Smart Car
by Doug Hawley
26: Peace Day 2090
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Duke and Sheila were
sunning themselves in the yard on a fine Monday
the 27th of May. The cars
Deuce, Carl and Josie were talking among
themselves electronically. The humans
had gotten used to those private conversations
and didn’t worry about being overthrown.
Sheila observed “It is hard to believe that
the USA called this Memorial Day glorifying those
victims of wars, legitimate or not.” Sheila
was emphatically anti-war because some of her
ancestors were unindicted war criminals. She
frequently claimed that if those ancestors had
been presidents of African countries, they would
have been tried and convicted of war crimes.
Carl chimed in “Not only did humans suffer,
but so many vehicles were destroyed in the
conflicts. OK, they weren’t
‘smart’ then, but still.”
Duke said “It became a lot easier to avoid
war when the Major Country War Weapons Act was
passed by ninety percent of the countries in 2060. Now
if say Cambodia wants to fight a neighbor, China,
the USA, Russia, and other big countries will not
take sides or furnish weapons. Ever
since then, all of the skirmishes have been minor
and America has not been involved. Correct
me if I’m wrong, but Memorial Day was
changed to Peace Day in 2065.”
Because Sheila is a good person, she corrected
him. “Close, it was 2064.”
Josie added “The money freed by cutting the
Defense Department budget by 75% allowed the
establishment of Basic Pay Act giving most people
a small amount of money whether they worked or
not.”
Carl felt that he should contribute. “With
the Basic Pay Act, lots of welfare programs were
abolished and government got smaller and cheaper. What
is left of the military is largely used to serve
us domestically. Hurricane? Lots
of ‘soldiers’ there to help
out.”
Deuce had been napping through all this, but came
to and said, “Did somebody say ‘let’s
go to the beach’.”
After a stunned silence, all the other people and
cars said “Sure” and off they went to a
relaxing day visiting Astoria, Cannon Beach and
Pacific City. All had a good time
watching the mesmerizing Pacific Ocean.
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