Smart Car
by Doug Hawley
19: Sheila and Duke's
Christmas
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Duke notes “It’s
getting dark and it’s only 4:30”.
Sheila wonders if Duke’s mind is going
“How long have you been north of the 45th parallel
on December 24th? Is that still a
surprise?”
“In order of questions asked, too many and
no, not a surprise, just disturbing.”
“On the subject of surprises or not, what do
you have to celebrate this Christmas Sheila?”
“Most importantly that I have my health and
you, my dear. After that, I suppose
that we gave up exchanging token gifts that just
added to the clutter years ago. I’ve
got a chest of jewelry that I wear at most twice
a year. Last year we talked about the
international improvements over the last sixty
years. Things really turned around
since 2020.”
“My turn. I like the snow around
the Buck Tree here in Iron Mountain Park. I
love that snow has come back to Western Oregon at
least when I don’t have to drive. I
don’t know if you remember, but in the bad
old days the only convenient way to snowshoe or
ski was to fight the traffic to Mt. Hood instead
of hopping on the train. Most of all
you finally convinced me that I didn’t need
to worry about losing you.”
“Non sequitur - have I told you the history
of the Buck Tree and Iron Mountain Park?”
“You mean the tree named after the volunteer
Mike Buck, who did so much to improve the park
that is named for the iron ore mine. Maybe
once or a hundred times.”
“About you losing me - I couldn’t lose
you; you are the only one who knows all of our
passwords.”
“Hah, true. I’m
indispensable.”
“Are you glad that we used the CBD tonight
instead of the mushrooms?”
“Yeah, we got a little crazy last year with
our hallucinations. Speaking of which,
psychopharmacology is another thing to be
thankful for.”
Sheila gets up “I’m ready to walk home. Do
you think the cars have come home?”
“I suspect Josie and Carl will be having a
rather loud celebration somewhere that they can’t
be heard. Those two are the horniest
cars I’ve ever known. We couldn’t
find petrol for Deuce, so I imagine he is in the
garage with visions of sugar plums or maybe sexy
Lamborghinis dancing in his head.”
Duke and Sheila hold hands on the way home as
they had done so many years ago. Duke
says, “I think that 2094 will be an even
better year than 2093”.
Sheila murmurs agreement.
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