Chapter Thirteen
A few more days passed. Jay and aimee continued talking on a daily basis. Aimee hadn’t broached the subject of Jay and she getting together. Jay had been waiting for it to be mentioned again, and had convinced himself that he wanted to meet up with her, but now it seemed as if she was not going to mention it. Was it too much for Jay to suggest it himself? Wasn’t that what she was waiting for now?
Jay was thinking about this now instead of working. He had spent most of the afternoon mulling this over instead of working. Since Aimee had started discussing what was really going on outside his apartment, in the city, just outside of his shelter, Jay had found it difficult to concentrate on his work. At first, he found it hard to believe. He had built his life around a series of values that he now found himself questioning. Was he being exploited by the corporation he worked for? Was he being manipulated by the city? How long would it be before he would be selected for the implant Aimee mentioned? And did it even matter?
On a personal level, Jay realised that he had immersed himself so much in his work with machines that he had no idea what it was he was aiming for. He had always concentrated on a life that had been full of his major interests – his work, his music. He had stopped making friends, and after the few disasterous episodes with women in his teens, he had taken his mother’s advice and turned his back on the idea of forming a relationship.
‘It only leads to problems, and complications’ his mother would say, ‘and you won’t have time for what really matter to you.’ At the time, these words made a lot of sense to Jay, and he realised he had suppressed feelings and desires that he found were being reawakened now. Now that Aimee had reentered his life.
Standing up, he realised he could work no more that day. He thought about trying to contact Aimee on the vidphone, but she would be working and it wasn’t fair for him to interrupt her. Jay thought that she would probably find time to talk to him anyway, but he didn’t want to intrude into her work time. She always waited until after she knew Jay had finisehd his work before ringing him, so Jay should respect her and do the same.
He went over to the draw where he kept his flute, opened it, and took the instrument out of its case. He looked at the thing, and suddenly wanted to ask Aimee to start playing again. He thought he would like very much if they could play together again. It was then that he knew this was how he was going to suggest meeting. He was filled with a sense of anxiety, and felt a knot forming in his stomach. Why was it such an unpleasant idea? Why couldn’t he feel excited about meeting her instead of dread?
And what, he wondered, could he do to make the dread go away? Perhaps, he thought, if he could get used to the idea of other people, of being with them, of leaving his coccoon, then he could start to look forward to a first meeting with Aimee?
He wondered if he could teach himself to do this, and he decided that he would start with a trip outside his apartment. It had been so long since he had left that Jay could hardly remember what to expect.
The building where Jay lived contained perhaps four hundred apartments. There were approximately fifty apartments on each of the eight floors. Jay’s apartment was situated on the third floor. There were no windows from Jay’s apartment apart from one that looked out into the internal corridoor, which Jay had covered up. He prefered it that way, and had deliberately selected an apartment that did not have a view of the central offshoot of the Ribtown section of the Great Tunnel. He had no desire to see what other people were doing outside, and wanted to prevent the spying eyes of neighbours with thier telescopes and thier binoculars. He had been sick of the attention of neighbours at his mother’s apartment, which was a block away from his, and which looked out over the Great Tunnel itself.. One side of his mother’s apartment had consisted of windows, but he and his mother had spent most of the time with the blinds closed after they had become sick of spotting prying neighbours with nothing better to do than sit and spy on each other. The blinds had served their purpose, but it had become a purposeless wall as there was no way they could use the space for video. They had bought a machine that projected images onto the white surface of the blinds, but the quality was so inferior to the actual video walls that they stopped using it. For this reason, Jay had taken his time before buying his own apartment to ensure there were no windows.
So, it was a shock when Jay opened the door that led to the third floor corridoor and could see the view out of the window to the street below.
886 words this chapter
9249 words in total
40,751 words to write
17 days left
= 2,397 words a day to write if I want to finish on time
Jay was thinking about this now instead of working. He had spent most of the afternoon mulling this over instead of working. Since Aimee had started discussing what was really going on outside his apartment, in the city, just outside of his shelter, Jay had found it difficult to concentrate on his work. At first, he found it hard to believe. He had built his life around a series of values that he now found himself questioning. Was he being exploited by the corporation he worked for? Was he being manipulated by the city? How long would it be before he would be selected for the implant Aimee mentioned? And did it even matter?
On a personal level, Jay realised that he had immersed himself so much in his work with machines that he had no idea what it was he was aiming for. He had always concentrated on a life that had been full of his major interests – his work, his music. He had stopped making friends, and after the few disasterous episodes with women in his teens, he had taken his mother’s advice and turned his back on the idea of forming a relationship.
‘It only leads to problems, and complications’ his mother would say, ‘and you won’t have time for what really matter to you.’ At the time, these words made a lot of sense to Jay, and he realised he had suppressed feelings and desires that he found were being reawakened now. Now that Aimee had reentered his life.
Standing up, he realised he could work no more that day. He thought about trying to contact Aimee on the vidphone, but she would be working and it wasn’t fair for him to interrupt her. Jay thought that she would probably find time to talk to him anyway, but he didn’t want to intrude into her work time. She always waited until after she knew Jay had finisehd his work before ringing him, so Jay should respect her and do the same.
He went over to the draw where he kept his flute, opened it, and took the instrument out of its case. He looked at the thing, and suddenly wanted to ask Aimee to start playing again. He thought he would like very much if they could play together again. It was then that he knew this was how he was going to suggest meeting. He was filled with a sense of anxiety, and felt a knot forming in his stomach. Why was it such an unpleasant idea? Why couldn’t he feel excited about meeting her instead of dread?
And what, he wondered, could he do to make the dread go away? Perhaps, he thought, if he could get used to the idea of other people, of being with them, of leaving his coccoon, then he could start to look forward to a first meeting with Aimee?
He wondered if he could teach himself to do this, and he decided that he would start with a trip outside his apartment. It had been so long since he had left that Jay could hardly remember what to expect.
The building where Jay lived contained perhaps four hundred apartments. There were approximately fifty apartments on each of the eight floors. Jay’s apartment was situated on the third floor. There were no windows from Jay’s apartment apart from one that looked out into the internal corridoor, which Jay had covered up. He prefered it that way, and had deliberately selected an apartment that did not have a view of the central offshoot of the Ribtown section of the Great Tunnel. He had no desire to see what other people were doing outside, and wanted to prevent the spying eyes of neighbours with thier telescopes and thier binoculars. He had been sick of the attention of neighbours at his mother’s apartment, which was a block away from his, and which looked out over the Great Tunnel itself.. One side of his mother’s apartment had consisted of windows, but he and his mother had spent most of the time with the blinds closed after they had become sick of spotting prying neighbours with nothing better to do than sit and spy on each other. The blinds had served their purpose, but it had become a purposeless wall as there was no way they could use the space for video. They had bought a machine that projected images onto the white surface of the blinds, but the quality was so inferior to the actual video walls that they stopped using it. For this reason, Jay had taken his time before buying his own apartment to ensure there were no windows.
So, it was a shock when Jay opened the door that led to the third floor corridoor and could see the view out of the window to the street below.
886 words this chapter
9249 words in total
40,751 words to write
17 days left
= 2,397 words a day to write if I want to finish on time
posted by blog-efl at 13.11.04
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