Gee Whillickers

I hadn’t been home from school for ten minutes when it happened. I had just said bye to Jeremy, let my bike fall with a clatter onto the concrete beside the house, used my key to unlock the back door and then let my backpack whump onto the kitchen floor while simultaneously opening the fridge with my other hand. All business as usual after a hard day at Junior High School. I grabbed a can of iced tea, put a package of frozen ground beef into cold water to thaw, like the note on the fridge from my mom said, and then kicked my backpack nearer the kitchen table for homework a bit later. I walked into the family room, thumbing on the monitor and computer while guzzling iced-tea. I was swallowing my third gulp when the front door caved in. It was the loudest crash I’d ever heard. I literally jumped. And spit iced tea all over Mom’s cream coloured carpet. Confusion, mixed with fear as I turned to face the door of the family room, just half a flight of steps down from the splintered front door on our split level. Several large men ran in through the smashed door frame and over the broken door on the floor. I froze. What else could I do? I had no idea what the fuck was going on. I did however notice several things as the men fanned out into the house. They were all carrying very large guns. They were all wearing uniforms, helmets, and what I think were bullet-proof vests. With the letters SWAT clearly emblazoned all over them on the front and back. One of the men came downstairs, his gun pointing the way. He saw me. He stopped, his weapon pointed much too close in my direction for comfort. His eyes widened. He yelled to the others, “Here he is!” The first words spoken by any of them since the smashed into my house. All the men immediately stopped what they were doing and with military precision ran into the room and surrounded me. They all raised their weapons, with me in the centre of the half dozen armed and armoured men around me. Then, they all turned their backs to me. Weapons raised, all of them peering intently around them, listening hard, I heard a small sound from outside. “They’re coming,” one of the men whispered.

I came across this story and intended to come here and post a link to it too. But Joe beat me to it. As I read the news article I couldn't help but muse to myself, "This really sounds like a Cole Parker story." Now I just have to await Cole's version of this! Here's the story I came across on the same event: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/22/teenage-boys-wear-skirts-to-school-protest-no-shorts-uniform-policy Now, Cole, get to it!

http://i.imgur.com/E80gq7U.mp4 You can just feel his sense of accomplishment when he finally landed it.

This was an enchanting read. The dialogue, the descriptions, the emotions, and how it all tied together. Just an excellent story.

Thanks for the comments. :) As always, invisible typos suddenly have glaring spotlights illuminating them as soon as a story goes live. I'll have to get them fixed up. Sorry about those!

Look for my new short story coming soon. It's about..... Well, let's not spoil it, shall we? Suffice it to say that it's based loosely on true events. And involves pins.

https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/same-sex-marriage-policy-linked-to-drop-in-teen-suicide-attempts

Most are going to think, "Well, that's interesting and all, but so what? It's only useful for people who study that sort of thing." However, it is possible this will have some interesting implications politically and economically due to the loose standards on what constitutes a Maritime Border. One of the criteria used is that all waters above a country's continental shelf are within their jurisdiction in terms of resources, shipping rights, legal reach, etc. So, this could end up being an interesting debate.

Interesting. This is new information for me, and I trust you understand that this certainly wasn't what I was intending or alluding to. Nor was I alluding to the other topics mentioned in the post above. These topics are obviously important to you, and I can understand why. Might you consider starting a topic on one or more of these subjects in the relevant forum section? I think it would lead to some interesting discussion. As a person who, several decades ago, worked extensively helping folks ensure they were receiving their treaty 7 rights and other basic rights, I can understand your passion on this and related subjects.

Just read this one, Cole. Wonderful story! Somehow I was reminded of the tone of some of your earlier stories while reading this one. I'm not sure if that was done by you intentionally or not, but either way I found myself noticing this. I really liked Eric. He calls Logan one of the 'smart kids' but he's certainly no slouch either! Quite the clever lad. Well done, as always. Thanks for that one.

Hi, snowblind94, and welcome to AD. Looks like you may have read rather more into my comment than I intended! Sorry about that. We *are* all immigrants or descended from immigrants, of course, and that's all I meant. There's lots there in your post, you allude to treaty 6 and treaty 7, which I certainly have my own thoughts on! And, of course, the many crimes perpetrated by so many against innocents. I agree, horrible and unforgivable. I wasn't however, attempting to bring those particular topics up in my post, worthy topics as they may be! I look forward to your participation here.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!

This is going to keep me busy for a while. There's a few there that I've missed reading over the years.

As long as I don't have to shovel it or drive through it, I'm good!! I have enough of that here already! *Grumble*

Block heaters are standard here. If you don't plug your car in, you're not going anywhere in the morning. To be fair, modern electronic fuel ignition engines are amazing at starting even in really cold weather, but that doesn't help when the battery just groans and turns over for another 8 hours of sleep! As for push starting engines, oh I remember that all too well! I still have to do it often, every summer. Fortunately, motorbikes are a bit easier to push and pop. Students are always stalling and killing the batteries, so we bump 'em back to life. Good exercise!

Call me a traditionalist. I like the old colour scheme. The falling snow on the other hand.... I mean, it's kinda cool, but it's distracting after a while, and I want to turn it off. And I can just look out the window if I feel a hankering for snow and really miss thinking about shoveling my sidewalk and driving on icy roads. I'm being triggered Mike!!! To be fair, it's not snowing at the moment. Too cold. It rarely snows much when it's below -23 Celcius. It usually has to warm up to around -15 or warmer before it really snows. There are, of course, exceptions.

This, I think, is what made his character work so well. Like all of us, he had contradictions and his own demons to wrestle.

“I can’t believe it! They’re still acting as if everything is...normal. Well, not really, but they’re still not getting it!” John looked up from his macroscope and replied to Ed, “I know. I figured this would work for sure. It would be the way to warn them. To let them know that their spacetime is in peril, and that what is happening to them now simply can’t be happening without outside influence changing reality.” Ed looked up from his own macroscope where he was watching the events in the universe under discussion. His face showed he was pondering something. “We need to really make this obvious. Something they simply can’t ignore. Something so ludicrous that someone in there will sit up, look around, and say, if you’ll excuse my French, ‘What the living fuck?! This can’t be real!’” “What are you suggesting, Ed?” asked John. Ed walked over to the quantum foam displacement generator. “I’m gonna really get in their heads. I’m going to put exactly the wrong people in every important position. Exactly the opposite ones that should be there.” John’s eyes widened, then he chuckled. “You really have a mean streak, Ed. I wouldn’t have realized it if I didn’t see it. What’ll you think they’ll do?” “They’ll flip, obviously. They stop what’s happening, then try and figure out how this could have happened. Hopefully that’ll get them researching quantum foam displacment generators so they can save their reality from the coming false vacuum collapse.” John turned back to his macroscope, as did Ed. They adjusted the relative passage of time so they could watch months in minutes. “Well, crap.” Ed sat down on a nearby chair, looking completely defeated. John was chewing on his lower lip, leaning on the lab bench that held his macroscope. “What is wrong with these people? This is completely bizarre. Don’t they see this simply can’t be? I mean, sure, lots of them are moaning, complaining, talking about how horrible this is. But nobody seems to be twigging that it just can’t be!” “Well,” answered Ed, getting up and walking towards the lunchroom, “Nothing we can do about it now. If they refuse to sit up and look around, then they got it coming to ‘em, that’s for sure. So weird. How the hell did they ever crawl out of caves? Oh well.” John just nodded, shut down the equipment, and followed Ed to the lunchroom.

I just read this story. A nicely complex science fiction story with some very interesting characters. I can tell a lot of thought and effort was put into the SF plot device and into how this would affect the characters and the plot. Well done and good work. I must admit though, I figured out the surprise ending a chapter or two before the ending, as it was the only thing that seemed to make sense to me in the context of the story.

Hahahah. Well, not to burst your bubble, but believe me, we have more than our fair share of ass hats here already. Not to mention scandals, dirty politics, underhanded dealings, celeb-u-tards (sorry again for Justin Beiber) and everything else. Not quite paradise, believe me. Why, just today on the way to the grocery store someone cut me off and and almost forgot to apologize for a whole three seconds!! And I actually had to pay a whole dollar fifty in the parking meter last time I was at the clinic for my free health care! Sheesh!! But it is a bit amusing when folks think they can pack a suitcase and move to this country like they're moving down the block, with no thought to immigration qualifications, residency requirements, capital in the bank, necessary skills, etc. Acquiring a permanent residency card (same as a Green Card in the US) is a bit more daunting than most realize. The vast majority simply won't qualify for one reason or another. Unless they can get refugee status, due to human rights abuses in their home country. With the way things are going, I'm starting to wonder...

Very well written article. And for many, much too close to home.

I haven't set foot on US soil for four years now, and my gut feelings about the mood and sentiment of average folks comes primarily from social media and other similar sources. This often gives a skewed and biased viewpoint, very different from working with and talking to average folks living their lives in an environment. So, how delicate are things? What is the general sentiment? Is it closer to 'grumble, hold on, and ride it out for four years (or at least two while waiting for mid-terms)', or is it more 'buy bulletproof windows and siding for the house, and set up the living room artillery a bit more to the left for better sightlines. Get ready, here we go....' Our current PM, Justin Trudeau, was very careful to not make inflammatory statements about either Clinton or Trump during the US election, unlike the leaders of many countries. However other MPs were not so careful. I have little doubt there will be repercussions. The US is Canada's largest trading partner. And Canada is the US's largest trading partner. The economic impact on this country tends to be felt rather quickly when significant things happen in the US. Social impact isn't far behind, and often ahead. Southern British Columbia was changed forever during the Vietnam era. A huge portion of US draft dodgers settled and made their lives in the Nelson, BC area. Many of them are still there, now retired. Their politics and and personalities made the Nelson area what it is today, quirky and different, and really quite fascinating.

Ah yes, as the ancient Chinese fortune/curse goes: May you live in interesting times. Things just got real, real interesting! Sheesh.