A girls red notebook compelation 2025 version by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

A planet in reverse

Part of the fun in my life is to reread some of the stories that the elderly man related. There was a unique one. Once I start rereading one of his tales, It brings back memories of the first time reading it. The stories most times grab my interest on the first read but may be pushed into the back of my memories upon reading the next tale.

I happened upon this tale and it stirred those memories. When I read it for the first time, I was so interested in the story that when I showed my mother, she laughed hardily. She said that it was a wonderfully funny concept. She knew by now, that these really weren’t tales. They were recounts of his experiences.

At the time, I said that I wished I could go there and see that sight.

He wrote

One of the strangest jumps we went on was to what could only be called a planet in reverse. The jump point opened, as usual in a safe spot that is out of the normal way. We were on the top of a hill overlooking what looked like a town in the valley.

It was a short walk to that town.

Much to our surprise the houses are all but collapsed. Most are just blackened with age due to moisture and mold. As we explore, I spotted a few buildings that are in better condition. Spots of dull paint. A better looking board here and there.

Upon closer inspection, we watched a blackened board start to dry and get lighter. It appeared that these buildings were in the reverse of decay. My wife made the remark that she wanted to watch this. She set the location into the memory of the watch.

Months later we came back to see what would be classified as buildings that showed need for some maintenance. The biggest difference is that there are now people living here. They look like the buildings. Rather dull. They look like their life is full of drudgery.

There are now rust buckets on four wheels. They smoke and are very noisy..

The next jump, it looked like a town was in the late 1940’s. We were looking forward to seeing that planet but before we could go, my young wife made her solo jump into the great unknown identified only as death.

I was curious. I showed my husband the entry and asked if he wanted to see it. I wanted to see at what stage it was at now. After reading the tale, he was all for it.

We jumped. Much to our dismay, the town looked extremely futuristic. We walked into it and the first thing you see is that there are very few people left around. The buildings were starting to show signs of neglect.

We stopped a man. Asking what was happening, he looked at us as if we were out of our minds. He explained, in simple terms, that the world was in the dying cycle. He told us that we needed to go to the town hall. There is a pamphlet that will explain everything.

He excused himself. He told us that he had to go to the cube service. It was his turn to be placed in his cube that was designed to his wishes. We asked, if he did not mind, what was the cube design he has. He told us that he wanted to be sitting on a bed in a very fancy room and looking at the door, waiting.

Immediately, we recognized what he was describing. At the town hall, we got that pamphlet. No surprise, our thoughts were correct. This planet cycled, every three hundred years from decay to height and tree hundred years back to decay. The only thing that remained constant was the planet core machinery.

An automated system that would take the wish of the dying and create that scene in a hermetically sealed transparent cube. They would be placed in there, then transported to the eternal rest planet where the future could see them at rest.

When the dying cycle begins, citizens can choose when to be placed into their cube. A painless euthanasia is guaranteed.

My husband and I walk to the jump point and left. We never returned.

Authors notes: Story based on dreams over a period of time

In the dreams, all the wooden buildings are black with decay. They line over grown streets. When I look at them some do have better paint. Going into them some rooms are almost in decent condition. They seem to have started out as ruins and slowly are improving.

The news rules

It’s that time. Let me rephrase that, Its always that time this is a little different, It’s an election year. Calls, fliers and such are a nuisance. The problem is that we no longer have news on this planet. It is the people on the supposed news channels. They are no longer reporters or journalists, they are commentators.

Each side has their stations and they bring on people with the same opinion to back up those opinions. That reasoning is the same reasoning that they use to date fossils. They date the fossil by the layer of soil that it is in. They date the layer of soil by the fossils found in it.

They sway the masses like the wind shapes the dunes. I love to just have my music as background noise. Not that I need it. Our children make all the noise I need. Or should say they did.

My two boys are grown and on their own. My daughter is going to college in the spring. Soon I will only have myself.

I sometimes feel that I am so alone even though my daughter is still living in our home. I have a longing and a crazy idea. I have been doing as much research as I could find, which is not much. I try to jump to where my husband and Hero have jumped to but I know deep down that I will get it right one day.

Until then, I have to listen to them telling me how bad the world will be if their opponent gets elected. I say their opponent deliberately because their candidates play for their channel and give sound bites.

Even after the election is over, they start the whole thing over the day after. That is why I made jumps more frequently during this time. Now though, I don’t jump much. After you have someone to travel with and you lose them, travel is not the same. No one to share the sights and experience.

There are a few planets that are permanently blocked. There is one that the elderly man wrote about

He wrote

After my first wife died, I used the watch frequently. It showed me that I had to wait for quite a while to pass it on. I got this crazy idea that maybe, just maybe, I could jump to the universe she went to. Never found it.

It was on one of those random jumps that I found myself in the closest thing that could be mistaken for hell. No, it was not a fiery planet. Worse. When I exited the jump, I was immediately bombarded by a global news broadcast.

Even In the remote area that the watch chose for the jump point. There are self propelled giant screens that can sense the presence of a person and will station over that immediate area. It is the source of the loud broadcast. One half of the screen is an attractive couple and the other half is a constant bombardment of videos.

The videos are of what is happening on a neighboring planet. It is showing massive global wars. The footage of the carnage, very vivid, shows buildings destroyed, dead animals, women carrying their dead child while crying and body parts. All the while the armies are fighting.

The attractive couple are constantly saying how bad that planet is. That planet did not listen to them. See this is what will happen to you, to us, if you do not conform to what we say. We only say what is right for you. If you do not listen we have to do an intervention and help you see the truth.

Across the bottom of the screen is a constant red line with the number of interventions carried out yesterday and that ninety eight percent have been returned to their senses. It does not say what happened to the other two percent.

I still have not moved from the jump point when I see on the frame of the screen in front of me, flashing lights. On the screen the couple are momentarily gone and the screen shows the flashing words “Breaking News”

The couple return and they look very concerned. The man reads from a paper he is handed.

“This just in, there is a person in the vicinity of the woods outside the safety zone. It is not known for sure but we have determined that he is the forefront of an invasion from that planet. They want what you have and are willing to take it from you. An intervention squad has been dispatched.”

The female then says that they have live footage of the alien spy that is looking for the perfect landing site.

“We now show you that live footage.”

The half that was showing the war footage now showed the lone invader, ME. Not wanting to even know what an intervention is I step back into the jump point. The last words I heard were,

“It looks like he is running. We must destroy that planet before it takes …”

I was through the jump point and back home. I placed those coordinates in the permanent barred memory. I sometimes wonder what happened to the other planet but did not try to find out. I picture in my mind that the other planet was the same but opposing views. I would be willing that, if you were to unlock that site and return, you would find that both planets are dead. Mutual destruction by the news knowing what is best.

After rereading that entry from the elderly man, I gave up on the quest to find where my two were. I also learned that all I needed was to change the channel to some other non-news channel but most of those are very opinionated. Global warming, heritage theft, and downright racist bias.

The best solution is to turn the damn thing off and listen to the old music that I grew up with. I sit here in the room I am most comfortable in, reading my red books and copying my tales that I have been writing in my successor’s note books.

Soon I will make that jump to their universe. I now feel that my tale is almost done. Only a few more entries to be made.