Bogota

Being able to teleport would be a game changer, wouldn't you think?

I mean, imagine an existence where traveling from one location to another can happen in the blink of an eye, where boundaries or borders do not exist. Picture a world where being able to leave nearly everything to the proverbial last minute is a reality.

You would never be late for anything.

Your wife is in the O.R., about to deliver your firstborn but you're at work at the other end of town, putting the finishing touches on that urgent PowerPoint deck? Not a problem. You press send on the email with that important attachment then poof! you're doing breathing exercises with your sweaty other half while the doctor is yelling "Push!"

You want to surprise your father for his 75th birthday bash in January and there are no fewer than five winter storms between Seattle and Sarasota causing thousands of flights to cancel? You scoff at the inconsequential thought and poof! you're downing a margarita poolside while Pop-Pop is flirting with the cabana girl.

Your daughter is at her high school graduation while Andre is doing the final styling of your blowout at his salon two states away and poof! you're cheering Brittany on as she gets on stage to accept her diploma.

Oh, and not only could you teleport yourself, you could take others with you. The trick to it is for everyone to be making contact with one another when you do your thing.

Quick weekend to Japan when you and your friend group are broke as hell? Pssh! you say aloud and poof! you, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda are noshing on sushi at a 24-hour diner in Akihabara while sipping on cups of chilled sake.

You and the husband want to relive your honeymoon in Chile even for just a day while the kids are at band camp? Vamonos! you bellow and poof! you are marveling at the sight of the Pacific Ocean from a rooftop restaurant in Valparaiso while enjoying the local empanadas.

Vacationing in Bogota and you accidentally get caught up in a sting operation involving the local drug cartel but you and your crew are in three different locations so you frantically try to find one another but the rapid gunfire around the busy tourist area you were hanging out in makes for a chaotic scene so you poof! back to you house to catch your breath and grab your semiautomatic and you poof! yourself back to Bogota and try your hand at return fire but you have a lousy aim and you kick yourself for skipping out on target practice with the boys back home and your phone suddenly rings and it's Rick and he's screaming bloody murder and begging you to save him and you ask him where's he's at and he said that he's in some walk-in cooler of a bar he was having drinks at with a hot Latina whom he said was almost about to invite him upstairs when all hell broke loose and then you're phone buzzes again with another phone call and it's Louie and you fumble to merge the calls so you, Rick, and Louie can conference in and you find out Louie is only a block away from you at a gift shop where he was buying premium cigars for the three of you to smoke later poolside had you been given the chance and you poof! to his location and you hug briefly and you both try to figure out which bar Rick is at who said there was a mermaid on the sign and Louie said that he remembers that bar and that it's about a block from the hotel and you realize you'd seen that bar during your walk to the marina yesterday so you grab Louie's arm and you poof! both of you to the bar where bullets are still flying and you both duck for cover and start crawling on your stomachs toward the kitchen where you see other people cowering in the corners and you spot the walk-in cooler and start loudly knocking on the door yelling Rick's name and he opens the cooler to try to let you and Louie in but you simply quickly grab his hand while keeping a grip on Louie's arm and you poof! all three of you back at your apartment and you are all huffing and puffing and you ask if anyone is hurt but thankfully you are all safe.

Yes, life would be so much simpler if you could teleport.

Winner of the 2024-05-14 prompt of "The Writer's Cramp"