Steemfluencer's 2nd writing challenge - Task #5 - A Moment Captured in Time
Dear grandchildren, he started.*
I'm Adam, your grandfather. I know what are you thinking about :) I'm that young, because I'm recording this in 2017 and I'm only 25. Cool, isn't it? :)
At the moment of watching this video you might be already 10 years old or even older. I don't know your names, what you look like and the strange thing is that I don't even know if you exist.
This is the writing prompt we have been given for @steemfluencer's second writing challenge, task #5. We are to build a story around completing Adam's story. Taking the role of Adam and telling his theoretical grandchildren about his life so far, and his expectations for the future.
We are further told that Adam is a recent college graduate with his degree in the Arts, and his favorite class was Creative writing. So let's get to writing.
The couple sat with their two children crowded together on the couch, all facing a large tv screen across the room from them. The screen was blank at the moment, the air tense with the expectation of what would be seen, the room silent in waiting.
The silence was finally broken by the sound of a barely audible click as a thumb drive was inserted into a laptop and the video player logo popped up on the big screen. "Are we all ready?" a deep masculine voice asked. There were a few curt nods, but no one dared make a sound. With these small signs of approval, a button was pressed, and the "Caching" logo appeared on the screen.
After moments that seemed like hours passed, a young man appeared on the screen, and words began.
"Dear grandchildren" the voice began, the sound of his voice brought a choked sob from at least one of those watching.
"I'm Adam, your grandfather." he continued, "I know what are you thinking about. I'm that young, because I'm recording this in 2017 and I'm only 25. Cool, isn't it?"
"At the moment of watching this video you might be already 10 years old or even older. I don't know your names, what you look like and the strange thing is that I don't even know if you exist." The man paused for a moment, looking off camera, before turning back to to the viewers with a sad smile "I hope you exist. I hope I find your grandmother and we have lots of babies together. That would be excellent wouldn't it?"
He rubbed his face for a moment before continuing. "I am not really used to putting a lot of words together for video. I like to write. I mean, hopefully when you watch this I will be a successful writer. But I've always found it easier to write than to talk. Perhaps I should have written you a book?" He chuckles at his own joke. "But I chose to make a tape so you could see what your grandfather was, where I came from."
He gave the camera a broad grin "But now, you do not need to watch my face the entire time. I am going to take you on a tour!" With that, the young man stood up and walked toward the camera. He went out of the shot, and soon there was a jerky camera motion as it was picked up. The camera panned around the small room, and Adam's voice came over the images "This is my apartment. We call it a studio apartment, which is another term for cheap room with a bathroom and kitchen." There was a chuckle.
The camera showed a small corner kitchen with a fridge and stove top, but no oven. A microwave stood on the counter next to a dish drying rack and a sink. Then the door to a small cramped bathroom, and the largest room of the apartment, a combination bedroom and sitting area. There was a bed with a writing desk at the foot of it, and a couch against the other wall. A small space heater rotated back and forth providing the young man with what passed for air conditioning.
The camera turned to face a door, and the viewers got a first person walk to the door and out into a hallway, down a flight of stairs and into a courtyard. Meanwhile the voice continued "So, this is my little neighborhood. There are lots of cats who live here. They are kind of community cats, sometimes they even spend the night with me. But I am allergic, so I can't keep any of them." As if the man could tell the future, three cats appeared at various locations around the courtyard and came toward the camera, mewing at Adam for a tidbit. "I have nothing for you now kitties, I am sorry." he said as he continued to walk.
"So I want to be a big writer." he said as the camera moved. "I want to write movies. I want to write novels. Or maybe novels that become movies. That would be cool wouldn't it?" he laughed as he reached the street and turned to the left. There was a crane nearby doing construction on a new building. The camera took in the three floors that had been shaped so far "This building is going to be luxury condominiums. That's just a fancy way of saying apartments for rich people." another chuckle "By the time you see this video, it will be finished for many years, and generations of people will be living there. Fifty two stories. Can you imagine?"
He continued walking, past the construction lot and into an area of bustling activity. The road was lined with small shops and food vendors. The narration was interrupted momentarily while the young man purchased a pastry. The next words were muffled as he chewed "Auntie Mays is the best bakery in town. I love her eclairs. By the time you are watching this may be her daughter's store yeah? I hope there is still such a place. Everyone needs access to good local bakers."
As he walked and talked, the video panned across the faces of people walking by, some smiled, some frowned, most seemed hurried in the traffic of 2017. The clothes made little sense to the watchers, they were typical of a college town in those times, but now that forty years had passed, things had changed.
"What does the future look like, I wonder." Adam continued as he walked. "When I was little we thought we would have flying cars by now. And people living on the moon, maybe even Mars. Have those things finally been realized by my children's children? It seems we are always in a hurry except when it comes to growing beyond our own planet. But maybe there is a colony by now." The camera briefly lunged for the sky, it was clear blue, as it tried to focus, it finally found the pale white moon to focus on in the lower left corner. "Do you maybe even live up there my grandchildren? That would be so cool. Maybe I should write a story about that. The man who predicted his descendants lived on the moon!"
The camera panned back down and continued walking until it came to a particular shop. Adam could be seen momentarily by reflection in the window as the camera peered inside.
"This is one of my favorite places!" Adam's voice sounded excited as he opened the door and the camera view moved inside. The sound of music playing over the loudspeakers came through as he walked inside "Oh... Glass Animals. This is a great band. You should look them up!" The view stabilized as Adam sat down and turned the camera back to face him. "I hope you don't live on the moon though. Breathing recycled air and not being able to experience nature. These things are too nice to not have in your life. If you live on the moon, come back!" he chuckled.
"I wish I could let you ask me questions. And maybe I could ask you some too. Did I publish a book? Am I rich? Did I get to send you lots of money so you could go to University? What stock should I buy today so you have lots of money. You know, like people who invested in Yahoo and google when they were very little. I bet there is something that was small now that is very big when you are growing up. If only we could talk about it."
A small bell chimed as the door opened behind Adam. He turned for a moment and when his vision came back to the camera he leaned down toward the pick up and whispered conspiratorially "This is why I love this place." he turned the camera for a view over his shoulder as a stunning young woman walked through the view. "Perhaps this is your grandmother, yes?" he gives a sad smile "If only I have the courage to tell her hello."
Adam scratches as his cheek for a moment. "So what else to tell you?" he ponders for a moment.
Then another voice intrudes on the video. "Excuse me. But is this seat taken?" Adam turns in shock, his elbow hits the camera which flies from the table. The jarring motion captured by the video gives just enough detail to show that it is the woman who has just come in who is speaking to Adam. Then the camera hits the ground and the video stops.
"That was the day we met." a slightly strangled voice comes from a rocking chair. The family turns to the woman sitting there. An aged version of the young woman from the coffee shop sat there holding a tissue to her face as she wiped tears away. "He says he wasn't good with words, but your grandfather.... Your father Abraham, he had a soft charm that was captivating. After that first day at the coffee shop, we were inseparable." She choked back tears "and we still are."
She, and the rest of the family, looked over to the bed in the corner of the room, where a 65 year old Adam lay. The machines had stopped beeping, the breathing hose had stopped pushing air into his lungs. The corner was still. Lifeless. Adam was gone, but his legacy would live on in his son, in his grandchildren, and in the moment in time, captured by a twenty five year old version of himself, forty years earlier.
I think this is just about the truest rendition of the intention of the story prompt we've had yet. It's the most logical direction if you're trying to avoid clever gimmicks or hooks or Shyamalan twists, but it's executed so well, and it's both happy and sad. Well done.