The First Ones by Michael Weinberger

Author:Michael Weinberger [Weinberger, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Purple Mountain Publishing
Published: 2019-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17: Big Ben

The food that Benjamin kept in his refrigerator was exquisite. The “deli meat” turned out to be artisan cured meats and cheeses, along with freshly squeezed orange, apple and grape juices that were more than fortifying, making Jet realize just how famished he had become. Ursula insisted that he eat his fill, saying that Ben would replace everything, simply by taking a trip into the enormous farmer’s market on Granville Island, after they left.

“Isn’t this stuff expensive?” Jet asked.

“Very,” Ursula confirmed, “but Ben can easily afford it.”

Jet looked around the warehouse and took in the sights of what appeared to be a person living in relative squalor, “So, he can afford it and he’s got a helicopter as well?”

Seeing Jet’s confusion Ursula smiled and said, “Ben is very wealthy, but he chooses to live here because people leave him alone, and the city doesn’t put any restrictions on what he wants to work on in this part of town.”

Jet could see a look in Ursula’s eyes that appeared like pride when she spoke of Benjamin. Crap, he thought, she still loved the guy. He wondered why she had left him. He really wanted to ask, but it didn’t seem like his place to do so.

Ursula walked over to the workbench and something caught her eye. She moved a couple of dirty work rags aside, revealing a laptop computer underneath the debris.

“This is new,” Ursula said as she rested a hand on the laptop, and then gently opened it. The screen immediately illuminated and the home page of YouTube materialized into view. The top of the screen listed the username “Dirtlover” and a list of “subscriptions” was stacked to one side.

Ursula used the touch pad and directed the cursor to the “favorites” section, as Jet said, “Ursula? That might not be such a good idea.”

“Why?” she responded.

Jet said uncomfortably, “It’s kind of…prying.”

“It’s YouTube,” Ursula dismissed, “Not like I’m going to stumble on his porn stash in here.”

“No, I suppose not, but…”

Ursula waved a hand, “I can’t even imagine he has a computer, much less that he’s tuned in to YouTube. I just want to see what he might be watching, although my guess would be that it’s a bunch of ‘how to’ stuff.”

The favorite’s page flashed and a list of over one hundred favorites were stacked to one side of the screen.

“W…What?” Ursula stammered.

Jet heard the surprise in Ursula’s voice, “So, not what you expected.”

“No…” Ursula’s voice was weak as if she might start crying again.

Jet moved next to Ursula and read the headline of the first video that Ben had saved to his “favorites” section.

“The Raymond’s find out they are going to be first time Grandparents.”

The next video headline read:

“Surprise engagement on Christmas morning.”

And the next:

“Soldier surprises kids at school after coming home from Iraq.”

Jet regarded the headlines and marveled, “That mountain sized man is a fan of family reaction videos?”

“I…I guess so,” Ursula managed.

Jet went down the list of headlines and found that there were a disproportionate number of “new grandparents” videos, as compared to the rest.

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