The Steam Engine vs the Wall

Later that day, Tobias and Guillaan were walking together past a park when it happened. 

“What the bloody hell is that noise?" cried Guillan in surprise. A terrible clattering and sliding sound, combined with loud clanking and the occasional toot, slowly came towards them.

 The noise grew louder still, and to thier suprise, around the corner came a towering, wobbling machine that looked like a wagon had crashed into a brewery. It was a steam enginem and at the controls was thier friend Charlie. wearing a huge grin. The steam engine  was followed by a gaggle of dirty street urchins, indistinguishable from each other, who were attracted by the noise and dirtiness.

  "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?" Guilaan shouted over the din.

   "IT'S MY UNCLE’S STEAM ENGINE, HE GOT IT TO HAUL THE WATER FOR THE FIRE FIGHTER'S CLUB" yelled Charlie as loudly as he could.

   "WHAT? I CANT HEAR YOU!"

    "THIS THING IS REALLY LOUD, I CANT HEAR ANYTHING YOU ARE SAYING. I’LL TURN IT OFF A BIT" Charlie pulled on several levers in sequence, opened a couple of valves and then pulled on a chain, letting off a loud whistle. After this operation the noise slowly abated from a deafening cacophony to an enthusiastic chugging.    

  The machine had a huge wooden boiler, two steel shod wheels at the front to steer with, and two even larger wheels at the back. They were also covered in layered steel, with large fairings on them, designed for grip in dirt, mud, or in this case, cobbled streets.     

   "That's better", said Charlie. "I can't shut it down completely, as it takes 20 minutes or more to build up a head of steam. My uncle said I could borrow it for a few hours to show Professor Rorrie, you know how much he likes machines and devices, especially these new fangled steam powered ones."   

  A few of the smaller urchins, getting over thier shyness, climbed over the steam engine, admiring the largeness of it, the wooden boiler, comfortable seating and large box full of coal.    

  "Coal fight!" cried one, though this was quickly abandoned as the coal was very hard. The urchins contented themselves with throwing the coal onto the road to break it. Charlie soon realised he would have no coal left, as the coal was scattered all over the road. He huffily made the urchins pick it up and put it back, so he would have enough to make his return journey.   

    "If you have all finished throwing my coal around, I'll show you how this thing works. No! Only I can pull the levers!" He said, slapping away a small creeping hand. "This wheel is the steering wheel, it's a big wooden wheel with a handle on it to help you steer it in the mud. It's connected to the chains underneath, see, they move the wheels so you can steer." He moved the steering wheel slightly, and the front wheels slid on the cobble stones. The boys ooh'd appreciatively.    

 "This one's the brake, you pull this handle, and then it lets you release the brake, which stops the main wheels from moving. This one is a valve which reduces down the heat, and this one engages the actual engine. It's got notches which correspond to different speeds. You pull this handle, and push it forward or backward. The engine can go forwards or backwards. This one disconnects the engine from driving the the wheels and instead makes this big wheel up here go. We use it at the fire house to drag the hoses up, using a pulley and rope. If we didn't haul the hoses up, they would stay wet and rot." He proudly patted the machine.

    "Wow, this is amazing!"   

   “Professor Rorrie's house is only a couple of blocks away from here, can we come with you when you go to show it to him?"    

   "Sure, you can help me getting around the corners and things, this part of town is fairly narrow." 

 They had successfully navigated around two corners by going up onto the footpath, narrowly avoiding crushing a rose garden, when the contraption reached a corner which would take a bit more finesse to get around.

 “Grab some rope, I think we can slide it around the corner if we can find something to tie it to.” They were hemmed in on all sides by high brick walls.

 “This post looks strong enough, it’s holding that house up after all.”

 The rope was passed around a thick wooden post, which held up the slumping second story of a wood and stone house. Randall made the rope fast, and signalled to Charlie that it was ready. Guilaan picked at the post dubiously, raising his eyebrows as a small piece of wood crumbled off as they were tying the rope.

 Charlie pulled the handle, and the engine shuddered back to life again, spewing smoke over the high walls, which drifted into back yards and coated clean washing hung out to dry. Jerking forward, the rope tightened and the engine started it’s slow slide around the corner. One of the wheels crested the berm and suddenly there were only 3 wheels on the ground. The back wheels gripped and pushed, but the front was still not steering correctly. Guillan and Randall pulled on the rope, but they couldn’t get the wheel back down onto the pavement. The smaller urchins milled about the near rear of the engine, enjoying the show, and generally getting in the way.

Charlie noticed Guilaan and Randall pulling on the the rope to free the engine, and lept off the machine to assist them. Simultaneously, Guilaan and Randall pulled with a mighty heave. The engine freed itself, the rope went tight, the post shattered. The engine made the most of it’s newfound freedom by charging down the street and crashing full tilt into thick stone block wall, making a solid impression on this new obstacle.

  Alhough the engine itself was stopped, the back wheels were still turning. Charlie, Guillan and Randall ran down the road to the engine, while the younger boys swiftly beat a very brave retreat down the street, in the opposite direction.

Soon, Charlie, Guillan and Randall were doing the same thing. While the front end of the steam engine was wedged into the wall, the rear wheels were free to dig into the road, and pelt the three young men with cobblestones. Safely around a nearby corner, Guillan looked around for protection. Picking up a small gate from a pile of rubbish, he whooped in victory and charged around the corner, Charlie close behind him. With cobblestones bounced off the makeshift shield, the two of them managed to safely reach to the engine. Charlie climbed to the engineers seat, and, with visible relief, disengaged the drive wheels. With a loud sigh, the machine stopped thrashing, and lurched backward into the hole it had dug.

 Guilaan, and Randall walked to the chugging engine. The group of urchins, realising it was now safe, strolled cooly after, keeping thier eyes peeled for the city watch.

 
Luckily the only damage to the engine was a slightly bent front lamp, as the stone wall had taken the brunt of it, bearing a massive dent shaped like the engine’s front end, about waist height from the road.

 “Um, I might leave this here and get my dad to help me out.  Professor Rorrie’s house is only a few minutes walk that way” said Charlie nervously, pointing down a narrow alley.”It might be best to bring him to the engine, rather than the other way around.”
Realising there would be no further action, the urchins grumbled and wandered off.

The day after, a group of puzzled watchmen could be seen crowded around the dent in the wall, however Carlie, Guila an and Randall were far far away.

loud shoes

I was waiting for the train last night. A woman walked up with really loud shoes.

I’m not talking about loud like a shirt, where you cover your eyes and say “turn it down, Barry” in a joking way,

I’m talking about actual volume, the kind of shoes that if you wore them every day they would lead to partial hearing loss.

They were the kind of shoes where you’d be at home and hear them from blocks away, yelling at your kids “Your mother is coming home”

“And they’ll be like “what?” When boy racers come past it like some kind of soothing silence.

They were the kind of shoes that would make your ears and eye bleed, make civilisations and windows tremble, something

That would cause you to say “Aw mate, can you walk more quietly, your shoes are a bit loud, eh”

the great wave

 Jago walked down the darken alleyways of Kanagawa town, with his eye out for a deal. A speakers attached to the buildings played 80’s music, right now Petshop Boys ‘Its a sin’ was blaring from the jank. Neon lit puddles from yesterday’s rain, highlighting people selling phone cases, flowers, old tech tape players and bio-upgrades. Anything they could lay their hands on.

 

What caught his eye was a girl, tall, with pink hair, a long nose, and flower hairclips. She leaned casually against the shutters of a closed hairdressers called Midori; her arms crossed across the front of her black tank top. To her left was a red fixie bike, and in front of her, an open briefcase on a built-in stand. Inside the worn brown leather briefcase was what Jago had been seeking. Illegal pirate memory chips.

 He looked around, and then stepped up to the case, looking inside, sneaking a quick look at the girl. In earlier years, street had been populated with 'day girls', women who sold themselves for money doing unspeakable things, like boardgame dates or teaching people to read. The local authorities had painted the street bright yellow to drive them away, and they had been replaced by the day markets and illegal sellers.

 Jago snuck another quick look at her, a kind of pretty but world weary face. He decided she would have fit in with the other girls, and his mind began to wander -

“Are you staring or buying, buddy?” The sudden question made him nervous. He stepped back and took his black backpack off. The girl’s laughter tinkled. Jago reached into his backpack for a wad of paper money. “I -”

“I wouldn't buy from her, buddy!” Cut in a laughing man sitting on the other side of the alley. “My brother bought one of her units, now look at him!” He nudged the dirt encrusted form curled up next to him. The girl frowned. “That wasn't mine!” She yelled.

The laughing man scratched the memory bank on his head, a trail of clear liquid tracking down the side of his head. The sign of a bad memory bank install.

 “Eh, I was just kidding, don't get your panties in a twist.”

Jago licked his lips and pulled out the wad of cash. “I'll take four. Of the TSR-640k’s.” he said, answering her unspoken question.

 A scuffle erupted down the alley and everyone turned to look.

“Oh ho, there coming for you, girly!” Said the laughing man, sounding a little concerned. “Better jet!”

 She looked worriedly down the alleyway, then slammed the briefcase closed.

 “My -” Jago started.

 “Take them” she stuffed the chips into his hands, then jumped on the bike and flew down the road, clutching the briefcase full of forged cash and pirate memory chips.

 Jago looked down at the chipped white cases, hidden among the rectangular chips was another one, a square of orange and black, this one not a memory upgrade. He turned it over, not sure what it was. 

 Suddenly the chasers pushed past him, bouncing him around as they boiled down the street, yelling at the girl.

 Jago looked up, seeing a camera on the side of the building, not quite pointed at him, but near enough. He hustled off.

 

The next time Jago saw the girl, it was on a news board, asking for information about her location. There was a video of her jumping on the bike and hoofing it down the street, and the men chasing her, their blue suits making them look like a great wave.

when Chuck met Valerie

Chuck 20 walked through the door 10 minutes late. Chuck 40 gave him a look.

"Oh shut up" Chuck 20 said.

"What are you two on about?" asked Chuck 30, coming into the main showroom, carrying a box of game controllers.

"I told you he'd be late today, and viola!" Chuck 40 gestured.

"WTF, it's not like I'm not ever late, hey, I'm sometimes early too! But mostly on time." said Chuck 20.

"No, I remember coming in late today. You coming in late, I mean."

"You liar, you can't remember every single sodding time you were late to work." Chuck 20 said angrily, stomping past to the staff room. He was already wearing his regulation "It’s Collectables Time!" polo neck. It had not been washed since the day before.

"I remember this time, partly due of this argument, but also from being hung over, and mostly from coming straight from Charlottes house."

"Oh, so the date went well then?" Chuck 30 said.

"You both know how it went." Chuck 20 replied loudly from the staff room. They could hear the spray of deodorant.

"Ah, youth. Good times, good times." Chuck 40 opened the box and started pulling out individual controllers to shelve.

"Wow, did you use enough?" Chuck 30 fake coughed, "I can smell it from here."

 

Later that day, Chuck 20 and Chuck 30 were restocking the plushie shelves.

"Can you tell me how it goes? The relationship, I mean." Chuck 20 said, cramming vaguely alligator shaped green things on the shelf.

"You know I can't give you any information about the future."

"Isn't that more about stock tips and gambling? It's just a guideline anyway. You told me you'd told me your greatest love left you. Is it her? Anyway, even if you tell me, you're here, so what possible difference can it make? Does she cheat on me? Do I cheat on her? Do you just drift apart? Is there anything I can do to stop it?"

"No, there is no escape from fate. I can't tell you, you can't avoid it, the multiverse doesn't exist. There is no other timeline where you had asked out Valerie from the 'Rival Fires' store instead. We are the proof." Chuck 30 grumpily stuffed red dragon shaped things into the shelves. A couple fell off the ends, on to the floor. He ignored them.

"So, there's basically no escape for me, is there. I'm stuck in this life. I can't change it, at least partly because you won't tell me what happens. And I work here 3 times. What happens between when I leave and come back ?"

"I can't tell you! But, you've been here nearly, what 2 years. You might get sick of it, maybe try something else. Charlotte could - " he stopped himself, still angry.

"What if I just overheard you and Chuck 40, you know, reminiscing about old times. Maybe while I was hiding behind a door. How could they tell? I mean, if it’s all fated already, if you tell me or not, it doesn't matter, that’s just the way it was supposed to be. Should I buy Bitcoin or Apple stock or something?"

"Gold is always a solid bet, unless it's not."

 

It was just before closing. It had been a slow day, so this took them kind of by surprise.  "Hey, Charlotte is going to come and pick me up from work in about 10 minutes, just a heads up."

 

Nine minutes later.

"Holy shit, it always weirds me out coming in to these types of places. Do I need to introduce myself, or ...? I mean, technically, we've already met. So you are both an older version of him? Did you get sucked into working here again, or can you never leave? Are we still, you know, a thing, or ..." Chuck 30 looked pained, and Chuck 40 looked sad.

"I'm sorry, I just work here, I can't tell you any more. We come from the future, but we work, and live somewhat, in the past."

"Don't ask those kinds of questions, they can't, or won't, answer." Chuck 20 said with annoyance. "Come on, lets go to the movies."

"Nice to meet you again for the first time!" Charlotte cheerily waved with her free hand as she left.

 

"She just disappeared from my life." Chuck 30 said, watching them leave. "One day I just never heard from her. No contact, I was never sure what I'd done, but her mother never liked me. I'll see you tomorrow." Chuck 30 went to the back of the shop, collected his jacket, and left.

 

Chuck 40 waited for him to go, straightened up some collectable toys, and sighed. Talking to the toys sometimes made him feel better, less of a failure. Sometimes he could explain his feelings to them more easily than to a real person.

"I found out a few months ago, she was in a car crash. Died really suddenly. Her family never contacted me, her mother thought I wasn't good enough, just working in this shop. But nothing else had worked out. I guess I really didn't know any of her other friends, it had really felt it was just her and I. I read it on a note someone had left for me. Turns out the note was right."

 

"I dropped my sunglasses, maybe here, maybe somewhere else. Chuck, I mean your Chuck 20, is waiting in the car." Charlotte said from behind him. "I overheard. Can you show me the note?" Chuck 40 handed over a piece of paper, soft from handling. "Huh, you never were very good at recognising handwriting.” She looked him in the face. ”I have a friend who loves making time paradoxes, she started work at 'Rival Fires' in a few weeks ago, Valerie, I hope you get to meet her, she's fun! Anyway" Charlotte gave him a hug "maybe I'll see you another time. Oh, and there they are!"