Life is Short: The Collected Short Fiction of Shawn Inmon by Inmon Shawn & Inmon Shawn

Author:Inmon, Shawn & Inmon, Shawn [Inmon, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Pertime Publishing
Published: 2017-02-01T16:00:00+00:00

Like most long-married couples, Chad and Sarah had a set routine. Sarah was invariably wide awake by six AM, and got up to start coffee. By the time Chad’s phone chimed him awake, the aroma worked the magic that enabled him to heave himself out of bed. Chad wasn’t a morning person, so Sarah customarily watched The Gab—an informal, inane roundtable between four D-list female celebrities and a guest, sometimes a male for them to toy with. While Sarah watched her show, she made breakfast in silence. She left Chad to stumble around for at least an hour before saying anything more to him than “Good morning, hun.”

On the first morning after the ExerTracker arrived, though, Chad’s eyes fluttered open at 5 AM. His daily fog of slogging incomprehension was absent, replaced by preternatural alertness. Even more odd, he felt motivated. He glanced down at the band on his left arm. It stared innocuously back at him.

What do they do, slip some sort of amphetamine into this thing?

Chad silently slipped out of bed and started toward the shower when a new thought occurred to him. I’m up ahead of schedule. I could go for a nice little walk and still be back here before Sarah wakes up. Instead of the shower, he took a quick pit stop to relieve himself, then opened the bottom dresser drawer. Stuffed at the back was a pair of dark blue sweats, the residue of a previous let’s-get-into-shape venture that had crashed and burned after less than a week.

He slipped on the sweats, remembered that he had a new pair of Nikes at the back of his closet, put them on, and walked downstairs. At the front door, a question crossed his mind: do I have to shake this thing to wake it up? He fished his iPhone out of his pocket, opened the Azuul ExerTracker app and saw a reading: “Daily Activity: 48 steps. Let’s get moving!”

Chad took two tentative steps forward and watched, fascinated, as the number rolled over to 50. He shook his head and smiled a little. What’s next? A machine that exercises for you? Broccoli that tastes like a cheeseburger?

He remembered to put on his headphones and open the audio file he had downloaded the night before. A swell of classical music filled his ears as a smooth baritone voice said, “Welcome. Welcome to the first day of your new life.” He opened the door and saw an unfamiliar sight: the pink glow of a sunrise just beginning to bathe his neighborhood. It was cool, but not cold, and Chad decided he didn’t need his jacket.

Maybe just one quick lap around the neighborhood. That will be enough for the first walk.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, he felt the crunch of the leaves that had fallen overnight. The early-rising birds were chirping.

It’s like a goddamned Disney movie out here.

Across the street, Sam Savage waved at him, a surprised little wave that said both 'Hello' and 'What in the hell are you

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