Day 24: Pobject's Walkie-Talkie

Once there were
brains big enough to dream
there were dreams,
Silurian science fiction

made of walkie-talkies and
automobiles and
interstellar flight,

worlds away from uncircumscribed
swamps.

Day 15: Lobject's Walkie Talkie

I will try to explain how best friends

talked after bedtime without cell phones

such creativity wasn’t found on YouTube

someone older, bigger had to explain

we had to listen, imagine, remember

gather two tins cans, scissors, string

long enough to bridge our windows

without anyone figuring out what

we were up to or it wouldn’t work

It might seem hard to believe

that sound can pass through string

thin as wire and the time it took

could have been spent differently

could have been used for walking

and yelling and that would’ve done

the job quicker but it wouldn’t have

been as fun or as good of a story. 

Day 14: Walkie Talkie

Two sisters – the older one ten years and the younger seven – are in bed, tucked in under the covers.  Their separate rooms lay side by side in the far corner of the one-level house.  This night they smuggled walkie talkies into bed with them.  Their room lights are off, but a small sliver of light shines in from the hall through each cracked door.  Their parents are on the other side of the house, behind closed doors, out of earshot.

KB (the younger sister):  [crackle] Whatcha’ doin’?

EB:  Jus’ thinkin’.

KB:  About what?

EB:  Today… tomorrow…

KB:  What about them? [crackle]

EB:  They are both always there… but they are both always different…

KB:  … [crackle]

EB:  When I think about that too much… I start to feel kinda scared...

KB: [crackle] …

EB:  Like, I saw this thing on the Discovery Channel about Rogue Planets.  When universes form, sometimes planets can’t find their center, can’t get into the groove of gravity, so they just spin out into and beyond their solar system…

KB: …

EB:  And then they are just wandering, floating through space.  Alone.

KB: … [crackle]

EB:  So then the tv show said there are as many solar systems as there are stars.  And there are, like, a billion starts, and that is just in our universe.  And there are as many universes as there are starts… or more!  And in those other universes, there are just as many Rogue Planets.  But when I think about universes and forever and infinity, I start to feel afraid.  [crackle]

KB:  ... Yeah.

EB:  I’m gonna stop thinking now.

KB:  Okay.

EB:  I think it’s time to go to sleep.

KB:  Okay.

EB:  See you in the morning.

KB:  Okay.  Night.

EB:  Good night.

[click]

[click]

Day 8: Dobject's Walkie Talkie

Hey kids! Come on down to Big Jim's tent, we've got lots of candy!
Hey Mary, where are you? We're standing in front of the caboose.
Dad?
Yeah, we're going to have to open up Blue Lot B soon, over.
Dude! I forgot the beer at the house, where is it in your truck?

I didn't bring any beer Caleb, they don't allow any in the festival.
10-4, over.
Dad?
Um... Oh, I don't know... There's, um, a field. Sort of near this long building.
[Laughing]

Aw, shit. Are you sure? Oh! That's why you have the hip flask!
This is Red Lot, we need uh, a gator over here. A woman, um, fell.
Hah hah! Big Jim's? You're freakin' crazy.
Dad? Are you there?
Mary? Are you at the Americana stage?... Mary?

Um... I think there's music coming from somewhere. Where are you?
Daaaaaad?
Uh. Ok, we'll be right over. What'd she do?
C'mon kids! We're open all day! Pfffthhhh! Hah hah hah!
Dude. I was just standing near a cop when you said that.

Oh, sorry dude.
Hey honey, what's up?
Oh wait! I see you, I'm the one--- no, turn around. No the other way. I'm waving my hat. See me?
I think she was carrying too much.
[Hysterical laughing]