“Are you coming down soon, Hun?” yelled Roger Hailley. He stood by the stairwell of the small two-story condominium he and his wife had been renting for the last couple of years. “The game is about to start. I made some popcorn.”
“I’ll be down in a bit,” came the reply from the second floor. “I’m finally making a dent in organizing all these files and I don’t want to stop while I’m on a roll.”
“Okay,” replied Roger, “but I’m not going to pause it. If you miss anything you’ll just have to watch the replay.”
“That’s fine.”
Roger smiled as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. “She’s just as big of fan as I am,” he thought. “She just doesn’t ever want to admit it. She always makes excuses not to watch the game with me because she gets too nervous.”
After making himself comfortable on the couch and positioning his popcorn bowl next to him, Roger spoke loudly enough for the home monitor receiver to hear him. “Home Interface, put today’s Chicago Bear game on the television.”
“Of course,” said the automated voice emanating from the speaker located on the table next to Roger’s seat in the living room. The TV sprang to life, a brilliant high-resolution picture filling the screen.
The game had barely begun when a loud chime interrupted Roger’s cheering.
“A visitor is on the doorstep,” announced the Home Interface.
“Home Interface, pause the game and show me who’s at the door.”
The game disappeared from the sixty-inch screen mounted on the wall and was replaced with the image of a short man wearing a bathrobe. Roger surmised that he had just gotten out of the shower since his hair was dripping wet. Upon further inspection, Roger realized it wasn’t only the man’s hair that was drenched, his entire boy, including his turquoise robe, was saturated. There was something familiar about the soaked caller standing outside the door.
“Home Interface, who is this guy?”
“Larry Monson is your neighbor.”
That’s where he’d seen the guy before. They sometimes, on very rare occasions, passed each other in the parking garage, though they were both always dry during those brief encounters.
Roger grunted as he pulled himself off the sofa and walked to the front door. When he opened it, his neighbor grinned happily and squeezed into the foyer.
“I’m so glad you’re home. I locked myself out of my condo. Don’t ask me how. My phone is inside and I can’t get my Home Interface to hear me through the window. I couldn’t stand out in this pouring rain any longer. Can I come in and wait for my wife to get home? She ran to the store and should be back any minute.”
“Uh . . .” Roger stammered. “I suppose, but what do you mean it’s raining.” He looked at the window above the kitchen sink. The sun was shining brightly; not a cloud in the sky. An orange and black bird sat on a tree branch. Roger could barely hear its joyful chirping through the window pane.
“Your window must be set on pleasant mode or something, because that’s not what the weather is really like out there.” To prove his point, Larry squeezed the hem of his robe and water gushed out onto Roger’s floor.
“I don’t think so,” said Roger. “Home Interface, put kitchen window into actual weather mode.
Instantly, the sky went from blue to menacing gray. Raindrops pelted the window from the outside. The bird was nowhere to be seen.
“Huh,” said Roger. “My wife must have changed the setting.”
“So, is it okay if I just stay here for a little while?”
“Well, I’m watching the game. You can come in and watch it with me and my wife if you want.”
“That would be great,” replied Larry. “You are so nice to do this for me.”
Roger led his guest to the living room and pointed to an old wooden chair that sat in the corner. Why let the good furniture get water stained?
Larry nodded his thanks and sat down, wrapping his robe tightly around his body and pinching his legs together.
“Maybe I should offer him a towel,” thought Roger as he walked over the stairs and shouted.
“Hun, our neighbor locked himself out of his apartment. He’s going to stay here for a few minutes waiting for his wife to get back so she can let him into their house.”
“Okay, dear,” called Roger’s wife from upstairs. “I’m sorry but I can’t come down yet. If I stop working on this stuff, I’ll never work up the energy to get started again.”
“I didn’t know you were married,” said Larry. “I’ve never seen your wife around anywhere.”
Roger considered commenting that he had never seen Larry’s wife either, but instead simply said, “Oh, she works at home. We both do. Her and I don’t get out much. Heck, if I didn’t go visit my mother once in a while, I don’t think we’d ever leave the building.”
“Is that her?” asked Larry, pointing to a picture propped up on the top shelf of a nearby bookshelf. In the photo, Roger was dressed in a tuxedo and standing next to a beautiful woman wearing a long flowing gown.
“Yes,” answered Roger. “That picture was taken a few years ago. I don’t remember what the occasion was, but we both had to get all dressed up for it.”
“She seems like a very nice person,” said Larry.
“Yeah, I definitely married out of my league,” laughed Roger. “Speaking of leagues, I forgot to put the game back on. Home Interface, please resume the Bears game.”
“I am unable to do so at this time. There is a technical glitch that I am working to resolve. I should be able to recommence the broadcast shortly.”
Roger shook his head, “That’s weird.”
“Not a problem,” said Larry. “I haven’t followed the Bears much since Hawkins retired two years ago.”
A look of total confusion appeared on Roger’s face. He tilted his head sideways and curled up his nose. “What do you mean? He’s still playing. Heck, they won the Super Bowl last year.”
It was Larry’s turn to express skepticism. “The Bears lost more games than they won last season. They didn’t even come close to making the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.”
“Are you some kind of nut?” said Roger; his voice noticeably louder.
“No, really. I know for a fact the Packers and Browns played in last years title game. I watched the game . . . mostly for the commercials.”
“You are obviously being taken in by some sort of propaganda bull crap. You know, like when some of the news outlets showed fake videos of people protesting after the last election.”
Larry jumped out of his chair, his robe flew open for a brief second before he caught it and pulled it around his waist. “There were protests. It was all over the news. The videos were authenticated. The other side just made up those stories about them being AI generated.”
“No. I watched tons of news reports after the supposed riots and every one of them said that there weren’t any protests. The networks that told those lies were all fined or taken off the air.”
“I don’t know where you get your news from, but I had my Home Interface show me all credible coverage of the protests. I watched all of it. The anger over the fraudulent election was real. There were riots all over the country.”
“No there weren’t,” said Roger, the volume of his voice increasing with each word. “Everyone knows how easy it is to make realistic, fake videos and pictures. Gullible people fall for that kind of stuff all the time.”
“Well, then you’re one of those gullible people. Do a little research and don’t automatically believe everything you see.”
“I do.” Roger’s voice had reached maximum volume. “Home Interface, play news reports about the false coverage of faked riots over the recent election.”
The small speaker on the table once again came to life. “I am unable to access the requested videos at this time.”
“Roger,” called a voice from upstairs. “I think you need to ask our guest to leave. I don’t want to hear you getting into a shouting match over politics. Maybe he should wait for his wife outside.”
After a long pause and a very deep breath, Roger spoke. His voice was much calmer, though the tightness of his jaw and red hue of his face made it clear that he was still very angry. “I think my wife is right. You should probably go.”
Larry inhaled and exhaled in much the same way that Roger had just done. “You’re right,” he said through clenched teeth. “I think it’s best if I go. I wouldn’t be surprised if my wife is back by now. She’s probably wondering where I am. Thank you for letting me come in out of the rain.” After another deep breath, he added, “ I’m sorry if I upset you.”
Both Larry and Roger glanced out the living room’s picture window. The rain had slowed to a very light drizzle.
“No problem,” said Roger, though his voice and mannerisms clearly said there was a problem.
Roger showed Larry to the door. The sounds of thunder and raindrops pelting the sidewalk made Larry hesitate for a second, but he ducked his head and walked outside. Roger closed the door and locked it as soon as his visitor was gone.
Almost instantly, the sound of cheering could be heard coming from the TV in the living room. The game was back on.
Not in the mood to watch football, Roger went upstairs to vent to his wife.
When he went into her office, she was nowhere to be seen. All he found was a neat stack of files on her desk. Apparently, she had finished her work.
“Hun, where are you?” he shouted.
“Oh, it’s so nice out now that the rain has stopped, I’m going to go for a long walk,” called his wife from the downstairs living room. “You just watch the game and go to bed early. Remember I’m leaving on that business trip tomorrow; I’ll probably be gone before you wake up.”
Roger frowned. “Okay,” he replied. He glanced out the bedroom window and watched his wife walk away, stepping over the rapidly evaporating puddles scattered throughout the sundrenched street.
It was strange how rarely they saw each other even though they lived in the same house. When was the last time they had been face to face? Doubt slowly crept into Roger’s mind. Sometimes it felt like he was always alone in the house. Why were his memories of his time with his wife so fuzzy? Sure, he remembered the trips and their wedding day but was he remembering the events, or just the videos he found himself watching way too often?
He shook his head, hoping the sudden action would knock the outlandish thoughts out of his mind. He considered putting on his shoes and chasing after his wife. It would be nice to take a walk together. Yes, he would go find his wife. Walking with her would put his mind at ease and drive those paranoid thoughts away.
Suddenly, a chime sounded from the Home Interface speaker sitting on his wife’s desk.
“Please turn your attention to the computer screen,” said the Home Interface. It struck Roger that the Interface’s voice was very similar to his wife’s voice. The computer screen flashed to life and his wife’s face appeared. The image smiled.
“Hi, dear,” she said. “I’m feeling very guilty that I have to leave for a week tomorrow, so I put together this little video for you. To be honest, this is what I was working on upstairs all day today. I figured you’d come in here at some point so I asked the Home Interface to start playing the video when you came in here. I hope you enjoy it. I do love you, very much.”
The beautiful face of his wife disappeared from the screen, but only for a second. When her face reappeared, she was wearing a wedding veil. The picture expanded to show Roger, a few years younger than today, standing next to her.
“A toast to the happy couple,” yelled someone offscreen.
Even though he had seen this video hundreds of times, Roger settled into the chair behind his wife’s desk. Why not take an hour to watch their wedding video? It always made him happy.