Rosa Jardine peered from behind the large boulder a few feet from the ditched Datsun 280Z, squinting at the bright light from the large black helicopter and shielding her eyes from the sand blowing from the turbulence of the whirling blades. She could make out the figures of her longtime friend, Leanna O’Regan, standing in front of a tall man in a black uniform and wearing a black helmet with tubes that appeared to come from a face mask to…
Leanna scanned the star-filled sky, looking for the source of the whump-whump sound of a fast approaching helicopter. She was finally able to identify a brightening spot of light among the tapestry of stars, and hurriedly jumped into the silver sports car, flipping the keys in the ignition. “Get in the car everyone! Let’s go!” she shouted. “No!” Rosa shouted back. “I’m stopping this right now.” She got out of the car and stood at the edge of the road,…
The silver Datsun 280Z flew down the highway, cutting through the quiet, dark town of Morongo Valley, desperately trying to leave the shadowy buildings and street lights behind it. Rosa was pushed into her seat, as was Theo, who was holding tight onto his dog, Arfie. Leanna was leaning forward in her seat, as if to push the car faster ahead and launch them out of the town. Rosa watched wide-eyed as the dry grass and signs on the side…
The lights of the interchange faded into the dark valley, shrinking behind the silver sports car. Leanna looked in her rear view mirror, calming herself as they drove in isolation down the desert highway. Rosa shivered next to her, and pressed her legs against each other while she zipped up her hoodie. “Theo, honey, can you throw me that blanket?” The boy in the back seat passed the folded brown blanket forward to his mother, and settled back into his…
The silver Datsun streaked down the I10, carrying the two identically dressed young women in the front, and a boy with his miniature Husky in the back. The highway was lit up by the headlight beams of the passing cars, and the desert countryside glowed faintly from the crescent moon and twinkling stars above it. The mountain ranges on both sides loomed dark, reaching towards the speeding car as it raced further away from the city. “Well, Princess, looks like…
Leanna brought the squashed paper bag with her into the idling Datsun 280Z parked just past the interstate overpass, and sat in the driver’s seat. She opened the bag and pulled out some flattened sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, and handed one to her friend, sitting in the passenger’s seat. “Looks like we’re dining on pressed ham and cheese sandwiches, Rosa.” “I don’t mind. I’m starving! Hey, Theo, honey! Let’s have something to eat!” Rosa reached around to the back…
Leanna O’ Regan glanced in her rear view mirror, seeing her friend’s son and his small white and grey dog sleeping in the back seat of her Datsun 280Z, the two lit up periodically in the yellow glow of passing interchange lights. She smiled at her friend, Rosa, half asleep in the passenger’s seat next to her. Leanna and Rosa were often asked if they were sisters, because the two young women looked so much alike. Sometimes they would answer…
Time for a change… of time. The 60 minute hour and 24 hour day were inventions of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, and the 7 day week and 12 month year are vestiges of the ancient Roman Empire. Our system of time-keeping is kludgy, arbitrary and cumbersome. It also does not respect Special Relativity and the time experienced by the Observer. It is Earth-centric. We must create a time-keeping system that respects the Observer and coordinates humanity with the greater…
English spelling and grammar is muddied with arbitrary and illogical inconsistencies. We must revise the language to become more efficient and robust by eliminating spelling of words and replace the 26 letter alphabet with the 44 phonemes. Phonetic spellings of words still respects dialects and actually makes the language more accessible for English learners, and indeed the learning of other languages. Languages gain life and evolve as they are spoken, not as they are written.