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Falling to Pieces, Chapter 1 |
| Written by amanda | |
| Tuesday, 27 May 2008 | |
I took the elevator up to the Lido deck and walked across to the buffet. My thoughts were wandering about the project when someone tapped my shoulder. I knew that it was someone annoying. Only annoying people tap you on your shoulder because people would completely ignore them if they didn't. I wasn't surprised that it was Jordan.
"Lunch?" he asked with his silly smile. Jordan wasn't bad looking; he was actually quite attractive. I remember the first time I saw him I thought to myself that he looked like the "All American Boy" that you would see in a picture book. Ironically, he was Canadian. The only problem with Jordan was that he never shut up. Most people couldn't stand to be around him for more than five minutes especially since most of the time he talked about how superior Canada had been to the other countries when they existed. Stuff like that could even get on my nerves, but we still got along pretty good. I'm pretty quiet so he did most of the talking except when I'd correct him on some wrong fact about the U.S.
"Sure," I said as we headed out to one of the tables on the deck.
"Did you see the magic show last night? It was probably one of the coolest things I've seen in my life. They changed around the whole routine and made it so much better," he told me.
"No, I haven't seen it in a while. I'm too busy with work. I still can't get over the fact that our whole world has fallen apart and there's nothing I can do," I told him.
"Don't stress about it. I mean you helped to get that windmill thing so we could get power all set up and now they throw this project at you. I mean if we had been able to solve the problem of alternative fuels then the world wouldn't have fallen apart in the first place. Besides we have everything we need to operate independently. We all have rooms to live in, greenhouses to grow food, never ending supply of fish, machines that turn the salt water into fresh water, and electricity powered by those windmills on the top deck. As far as I'm concerned, we can float out here forever," he said.
"Yes, but doesn't it bother you that the whole world fell apart over not being able to find fossil fuels? And doesn't it bother you that we wasted all that money, time, and brains on the atomic bombs that destroyed our world? We could have used all that to find the alternative fuels so that we could live happily ever after. But no we have to blow each other up," I told him.
"Yes, but we finally achieved peace. There are no more nationalities or poverty. This is the golden era of our world," he told me.
"That's because there's no opposite side. Practically everyone's gone and rests are either on the other ships like us or in those small harbor towns. This isn't the golden era, not after what this place has been though," I said.
"Well don't blame it on me. I was happy in Canada drinking beer and playing hockey before you Americans decided to blow up the world," he said.
"We didn't blow up the world," I told him.
"Well, why don't you take a break from the worrying and work and come to the magic show with me tonight? It's still playing. Is it a date?" he asked. Normally he could get quite pushy with Canadian politics but he normally dropped it with me, probably since I was his girlfriend.
"Yep, I'll be there," I said.
"That's good because I have to get back to work and finish typing that history book. I'm almost done, only fifty more pages," he said. Jordan had quite an interesting and less stressful job. Jordan has a photographic memory so he is in charge of retyping every single book that he has read. This way we can preserve some of the lost documents from before the Great War. Great war, that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. How can a war be great? Jordan and I said goodbye and then I headed toward the elevator to go back to the laboratory. I found that Chris was also waiting for the elevator.
"Hey, stranger! What have you been up to?" he asked me.
"Nothing really. I've been busy with work and I just had lunch with Jordan," I told him.
"Jordan? You still haven't broken up with that loser yet?" Chris hated Jordan and he wasn't afraid to let me know that. The elevator arrived and we both got in.
"Jordan and I are a couple and we plan to stay that way. He can be annoying sometimes but overall he's a nice guy. We're going to the magic show tonight," I told Chris.
"Listen, I've got my doubts about Jordan. Don't be surprised if he stands you up tonight. I know that he's part of this secret society on the ship that all the big shots are in. I don't know what they're up to, but they're up to something. Security started to investigate them but then we got orders from the Captain to stop. There's something going on," he told me.
"What does this have to do with Jordan standing me up?" I asked.
"They're having a very important meeting tonight so he'll probably be late if he comes at all," Chris told me. The elevator bell rang; indicating that it was my floor. I was happy that I had an excuse to end the conversation. It was getting uncomfortable. I walked down to the laboratory and went back to work brainstorming with the other scientists about easier ways that we could break down the switchgrass into cellulose. The day pretty much went like that drawing up different plans and ways to evacuate them. I then checked my watch and noticed that it was seven and I had an hour to get ready for the show. I packed up all my notes and put them in my purse hoping that later I might be able to go back and work on them. I changed into a cute little dress and headed towards the show.
When I arrived I sat in the seat that Jordan had told me to sit in and reserved the seat next to me for him. I was early and Jordan was always running late so I didn't think anything about him not being there. Twenty minutes past and he still wasn't there. Then the show began and there was still no sign of Jordan. I got a telegram halfway through the show from him telling me that he would be late. I couldn't believe it, and I was beginning to think that what Chris had told me was true. It was close to the end of the show when the magician called on me.
"Miss, you look like the perfect candidate for this next trick. Would you like to try?" he asked.
"I don't know. I'm not too keen about being sawed in half or anything," I told him.
"No I just need you to pull a few things out of my hat. It's the classic trick. And the best part is you get to keep whatever you pull out," he said.
"Fine," I agreed.
"Okay, look. Is there anything in the hat?" he asked. I peered into hat and only saw black darkness.
"Yes, there is air and darkness," I told him. I could be quite wise when I was in a bad mood.
"That's it right?" he asked.
"Well if you exclude the molecules and bacteria and all that junk than yes," I responded.
"Okay then put your hand in there and see if there's anything else," he told me. I put my hand down and felt something. I'm awful at guessing so I had no clue what it was. I began to pull it out when I heard a voice.
"God, do you have to pull my hair so hard?" I recognized the voice. To my surprise Jordan jumped out of the tiny little hat.
"Jordan?!" I said in pure amazement.
"The one and only. Who else were you expecting?" he began with a smile, "Look in the hat there again I think I may have dropped something." He was all dolled up and was wearing a tux. I reached in and felt a small box. I pick it out of the hat and handed it to him.
"Open it," he told me. I opened it and saw a gorgeous diamond ring inside. "Will you marry me?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. I couldn't believe it. It was so typical of Jordan though, to do something amazing like that. He then casually sat down in the seat next to me. After the show was over, we went up to the Lido deck for a walk.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked. He didn't give me any time to answer. He took me around my waist and began singing. It was really quite embarrassing but it was one of those moments where I didn't care. We could have gone on dancing forever if it hadn't been for those damn sirens. Everyone was being called down to their cabins. I took one look in Jordan's face and knew that something was wrong. "Take this gun," he said shoving the gun at me, "Stay in your cabin and don't open the door until they make an announcement."
"What is it? Why do I need this?" I asked.
"Hopefully, you won't find out," he replied. Copyright 2008 amanda |
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