My Abu Is Wet
1-30-2000
I was banished, along with a woman, from someplace. We walked through my childhood subdivision. I commented on how things had changed in the past several years as we passed down the streets. We came around the corner to my elementary school (a common corner in my childhood dreams for some reason). The parking lot was a field of grass, a few cars parked on it anyway. I said "Five to seven years ago, this was all concrete." I wondered if she was getting tired of hearing me talk about how things used to be. We found an old abandoned building somewhere, very dark, but safe. We slept there that night, roamed during the day, and then returned there to sleep again.
A cyborg named Kruno found us and took us outside where an entire abandoned city had appeared. He took us onto a boat that went upstream, next to the city. He fired some missiles into the city at some enemies. He dropped us off on some island and I realized we were prisoners and that he was going to kill us. I was separated from my companion on another part of the island, except she was now a guy. I swam through an underwater channel to meet up with him. He was sitting in the sand, watching TV. I did the same. Kruno came and we pointed out that they were playing the entire series of "V". My friend commented that it was a really good show from 10 years or so ago. I piped in that there were episodes I never saw, playing on any sense of pity Kruno might have.
I somehow made it "home" to my family. Nothing was how it should be, but of course it all felt normal. My parents were still together, and we were living in my babyhood home. The neighborhood was much more crowded than I remembered it, though, with no streets, only sidewalks between every lot, putting many houses very close together. Lots of overgrowth from lawns and gardens.
One day I was wearing my suit, bounding up the sidewalk toward home. Every time I jumped, I kind of floated through the air. My mom accosted me and asked if I had income taxes. I shrugged, said "yes" and then wondered if that meant she knew about the motorcycle. I went to take a shower. It was still steamy in the bathroom from the last person who used it, probably my sister. I got inside and felt my towel. It was wet. I opened the door and shouted, "Hey, my Abu is wet!"
I found myself in an arcade, wielding an energy gun with a striking resemblance to a Nerf Blast-A-Ball. People fired at me, and I fired back. I looked up and saw a shadow up through some hidden corridors, sniping us out. I fired up at him and he got away. I saw him several times, but could never get a good shot off. The one time I had a perfect shot, the plastic mechanism in my gun bent, and I cursed myself for trying to put too much power into it. The man dropped a crate into a large transparent cubicle. I dove away. A transparent tunnel, where a lot of people were fighting, lit up in a bright flash and wasted everyone. The man jumped down into some kind of cockpit and I finally saw his face. White, high cheekbones, shoulder-length brown hair, and a mischievious, confident smile. I mentally checked his profile and noticed he was the leader of a team called "Robots", and that there was only one other member...a robot that looked exactly like he did.
posted by Phlegm at 11/25/2003
