#53: Night Out

..............................................................................................................................................

Occasionally Shelby got tired of his own cooking. There was a restaurant down the street that he patronized off and on. Several times a week he’d go there and eat something that he hadn’t cooked for himself.

Today he had that urge. He put a ‘Closed’ sign in the door window of his shop and headed down the street. Odd thing about that smartphone, he’d grown to like it. Shelby had been very resistive to the idea of cellphones for a long while.

Since he’d opened the business he’d discovered that he absolutely needed one. He’d purchased a top of the line smart phone and was shocked to discover that he liked it, or rather parts of it. The e-book reader function was his favorite. He loved that part and kept it loaded it up with ebooks. He had his favorite books with him where ever he went. He’d read books on his smart phone while he drank coffee and ate omelettes.

Elvira commented “You’ve been hooked on that smart phone since you got it. I’m so jealous. You pay more attention to it lately than you do to me.”

Shelby wondered if he’d be able to concentrate on reading.

She snorted “Ok wise guy. I can take a hint. I’ll be quiet and let you read. After all I know what you read as soon as you read it. I’ll be quite for now…..”

They knew him at the diner. When he was inside a waitress escorted him, and his crawler to a table in the corner. No one paid him ‘no never mind’ when he sat there. He ordered breakfast. He liked their three egg meat lover’s omelette. Today he felt especially hungry so he ordered the five egg version instead. Hash browns, Biscuits and gravy came with the eggs.

Elvira snarked “I’m not saying a thing. Nope, Nope, Nope. This is me not saying a word. I hope they hurry it up though. WE can use the protein. The starches, sugars and carbs won’t be too bad either. You put in a long day to day. You used a lot of blood.”

Shelby ignored her. He propped his smartphone against the sugar dispenser and began reading. Family Law by Mackey Chandler was one of his favorite books. He’d only read it a hundred times or so. Didn’t matter. He loved it.

Elvira was excited in spite of herself. “Ohhhhhhhhh. That’s niceeeee. I should have paid closer attention to it earlier. That’s a Smart Phone? No wonder you like it. I LIKE it too. I wonder how it works? Hmmmmm.”

Shelby read in peace for a few minutes. Then the waitress brought him his meal.

“All the butter knives are dirty” she said “I gave you a steak knife instead. Careful now. It’s sharp.”

Shelby smiled and nodded. He began to cut a biscuit in preparation to buttering it.

The waitress giggled a little as she swished away. Shelby gave her his undivided attention. He gave her a GOOD look as he watched her walk away. He appreciated the undulation. Damn...how did her butt move like that? Was it on a swivel or...

“Ow!…” he said and stuck his finger into his mouth. Damned if he hadn’t managed to cut himself buttering a biscuit. He should have been watching what HE was doing instead of watching her bubble butt bobble. He looked around at the other diners. Nope. No one had seen it. Good. That would have been embarrassing.

Especially since she’d told him to be careful.

He hadn’t noticed the drop of blood that had fallen onto his smartphone. If he had he might have wondered about the way it behaved. It didn’t act like a normal drop of blood at all, or any other liquid for that matter. It didn’t splash when it hit the phone. Rather it turned into a little worm then slithered and crawled into the ear-jack of the smartphone... out sight.

Shelby never noticed. He continued to read where he’d left off.

Elvira diverted his attention just in case ”Velociraptors? I know about Velociraptors. Tasty if I recall, not as tangy as T-Rex but really good with hot sauce.”

Shelby ignored her. He was engaged in the story. He always felt sad when the Velociraptor-like alien creatures killed Lee’s parents. He could relate to how Lee felt. He could sympathize. He knew what it felt like to lose people that were close. He’d lost more than a few buddies himself.

Speaking of Buddies. Did he hear the name of Sam Snead? Like any place that humans gathered the restaurant had a TV. Shelby tried his best to avoid them but they were like cock roaches. They were everywhere. One of the reasons he was in the far corner was to avoid the TV that was constantly blaring. Had he heard it mention Sam Snead?

He looked up but the TV was showing a commercial. Damn things always did that. Bait and switch.

“Use your smart phone” Elvira told him.

Shelby blinked. “Huh. I guess I could do that. Lemme see...how does that work.”

“Let me.” Elvira said

He handed the smartphone to the little dragon and.... by god she knew how to work it. In no time at all the SmartPhone screen was showing news accounts of the tragedy at Sam Sneed.

“Another religious right wing, nazi shooter they’re saying.” Shelby muttered. “I wonder if it will turn out that he’s not religious or right wing.”

Elvira didn’t say anything about the Nazi part, that was just too stupid to comment on. The Nazi’s had been socialists. They’d claimed to be so their self. It was in their NAME. Socialists were, by definition, NOT right wing.

“It says here that he shot over a dozen patients and staff with his silenced, fully automatic, assault revolver.” Elvira said.

“Yup...imagine that” Shelby said. “I wonder if they got anything right?”

“Not likely” Elvira noted. “They don’t report the news, they have a much higher purpose. It’s their duty to control public opinion. The opinion they are trying to convey, in this case, is that guns are BAD.”

“Well yeah.” Shelby said. “That goes without saying. The press is devoutly anti self defense. Sometimes they screw up,though, and accidentally reveal some actual facts. I wonder....hm....”

He searched for a while. What he found was very disturbing. He knew every one of the victims named.

Shelby sat at the table and read the news on his smartphone for a long, long time. It was depressing. Oddly enough he wasn’t interrupted any more by Elvira.

Finally he noticed that it was late. Might as well go home he decided. Shelby turned off his Smart phone and put it away. He paid for his meal then rolled out the door and went home.

---

The Next Episode will be
#54: Smart Phone
The Previous Episode was
#52: WheelChair Shop
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

---

I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
I have books on Amazon too.
Sometimes I also comment on the news

Sometimes it's hard to tell fiction from the news.