The Future!

I had a worrisome thought today. Actually, it was a series of thoughts coupled with a series of images in my head. Though I suppose the images are considered a part of my thoughts. Anyway, it happened while I was reading Calvin and Hobbes comics and it was about me in the future with a kid—my kid. I don’t know what to make of it, so let’s go some ten to twenty years into the future.

(Your vision becomes cloudy and you close your eyes. When you open them, the clouds are dissipating and two figures materialize as silhouettes. One is me, the other is the boy. Also, all this happens to that noise they make in Wayne’s World to denote the transition to a dream state; something like doo-doo-loo, but over and over again and quickly.)

“Dad, I’m going to bed. Will you read to me?”

“Nah.”

“C’mon, just one! I’ll be—.” I begin unbuckling my belt and he flees in terror but I feel bad and take myself away from the computer and find him in his room reading to himself. “Here. Let’s read this one!” He says and hands me Calvin and Hobbes.

“I don’t like reading these,” I say as I flip through the book.

“How come?”

“Feels like you’re reading the diary of a dead boy.” He reaches for the book but instead I start reading it to him. It’s funny and sad at the same time, but to him it’s hysterical. At least he’s happy which, I’m assuming, is a good thing.

“I need sleep. Also, your reading sucks.” I stand and reach to unlatch my belt. “No, I’m just kidding!”

“Goodnight,” I tell him. I ruffle his hair and make for the door. I notice a crack on the wall next to the light switch. I pick at it and it chips.

“You know instead of spackling and repainting that, you should probably tear down the wall and rebuild it,” he says as I flip the light switch leaving his face lit in from the light outside.

“I’d never get around to rebuilding the wall.”

(Doo-doo-loo, doo-doo-loo, doo-doo-loo.)

That was it. So maybe that last part was more introspective than anything. I mean, what would a kid know about building walls anyway? And what the hell kind of idea is it to tear down a wall? You know how much trouble that is? Or how expensive? Hell, I wouldn’t even know where to begin on such a task. Maybe I work in construction in the future.

Whatever. Stupid hallucinations.