We’ve Been Here Since ….

/ roughwighting

locked doorI can’t figure out why the stupid key won’t fit into the same lock I’ve used for the past 10 months.

But my key ring contains many keys – the one for the office, the one for the car, the one for the other car, and the one for the mailbox. The key for the house, of course, and the key for the storage room.

But no, I’m using the correct key- it’s the only one that has red tape on it – red tape I placed there so I’d always know which key to use when I arrived at my front door.

But still, it doesn’t fit in a rather, now that I look more closely, misshapen lock. In fact, the doorknob doesn’t even have a lock, per se, but seems more decorative than anything else.

“Oh husband-of-mine!” I shout, probably too loudly. “What did you do?” I smile a bit. I love surprises – this one is a doozy.wood door, future, locked

I knock lightly on the door, which I’m also just realizing is a bit different than it was when I left the house just four hours ago. He changed the door, for heaven’s sake? Admittedly, this one is better looking, with a deeper wood stain and some fancy brackets on either side.

“Whoosh,” the door opens with a light sucking sound as if air has just escaped – either from the inside or the outside. Hard to tell, since some breath escapes from my lungs as I stare at the…thing in front of me. What the hell is it? More bear than dog, although it has long blonde fur like a golden’s, a long tail that wags, and soft brown eyes. However, it stands tall like a bear or, I guess, a human, and it emits a sound between a bark, a yelp, and a ‘Hi!’.

“Whaaa…?”

The thing stands at the front entryway as if expecting a greeting in return.

“Who, I mean, what, are you?” I stammer.

The four-foot long tail swishes harder, and on two tall paws it moves aside so I can walk in.

future house, science fictionBut where are my furnishings, and what happened to my home? The hallway is painted florescent lavender with mystical three-dimensional, or are they four-dimensional, paintings arranged in a pattern all the way down the hallway. The living room is bare of couches or chairs or end tables and instead, one large screen takes over the wall with a laptop on a small stand facing it.

I turn and face the creature still wagging its tail, and it now says, I swear it says, “can I get you anything?”

“A splash of water,” I mumble to myself, thinking I must be dreaming, and a visit to the bathroom sink and some cold water should get me out of this surreal nightmare.

Instead the..thing… walks up to me and pulls out a long pink tongue, which it begins to lick over my cheeks.

Ah, my splash of water.

I hear a titter, like tiny glass over brick, and turn to see a small, egg-shaped human female walk over to me from the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Gertrude tends to take people literally,” the lady says.

“Gertrude?” I wonder out loud.

The woman rolls more than walks toward me and offers a child-sized hand with a thumb and one finger. “Gertrude is our pet, of course. And you are?”

“I live here,” I blurt out.

The egg lady titters again – her shape prevents a true belly laugh. “That’s impossible, my dear. We’ve been here since 2214.”

time, science fiction

Lyrics by Steve Miller Band.

 

Halloween story

A Happy Roughwighting Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (Images courtesy of Google.)

32 thoughts on “We’ve Been Here Since ….”

  7. If only your posts would come to me on “their own” I’d be happy. Perfect story for Halloween. You never know who will be at the door tonight. Trick or treat my friend.

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  8. Loved it! Had me heading down one path only to turn upside down and inside out. Steve Miller Band reference took my mind back to my crazy wild college days. Thanks

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    • What a cool confession! English by way of the Jetson’s. I never knew how many people loved that show until I posted this story. I didn’t have the Jetson’s in mind when I wrote it, but my new middle name is “Jane.” haha

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  11. Oh Pam, I loved this! Made me laugh out loud at first, and then I was like…hang on a sec, where’s this going? I love your descriptions of a dog like creature with a three foot tail and an egg-shaped human female! Great way to start the morning – imagination, rock on! Hugs, Harula xxx

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    • In my imagination, all of us will be egg-shaped in the future, because all we do is sit in front of that big computer screen with our thumb and index finger. Our ‘pets’ are large, because they do all the work for us. Now THAT’S scary!

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  12. Haha! Like others have said, at first I thought you had accidentally gone to the wrong house. I’ve done that before with my car a couple of times – gone to the wrong one and tried to open it I mean, not gone to a future version of it!

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    • Probably my experiences going to the wrong car (and at times, the wrong parking lot – desperately searching for the car – yikes) gave me some incentive when I began this story. Then the future took over. Double yikes! 🙂

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  13. At first I didn’t realise it was fiction and was wondering how long it would be before you saw you were at the wrong door.

    But then, the image and the concept kept me reading till the end of a very interesting concept. This could be the basis of a novel. Or is it, already?

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  14. You just never know with you–that’s why you have a breathless audience. You lure us in just like we’re fish. We’re bait in your hands. The sign of a good writer, my friend!

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