Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
5:35 AM swept by.
The sun didn’t show.
The FIC (Floof-in-charge) gave that a whiskery frown. They’d been on the job for over six centuries. The sunrising thingy had a rhythm they’d notice after a few years on the job. Maybe they’d missed something on the schedule. Consulting it, they confirmed Sunday, June 6, 2021…
Nothing scheduled. Sunrise, 5:35 AM.
Pulling out the cosmo communicator, they called up to the regional system overseer. “This is the Ashland FIC. We were supposed to have a sunrise at 5:35.” They were looking around as they were talking. No sunlight. Not even false dawn. The birds were muttering about it. Bears, cats, and nocturnal animals milled around, wondering what was going on.
“What’s the problem?” the overseer said in their nasally voice.
“There’s no sunrise.” The FIC then wondered. “Did the sun rise everywhere else on schedule?” It seemed implausible that it was an Ashland-only issue, but equally amazing that it’d happened elsewhere and went unreported.
“Shit,” the overseer said. “The sun didn’t rise anywhere. Shit!”
The line went dead. The FIC looked at the cosmic communicator. A fox came up. “What’s going on? Where’s the sun?” A couple crows joined him, nodding their heads in agreement. “We have things to do,” the crows said.
“It’s coming,” the FIC mumbled, calling the overseer back.
“What?” the overseer asked. “Kind of busy now. If this isn’t an emergency — “
“I know, I’m the one — what’s going on with the sun?”
“Oh, yeah, you. We’re going to roll the day back. The sun was, um, indisposed this morning, so, um, ah, anyway, let everyone know, we’re rolling back time so that sunrise commences on schedule. They won’t notice a thing. Tell them to just be patient.”
A few seconds later, the FIC looked up as the sun swept past the eastern horizon at 5:35 AM. Right on schedule.
They snorted. Sure. Hopefully, all would go well when the sun was due to set at 8:44 PM, but they weren’t going to hold their breath.
“Through Glass” by Stone Sour (2006) is playing through my head. Something about how some days feel like forever. Ever notice that? Happened a lot when I was a child. Look at the clock, waiting for it to advance, wondering if it was possible that time stopped, or was it just the clock?
Anyway, here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers
Floofgate (floofinition) – A scandal involving animals.
In use: “The latest floofgate — given the more specific name of messgate — was the overturned kitchen trash can and broken, upended Christmas cactus. The cat and dog, knowing something wrong had been done but aware she didn’t know the floofpetrator — or had they been in floofhoots? — stayed motionless on either end of the sofa, watching her with large eyes, waiting.”
This was a wild one. Beginning with me dressed in faded raspberry-colored running shorts and a tee shirt, I ran up and down this mountain, receiving, carrying, and delivering messages. The weather was fine, the mountain, high, rocky, and steep, but dotted with bushes and trees. The more I did it, the more effortless it became. I was having fun and getting in great shape, becoming trimmer and more muscular.
All walks of people from my life lined the mountains as I went about my business, including sisters, wife, and friends from different life eras. I stopped to chat with some on some runs. Many commented on my improved physical form, which, yes, made me happy.
A break was taken for a meal. My mother- and father-in-law, both deceased, were present, along with my wife, cousins, and others. Overall, it was a small gathering. My father-in-law and I were preparing the meal, with him more or less guiding me as I worked out what needed to be done. People were seated, waiting to be served. They were along one wall, backs to it, with a table in front of him. I noted that the table was too high and said so to my father-in-law. A cousin pointed out that folded tables along the wall would probably work. I unfolded one and confirmed its height was the ideal height for an eating surface.
I drifted off to another location. We discovered time was going backward. Was it time going backward or our perception that was askew? Perhaps reality was twisted, or was it just our perception of reality. Or was it just the clocks going backwards? Tests were made and the conclusion was reached, yes, time seemed to be going in reverse. Sunrises became sunsets. People, cars, and animals traveled backward. What was causing this and what did it mean?
I discovered that I could drink water and return the clocks to their normal running. Something would happen to cause the reverse order. We learned what but I can’t recall it now. Whenever that happened, though, I drank water and all returned to normal. After testing this for myself and verifying it, I started showing it to the others and explaining it. I discovered that I lost my running shorts, so I was naked from the waist down. That didn’t bother me, or anyone else. I demonstrated again and again that my drinking water restored proper reality. As I showed it to the collective, each required personal observation that it worked. The question became, would drinking water restore reality for others?
That’s when the dream ended.
Today’s magic numbers in Ashland are… (Drumroll please.) 5:46 AM and 8:43 PM. These are the times when the Earth’s natural movement brings that sun into our area and takes it back away.
Cool air dominates today. We did hit 90 degrees F yesterday. Today it looks like high seventies/low eighties for us today.
The music comes from exchanges on someone else’s blog site. Medication was the topic, and the warning, “Don’t take whatever drug if you’re allergic to it.” Nice disclaimer, trying to shift blame from the medical profession over to the patient. “We told him not to take it if he’s allergic to it.” Meanwhile, most meds come with disclaimers about all the stuff they might do to you while they’re fixing you. You’ve probably heard/seen them, so I won’t repeat them. Naturally, they have drugs to deal with the side effects of your drugs. Then the drugs you take to fix those side effects have their own side effects, for which more drugs are prescribed. Like a pyramid scheme, isn’t it?
That took me to thinking about drug and pills and a song about the same from 2005, “Save Me” by Shinedown.
Someone save me if you will
And take away all these pills
And please just save me if you can
From my blasphemy in my wasteland
How did I get here
And what went wrong
Couldn’t handle forgiveness
Now I’m far beyond gone
h/t AZLyrics.com
We often ask ourselves, “How did I get here? What went wrong?” Sometimes you didn’t do anything wrong. You just lived and shit happened. Genetics asserted themselves. You got trapped in another’s mess. A bullet goes astray, a car misses a turn, a good intention goes awry, a politician lies. Hell, the way messes are built and multiplied, it’s easy enough in this modern existence, innit?
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Cheers
Floofucheato (floofinition) – Animal who regularly steals from people or other animals.
In use: “The Prince, as the little Yorkie was usually called, was a floofucheato, stealing doughnuts, bacon, and snacks with brash aplomb, along with towels, socks, slippers, keys, and TV remote controls. Nothing was safe from the polite little thief.”
“Should I try to do some more? Twenty-five or six to four.”
That’s how it briefly felt (befuddled and dazed), trying to scope the time when a dream’s sharp end poked me suddenly awake. Turned out to be 2:33 AM. A trip to release some fluids was in order, followed by a need to add more fluids. Cats, curious about what I’m doing up, seeing an opportunity for a meal, cosied up with purrs and mips. I opened the back door and let cool mountain air and clear starlight seduce me for a few minutes before regular programming was resumed.
Sunrise on June fourth Friday of 2021 came a few hours later, 5:46 AM. We ended up over ninety F yesterday. The weather masters all insist that today will top out in the high eighties, same claim as yesterday, so I believe we’ll peek into the low nineties before the Earth’s movement takes the sun out of our sky at 8:43 PM.
While ambulating about the hills yesterday, “I Ain’t the One” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973) started playing in my mind. I’d been thinking about conspiracy theories, partly because, news, reading of the fiction and non-fiction type, and partly, you know, fiction writing. In fiction land, I’d just finished reading “The Searcher” by Tana French a few days ago, and am now into “The Long Way Home” by Louise Penny along with “A House in the Neighborhood” by Bob Mustin, enjoying them all. Before that lot, I’d read several Lee Child books from the Jack Reacher series, and a few by each by Jonathan Kellerman, Craig Johnson, and Keigo Higashino. Parallel to them, I read “The Grammarians” and just finished reading “The Fifth Risk” by Michael Lewis. Almost all these feature some conspiracy theory thinking. Happens naturally when things happen in fiction and explanations are tasted for what and why. Over in the non-fiction side, “The Fifth Risk” is about DOE concerns about the U.S. electric grid and the Trump administration’s approach to things. Their approach included conspiracy theories about what bureaucrats and political appointees are up to. An interesting albeit painful read.
I queried my head about what conspiracies have to do with “I Ain’t the One”. It took a while of noodling to realize that buried at the song’s end was the clue. Here’s the song’s final lyrics.
Got bells in your mind, mama
And it’s easy to see
I think it’s time for me to move along
I do believe
I must be in the middle of some kind of conspiracy
Lynyrd Skynyrd – I Ain’t the One Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
I muttered a bit at my mind about that feeble connection. I mean, come on, man.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and please get the vax. Cheers.
Michael Seidel, writer 