. And now I meet a woman who tells me that she caused this with something that she has in a small steel case sitting five feet away from me.

I asked her what it is because I was too afraid to ask her what I really wanted know, was it safe to be sitting this close to it? She sat down across from me and rested her hands on the case. She said they call it “cold fire” and she was part of a team that had been working on it for several years. I looked at her and wondered again how much trouble I was getting myself into. Her eyes glowed like a summer sky.

She went on to explain that cold fire was a combustion process that produces light but not heat. They had recently developed a catalyst/enzyme chip that not only sparked the combustion but then reacted with the light to reclaim and recycle nearly all of the materials consumed. Put one of the chips in a sealed glass container and you have a light bulb that lasts almost indefinitely and never needs electricity. Totally self-contained.

But four days ago one of the prototypes had broken in the lab. There was a sudden and violent reaction when the cold fire met the air in the lab. An unexpected side effect was an enormous electromagnetic pulse. That’s what knocked out all the electronics. She was able to re-confine the materials, still burning, to the steel case that now sat on the table between us.

Since the EMP was unexpected she couldn’t estimate how far its effects extended. Already it was well beyond anything she would have guessed. Her hope was that the lab at BokonoCorp headquarters was still functional so she could use their equipment to extinguish the cold fire she was carrying.

And then her eyes — those incredibly deep blue beautiful eyes — started to well up with tears. She told me that she hadn’t told me the worst part yet. No way did I want to ask her, but I couldn’t sit there like an idiot [any more than I already had] so I did. The worst part, she explained, is that what was supposed to be the ultimate in low-cost illumination now looked more like a small, inexpensive, devastating weapon.

Un-freakin’-believable.

I stood up and spun out my yo-yo. I didn’t realize until that moment how I much use it now to clear my head.

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Please come back next week for Episode 10.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Rock the Baby – Episode 8

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Lariat

Mr. Evans gave me a wink and a nod. I felt kind of bad that I wasn’t waiting around for the latest news, but this woman says she knows what caused all these problems. That’s gotta be worth something. Besides, she said she needs my help. What else could I do?

She was holding some kind of little steel case and I offered to carry it for her. She said no, let’s go. I told her my name is Ray as we walked to my parents’ house. Of course, that’s not really true. How do I explain to a woman named Gigi that I can’t pronounce the “jay” sound? What the hell do I call her? I got a little bit of a break on that. As she explained where she is from and where she wants to go she showed me her ID from some place called BokonoCorp. She has a PhD. She may not like me calling her “Doc,” but at least I can pronounce it.

We didn’t talk much more on the way home. She wouldn’t give me any details until after we were safely inside the house. Basically, she wants to go to BokonoCorp headquarters which, it turns out, is a few miles on the other side of my apartment. I’m not thrilled at the idea of walking back there, but I do know the way.

When we got to the house she asked if I had water. I told her about the water in the bathtub and that there were bottles of water to drink that weren’t cold of course. She asked me for a big mixing bowl. I pulled the biggest one I could find out of the kitchen cabinets. She explained she was going to dip a bowlful of water from the tub, use that to freshen up a bit, and then pour it down the toilet to flush it. I didn’t ask where she got her urban survival training.

While she went to clean up I pulled out the gas grill and checked the propane tank. Full. Good old dad even had another full tank on the shelf. Who does that? Anyway, it reminded me that I still don’t know where my parents are. I wonder if those people running around getting the news can pass the word around that I’m looking for them?

The freezer yielded some steaks and onion rings that were starting to thaw. I set them on the kitchen counter and pulled out my yo-yo while I waited for my guest. When she walked in the room looking even more beautiful [if that's possible] I asked her to tell me what caused all the electronics to stop working.

“I did,” she told me. She put that little steel case on the table. “With this.”

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Please come back next week for Episode 9.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Germ of an Idea

In honor of all those teachers and students returning to classrooms this fall here is an update of a story I published on another site a couple years ago.

I’m wondering what it would be like if we saw our teachers more like we see our doctors… young children would receive some basic instruction in numbers and letters like inoculations. Beyond that families [if they can afford it] would choose an education-care provider with whom they schedule regular check-ups. That provider may prescribe any number of lessons or refer patients to specialists. There would be emergency rooms and critical-care facilities when an individual becomes acutely aware of an educational shortcoming and they would receive intensive remediation. Best of all [really!], employers would routinely provide ignorance insurance [Blue Cross/Blue Shield might develop a Yellow Pencil/Red Pen division] to underwrite the cost of continuing education.

Johnny arrives fifteen minutes early for his appointment. He fills out [well, mostly fills out and most of that illegibly] three pages of forms and then sits in the waiting room. Thirty minutes later he is ushered into an examination room where he is given a pop quiz by an EdTech [Educational Technician].

“You have ten minutes,” says the EdTech, as she writes the time, date, and her name [let's say... Ms. Amy] in neat, block letters on a dry-erase board in front of Johnny.

“Miss,” Johnny raises his hand, “I don’t have a pencil.”

Ms. Amy hands Johnny a sharp #2 pencil [for which he will be billed $5.00] and with a sigh and slight shake of her head makes a note on his chart [his PERMANENT record...].

Johnny bends over the quiz paper and answers most of the questions [again, mostly illegibly] and embellishes the page with stray doodles. At ten minutes [timed to the second, of course] Amy reaches for the paper. “Time’s up!”

“Miss, do you count off for spelling?”

“Only when it’s wrong. The teacher will be with you shortly.” Amy leaves, placing Johnny’s chart and quiz in a plastic bin on the wall.

Johnny stares blankly at the wall and chews idly on the pencil. A few minutes later the teacher [let's call her Dr. Brennan] enters.

“Good morning, Johnny! Please sit up straight.”

“Good morning, Dr. Brennan.”

She flips quickly through his chart, frowning at the pop quiz results and stealing a side-long glance at the pencil wedged again in his teeth. Johnny notices and guiltily drops the pencil to his lap.

“It’s not time for your regular check-up, Johnny. What’s up?”

“It’s the maths.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“It’s just all of it. I was looking at my bank statement last week…”

Problem with balance, Dr. Brennan notes in his chart.

“…and I was trying to subtract all the checks I wrote…”

Doesn’t know the difference.

“…and I just got all confused…”

Thank God he’s not multiplying — oops, that’s for another visit!

Dr. Brennan flips back a few pages in the chart. “I see we’ve treated you for this before.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“I gave you three sample problems and a workbook?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did you finish them?”

“Well, mostly. But then I had to work overtime for a few days and my car broke down and I slept late and my Mom didn’t wake me up and –”

Dr. Brennan holds up a hand. “I get the picture. We can repeat the treatment, but it won’t do any good if you don’t complete it. I hesitate to send you to a specialist… since it wasn’t a failure of the treatment but your failure to follow instructions it falls under the pre-existing conditions exemption clause and your insurance won’t cover it.”

“How much will it cost?”

Test for comprehension of irony during follow-up she noted… “A private tutor can easily run $300 an hour; group sessions can be arranged for as little as $100 an hour, but there might be as many as six people in the group.”

“Six people at a time! How can one tutor help six people at a time?”

“Well, obviously you’ll get less individual attention, but they’ve been very successful even with severe cases. They are highly-trained professionals, after all”

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t afford either of those, especially if insurance isn’t going to cover it.”

There may be hope for you after all….

“Can I have another workbook?”

“Do you mean, ‘May I have another workbook, please?’”

“Yes, ma’am. May I have another workbook, please?”

“Promise me you’ll finish it and schedule a follow-up appointment in… let’s say two weeks.”

“I promise.”

“Okay, Johnny. Ms. Amy will be back in just a moment. She will give you the workbook and schedule your follow-up. And here…” she holds out a jar of candy.

“A lollipop. Thanks, Dr. Brennan!”

You can call it that. I call it a sucker…. “Bye, Johnny. See you in two weeks.”

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Rock the Baby – Episode 7

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Flying Saucer

I was standing off to the side waiting on the news to arrive and practicing with my yo-yo. Suddenly there was a woman standing in front of me. The most beautiful woman I have ever seen up close. Maybe the most beautiful woman in the world — a strawberry blond, very pale complexion, but her eyes are the deepest blue. So deep I was falling into them. A blue I wanted nothing more at that moment than to stare at forever.

“Nice yo-yo,” she said looking at my blue Duncan Classic which was spinning down by my ankles. “Blue is my favorite color.” Then she looked at my face again, expectantly. I was falling deeper and deeper into those eyes. I wanted to say, “Exactly the color blue that your eyes are, that’s my favorite color.” I stared back, unable to articulate a single syllable for the longest time. The yo-yo stopped spinning. “Mine too,” I finally answered. I was in trouble.

I fumbled with getting the yo-yo rewound. Most of my wits had completely abandoned me, so I used the time to gather the few that were left. I asked her, “What do you think the aliens look like?” She smiled at me and I could feel my knees trembling. She leaned close to me and I thought I was going to fall right over. “Not aliens,” she whispered, “I know what caused this and I need your help.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. It had the paradoxical effect of keeping me from falling over and making me feel even weaker. Her eyes were so close I swore I felt the air stir when she blinked. The way I was raised, when someone needs help you give it to them. And I know it sounds old-fashioned, [or, you know, sexist] but if a woman asks for help you don’t even question why. I have a feeling those values are about to be severely tested.

She wanted to go someplace where we could talk. I told her we could walk to my parents’ house. Her eyes smiled into mine. “Your yo-yo stopped again.” Sure enough, it was dangling by my ankles again. And then, I couldn’t believe this, as we turned to go she said, “My name is Gigi.”

No freakin’ way.

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Please come back next week for Episode 8.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Lycanthrope

your sense of scents
is too intense

you sent me away
for I will always smell of dog

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Rock the Baby – Episode 6

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Around the Corner

I could hear my parent’s names. Someone was calling for them and hollering, “Heeellllllooooooo”? Slowly, the voice dragged me out of my slumber. I was still clutching a rock as I padded toward the back door. Then the voice turned cold and said, “Hold it right there.” I saw the barrel of a shotgun sticking in through the space where I had broken the window. I guess I should have covered that yesterday. Too late now. I froze and peered through the broken pane.

Note to self… do not bring a rock to a gun fight. The gun was pointing right at my head. At the opposite end I saw a shock of white hair and a milky eye that I recognized as belonging to my parent’s next door neighbor. I yelled, “Don’t shoot, Mr. Evans. It’s me, Ray. Do you know where my parents are?” Mr. Evans doesn’t always hear too good.

He withdrew the gun and I let him in the back door. He told me he didn’t know where my parents are. He was on his way to get the news when he saw the broken window. It’s nice to know that in my parent’s neighborhood neighbors still look out for each other. Had I taken a face full of buck shot I might not think it so nice.

I walked with him a few blocks. There was this group of people milling about on the corner. I recognized some of them and gave them the head nod of greeting. Old Mr. Evans was talking a mile a minute. I think he was really happy to have someone new to talk to. He explained that there were spots like this in pretty much every neighborhood now, spots where people gathered to share news. A few people would walk from one spot to another and back again. They would pass on any news they had and gather what they could to take back home.

I asked him how anyone knew where to go. I thought we would have to go to city hall or something to get official news. He laughed and laughed at that. The elected politicians, he said, were the first to abandon every neighborhood they had heard from so far. There were simply certain houses in every neighborhood where people naturally congregated. It didn’t take long to find them because everyone would be out on the front lawn. The network grew organically.

So far, we knew that the problems extended as far as anyone could walk in three days. This might really have been the end of the world. That’s pretty scary. But no one knows what caused this. Speculation runs the gamut from aliens to terrorists. Personally, I’m pulling for the aliens. It will make this notebook a lot more interesting. While we waited for news, I took out my yo-yo and wondered what aliens look like.

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Please come back next week for Episode 7, Flying Saucer.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Rock the Baby – Episode 5

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Loop the Loop

I cleaned up the broken glass and then started pulling stuff out of the icebox. It wasn’t really cold, of course, after being shut off for a couple days but it wasn’t all spoiled yet either. I spent an hour stuffing my face and then lay on the couch. I quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up the sun was low in the sky. My body ached all over and I groaned like an old man when I stood up. Groggily, I staggered to the bathroom to take a dump. When I finished, I hit the flush valve out of habit. As I stared at my reflection in the mirror I suddenly realized that the toilet tank was refilling. I reached out and turned the faucet on the sink in front of me. Water! I hadn’t even tried the tap here.

I splashed it on my face and let it run down my chest. It was freakin’ wonderful! I cupped my hands and drank. I had no idea why I had no water in my apartment when it still worked here. I didn’t care. But now I was fully awake and realized this couldn’t last long. With no electricity the pumps wouldn’t be able to refill the water towers. It was only a matter of time before this would be all gone.

I allowed myself a quick shower and shave. Again, freakin’ wonderful. I toweled off and pulled on clean shorts. Then I plugged the drain and started letting the tub fill with water. Turns out, I was in the nick of time. When the tub was a little over half full the water slowed to a trickle and then stopped.

I went back to the kitchen and ate some more. Tomorrow I can pull out the gas grill and have a hot meal. Stuffed again I went back to the couch. I wondered some more about my parents. I’m worried that I don’t know where they are. Other than that though, I felt safer and more satisfied than I have since this whole ordeal started. Clutching a rock in one hand, I slept.

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Please come back next week for Episode 6, Around the Corner.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Rock the Baby – Episode 4

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Creeper

I feel like crap. I tried sleeping but the place I holed up in was hot as hell, I was sore as hell, and the floor was hard as hell. I looked outside and the moon was up. There wasn’t much of a breeze but it was way better than being inside. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but I started walking again.

It was freakin’ creepy walking around in the middle of the night. There was enough moonlight though that I could see well enough. And I was surprised at how many other people were out and about. Turned out that was a good thing because there were some trouble-makers out too. Kids. Too scared to admit to being scared so they gotta act all tough instead. Lucky for me, by then I was tagging along with a group going in the same direction as me. Safety in numbers, you know.

After the sun came up we were close enough to my parent’s house that I split off by myself. I walked the streets of the neighborhood I grew up in and felt kind of like I was a kid again. I even started whistling “Feeling Groovy” for a little bit until I realized I probably looked like a freakin’ idiot. Not that anyone was looking as far as I could tell, but it was still probably better not to draw attention to myself. Mom used to sing that song all the time. Funny the odd bits we remember sometimes.

When I got to Mom and Dad’s house it was locked up tight. Of course I have a key. It’s on the same ring as the key to my car and my apartment. The same ring that I left on my kitchen counter because I didn’t see the point in carrying them when the car doesn’t work and the apartment isn’t worth going back to. But I remember hearing that yo-yos used to be weapons so I tried flinging mine at the window by the back door. Yeah, it bounced off and hit me right in the face. I found a rock in the garden that worked much better. Note to self, if I have to defend myself… use a rock.

I wonder where my parents are. Their car is here. I can’t believe they would take off and not leave me a note. I can’t believe they would take off at all. Were they already out somewhere when the old world ended? Was that Mom’s bunco night? That would explain why she wasn’t here. And Dad always sneaks off for a few hands of poker when she plays bunco. I don’t know whether they’ll be back at all. Not if they feel safer where they are. No, that can’t be right. Unless they’re together somewhere, they’re both going to come back here. If they can.

Today I’m giving the yo-yo a rest. I’m collecting rocks.

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Please come back next week for Episode 5, Loop the Loop.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Road Rash

too many miles between us
so we blame the road
at least I think we agreed
it was the asphalt

Rock the Baby – Episode 3

Walk the Dog

Maybe I should have stayed in my apartment, but without food or water or electricity there wasn’t much reason to stay. The grocery stores were empty in a few hours after the old world ended. People were fighting over every last scrap of stuff. Looting everywhere. It was really scary. And you know, without electricity most of that stuff is going to be spoiled in a couple days. Serves the bastards right if they get sick off it.

Something else that’s scary is that I didn’t make it to my parent’s house like I planned. I’m guessing, based on the progress I made today, that it will take another full day to get there. Part of the problem is that I got a late start. I had a 12-pack of beer that I didn’t want to leave behind and didn’t want to carry with me. I drank ten of them last night. While I can drink that much in a night, I can’t drink that much in a night and get an early start the next morning.

So I got up late today, a little hung over and not completely packed. I probably should have waited another day. I was a little… impaired. But I threw some stuff into my backpack and started out in the early afternoon heat. After an hour, I had already finished off the last two beers. I was going to be really thirsty the whole way.

But I wasn’t lonely. Lots of other people were out walking too. I was reminded of the nursery rhyme about the guy going to St. Ives. I didn’t meet a man with seven wives, but I did meet a guy with a dog named Walk. I thought that was pretty funny. I wonder where everyone is going, but I don’t ask. Everyone looks more glazed than a Krispy Kreme donut. Zombie-like, but we aren’t after each other’s brains. We don’t seem to know what we’re after really.

Now it’s getting dark though and I don’t think it would be safe traveling at night. Besides that, I’m freakin’ tired as hell. My feet and my head hurt. Come to think of it, so does pretty much everything in between. So I’ve ducked inside a looted store and I’m going to hunker down for the night. And I’m learning to yo-yo with my left hand now.

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Episode 1 is here. Episode 2 is here. Please come back next week for Episode 4, Creeper.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.