The last day on earth

The last day on earth

It was the last day on earth. It was a nice spring day, in North America, anyway. I suppose it was fall in the Southern Hemisphere. They are often forgotten from the Northern hemisphere’s perspective, but it doesn’t matter because it was the last day on earth. At Midnight, the earth would be no more. Of course the last day on earth would be measured based on Eastern Standard Time. The President of the United States demanded it, threatening not to be a part of the last day on earth if he didn’t get his wish.

The council acquiesced, of course. It had been hard enough to get the United States President to agree to it in the first place. They couldn’t have the deal fall apart because of a few hours. The council had realized a long time ago that the earth was in dire straits. They came up with a number of proposals, but no solution could fit the numerous problems the earth was dealing with. So they decided to end the earth. At midnight, the earth would cease to exist.

Naturally, most people were less than thrilled. The media spent their entire 24 hour cycle covering the upcoming ‘last day on earth’, arguing that no other news was as important. Typical. They speculated how it would happen and what people would do on their last days on earth. They interviewed countless authorities, from scientists to priests.

People around the world were getting their sleep schedule inline so that they would be awake at midnight to see the last day end. ‘How would it end?’ people wondered.

“I heard that they were going to launch all the nukes. All of them.” Said one man.

“I heard they’re going to use a tractor beam to redirect an asteroid to crash into the earth.” Said another.

“I heard they have a deadly chemical weapon that they’re going to release.” Said a woman

“I heard they have a spaceship to save themselves.” Said another man, who said it in Cantonese.

No one could elaborate on who ‘they’ were.

There were more than a few riots. Thousands of people were arrested. One yelled “It’s the last day on earth! What do you care?” as he was being forced into the back of a police van.

To which the officer replied, “We can’t have chaos on the last day on earth.”

Some people were less destructive. Many huddled together, praying for their various wants and needs. Not harming anyone. Others used the time to repent for their sins. Others still took the time to needlessly help others. An elderly couple went to the zoo. They were interviewed by two different news crews. A young child went to a corner store to try and buy some ice cream. When no one was there to take his money, he contemplated taking the ice cream without paying for a few minutes before returning it to the freezer. He took a candy bar instead.

As midnight, on the last day on earth, drew near, people stopped their activities and gathered into the streets. People spoke their final words to a select few. Kisses were shared. Tears were shed. Unfortunately, some seppuku was performed.

Some people were not in the street at all. They were busy having sex. Others were trying to put their children to sleep, assuring them that everything would be okay.

As irony would have it, those parents were right. Midnight came and went and people were still standing in the streets. Those that attempted to kiss through the last day on earth were still kissing.

As can happen with these types of decisions, one crucial detail was not explained very well. The decision to have earth cease would not affected the planet in any way. The decision was a cosmetic one; to simply change the name of the planet. Planet earth had ended, and in its place was Planet Spogg.

As the confusion dwindled, there was a reasonable about of outrage.

“Why didn’t they tell us?” screamed a man.

“Planet Spogg? Why’d they change it to that?” a woman asked, as she watched the news.

“Why couldn’t they have called it ‘Earth prime’?” wrote a woman into an internet forum.

Again, no one could elaborate as to who ‘they’ were.

Special Services

I finished this. Hope you like.

“Good day sir. How may I help you today?”

“Hello. I’d like to undergo your special procedure”

“Wonderful. And when do you want to schedule this?”

“Now if possible.”

“Very good. Come right this way. There is a bit of paper work to go through before we can start. Right this way; very good. Now: first question, have you thought about your decision; are you sure you want to do this? Because once it is done it is done. It cannot be undone. And after we are done you might be wishing that ‘oh no. I did not want this!’ but you know what? It will be too late. So, are you sure?”

“I am. I…uh I’ve thought about this and I’ve made my decision.”

“Okay. Okay. I’m not going to press you. I just wanted to make sure you’re sure. Ok. Fill out this form with your personal info-mation and while you do, I’ll ask you some other questions to speed things along. Next question: Who is your emergency contact?”

“My wife: Linda Blair”

“Oh I see… and does she know about your choice?”

“No, I want it to be a surprise”

“Of course. Very good. Here we are….and Bah-lair. Yes! Next question: kids?”

“A daughter”

“Age?”

“Twelve”

“They are so adorable at that age. Parents: are they alive or dead?”

“My father died a few years ago. My mother is still alive.”

“Surrounded by women I see. How nice. Now I need you to sign this. You might want to read this. The basic idea is that you waive the right of you and your family to sue us in the case that something goes wrong. Ordinarily we have our customers talk to their loved ones and they don’t need to sign this form. But, and I like your style, this is a necessity in this case. So sign here. Date there. Initial. Oh I hate when they make you sign everywhere. Sign here and date and great. Moving on: So I assume your other affairs are in order so we can skip all this. AH. Here we go. Do you want to leave a note?”

“You know, I really haven’t made up my mind on that.”

“Well you know you don’t have all day. Ah ha ha. But no, if you’d like we have these sample notes that you can look over here to give you an idea of what you might like. This one here is the standard, but some people really like this one. I guess we all have a different way of saying what we want to say yes?”

“I like this one I guess.”

“Fantastic. Do you want to edit it? Here is a pen. Let’s see….more questions…date of birth…that’s on the personal form I gave you…I always forget a question. Ah! I need phone numbers! Ways to contact your wife, your boss and anyone else you want the news to arrive at. You can look at this script which is the basic conversation we have depending on the nature of your relationship with these people.”

“Here is my note; I didn’t need many changes.”

“Simple; I love it. Let me type that up quickly so we can get that all nice and neat…and finished. Simple indeed.”

“Anything else?”

“Let me look over your personal info quickly. Yes you have that filled out…ah, science; you’re a generous man…yes good.”

“Can I just say, ‘I think it’s great that you have this sort of service here.”

“Oh thank you so much. It’s our pleasure. Okay and… Done! Well, no. Sorry, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re all set here and now we’ve come to the icky part of payment. With the options you have selected, the total comes to 2,080.93$.”

“Wow. I’ll admit that’s a little more expansive than I was expecting. Is that number negotiable?”

“…Tell you what: I like you. I can bump it down to a nice even 1,800$. Any less and my boss is going to throw a fit.”

“Well I appreciate that. Do you accept Visa?”

“I’m afraid we only accept cash.”

“Oh dear, well I suppose that makes sense. Unfortunately, I don’t have nearly that amount on me. The decision to do this now was kind of spontaneous and I …”

“…sigh…the first question I asked you was ‘are you sure?’ and I don’t like hearing you say ‘spontaneous’.”

“No no. I’m sure. The timing is what I meant is all.”

“…………Okay.”

“Let me run out to the bank. I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll be all ready for you when you get back. Hope you don’t go changing your mind on the way.”

Pulling the switch

here you go you bloggers. a story i wrote a while back (and might be on here already. i certainly don't know). the story is about a man who works for the government. enjoy and tell me what you think

PULLING THE SWITCH

“Today, August 4^th, we send Arthur Felix, to the next world via electrocution. Thomas: flip the switch.”

That’s my cue.

“This priest better get out of here; I don’t believe in god.”

“You’d better start” I say as I do the final preparation.

“I swear you’ll pay!” Arthur shouts with saliva spewing from his mouth.

“You’re the one who’s going to pay for the crimes you’ve committed.” I reply as I grab the lever.

Arthur struggles and manages to pull his right arm free from its bonds. The onlookers all give a collective gasp as he rips the straps off his left arm, and then his legs. The priest runs for cover as Arthur charges at me.

He throws a right hand at me. I catch it with my palm. I squeeze his fist and he collapses slightly. I let go and kick him in the face with a round house kick. He falls back into the chair.

“Say Hi to Satan for me.” I say as I pull the lever and watch the electricity surge through his body.

If only.

“No no no no no no no please god no. Please no. no…”

“Thomas, when you’re ready”

“Oh god oh god oh god no no no no…” he starts crying.

I pull the lever as the observers look on with expressionless faces.

His cries of pain shriek in my ears. His lifeless body twitches from the remaining current going through his body.

I let out a sigh as I flip the lever off and wait for a moment to let the electricity dissipate. When I’m sure it’s gone, I walk over to Arthur’s body and unstrap him from the chair. Another guard joins me and we pick up the body and exit the room. Outside the execution room is a gurney. We place the body down on the gurney and the other guard wheels him away.

I walked back into the execution room and glance into the observation room. Some of the people in there are chatting to one another. The rest are slowly making their way out of the room. I can only imagine what they are saying to one another: “Great execution!” “I know! Record time!”

I begin to inspect the chair for any bodily remains when Dan, my supervisor comes up to me. “Thomas: we have one more today.” He says in a gruff voice.

I grab a form from a holder on the wall. “Name?”

“Tonya Loreano. L-O-R-E-A-N-O.”

“A woman?”

Dan smiles at me from underneath his thick moustache. “Well sure, why not?” he places his hand on my shoulder. I’d prefer less contact. “The state is an equal opportunity death dealer” he chuckles. I force a smile.

“I just need a few minutes to finish my inspection from the last one.”

“Of course; wouldn’t want the dead to touch one another.”

He said it as a joke, but I had never thought of it that way. I had always just followed orders but it was a valid point. We deny these criminals one more freedom; even in death, there is no contact. Anyone who watches is more than 20 feet away and is protected by bullet proof glass. The person dies, staring at a group of people, but still alone.

I finish checking over the chair and scraping the last bits of Arthur out of this world. I begin to work on my paper work while I wait.

Twenty minutes later, Dan comes back into the execution room. He is startled to see me. “Oh Tom. Sorry, I didn’t tell you. Tonya elected to choose lethal injection at the last minute. You’re done for the day.”

“Oh…okay.”

I must have sounded disappointed, “Hey now. We don’t need to rush. We’ll kill them all eventually.” Dan says and he walks out of the room.

I rip up the form I filled out for Tonya and finish the remainder of my work and head out.

I walk wearily as I move through the hallways of the prison. I take out my cell phone and call my wife, Ellen.

“Hi honey…oh it was okay; the usual; I’ll tell you all about it at dinner tonight…you want to go out?...uh-huh…sure…okay where do you want to go?…do you want me to come home first and we’ll go together?...okay…okay sounds good…love you…bye”. I’m meeting my wife at dinner and she has a surprise for me. How interesting.

I open the employee’s door to the outside and hear the pouring of the rain on the ground. It’s a good thing I’ve been electrocuting people indoors. I close the employee entrance door behind me and walk to my 1996 Honda Civic. I sit in the car for a moment, wallowing in my disdain with my soaked clothes. I turn the key to start the car. ‘NONOAHHHHHHH’. I hear a cry as the engine starts. I pause for a moment, collecting myself. Was that real? Or just my engine? It was my engine. I turn my head back and put the car in reverse and I’m off to meet my wife for dinner.

“Hi Honey how are you?” I embrace my wife and give her a peck on the lips.

“I am great. I see you forgot your umbrella again. How was your day?”

My mind goes back to Arthur’s agonizing screams and his twitching body as he was being electrified.

“Oh. About the same as any other day; Dan keeps trying to be this like father figure to me. He keeps touching me…anyway, so what’s this wonderful news?”

“Let’s order first. It’s not so wonderful that it can’t wait a little bit.” She giggles as I force a smile.

I take my coat off and drape it over my chair and sit down.

Our waiter comes over, “Good evening, my name is Claude; I’ll be your waiter tonight. Would you two like to start with a bottle of wine?”

Ellen looks at the menu, “What would you recommend?”

Claude stares at the wine list with an expressionless face. My mind flashes to the expressionless faces of the people in the observation room as they watch the executions.

I avert my glance for a moment and then look back. I see Claude again.

He finally speaks, “Well, if you want a white, the ’93 pinot noir is quite popular and for a red, our ‘76 Cabernet has been getting a lot of attention lately”

“The white sounds lovely”

“Coming right up my lady” the waiter took the wine list and walked away.

Ellen and I look over the menus until Claude comes back with a bottle and a bucket of ice. He pours a small amount in my glass for tasting. I sniff it, swirl it, and then sip it. “It’s good” I say to the waiter. I don’t know what makes it good; I just assume that whatever the wine tastes like, that’s what it is supposed to taste like.

Claude fills Ellen’s glass and then mine. When he is finished he puts the bottle into the bucket of ice.

“Our specials tonight are Alfrado linguine with roasted rosemary chicken, haddock jambon with a vegetable medley, and apple pear pork chops with a baked potato and rice pilaf.”

“The fish sounds wonderful” Ellen says, closing her menu.

“Very good. And for you sir?”

“I would like the seared tuna steak.”

“My favorite.” Claude says as he grabs our menus. “I’ll be back with your food shortly.”

As I watch him walk away, I can’t help but notice how quickly his French accent went away.

“So what is your news honey?”

“Well. You know how I’ve been doing sales for the last 8 months? Well, my hard work and good numbers have finally paid off and they are giving me a promotion!”

“Wow.” I say, and take a sip of wine.

She pauses. “Wow? Is that all you are going to say?”

“Congratulations.”

She looks upset. She takes a breath as she lifts her wine glass. She chuckles and takes a sip. “Ew.” She eyes some crud on her glass and begins to chip it off with her nails.

My mind flashes to chipping away pieces of John Kearnes, a hefty man who left quite a bit of himself on the chair earlier today.

I flash back to my wife as she gets the rest of the crud off her glass. She takes another sip and smiles at me, “sometimes I forget that nothing affects you.”

I smile, “yeah. Sorry. I’m proud of you; you really worked hard and it’s going to mean big things for us in the future.”

She rolls her eyes and smiles, “Thanks dad.”

I smile.

After dinner we went home and watched a movie on TV. Ellen went to bed with fifteen minutes left and I stayed to watch the end. As the protagonist grinned into the camera for the final shot, I turned the TV off. I got up to turn the living room light off. When I flicked the light switch, I heard the screaming of Arthur ringing through my head. I grabbed my forehead as I winced. The scream fades away and the pain stops. I shake my head loose and go to bed. The same thing happens as I turn off the bathroom light. I sigh as I sit down on my side of the bed. I put my head in my hands as I try to collect myself and relax. I know my dreams will be filled with the screams and agony of those that I have killed.

Same old same old.

finished and not finished

So I finished "Falling into madness" a while back. But then a dear friend showed me some problems with it, so it is already back on the chopping block. What was 3 chapters is becoming 5 and I'm nearly done with this better version.

I'll try to keep all that are interested, updated.

One and Done

Many items to let y'all know about this time.
Numero uno, I finished one of the short stories I started last time. It wasn't the one I suspected I'd work on more, it just turned out to be very short. It is titled 'pulling the switch'.
Numero doso, I started a short story untitled 'I don't see it'. I'm excited to see where it goes.
Numero Three (in Spanish), I finished 'I don't see it'. It was really short and I did it all at once and it came out so good, that I'm skeptical about how good it actually is.
Numero Delta, I have another idea for a short story. I have the main character and basic plot. It's just about doing it at this point.

last piece of note is that the other piece I started with 'pulling the switch' is about 1/2 done I guess. It's another shorter piece and I'm very happy that my work isn't spiralling into epics like the first two did.

toddles for now. As always, if you stumble onto this page and have read this far AND you're interested in what I've written, send me a shout. I'd be happy to oblige, provided you didn't deafen me with your shout.
-SDG

More Writing

After taking about a week to recoup, I'm becoming prepared to start a new. As it turns out, I'm going to be writing TWO different stories at the same time. I suspect one will be more interesting to me and will invariably get more attention. neither of these stories will be '90 minutes' and I imagine that that story is indefinitely on hold. Cheers and progress will come soon.

Done

So it took less than a month, but I did end up finishing that last paragraph. Now I can change the status of it from incomplete to terrible. There is little I like about it. hopefully you'll like more.
Until later...