749632- 32. standing on the corner

by red jones

part thirty-two of 32

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

delilah stood on the corner waiting for the light to change, clutching the piece of paper lyman slade had given her, with the addresses of her new dwelling place and her new work place. * ali 35 bumpo had a lot of time on his hands, and he liked to go for long aimless walks in the city streets at any time of the day or night. he recognized many people that he seemed to see over and over on his various routes. he found himself standing on a corner beside a young woman clutching a small piece of paper as if she were afraid of its blowing out of her hand. she looked familiar - but not completely familiar. maybe. ali thought, she is a sister of another young woman i have seen before, maybe many times before. stop staring at me, you creep. what? were you talking to me? is there some other creep standing between the two of us? i apologize, miss. i must have been lost in thought. that is what they all say.. the light changed. ali hurried across, ahead of the young woman, lest she think he was following her. what awkward encounters the modern world was filled with! the end

749632- 30. shari gets out

by red jones

part thirty of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

i can not tell you who you are, the person in the front seat beside delilah said, but i can tell you who i am, if you are interested. very well then, if that is the best you can do. my name is shari blaine, and i am a romantic at heart. i live for love. i was born on a mountaintop in mongolia, and raised in the canebrake by an old mama lion. i fell in with a bad crowd, and was left by the side of the road. i met a wise man sitting under a tree, and he told me i was destined for love and fame. but it never worked out. and that’s it? delilah asked. yes, that’s it. in a few minutes the car will stop, and i will get out. and the strange man who got out before you, who was he? his name was harry slade, the voice from the back seat said. he was not a very interesting person, and nobody liked him much. where was he born? delilah persisted. i think somewhere in canada, or maybe it was ukraine, he ended up in the big city with the rest of the slobs and drones and dreamers. well, here we are, shari said. the car stopped, and she got out, leaving delilah with the two persons in the back seat. * harry walked along the highway. he wondered if another car would come along and pick him up. next

749632- 29. no problem

by red jones

part twenty-nine of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

delilah waited. the person in the front seat of the blue rackworth, behind the left side of the control panel, finally rolled the window down. can i help you? he asked delilah. are you lost? i do not know if i am lost, but i do not know where i am. i would have liked a lift in any direction, but i see that you are full up, so i will simply ask you where i am, if that is not too much to ask. a polite one, a voice came from the back seat. we would be happy to give you a lift to wherever you want to go, the man who had rolled the window down informed delilah. but there is no room. one of us will get out. oh, i could not impose on you in such a manner. it is no problem. it is what we do, drive around and pick up lost wayfarers. we aim to please. and what about the person who gives up their seat? do not worry about them. it is what we do. we are here to serve. well… if you insist. i will get out myself. the man opened the door and got out and motioned delilah to take his place. she hesitated. i do not know what all these buttons on the control panel are. they are just there for show. the car completely controls itself. all right. delilah got in the car and it started down the dark highway. she looked back but saw no sign of the man. who was that strange man? she asked the shadowy figure beside her on her right. i thought he looked familiar. most people look familiar to somebody. i meant familiar to me. who are. you? i do not know. i thought maybe you could help me. politer and politer, the voice from the back seat said. next

749632- 28. delilah

by red jones

part twenty-eight of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

good morning, delilah. good morning. thank you for seeing me on such short notice. not at all. here at the department of location and relocation, we aim to please. that sounds reassuring, thank you. so - what brings you here? i woke up this morning in a strange room. i could not remember where i was or who i was. that is nothing to be alarmed about. there has been a veritable epidemic of such cases in recent months and so far we have had a success rate of almost 100 percent in restoring the afflicted parties to their assigned positions in society. that sounds good, but if you do not mind my asking, has the cause of this so-called epidemic been identified and is anything being done to alleviate or end it? an excellent question. but the only answer i am authorized to give at this time is that we are working on it. now, as you were saying? i woke up this morning in a strange room. i could not remember where i was or who i was. could you remember anything? i could remember a strange dream i had just before i woke up. how do you know it was a dream? um - i guess i do not know, but i just assumed it was. may i continue? please do. i was walking down a dark highway. i needed to get back to someplace but i was not sure what or where. i did not feel particularly frightened. i wished a car would come along, and one finally did, it was a dark blue 4 passenger rackworth 53-a. there were four people in it. i waved to it and it stopped. i walked over to it, but no one rolled a window down until i tapped on it. as i said, there were four people in it. two in front, and two in back? of course, what else would they be? they could have been sitting in each other’s laps. or they could have been children, or small people. ii do not think i have ever seen a child, except in the movies. or a small person, except in the circus. so they were four ordinary sized people? can you describe them? i will try. can i have a cup of coffee? were you not just given one in the waiting room? yes, but i would like another one, if it is not too much trouble. of course. we aim to please. what is your name, by the way.? lyman slade. at your service. how did you know my name is delilah? we did not, we assigned it. if i remember my old name, can i have it back? why not? we are here to serve. next

749632 - 25. the walker

by red jones

part twenty-five of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

ali 35 bumpo had a lot of time on his hands, and he liked to go for long aimless walks in the city streets at any time of the day or night as he waited for his fate to be decided. ali had an application pending to be employed as a third class cultural transition statistical analyst at the department of metaanalysis. what he did not realize was that his every movement was tracked by the employment department and that the ideal of the employment department and all the other departments in control central was a world in which all citizens stayed in their allotted work spaces and living spaces at all times. so, although he had not yet been notified, his application had effectively zero chance of acceptance. ali took little notice of the people he passed on the streets. but some of them took notice of him, nondescript as he was, because they saw him repeatedly. a few thought he might be following or tracking them . shari blaine was one. she thought ali was a creep, and called him mister anybody in her mind. but she did not take the step of reporting him or complaining about him to any authority. another person who noticed ali was pope joan x. pope joan was a sidewalk inspector who walked the streets all day looking for cracks in the sidewalk - of which there were not that many - and in addition to her official duties as a sidewalk crack detector, she routinely reported creepy individuals like ali to the street polce. the street police already had a fiie on ali. they responded to pope joan ; thank you for your input. we welcome all input from concerned workers and citizens. would you like to make a formal complaint against this individual? if you do, you will probably be required to testify at a hearing at department of social order headquarters. joan replied - no, thank you. ali continued walking the streets. next

749632 - 24. the applicant

by red jones

part twenty-four of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

shari woke up. it was the first day of the rest of her life. she was going to begin the twentieth job interview of her life. but this was the big one. the job she had been dreaming of all her life, and studying and preparing for all her life. and she was going to win - she was going to get the job. the job of romance novel writer. but first she had to get up and take a shower and get dressed and make herself look nice and have a cup of decaf and a cup of low fat cherry yogurt and get out on the street to get to the personnel office of the woolly mammoth maxmedia corporation. shari lived in apartment 4-b. larry payne lived in 4-a, kari wade was in 4-c, and harry slade in 4-d. shari tried to avoid all three of them. larry was a cipher, harry was a creep , and kari was a modern woman just like shari, but one day shari was in the elevator with kari and kari noticed that shari was carrying a copy of “every flower is a flame” by her, shari’s, favorite writer, daria desmond, and kari laughed and said, only emotional neanderthals read that slop, so after that shari avoided her just like she avoided larry and harry out on the street, it was cooler than shari had expected, but she did not want to go back and get a heavier sweater and risk being late for the interview that would change her life. the street was not as filled with creepy men as it often was, so that was good. and then she saw him. maybe. shari had ben seeing this one guy on the street over and over for weeks or months. she thought. he was so completely ordinary looking that “he” might actually have been different people. in her months of being out of a job, shari had no schedule for going outside, so it could not be that he just happened to be on the street going somewhere at the same time she was every day. he never spoke to her or tried to make eye contact and was more often than not on the other side of the street. shari thought of him as mister anybody. she wished he would just disappear. next

749632 - 23. the dreamer

by red jones

part twenty-three of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

harry woke up, as usual, he had had trouble sleeping. he had bad dreams. he lived in constant fear that his dreams would cause him to wake up screaming and cursing and saying inappropriate things, and that his neighbors would report him for screaming and cursing and saying inappropriate things. so far, no such thing had happened. harry’s apartment was 4-d , larry payne’s apartment was 4-a, shari blaine’s was 4-b, and kari wade’s was 4-c. harry avoided all three as much as possible, which was not difficult, as all four of them were modern world persons. shari and kari were modern women who hated men. larry always had a goofy expression on his face, and did not look like the kind of person harry wanted to associate with, or be associated with. harry did not have anywhere in particular he “had to” go to, as he was out of work and had been for some time. so far, he had resisted applying for permanent drone status. his chances of finding work were not good. he had no particular skills, jobs were disappearing from the face of the earth, and he made a generally poor impression on the h r representatives, human and otherwise, that he had to interview with. harry had no opinions on anything, and no inclination to argue with anybody about anything , but he had a surly look on his face that made a bad impression on observers. the persons and other creatures he encountered in his dreams did not view him favorably either. * harry was walking down a dark road. dreams in which he was walking were generally not that bad. it was the ones where he was being held prisoner or was unable to move … so, he was walking down a dark road, and a long black limousine, with no lights and no visible driver or passengers, suddenly appeared and bore down on him… next

749632 - 22. 8-5-t-p

by red jones

part twenty-two of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

although he did not know, and only occasionally wondered, what he was doing, larry’s job was not a difficult one. he sat in front of a screen. the screen could be flat on the table, pulled upright, or set at any angle, according to his whim or preference. pictures, or sometimes groups of words - never more than eleven words at a time - would flash on the screen. the pictures or word groups would come up one to five at a time for between two and eight seconds. larry would then randomly punch in four numbers or letters on the keyboard. at the bottom of the screen. there were twenty six letters, eight numbers (no zero or one) , a question mark (?) and an exclamation point (!), for a total off 36 symbols. he was required to make at least one hundred responses an hour. it was understood that any employee who consistently failed to meet the one hundred an hour minimum would be terminated. over the course of his five to fifteen years on the job, larry had seen many fellow employees come and go. the responses were understood to be random, “triggered” by the pictures or phrases. no one was never asked to “explain” their responses. any responses over one hundred and twenty-five an hour earned him bonus points on his monthly point count. * an iguana, a wombat, and the words “feeble hallelulah sunflower” flashed on the screen. larry punched in - 8 - 5 - t - p. he did not remember, but he had punched in “8 - 5 - t-p” 402 times in his years on the job. in larry’s years on the job, he had punched in approximately one hundred million (100,000,000) responses. there are 1,679,616 possible four key combinations on a 36 symbol keyboard. therefore larry, by the law of averages, should have punched “8 - 5 - t - p” about 59 times. but he had punched it 402 times. what did that signify, and to what or whom? * virginia woolf, isaac newton, a siamese cat, and a chocolate chip ice dream cone flashed on the screen. larry punched in r - 3 - u - k. * the days and months went by. next

749632 - 21. on the job

by red jones

part twenty-one of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

larry had a job in a downtown office building. working for the modus operandi 66 corporation, which occupied 85% of the 125th floor of the building, which had 189 floors - the 23rd tallest building in the city. he reported to it four or five days a week, and had done so for somewhere between five and fifteen years. larry was not good at math. he had a desk - actually a chair and a small table with a screen on it - assigned to him. the small table had his number - 7653208764 - on it, and he tapped his id card on the table every morning - and occasional night - that he reported for work. then he got to work. he was allowed to bring one beverage, not more than 12 ounces, and a single donut or pastry not more than 250 calories, to the table. he worked for three and a half hours, got a forty-five minute break, and could bring back with him another beverage of not more than 12 ounces and another donut or pastry of not more than 250 calories, then he worked for another three and a half hours, and was then free to go. there were eighty-seven other tables like larry’s in modus operandi’s space on the floor, of which about sixty were occupied at any time of the day or night. there were no windows. the tables were spaced about eight feet apart in every direction. the occupants were not prohibited from talking to each other while they worked, but few did. larry rarely spoke to his his fellow workers.either at his work table or at the building cafeteria on the 130th floor. after the five to fifteen years he had worked there. larry still did not know what the job was or what he was doing at it. he was just glad to have the job. next

749632 - 20. working man

by red jones

part twenty of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

larry woke up at the same time every morning. larry was a good person, according to himself, but in his dreams, which he never remembered, he was often a bad person. it always took him a few minutes, when he woke up, to remember what he was and who he was. he was a human being. he lived on planet earth. with many other people who also lived on planet earth. what else? he had to get up and get dressed and “face the day”. and - maybe - probably - go to work. he, larry, belonged to the 41.2 percent of persons on the planet who had to go to work. down from 53.7 percent a mere ten years before. it was not fair but there it was. he had to do it four or five days out of seven. he remembered he had eaten macaroni and cheese the day before which meant it had been wednesday. so today was thursday and he had to get up and go to work. not that he would have stayed in bed if it had not been a day he had to go to work. he would have gotten up and gotten dressed and sat and looked out the window and daydreamed about - what he daydreamed about. we will save that for later (maybe, if we get permission). larry lived on the fourth floor of a ten floor apartment building in a medium sized city on the planet earth in the modern world. there were three other apartments on the fourth floor of the apartment building. larry’s apartment was 4-a, shari blaine’s was 4-b, kari wade’s was 4-c, and harry slade’s was 4-d. larry avoided all three as much as possible, which was not difficult, as all four of them were modern world persons. shari and kari were modern women who hated men. harry had a mean look about him that made larry a little nervous when he occasionally encountered him in the corridor or in the elevator. larry put on his thursday clothing. a red t-shirt with the words “you are awesome” on it, which he had won at a raffle at his workplace. a pair of black jeans with the words ‘hand-sewn” stitched on the back left pocket. and a pair of gray mocassins with “hand-stitched” stitched on their inner soles. he took a bottle of mineral water out of the tiny freezer beside his bed. and he was ready to roll. another day, another dollar. he liked the phrase, although he was not sure what it meant, or what a dollar was. next