SHORT STORY
Chloe sat on a plastic bench by the harbour, waiting for the boat that would take her to the island.
"I'm waiting for Josephine, Miss" said an elderly man as he sat beside her. Chloe sighed inwardly. She did not feel like talking and after all, she did not know this man sitting beside, nor did she know any one called Josephine.
"She'll be on the next ferry," he continued, " Are you taking the next ferry?" His voice was pleasant, lilting and light. Chloe glanced at her watch, she still had two hours to wait. Dilemma. She wanted quiet, she wanted to be on her own. Still, a question had been asked and a reply was needed.
"Yes," she responded in a quiet voice, " I'll be taking the next ferry." He nodded and seemed satisfied. It lulled him into a thoughtful silence. Chloe took the opportunity in this silence to steal a quick glance at him. He was of a grandfatherly age, his face lined with wrinkles and his pale blue eyes reflected a sadness. He wore a crisp, black suit with a white shirt and black tie. His black shoes were polished so thoroughly that you could see your face in them. His attire was a bit bizarre for a stroll by the harbour. He seemed to be wearing the sort of clothes you would wear to a funeral. Chloe thought she'd snatched a brief glance but when his eyes met hers she realised she must have been staring. She smiled quickly and a little too widely hoping it would serve as an apology.
The sea lapped lazily at the side of the harbour and the sun shone down on them. Chloe liked this man, he reminded her that she was without a grandfather and that he might do the job well. In a bid to pass the time away more quickly Chloe attempted to find out a bit more about him.
" Who is Josephine?" he looked startled when she asked this question.
"Josephine, is the girl I am waiting for." This reply was a little cryptic but his voice was loving. " Why are you going to the island?" he asked Chloe attempting to take the conversation away from Josephine.
" I have sort of ...... run away. I need some time and space to help sort things out in my head." He nodded as though he knew exactly what Chloe was talking about.
" The island is a good place for quiet thinking" he said in a melancholy voice. Chloe was still curious about Josephine.
"Does Josephine live on the island?"
"Not any more, She's coming back now on the ferry you'll be taking over there.
"Is she your wife?"
"No" After a few minutes of silence Chloe spotted the ferry approaching.
" Can you see her?" she asked, watching his blue eyes scan and scour the figures on the deck and on the gangplank. "Josephine, is she there?" But he is too busy combing the crowd to answer.
Now the deck is deserted, the gangplank bare and the passengers dispersed. He turns to Chloe,
"I'm waiting for Josephine," he tells her looking disorientated and down. Chloe feels concerned for him and cross with Josephine.
"Why don't I take the next ferry? I could wait with you." Chloe suggested.
"No, no, the island awaits you. I'm waiting for Josephine, she'll be here soon. Perhaps on the next ferry."
Chloe shuffled and wished him well. He said good luck but his watery eyes are else where, forever scanning. As the ferry moved she ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Now the deck is deserted, the gangplank bare and the passengers dispersed. He turns to Chloe,
"I'm waiting for Josephine," he tells her looking disorientated and down. Chloe feels concerned for him and cross with Josephine.
"Why don't I take the next ferry? I could wait with you." Chloe suggested.
"No, no, the island awaits you. I'm waiting for Josephine, she'll be here soon. Perhaps on the next ferry."
Chloe shuffled and wished him well. He said good luck but his watery eyes are else where, forever scanning. As the ferry moved she watched his figure diminish. A part of her wanted to be back with him but anyway, Josephine had probably just missed the boat.
After Chloe had spent two days on the island she felt ready to go back home. On the final day he hired a bike for the morning. It was old and rickety but she didn't notice this as she sailed down deserted lanes with the hush and rustle of long grass damping down the creaks of the bicycle. Chloe felt good and solitary, alone but not lonely. As she cycled though she noticed a figure entwined in weeds and grass. As she moved the grass and weeds away she could see the form of a little girl captured in bronze. Her pinafore dress was caught in a flutter of wind and her little ankle boots were laced up tight and tied with a bow. The girl was about six years old and held a posy of flowers in her small motionless hands. The statue was streaked with green-grey which showed its age. Below the figure a small plaque stood with the words
Josephine
950 - 1956
Chloe's eyes began to fill up with tears as she realised who Josephine was. She gathered up a small posy of flowers and placed them in front of the statue.
"Here Josephine, from him to you."
When she was back at the hotel she approached Martha the landlady, a small woman in her sixties.
"Martha, who was Josephine?" With a sad tired shake of her head Martha gazed into the middle distance at a point not visible to Chloe.
"Little Josephine Birch, a prettier petal you could not have found. She was always full of joy. She found a boat, but, although we drum it into our kids heads not to play in the water, somehow this boat was just too irresistible. She wanted to follow her daddy to work. Only the boat was found. We searched for days, for months. Her dad, Sam, was distraught. His waking hours became pain, his sleep purgatory, his heart all but died. He left the island and he has never returned."
Chloe was anxious as she neared the land. She couldn't see him but she knew he was there, she knew he was there every day. She felt wretched that she was just one of the many passengers causing him torment for not being Josephine. When the boat had docked, she smiled in his direction but his pale blue eyes were too involved in searching for someone else to have noticed her.
" I'm waiting for Josephine," he said to no-one in particular. She turned her head away and merged, anonymous and useless into the crowd.
A short story set in the future
RAGE REGAL
Hello my name is rage. You are probably thinking now that who named this girl. Well I have always had that question on my mind as well. From what I remember about my childhood (which I might add is not much) is mostly living in this house with about thirty other children who did not have parents either and we lived off our worldwide drug Elate, bread and water. I was told from the older kids that my mother dropped me off there one day. She told the kids that she had been diagnosed with AIDS, and she was going to commit suicide. So my best friend, Sky, she was one of the older kids and she took care of me for my early years. I lived there until I was about 16, then I moved in with Jeremy, my boyfriend and started a family. Anyway back to our drug Elate. You may have an idea what this drug is, I have no idea if it will sill exist when you receive this letter or you may have never heard of the drug before. So let me explain. I have heard that people used to call it "cocaine" or something in that form. And I have also heard that people used to actually pay for this stuff, and used to go in "prison" if they were caught with it or on it. Well now it is completely different, we have to be on it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week etc... The drug Elate, brings all the others and me such a high, and has got me through some pretty bad times in my life. You already know my mother died from it and I presume my father did also; that is why we start our lives so early in our society. The older kids have prepared us. They told us that our lives only last about forty years, if we are lucky. But forty years of being high; that is the way I want to live my life. Who really like's reality in the first place. The only down sides of this drug is that my nose hurts all the time and I do not sleep, nor eat much. The drug makes me feel full. It is our choice whether we want to sniff the stuff or inject it
or do both. I personally switch with both methods every few months.
Well I think I should talk about the world today that is the point of this letter. None of my friend's have parents; actually a few still do that are in critical condition. They have either died from heart failure or caught the AIDS disease from needles. I think sometimes when I am feeling low about the future and how I will not see my kids far into the future. I do get sad, but at least I know that their lives cannot turn out bad. I have lived the same life they may live, maybe there's will be better, but maybe not. Of course I hope the best for them and will do all that I can for them while I am still around.
I am not employed but my boyfriend is, he is employed at a factory that makes "Shawkers". If you do not know what shawkers are they are shoes that walk for you with mechanical little legs that move. They were just brought out a few years ago by some professor Shepherd I think it was and apparently he almost didn't get his lone by asking for too much money, but now everyone has Shawkers. So people would not have to walk
anymore. The main reason also for these shoes was because people would just walk into things and end up hurt or knocked out, so these shoes look for you. Also there are no such things are "automobiles", I think they were called. Because people who are high cannot drive properly and the population decreased vastly, after the new law passed about Elate.
All other drugs were wiped out because when they passed the law nobody wanted anything else but Elate. And also if you are caught without Elate in your blood you are killed on the spot. I do not understand the people that do not want to be on the drug, it gives me rushes of excitements and confidence in myself. And I see life more clearly when I am on Elate and I feel cleverer.
I have been with the same boyfriend since I was 11. I have known him all my life; we lived in the same home that I was brought to when I was a baby. Then later Jeremy moved out when at the age of twelve and got a job and got an apartment with a few other guys. And that is where I live now, and we are getting married there in two days. I heard from the older kids that there used to be some pre-marriage thing, well that does not exist anymore. You just get married when you want to and where you want, and there is no legal procedure anymore when you get married. Also Divorce does not exist any more in our society; people haven't had a divorce in over forty years. If you are experiencing unhappiness in your marriage you go see a councillor and they either up your dose of Elate or lower it, of either you or your husband. Who ever in the marriage is
feeling the problems?
I have had two great tragedies in my lifetime that is a lot in our society; most tragedies do not happen to people. One was when my best friend, who's name was sky, whom I have been best friend with since I was born. About three months ago she decided that she wanted to risk her life and try a day without being high, even though this was hard to get off of it, she did it and was sober for one month. People started to catch on because Elate is delivered to your house every other morning and she would not take it. When the police found out around one and half months ago they went to her house and killed her on the spot. This was very sad to me because she was my best friend and she was like my mother, she was five years older than I was and she took care of me till I was old enough to take care of myself. She had no parents either so she knew what it is like. I never understood why she would want to risk her own life just to be sober. And when she told me her idea in the beginning I had no idea it would go this far, I thought she would only be sober for one or two days no more, why would you want to be?
The only other thing was when my first child whose was named Draw; he was only one year of age. And he went to someone's doorstep and stole their Elate, and took more than he could handle for his poor little body and died from heart failure. And at that point in my life I was only 14, so his death hit me hard, and made Jeremy and I think how important our children are to us. We are different from all our friends in that way, they all have kids and dump them off in a home or out them on the streets, I believe otherwise. I have really thought about life in general lately. Especially when I take more mg of Elate, I believe that there are only three important things in my life. Elate, my boyfriend, and my children. That is all that matters to me and pretty much to every average Joe you would run into on these streets. I could never imagine those people in the old days that could live without Elate. It keeps all of us going and sane, and obviously someone realised that, or it would not be what we live for. Or what some people die for. And I know that because we take Elate knowing that our lives are shortened because of it, but it is worth every minute of it.
As I said before I have no idea what your lifetime is like, or if it is exactly the same. In a way I hope It is different, because maybe by then they can find a drug that is just the same but does not do that much damage to a person, and could maybe let them live longer. You probably had no idea opening up a time capsule like this that there would be a letter, but because in our society we do not have much information about the lifetimes before us I thought I would contribute to the future, in my own little way.