Instant Messages

Instant Messages

     “You have been informed...” Doriv stopped reading out loud to himself. “When a letter starts like this they never turn out good.”

     Doriv paced around his Living Area. He kept glancing at that letter up on the Message Monitor. It must had been about ten times he did that before he began reading it again.

     “... that the airship your Mate is on has been forced to crash land. We have already started out search for survivors.” Doriv dropped to his knees. And started crying.

     Bending his head back to see the monitor almost snapped his neck at that angle. His tears ran down his cheeks to land on the floor next to his fallen legs. Doriv could barely see the monitor at that angle.

     “I hate when I get messages like this.” Doriv had a lot of trouble speaking in-between sobs. “One second you’re watching the Entertainment Monitor – and the next you almost hit the ceiling when the Message Monitor behind you makes that loud Incoming Message sound.”

     Some of his tears got into his open mouth as he spoke. Doriv almost gagged a couple of times because of it. “I also hate getting messages instantly. Especially ones like this. They shouldn’t be sending this kind of message until the survivors have been found.”

     Doriv kept balling like a big baby for several minutes without saying anything. Finally, he took a deep breath then sighed. “This is partially my fault. We had a huge fight before she went on this trip. I didn’t want her to go on it.”

     “I practically accused her of being involved with her co-worker. The same one she was going on that trip with.” Doriv still had trouble speaking. But it was slowly sounding better.

     “No, I don’t think she is involved with him – or anyone else. But she has been spending a lot of time with him. Some of it after work hours.” Doriv tried to get up. He couldn’t do it.

     Doriv shakily reached for the arm of the chair he was sitting in only a few minutes ago. He tried to pull himself up. Still crying while he did it. Doriv got about halfway up when he fell back down to the wood floor. He slipped in some of his tears. That’s why he didn’t do it.

     “It was a stupid fight. I didn’t want her to go on that work related trip. Not because of the involvement thought. It’s because our oldest was about to advance beyond Mid-Learning.”

     Trying to get up again - that time he did it. Doriv did slip on his tears again. But only a little. He did it just in time too. The only door to the Living Area slid open – and his three children walked in. Arguing with each other as usual.

     Harod, Doriv’s fifteen-year-old, entered first. Lorinna and Romme, age eleven and nine respectfully, came in right behind him. They were fighting about something. Harod looked over his shoulders trying to stop it. Doriv heard him say, “Shut up or I’m going to hit both of you into next week.”

     Doriv couldn’t hear what the fight was about. He was too busy to concentrate on that. With both his hands and feet Doriv had to move fast. Doriv used one hand to wipe away his tears. And with the other he turned off the Message Monitor. At the same time, he used his bare webbed feet to wipe away, or grind them into the floor, the tears on the floor.

     “What are you fighting about now?” Doriv thought he got away with the cover up. But he didn’t.

     “What’s wrong?” Harod asked as they walked toward Doriv.

     “You’ve been crying,” stated Romme. “You only do that when something serious has happened.”

     “You also turned off the Message Monitor every quickly when we came in too,” replied Lorinna. “Which means whatever is going on was on that monitor.”

     Doriv smiled. “I’m the Investigator in the family. You take after me too much. I should have known better than to try to hide anything from you.”

     “So, what’s going on?” Romme asked.

     “I’m sorry I tried to cover it up. You are probably going to hear about it on the Media Monitors upstairs when you go to your Sleeping Rooms anyway.”

     “It must be very serious,” said Harod. “You said you were sorry to us.”

     “What happened?” Lorinna asked.

     “The Instant Message is about your mother. She was on an airship that crash landed.”

     “Is she going to be okay? When did this happen? Where did it happen?” All asked at the same time. Doriv couldn’t even say who asked what. That’s true about the other six or so questions they asked him.

     “I’m going to try to answer all of your questions. There isn’t much I can tell you though. I only got through a couple of sentences before I lost it.”

     “I want to read this message.” Harod spoke first.

     “So do I.” Lorinna said a few seconds later.

     “Me too.” Romme added so quickly Lorinna barely got hers said first.

     “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You are much too young to be reading something like that. Especially you Lorinna and Romme.”

     Harod, Lorinna and Romme didn’t say a word. They just stared at their father. Each one had a difference expression on their faces. Harod looked sad. Lorinna was looking mad. And Romme looked angry. Her red face was looking even redder than usual.

     Doriv tried to look away from them. But he kept peeking back. After several minutes he finally gave up. He turned the Message Monitor on. They each read the letter in silence. Their mouths moved. But they didn’t say a word out loud.

     Suddenly another Instant Message appeared over the first one. It read:

     “The airship has been found. All aboard are okay. There have been a lot of injuries. But only two are dead. Your Mate isn’t one of them.”