Genevieve; the Third of January by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 13

Genevieve was beginning to like this contraption a bit better as with another click-click-click she had commanded it to go to a new screen. And without making any sort of fuss other than the small inconvenience of a nanosecond delay, it went there. “Eureka,” she whispered.

”Harry Headphones”; property of the author.

“Harry Headphones” initially had potential for Genevieve.

The screen consisted of him silently walking. He was apparently disinterested in his surroundings, or the cartoonists were too lazy to draw them. His eyes seemed entranced by whatever he had coming through his headphones and he was an attractive tyke, albeit with elephantitis of both feet. But, Genevieve had to

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reject the program conceptually, as it never bothered to even hint to the watcher what Harry was hearing or why he might have been disinterested in all else, It made a mid-period Antonioni look like an action flick. She click-click-clicked again.

”The 100 Coolest Millennial Hominids”; property of the author.

No explanation or analysis necessary, Genevieve instinctively click-click-clicked. This one picture did speak a thousand words for itself. The clickity-clack was all too soon becoming a habit for her, which was working its way toward being no fun whatsoever. Perhaps its saving grace was that it often seemed compulsory for her to escape something blessed with the lack of the ability to see itself, and therefore apparently unaware that it was embarrassingly pitiful.

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Raju the Elephant; property of the author.

The cheerful voice said; “Two years after he was freed from fifty years of cruel captivity, Raju the elephant now has a happy life. Since birth he was used as a begging elephant in Uttar Pradesh, India. He had numerous injuries on his body, was starved and abused, kept in chains, and often ate soda cans, for want of anything else. Raju was rescued by a brave team from Wildlife SOS and brought to his new home in Mathura.

Raju in his new pool; property of the author.

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He is finally a happy jumbo elephant who most loves lounging in his new pool. Like a child, he takes his bath toys with him; his favorite a rubber tube.

Since his rescue, during which he cried, seemingly understanding what was going on, he has gained more than 1,000

kg in weight. Raju likes bananas and watermelons best and eats 200 kg of green fodder and 25 kilos of vegetables every day.

It’s truly a shame how some righteous things take so long to come about.”

Genevieve again went click-click-click, this time closing the tune with a laptop shutoff, though not for the usual reasons. This time it was a desire to end the information-entertainment module’s penchant for bringing the bad tidings, which some still call the news. Out loud she said; “I can’t watch this anymore.” She ran back to her wicker bed and pulled the covers over her head. Genevieve cried and cried and cried into her pillow, unsuccessfully trying not to think of Raju.

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