The Bar in the Middle of Nowhere by Tom Abrahams

Author:Tom Abrahams [Abrahams, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798689146966
Google: Cl_dzQEACAAJ
Amazon: B089NY37TG
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2020-09-21T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Winston stood outside his apartment. Exhaustion gripped him as he unlocked his home with biometric and voice commands and stepped inside. The door shut behind him and he slinked to the kitchen. From the stove top he pulled a kettle. He filled it with water and then turned on the heat.

“Bring to a boil, Julia,” he said. “I’m making tea.”

“Of course,” said the pleasant voice of Metropolis’s artificial intelligence. “I’ll alert you when the water reaches one hundred degrees centigrade. Tea sounds delicious.”

“Thank you.”

Winston wasn’t sure why he’d told her he wanted to make tea. It’s not as if Julia would pluck the Darjeeling or Ceylon from the cupboard and manually steep it. She was a computer and not a companion. Though, the older he got and the less likely he was to find a mate, she was as close to a roommate as he might ever have. Especially given the impending attack on Metropolis.

He leaned on the counter next to the sink and looked out the windows opposite him. It was late in the day. Golden and amber light glinted off the glass towers outside his own. They blocked his view of anything other than the endlessly ricocheting reflections of other buildings. He was thirty-five floors off the ground but twenty from the penthouse. Higher than most but lower than some. Such was the way of his life.

As he stared at the light, he lost himself in thought. Few were the moments where Winston could drift from this place and be at peace. This was one, however, and he relished it.

He left the kitchen and padded across the floor to a thin metal bookshelf, which covered part of one wall perpendicular to the windows. He ran his fingers across the spines of the books like a pianist across the keys, testing out the sensation and hoping for inspiration.

He stopped at a red spine embossed with gold-leaf lettering. A smile snuck onto his face and he pulled the volume from the shelf. Winston didn’t have many possessions. But he had books. It was all he needed.

The heft of the book felt good in his hands, and he drew it to his nose. He inhaled the musty aroma of old paper and ink. This was a classic. It was a collectible that somehow survived generations. He’d bought it from an old commander who was selling his library in the lobby of 101M. Of all the tomes for sale, this one spoke to Winston, and he paid the hefty price for it. Two weeks’ salary. Patton made fun of him for wasting precious money on a book. Winston ignored him.

Now he sat in his chair, the only piece of furniture in the main living space of the apartment, and asked Julia to dim the glare on the windows and elevate the lighting in the room. She did as he asked.

“Of course, Mr. Winston,” she chimed.

He set the book in his lap and traced the title, then did the same with the author’s name.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.