Denouement

Everyone was quiet at the reception. Even though it was hardly a celebratory time, one would still expect a modicum of conversation and the like. But the room was almost deathly silent, ironically.

The 20 or so guests were gnawing on the various mushy sandwiches and limp tea that was being served. Every so often one of them would sneak a glance at Hugo Highwater, who would almost immediately meet the look with a steely gaze that would cause them to turn away.

Hugo was the son of the recently deceased. His father, Terrence Highwater, was a tyrant of the first order. He ran his paper company with an iron fist, snarled and yelled at his employees and offered almost no compensation besides the most basic subsistence wages.

As a father he had been no better. He terrorized his wife and son on a daily basis, forcing them to live as virtual paupers in their huge home in the countryside. His wife and son both had to work for any spending money they wanted, even though Terrence was worth millions. "You're lucky I don't charge you rent," he was fond of saying with a malicious laugh. Hugo's mother bore it all with a reserved stoicism thanks to her belief she was suffering so her son could one day inherit the fortune. Sadly, she died worn out and nerves shattered at a youngish 60.

It was almost 20 years before the old man followed suit, becoming more and more ornery by the minute. He hired new servants weekly as the old ones quit and bellowed at them throughout the day, seemingly his only source of joy in the world.

Finally his heart gave out and he died. A funeral was hastily arranged and the few guests who could be compelled to come arrived. A decrepit couple of cousins, a few ex-workers. No friends really, just associates.

Hugo sat amongst them as the priest blearily intoned by the rote scripture, absolutely stone faced. When it was his time to speak, he rose slowly and made his way to the pulpit, looking straight ahead.

He spoke for almost half an hour. He stared out in between the guests, looking into the crowd but at no one in particular. He cursed and denounced his father as tyrant and a malicious fiend, in such brutal and harsh language and with such vigor his neck was bulging and he was turning bright red. When he finally finished there was a stunned silence. At last the priest came back up and simply said "the reception will be in the main hall shortly," before retiring to his seat once again.

Even though secretly they had all agreed on the nature of Terrence Hightower, they felt it profane to speak so ill of the dead. After Hugo had gotten his fifth or sixth secretive glance, he erupted once more.

"You obviously don't believe I should have spoken as I did just now about my father. The truth is I meant every word of it and would say it all again. He was a simple malicious brute and you all know it as well as I do. Normally even the most terrible person has some redeeming features to draw upon. Not so for Terrence Hightower. He never did a thing in his life for anyone but himself. He would have lived completely without the company of other people had he not been so lecherously greedy. He would have worked the whole plant alone if it were an option.

But the final insult, the reason he deserves not so much as a kind word even at his death, is simple. He forced me to struggle and toil my entire life for everything I had, even though he had so much money he hardly knew what to do with it all. Now he's dead, and left me with so much as a penny in cash or property. His last earthly request is to be buried amongst his precious cash, the only thing he ever really loved.

So to hell with him. Never was there a more horrible father or man."

With that Hugo stormed off, leaving the other reception attendees gaping in silence once again.

Funeral day

Today Susie was going to her grandfather's funeral. She got out of bed, woke up her parents and went to start up her bath all by herself. When she was finished with the bath she went back to her room and put on the blue dress she and her mother picked out yesterday before going downstairs for breakfast.

Her parents were downstairs but hadn't gotten dressed yet.

"Hey sweetie..you look very pretty in your dress!"

"Thanks mommy."

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Cereal."

"Ok honey."

Mom got the cereal and poured Susie a bowl.

"Mom...?"

"Yes dear?"

"Why do we have to go to grandpa's funeral?"

"It's his time, dear."

"But why? Why does he have to go away?"

"Well you see dear, as we age we get bigger and stronger, but then after a certain point that stops and we get weaker and less able to take care of ourselves. Grandpa's reached that stage now."

"But then why don't we look after him?"

"We have been, dear! Up until now! Grandpa's reached a point now where he's just too old and his life is starting to be a burden to him..humans are meant to be independent in action but he just doesn't have the capacity anymore! He's become a burden to us. But more importantly he's become a burden to himself. Does that make sense?"

"I guess so," Susie said doubtfully.

"I see you're getting it sweetie. Well, when the person's life starts to be a burden to them, we throw a big party and everyone they know comes and everyone gets a chance to say goodbye. The he gets hooked up to the giant mainframe and everything he was and is gets added to our giant computer and becomes a part of sum of all human knowledge. Who they were and what they were keeps going forever and ever. Isn't that exciting?"

Susie thought it. It did sound pretty cool. She nodded and started to eat her cereal while her mother got ready.

The ceremony was much more fun than she had thought, like a party. They were all singing and laughing and dancing. People gave speeches and told jokes and funny stories. She got to say goodbye to grandpa and he hugged her fiercely.

Finally it was the end. There was a computer panel in front of him. He was then connected to it via a wired helmet with a bit that went into his mouth. It made a loud humming sound and gave off a slight but noticeable blue tint. Finally it dinged loudly and a technician came over to check the results. They were a success and the body was carted off to be reused as fertilizer.

Susie knew when she died she wanted it to be just like that.

Bus stop

I got to the bus stop and sat on the bench. There was a tiny wizened old man already there. My Ipod had died on the way over and with nothing else to do I struck up a conversation.

"Been waiting long?" I asked.

"All my life," he responded.

"Huh?"

"My entire life has been made up of waiting. Waiting to be old enough for school. Waiting for my first kiss. My first job. My first child. The bus. Every aspect is some waiting. At my age, you start to wonder how much of your life is spent waiting around instead of doing. It's a lot."

"I guess I never thought of it like that."

"No, no one ever does until it's really too late to do anything about it. Like me. I certainly never gave a hoot about the future until it was already here and it was too late to change. Now my time is almost up and all I've got left is waiting for the bus and waiting to die."

"Hey now, you're in pretty good shape..." I protested. "You'll probably live another ten years, at least."

He sighed. "You're probably right. But why would I want to? I've already been put into a home by my kids. My wife is dead. The future in front of me now is long and unchanging. In ten years everything will be exactly the same at best or much much worse. Why would I want to live like that?"

"It can't be all bad," I protested feebly, letting him continue. I could feel the urgency behind his words. He had to tell somebody, but nobody was listening. Except me.

"I'm just waiting for death now. You know the worst part about being old? It's not losing friends and loved ones. That's hard of course. It's not remembering youth and vitality. It's remembering everything that's happened to you throughout the course of your life. it weighs on you, gnaws at you. Your memory becomes so heavy, so bloated with facts and faces and places you can hardly stand it. Remembering everything you've left behind. That is the worst."

I opened my mouth to say something but just then the bus arrived. The old man got on and just before I did I changed my mind and decided to walk instead. It wasn't too far and it was a beautiful day. As the bus pulled away, i caught a glimpse of the old man. I smiled at him and raised my hand. After a moment he smiled back.

Saturday Night

Someone ordered a double shot of whiskey and George poured it absentmindedly as he stared at the dance floor. He hardly noticed the banging of the music or the schizophrenic light that bobbed and weaved over the crowd in spasms. Both the novelty and the subsequent irritation had worn off and now he simply accepted them both as part of his reality on the job.

He looked past and through the customers who would saddle up to the bar for another quick shot of something numbing before disappearing into the swaying mass of dancing flesh. He worked swiftly and efficiently and unless you knew him really well you'd never guess anything was the matter.

George had been a bartender for a few years now and suddenly found his job very unrewarding. It wasn't that it didn't pay well; for the amount of work he did, it was extremely lucrative. It certainly wasn't hard. It was just that...well, he didn't know. He just had this nagging feeling that something should be different. The more he tried to shake it off, the more it persisted.

So he numbly but carefully went through the motions of his job until suddenly the night was over and he was off work. It was practically like he'd blinked and he was out on the street walking home.

He got home to find Laura asleep on the couch while the TV chirped cheerfully about the world's first (and best!) electric hairbrush. She must have waited up for him. Normally he would have been home long ago, but he had decided to walk hoping the sharp clear night air would unmuddy his head.

It didn't really work. All he had to show for his time was a bone deep chill. George went to get a blanket and then softly shook Laura awake.

"MMMMmmm.." she mummered, stirring slightly.

"Come on, we should go to bed. It's so late it's early again." George said softly.

"How was work?" she responded, yawning. Her eyes were still closed.

"Oh, fine.." he said distantly.

"Something wrong?"

"No..." he trailed off uncertainly.

"That didn't sound too certain..let's go to bed and you can tell me all about it."

"Alright."

They made their way to the bedroom and she leaned into him and nuzzled his arm, warming him and making him smile a little. She lay on the bed and he sat on the edge, his back away from her.

"So what is it?" She asked, stifling a yawn.

"I don't really know," he began. 'Just that lately, I've been feeling really....discontent at work. I mean, it's the same job and everything, but I just don't seem to get as much out of it as I used to."

"You don't like it?"

"I like it fine. I'm just...bored or something I guess. Every now and again I get this drab and dreary feeling, which I usually just shake off, or find some way to distract myself until it lifts."

"Like how?"

"Oh you know, people watch. Or cracking jokes. A shot of something. Flirting."

Laura was not the jealous type and so this had affect on her. Their relationship was pretty relaxed anyway, though they both had deeper feelings than they cared to admit.

"So why not do that now?"

"I have been, but it's just not working anymore. I can't seem to lift myself up anymore. It's like something is different. The same old thing isn't working anymore. Maybe..maybe it's because the job is same, but I've changed. I started this job and 21 and never looked back. I make good money but I haven't built myself any kind of life besides that. Outside the bar, I don't engage the world at all. It's time to carve out a real life for myself, one in which I really take the world in and experience some of what's really out there...what do you think?"

George turned around to face Laura and found her fast asleep. He smiled and kissed her before covering her with the blanket. Then he put on some pajamas and went to bed, sleeping more soundly than he had in a long while.

Future thoughts

I live in an age without religion. It was finally abolished not with a bang but with a whimper. For centuries, religious fundamentalism poisoned intelligent debate and discussion in the world, either through absolute control or via protest and demanding "fair hearing' when crackpot theories disagreed with established religious thought.

Slowly over time, the population of the world got smaller and smarter. Better nutrition and more equitable distribution of food caused people to be able to pursue education. Once this happened, religion began to die off all at once.

This isn't to say we don't still have problems. There are still land disputes, wars greedy psychopaths. But they no longer have a shield of blind faith to hide behind. Even though we struggle on to a brighter future, we at least have one less monkey on our backs.

Dinosaurs

Vax was the premier scientist on Earth. He was also a dinosaur, of the bipedal humanoid variety. He had been working on the problem of a rapidly heating Earth, where the temperatures were gradually increasing every couple of years or so with no end in sight.

Finally, after years of research, he came to a couple of conclusions. The first was that the temperatures would soon plateau to be followed by a rapid slide into subzero temperatures. The second was that his cold blooded species would be wiped out by the reversal of temperature.

He summoned his lab assistant Wurg.

"We have a problem," he began, as he told him about his discoveries.

"That's horrible!" Wurg said when he had finished. "What can we do?"

"I hypothesize that we may be able to survive, but only if we are able to engineer a pathogen to help us resist the cold."

"Can we do that?"

"I have been working on it..we will need to finish the research I have begun."

With that, they set to work at once. It wasn't easy and took a long time to complete. But finally, it was done, and the two set about injecting themselves as test subjects. But something was wrong. The serum they concocted were meant to awaken their primordial natural resistances. When they were activated, they began to feel themselves regressing. Their intelligence began to seep out almost immediately as they felt a rush of power in their bodies and a thickening in their limbs. They fell to the ground and began to walk on all fours.

The virus spread to the other dinosaurs and they quickly regressed to an earlier state of evolution, robbing them of their intelligence. Unfortunately, they were too late to save themselves. The ice age still struck and the dinosaurs were all but wiped out.

Extinct!

Thomas could feel the breath rattling in his throat. He wasn't long for this world. He started to cry. For years he had searched for signs of another living person. He found nothing.

Now, as he lay dying in his small home on the edge of the forest, he couldn't help but weep at the bitterness of the situation. he would die, and that would be the end of the species. Forever.

He wore himself out and stopped crying, laying there for several moments with his eyes closed. Suddenly he felt a warm tingling on his skin and could see a light through his eyelids. He opened his eyelids. There was an old man standing in front of him, with a long white beard wearing a simple one piece tunic. He was permeated with a golden glow. Thomas lifted his head a little to get a better look, as his eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be. The man jumped back.

"Fuck! You're still alive?" the man bellowed.

"Who..are you?" Thomas asked, with a little difficulty. He hadn't spoken to anyone but himself in a long long time.

"Well, once upon a time you people called me 'God' but since you're the last of your kind you can call me whatever you like."

"You're...God?"

"Traditions are hard to overcome, eh? Yeah, we'll go with that."

"You exist? Why didn't you appear before now? Why wait until I'm practically dead to show yourself?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Lots of paper work to process. Almost all of you died all at once and it took awhile to make sure I didn't miss anybody."

"If you exist, why didn't you stop us from wiping ourselves out? How could you let that happen?"

"Why would I interfere? I didn't make you blow yourselves to kingdom come. You did that all by your lonesome."

"But..you can't let our whole species die..."

"Why not? I can always make another. See, I kinda didn't read the instructions when I made the universe the first time around and things got a little screwed up. It's only able to support one planet's worth of life at any given time. So as long as you guys were here, I couldn't make anything else. And I've come up with some really cool designs since then!"

"So..you let us kill ourselves off?!?"

"Well...not exactly. I can't really intervene on this plane of existence, just manifest myself. I'd never kill you guys off, so i just waited to let you do it."

"I don't believe this..you're such an asshole!"

"Hey, no need for that kinda talk! I understand you're upset, but there's not much I could do! I just start up the chain of events that cause life to form and sit back and watch...I was really rooting for the dinosaurs to pull through. Silly me."

"Our whole culture...our whole existence! Some malevolent being's science experiment! Just leave me alone to die in peace, would you? I can't stand the sight of you."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say."

And so God made his way out of the little shack, and the last thing the remaining member of our species ever heard was "I hope the next batch turn out to be octopus people or something..."