by Unknown
Dukes slowly nodded and continued taking notes. “Did he assault you?”
“Nope.”
“Was anyone with him?”
Jeff had a chime in his head that went ‘ding!’ “Oh yeah, he also had a tattoo that had a large eagle, but the eagle had two heads.”
Dukes’ hand stopped taking notes. He looked right into Jeff’s eyes and slowly eked out one more question. “Was he African American?”
“Yup.”
The officer sighed and put the pen back in his desk. He put the notebook aside. It was obvious that he was wrapping up the chat. Jeff couldn’t understand why. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”
Dukes tilted his head slightly to the left and gave his ear a little scratch. “Our Afro Arrest Quota has already been met for the year.”
Jeff sprung up his palms and pointed them toward the ceiling as he shrugged. “What the hell does that mean?”
Dukes let out a scoff, and then quietly laughed. “Wow, I can tell you’ve been gone for a while” he mumbled as he leaned back in his chair. “Okay, so a decade ago, we had a very liberal congress who got sick of African Americans getting arrested at disproportionate rates. They passed a law that limits how many African Americans we can arrest. They said they wanted to keep things proportionate. For this year, we’ve already reached our limit. We can’t arrest any more African Americans until next year.”
Jeff mildly shook his head in disbelief and blinked his eyes rapidly. “So, this guy gets away with it?”
“Only temporarily – until next year. There are exceptions to the law, of course. If we recovered the gun, we can prove he used it and then prosecute him. We don’t have that. He threatened to shoot you, that’s protected free speech. We’ve got no witnesses that could corroborate your story that he used a weapon. We’ve got no DNA, no photos, and no activity from your cards. Not surprising since they expired many years ago and are closed. Even if we knew who he was – which we don’t – we don’t have the grounds to prosecute. We’re spent.”
Jeff just sat there and tried to soak in what Dukes was telling him. “I need a place to stay. Is there a shelter around?”
“Yes. Transformational Living. Follow me and I’ll vapor transmit.”
Jeff turned his torso slightly to the left as Dukes rose from his seat and began to walk away from his mahogany desk. “You’ll what?”
Dukes didn’t say anything, and waved an open hand to the blue-rayed machine that people were walking into. “Follow me. This way.”
He looked at the line of people who were standing in front of the machine. For the first time, he noticed that the entrants would disappear after the beam of light shot out. The officer gently pushed Jeff’s body so that he was standing in line. “Wait a second. Time out. What is this machine?”
Dukes smiled and shook his head in disbelief. “You’re really behind on technology. This is a Vaporizer. It breaks your body down into vapors that easily transmit through the air. The vapors are then re-assembled at your destination. Your body is rebuilt, and you are instantly transported.”
He blurted out his objections. “No, no, no. I’m not getting zapped into water. This thing might give me cancer or something. I’ll just take a cab” he took a step to the side and removed himself from the line.
“Good grief. We haven’t had cabs in this city for a while. They have cabs out in the country, where society can’t afford these machines, but not around here” he grabbed Jeff’s arm and began to firmly pull him in the direction of the Transport Line.
Jeff spun his arm around in a circle, which released the grip that Dukes had on him. The anger level of the officer began to rise, and he extended a pointed index finger at Jeff. “Now look, I’ve been patient and kind with you. You’ve got two choices here. You can either go into the Vaporizer and get transported. Or, I can lock you up in jail and you get to stay there until you see the judge. It’s up to you.”
He had a lump in his throat and tried to swallow it away. Neither of the choices sounded very appetizing, to say the least. He took a submissive role, and waved the white flag to offer cooperation with Dukes. “Okay. I’ll go.”
The line moved quickly and Jeff soon found himself in the machine. It was an oval, encapsulation with many blue lights inside of it. It was also very warm, and humid. “Hey, umm… Is it supposed to be so warm in here?”
Dukes pressed several keys on a keypad outside of the machine. “Yes. Vapor requires warm and humid temperatures to exist. If it’s too cold, the vapor turns into ice” he pressed a large, green button that was above a large, red button on the keypad.
The next five minutes were that of blankness. There was no feeling or stimulation, no memory, and no understanding. To Jeff, it felt like he was a robot that had a battery pulled out, and then plugged back in five minutes later.
When he came to, he was in a small lobby of a homeless shelter. There was a small, conservative black and white placard that read “Transformational Living”. He knew he was in the right place.
He suddenly felt hopeless and devastated to the extreme. In less than twenty-four hours, he went from being a Vice President of Operations, husband, a wealthy and powerful man, to virtually nothing. He didn’t have a dime, a phone, a wallet, or even a watch. Most tragically, he didn’t have his much-loved, beautiful wife.
And that was the worst part for him – no wife. Before he climbed the corporate ladder and was younger, he had her. She gave him motivation and inspiration to reach for the sky. She gave him the holiest of the holies – love. Even though he was a shrewd banking capitalist, he was still able to understand the enormous importance of love.
He froze into place and anguished about his romantic life. He pestered himself to death with questions about how he should move forward. What if he was in a place where he couldn’t find his wife? What if he was so far into the future that she was dead? Would he ever get back to his timeframe – his world? How in the world could he make that happen? Where should be even start?
He mentally collapsed, and partially collapsed from a physical standpoint. He wanted his loving wife, a better place to stay, family, or even a friend. He had nothing. He didn’t even have any sense about what to do.
He fell down and kneeled on one knee and began to sob. It just wasn’t fair. He wasn’t a bad or evil guy; so why was he being punished so badly? Nobody would listen. Nobody would care. Many people didn’t even believe that he was who he said he was. It was, most truly, rock bottom for him.
A very nice brunette quickly jogged over to him and put her arms around him. She held him softly and lovingly stroked the back of his head. She seemed like the type of person who was a professional comforter. She did, at least, give Jeff a little comfort. “It’s okay. It’s hard to come to a shelter like this. I understand.”
After a full, and torturous thirty seconds, he pulled his body away from her and looked into her eyes. He stupidly stared because he couldn’t believe what he saw. She had green pupils, but the pupils had miniature Christian symbols all 360 degrees around the pupils. He half-subconsciously asked the curious question “are those Christian fish?”
She smiled and slowly helped bring him into a standing position by bracing and supporting his body. “Yes. Do you like them? The eye doctor prescribed them just a few weeks ago. Brand new contacts.”
He just blanked out for a few seconds and regained his attention. “Uh…Yeah. They’re very nice.”
She took a long step away from him, and pushed a small, glowing green button on her shoes. The shoes slowly grew high heels and beeped when the heels were done expanding. “How did…What is that?”
She gave her hands a girly clap with excitement. “These are my Zoomers. When I need to run or move fast, I push this button and retract the heels. When I want to walk or stay seated, I can expand and put the heels back into place.”
He knew he had to just accept the fact that this new world was technologically advanced to an insane degree. It left him in awe,
but it also dizzied him with questions and confusion. “That’s neat. I like that idea.”
Much like Dukes, Jeff was spent. He had a long day at work, went home, transported himself to the future, talked to the police, and then ended up at Transformational Living. “I’m very sorry. I could really use some sleep. Do you have a room available?”
She pointed to her desk and affirmed that was the case. “Yes, of course. I just need you to fill out a little paperwork.”
Jeff was just hoping he could do that. He couldn’t even imagine what new technological devices might confuse him even more. “Sure. Okay…” he sputtered as he walked over to her laminate, boring beige desk.
She sat in her office chair and leaned forward to reach underneath her desk. She pulled out a clipboard with a thick stack of papers on it. The clipboard was just barely big enough to hold the papers on it.
Jeff grabbed the clipboard with his entire right hand. He flipped through the pages, which created a very small breeze, until he got to the last page and saw ‘pg. 82’. “Eighty-two pages? Are you serious?”
She showed just a hint of her bright, white teeth as she put out a smile. “Well, it’s the government. What did you expect?”
*****
Jeff found himself waking up after a long night of trauma, with minimal rest. It wasn’t a huge and tantamount cure to his problems, but it was a start. At the very least, he had a half-decent start.
After some trial and error, he found a way to help himself fall asleep. Instead of driving himself crazy with the ‘what if’ questions, he tried a different tactic. He closed his eyes, engaged in deep breathing, and thought of wonderful memories of his wife.
He picked the extra-special memories, too. He thought about the day he had proposed to her. They rented a room at a bed and breakfast many towns over. In fact, it took three hours to drive there. When they arrived, and got nestled into the room, they awed themselves with an awesome view out of the room window. There was a cascade of beautiful, snow-capped mountains miles into the background. The air was fresh, and it was quiet. God, was it ever quiet.
To Jeff’s surprise, that was the big attraction that he loved the most. When he had spent that weekend with his wife, he was able to finally realize that he needed quiet moments. At his job, his cellphone was always ringing, machines sometimes beeped, people were talking, meetings were held, and so on. It seemed like there was everything at his job – good or bad.
One thing, his job never had – was quiet. And then there was his wife to give a glowing feeling of love. When they sat outside and enjoyed the pristine view of the mountaintops, all they did was hold hands. The hands were the sacrament of their love and bond together. It was a bond they promised to hold together forever – and they did – until now.
He bent himself down on one knee, and uttered just a few, choice words. “Baby, you are the love of my life. Will you marry me?”
She cried and, as usual, didn’t say much. In this case, she didn’t say anything. She just nodded and smiled. Six months later, the knot was tied.
That entrancing memory, and deep breathing, finally pushed him into the unconscious. It calmed him just enough where he could close his eyes, and fall into a deep respite of comfort.
He woke up and went into the bathroom and opened the shower curtain. He grew a little confused when he saw the showerhead, but no knobs. He tapped the wall with his index and middle finger, and rubbed around the back wall. What he found was nothing.
“Strange. How do I turn this thing on?”
Right after he said ‘on’ the showerhead starting spurting out water. He put his hand into the water and found the temperature to be a little chilly. “Hot, hotter, water heat?” he waited as he held his hand under the running water. No difference.
“Hmm…Synonyms. Ah…warmer?” he kept his hand under the running water and felt it grow a little warmer. He was impressed at how advanced technology was in this world, yet a bit overwhelmed at the same time.
After taking his shower and donning his only set of clothes, he sat on the cushy, comfy, queen-sized bed and thought about his next move.
He calculated that he could visit his wife. He wouldn’t know how she would react, other than total freak-out. Even if he could find a way to talk to her, there is no way she would believe that he traveled through time and ended up in the current world.
He nixed that as an option. Then he thought about waiting until the new year, when the police could prosecute and lock up the perpetrator. Then, he could get his watch back.
He grunted and frustratingly ruled that out, too. He would have to wait more than a month. Even if the police found him – which was a big ‘if’ – the watch might be gone by then. He then realized, quite obviously, that he might get stuck here forever.
After weighing all of his options, he came to one conclusion. He had to hunt down the guy who took his watch, and get it back. But, how? He didn’t have any weapons, money, and he didn’t really know anyone in the future. It sure didn’t help that he didn’t know the name of guy who robbed him, where he lived, or where he might find him.
“Ugh! This sucks” he grumbled and rose from the bed. That sure was an accurate way to sum up his situation, even though it didn’t do anything to help him.
He clicked the door of his room closed, and began to walk down the hall. He spotted an orbital, floating disc walking a Labrador down the hall. There were no people. It was just a dog being walked by a fist-sized, oval machine. “Wow…” he said quietly to himself.
He continued walking down the hall, until he found himself back in the lobby. His female colleague that he met yesterday was not there, but there was a very tall man behind the desk.
He looked a little bit like Herman Munster. He had a thick neck, squarely shaped forehead, and pale skin. Jeff watched him file a paper and saw his huge hands – which looked almost alien. His clothes were the strangest. He had a shirt with all colors of the rainbow going through it with large stripes. It looked sort of like he was wearing a rainbow flag. He had a hat that only covered the top of his head – because it was shaped into a ‘V’ with the widest part in the back.
Jeff had his first, funny moment in a while. He quipped silently to himself: “I guess their technology doesn’t overrule ugliness.”
He walked up to the desk and poked his chin forward to make his manly ‘hello’ gesture. “Morning. This might sound like an odd question, but where can I buy a gun?”
Herman Munster twisted his mouth to the side and stared in confusion. “You want to buy a gun?”
Jeff stared back and blankly replied: “Correct.”
“Are you a police officer?”
He stopped talking, but shook his head in the negative.
“I don’t know where you’re from, but in this country, only cops can have guns.”
And there was yet some more tragic news. No guns. Not only would it be hard for him to get a gun, but the mugger who held him up had one. He then considered the possibility of becoming an outlaw. In other words, procuring a gun illegally.
Not to be outdone by a weird looking desk clerk, he hummed a ‘yes’ and turned around as he walked off. He couldn’t just ask the guy how to get one illegally. That would have been stupid. Then he would just get turned in. If he was locked up, it would be virtually impossible to get his watch back.
He wandered around as he drove himself crazy with the ‘this won’t work’ and ‘what about this?’ type of thoughts. After a few minutes, he found a small lounge and sat himself down in a padded chair. Exhaling deeply and loudly, he sat and tried to calm himself down.
There was a young man seated to his right who was reading a book. The young man smiled at him, and softly spoke: “Having a good day?”
“Heh! A good day? Hardly!” he grimaced and moaned loudly.
“Well, what’s the problem?”
Jeff saw no need to share details with him. What good would it do? He just needed to learn some things and get some answers. Th
en, and only then, would he be able to commence a plan and forge ahead.
His neurons were firing as he tried to think of a clever way to get answers from the young man. He calculated that he could indirectly ask how to get a gun, by bringing up some conversation about shooting. Then, he would figure it out. “I came here from a different place, and found out that guns are illegal here. So, I can’t go hunting with my son.” There. That sounded plausible.
“Mm. Well, the leash on guns is pretty tight around here. Only cops can have them.”
That’s not what Jeff wanted to hear, but it’s exactly what he heard. He wanted a gun, damn it all. He had to figure out how to get one, so he could get back to his world and leave this God-awful place behind. “Yes, I heard about that. Is there any way I can get one without being a cop? Is there a loophole?”
There was an awful, strong headshake that came as an answer. “Cops and military. That’s it. Even if you got your hands on one, it would be impossible to fire.”
“Impossible? Why is that?”
“The guns are fingerprint checked. For the gun to work, you have to have approved fingerprints that the chip detects while you’re holding the gun. If you don’t, the gun won’t fire.”
That royally pissed off Jeff for a variety of reasons. Number one, if the person who robbed him with a gun was not a cop, then the gun wouldn’t have worked – and he might have been able to avoid getting robbed. Then there was the glaring problem that he couldn’t get a gun that would work.
As he thought about it, his anger slowly dissipated. If he stole a gun and aimed it at someone, the person on the other end would still be scared – and might believe he was a cop. He didn’t have to be a cop, he just had to convince the other man that he was.
“Take care,” he said as he got up from his chair and walked down the hall, a second time. He walked back to the lobby and found his way outside after going through some revolving doors.
