Election Night

By the time I finished the interviews, I found her alone, sitting on the floor, streamers and ‘Elect Jack South!” signs scattered around her, and a few empty bottles of alcohol lined up in front of her.

“So…” I began, before she held up a hand, and pointed at the muted TV in the corner, where an ‘expert’ silently talked about nothing at all, probably.

After a moment, she chuckled.

“So it’s official then, if even WNC is calling it. Jack South’s going to Washington. Despite knowing nothing and not wanting to go at all.”

I licked my lips.

“Jacqueline…”

S.L.I.C Disorder

‘Sudden Loss of Impulse-Control Disorder” he called it.

Was a mental condition he developed in his teenage years, where he’d occasionally snap and do something impulsive, like try and steal your lunch or punch a co-worker or scream racial epithets at random. Was a chemical imbalance in his head, totally not his fault, but with time and medication if could be contained he swore.

I thought he was just another entitled young prick who had thought up some slimy excuse to just do whatever he felt like and blame a medical condition, and told him so.

I was so wrong.

Yee-Ha!

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Excuse me sir?”

“Wha?”

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Sir, my name is Gloria, and I’m-“

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“The Floor Manager on duty.”

“So?”

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Please step away from the machine, sir.”

“Why?”

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“We believe it’s developed a fault.”

“Because I’m on a hot streak?”

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Sir, twenty-seven mini jackpots-“

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Twenty-eight, that’s clearly a fault.”

“No, I’ll keep playing.”

“Yee-Ha, You’ve Struck Gold Pardner!”

“Very well, guards!”

“Better luck next time, pilgrim!”

“…

Dammit.”

Choosing Choice Choices

They say that your choices truly define who you are.

They mean the big choices, the shooting the bad guy/saving the girl choices.

Except that when you end up faced with such a choice, you are shaped by all the little choices made prior to that point, so it’s no real choice at all.

And those little choices? All the influences on your life guide those for the most part, no real choices there.

So in the end, the only choice that matters is the choice to be born or not. And you don’t even get to make that one…

Munchking

My thrall dragged the small sack into my den and then, after kicking it once or twice to stop it squirming, pulled out the small being within and placed it within the rune circle. I regarded the female, as it turned out.

“You sure this is a Gnome?”

“Quite sure, Mistress. Found her hiding among the dwarves, but she’s a gnome!”

“She looks fairly Hobbity to me…”

“Mistress, next you’ll be saying she looks like a Gnoll!”

I glared at my thrall, and it whimpered.

“The spell specifically needs a Gnome.” I explained, casting.

Turns out it was a Leprechaun.

Daily Routine

Eventually, it was as much a part of my day as sleeping and eating. After breakfast, before heading out the door for work, I would sit down and write, or rather type a short note to her.

The tone varied wildly. Some days it was sweet, thanking her for her and being a part of my life.

And others, it was pretty much porn, describing in some detail a carnal act I wanted to perform on her.

And then I’d hit send, and my wife would wake up to a love letter.

Thankfully, so far, she hasn’t discovered the BCC.

The Networking

With thirty million people living in the greater New York area, unexpected meetings between people were still common, even with WiHi and Threadcount and other competing apps people had installed in their chip phones.

People still struck up conversations while waiting for taxis, or got stuck together in weather shelters, new friendships and relationships still began to form despite technology seemingly trying to end all connections that didn’t involve monthly subscription fees.

Sure, the vast majority of meetings did come via the net, but not all, and that was good enough.

Meant I could take it down and not worry.