Fast Forward

Chapter 4

“We have arrived”, Calvin’s car notified him. Calvin could see anywhere from inside the care since it was just clear plastic (or whatever it was that it was made from). The house looked run down like everything else in San Antonio. He missed seeing the clean streets and well kept houses. San Antonio now reminded him of photos of Detroit after the Great Recession. Just a city-wide mess. The only thing missing was the occasional bag lady. Come to think of it, Calvin couldn’t remember seeing any old people since he arrived. He seemed to be the oldest of the people he’d seen so far.

“Hmmm…car?”, Calvin asked, “Where are you going to park, I don’t see any room for you?”.

“I’m asking the other cars to make room”, it said. Sure enough I could see cars up the street and down the street start to move closer together and before long there was room enough for us to pull in.

“By the way”, I said, “What do I call you?”.

“Me?”, the car said. “No one really talks to me outside of telling me where to go and so I’ve never been called anything.”

“Do you have a name that you’d like me to call you?”, I asked.

The car seemed to think a moment and then said, “You can call me T after the first car named Model T”.

“T it is then”, I said. “Alright T, open up, it’s time for me to get out.”

T did and I got out.

I was starting to get used to the rundown nature of the city but the house was just gaudy. The walls were lavender and the trim was an avocado green. Really? That was just gross. I walked up to the door and was about to put my key in when it suddenly opened.

A large dog ran out and sniffed my shoes and then started barking. When I didn’t move, it stood up on it’s hind legs. Okay, T probably brought me to the wrong house. I started to back away when I heard someone call my name from the inside of the house.

“Calvin James?”

“Yes?”, I said watching the dog yell doggy insults at me as it’s drool splattered on the ground. It stood taller than me and it took a step forward snapping it’s jaws.

“Don’t mind Rex. He’s all bark and spit. Just walk around him and come in”.

I was rather doubtful of Rex being just all bark and spit, but I did what I was told but managed to get a handful of slobber on my sleeve.

“Sorry about that! It’s just his way of saying hello. My name is Gregory.”, a man said walking towards me shaking my hand.

“Gregory, if that is Rex’s way of saying hello, I’d hate to see him say ‘Get lost!’”, I said.

He laughed and said, “This is a four bedroom house and you’ll have the bedroom upstairs It’s quieter up there and you won’t have to put up with the rest of us.”

“How many people live here?”, I asked as I walked to the window showing the back yard. I guessed there must have been about twenty people in the back yard swimming pool.

“Oh, well, there is myself, Ancil and Nathan. So just four of us counting you.”.

“Who are they?”, I asked pointing at the back yard.

“Friends of Nathan mainly”, Gregory said. “They come here to trade for his drugs and then hang out in the back yard.”

“Drugs?”, I said shocked.

“Aun notified us that you aren’t from around here. Yeah, drugs are legal, but money isn’t. You can buy drugs at the grocery store, but not in bulk. Nathan has his own home-made network and manufactures drugs in our basement. It can create a stink in the house but you’ll get use to it.”

“How can you buy things from the grocery store without money?”, I asked.

“Rations”, he said. “They just scan your implant and you can then buy items based on what your implant says you can buy.”

“I guess I have a lot to learn”, I said. “You said my bedroom is upstairs?”.

“Yeah, let me show you”, he said walking upstairs. I followed him as Rex stood back up and started barking at me again. The stairs creaked but they held. The house had a doggy smell to it but there was another smell that I could not identify. It must have something to do with the drugs being made in the basement.

“This is it”, Gregory said opening the door. I walked in and it was empty. It didn’t occur to me that I’d need to get furniture. I mentioned that to Gregory and he looked at me oddly and then showed me how to access my furniture. A button here, a switch there and suddenly the bed rose out of the floor. An entertainment center slid out of a wall. A door to the bathroom reveled itself. Something that looked like a computer dropped out of the ceiling while a chair rose up from the floor.

This is going to take some getting used to.