Smart Car
by Doug Hawley
36: Solstice
Previous Chapter
Return To First Chapter
Sheila said to Duke “Hey
babe, it’s that time again, and it’s
our turn to host Solstice. As always it’s
a big deal.”
Duke responded “Yeah,
but I like it. I’m old enough to
remember in mid-century when there were all the
religious, pagan, and Black celebrations at the
end of the year. Some still observe one or
more of them, but everybody whatever religion, or
none, can celebrate on Solstice. Plus we do
this; we are off the hook for several holidays.”
“OK, but our next turn
might be the New Year after next. That’ll
be 2100, not just a new year, but a new century.
We’ll be on the hook for a really big one.”
“It’s too far off
for me to care. How about this one, how
many people do you expect?”
“Eugene Springfield
will be down from the Seattle area with Linn and
Medford. Some people from work and my old
music partners from Whimsy. Your old
girlfriends Jackie and Jane, my old semi-boyfriend
Governor Shane. Maybe thirty people and all
of their cars. We’ll need lots of food,
some mild organic hallucinogens, and a bunch of
kilowatts for the cars. I know how much you
hate to think, except when you are doing math, so
I’ll take care of most of it.”
“Sheila, I’ve
always liked your love language ‘I’ll
take care of it’”.
Duke then asked “Do
the cars know what’s coming up.”
Sheila said “They do,
and they are looking forward to it. They
particularly enjoy visits from the Springfield
family. They not only like the humans, but
they’re eager to see what new cars Eugene
brings down. He always has something new
and weird. I think he’s bringing
something that hovers over the road this time.
The genius inventor in him may have another big
hit, not that he needs it.”
Outdoors the cars are also
discussing Solstice. Sheila’s car
Josie is teasing Carl, Duke’s car.
“I’ll bet there will be a lot of cute
cars at Solstice.”
Duke decides the best plan
is to just ignore Sheila’s jibes.
Deuce, Josie’s other
car, is mostly excited about what cars Eugene
would bring. Deuce and Eugene are close
because Eugene frequently invites Deuce up to his
estate to join in Eugene’s car rodeos.
Deuce never got a sex education, so he is
disinterested in romance with other cars, but he
does like to hang out with Eugene’s vehicles.
Duke assumed his usual role
in projects. Besides the ‘big picture’
he did the literal heavy lifting and assembled a
large tent outdoors large enough for all the
guests with chairs, tables, a small banquet of
the food and drink, and a small stage.
Everything he needed was in storage.
As always Sheila did the
detail work. Oregon had been at the
forefront of craft beer and liquors. She
got a wide variety of beers, leaning heavily on
her and his favorite darks, and a lot of flavored
vodkas, again with a lot of their drink of choice
peach vodka. She ordered a wide variety of
mild organic brain benders. Genetic
engineering had not only aided medicine, it
allowed progress from natural magic mushrooms, to
mellow watermelon, stoned carrots, and buzzed
Brussels sprouts. The sprouts were not
popular, and there wasn’t much interest in
the food that filled your stomach, but did
nothing for your head.
The Springfields arrived
early. The humans were greeted by Duke and
Sheila, while all the cars went out to play in
the field behind Duke and Sheila’s house.
The Springfield hover car Jake got lots of oohs
and aahs from the local cars. Duke and
Sheila had no interest in flying cars since they
had one of their cars converted to fly and were
shot down over an unauthorized pot farm, but the
hover car never got more than two meters above
the ground and was quite safe. Eugene said
hovers would be the next big thing.
The cars had a great time
performing vehicular acrobatics. The anti-collision
software ensured no fenders were bent.
Some of Sheila’s old
partners in Whimsy showed up next in a van.
Sheila invited them into the tent where they sang
some of their old Indonesian Chant hits.
The performance was sloppy, but that amused
rather than bothered.
Work friends and the old
girlfriends and boyfriend showed up late after
the work friends. Alcohol and friendly food
turned the affair into a love fest. Shane and his
two kinky girlfriends ended up under a table, but
for most is was chaste hugging, kissing, laughing
and dancing.
Eddie, who worked with
Sheila, had been babbling for an hour. He
had been drinking rather than eating, and said
things like “Bring mulk tik hummm” to a
disinterested crowd, but two hours in, while
everyone was talking loudly, he started to sing
“Solstice Song”, a seasonal perennial,
in an angelic voice. Everyone quit talking
while he sang, and then went back to talking and
Eddie returned to babbling “Zim boyt glick.”
There was a lot of good
natured flirting “Hey, looking good in that
sarong Rita.”
“And you clean up well
Charlie.”
Despite the flirting, there
were no holiday breakups. Some of the
singles got cozy though. At least one new
couple went to the guy’s home. Her car
followed them while the car’s person rode
with the guy.
Around midnight most of the
guests went home. Their cars knew the way,
so there was no problem. Some wanted to
stay, so Duke said “Not to worry” and
moved some beds into the tents.
When all was sorted, and
all of the farewells spoken, Sheila said “We’ll
have a lot of clean up tomorrow, but it was worth
it.”
“Yeah, we got some
raves. Shane is on for the next Hero’s
Day and told me he’ll have a hard time
topping us. June said she really loved the
Whimsy reunion. Eugene and family
enjoyed seeing us and all the cars again.”
Sheila responded “Oh
yeah, how did the cars do?”
“They all had a good
time. The hover car was a big hit, and they
always enjoy the Springfield family and all of
their cars.”
Within ten minutes the
tired but happy couple was in bed. They
were asleep in ten minutes after the traditional
“Sweet Dreams Moonbeams” and “All
right starlight.”
Next Chapter
Return To The Story List And
Biography For Doug Hawley
Read A Random Story
From The Writers' Showcase
|
