Living in a neighborhood wasn’t the same as it was in the old days before phase technology was developed. You have to see people you disagreed with or did not like and even wave at them even if you went to the BBQ in their backyard. Everything was changed when a scientist discovered how to phase out of reality by a second or two or nano seconds. This had the unexpected conquestence in the world of allowing people to phase in a reality with people they liked minded like them. You could pay and live in a blue bubble or a red bubble or for someone who hates everyone a gray bubble. In your bubble everything appeared normal but you could not see other people who were in a different bubble. The science behind this process was easy with a little tiny box you put in your pocket and it allowed you to see established businesses that were neutral like a grocery store but you would not see any body in a red bubble or in a gray bubble which did not want to see anybody and they were subdivided so gray bubbles would not see each other. It was like how WIFI works with different frequencies. This development had brought calm to a world that was so divided or that is what the ad said “ be in your bubble “or their major competitors said on their advertisement “be in your own world.” People could do their daily activities and not see anybody that is not in your bubble. Work places became more difficult but you can always email someone so businesses allowed their employees to stay in their own bubble as a way to keep employees. Some businesses decided to only be in one bubble or the other bubble. Some products became bubble specific. This brought calm to a world on fire with tension yet sometimes failures would happen and people would bleed through to other bubbles. The tech squad would fix these problems and respond to any bubble breach.
Tony went for his daily walk around his neighborhood which he loved and all the houses he would see on his block. It was always a little weird to see the blank spaces between the houses but he got used to it. He got the bubble so he could reduce his stress and be his best self. It helped a lot at first but sometimes he thought he was missing something in his perfect catered world that he paid the annual fee for. One day he saw a new house on the street where a blank space had previously been. Sometimes that meant someone new moved in and had set up a new bubble around their property or on the very rare occasion someone changed their views but almost that never was the case.
He saw a woman on the front porch of the house new to my bubble and He waved a good morning because if they were in your bubble you knew you had something in common. It was like living in a small town when you lived in your own bubble knowing it was safe and easier to get to know people. The big idea of the bubbles was to make everything civil again after all the civil strife. I was hoping to see her again. She is cute and I would love to get to know her better. I would have never been that hopeful in the world before the bubbles. I could chat without worrying about having major disputes. I walked by that house everyday and waved and even talked about the weather a few times when I went by on a really nice and perfect day. I wished she could have come to the park with me that day. I learned her name by the next week was Carol. Carol also learned my name too. It was a bright point of walking by her house each day to go to the park or work or the store to get ice cream when I ran out before my grocery delivery came that week. I had a sweet tooth and I was willing to go out of my way for a sweet treat. Carol had a cute outfit on today and it hugged her in all the right places. I almost drooled a little because her jeans looked sewn on and my mind raced as I tried to not be distracted in the conversation. Part of me hoped she would come get ice cream with me. A walk with her would really brighten my day. I wondered what ice cream she liked best. I think she might be a mint chocolate chip kind of lady. I asked what her favorite flavor was in our casual conversation and it was mint chocolate chip. I felt like a good judge of character. I said I would bring a pint of that on my way to get my own ice cream. She smiled the warmest smile I had ever seen and said she would love that and she would make coffee to go with it afterwards and to come join her on her deck so it was a deal. After his short walk to the ice cream shop which felt like he was walking on air he came back with the ice cream and they spent hours telling stories and learning about each other. Tony left feeling great and he could swear that she was smiling too. He felt so good that he even dreamed happy dreams. Tony now had to figure out how to ask her on a real date. This part was going to be the most nerve racking part of this thing. Maybe he would not overthink things like he normally did. He felt good about his prospects of getting a yes. He could take her to a new BBQ place that had just opened up downtown. He loved a good brisket and buttered roll. He worked up the courage the next morning and tried to be casual but clear of his intentions. He asked out to the new BBQ place on her next free evening. She smiled with that warm smile of hers that just warmed his soul to it’s core like a being wrapped in a warm blanket straight out of the dryer. She said yes and wanted to try it out herself but she hated to eat alone. Tony just floated on the rest of this walk that day. He had to get ready for the date that evening. He would wear his blue dress shirt which always got complimented on.
Tony was ready for his date at the new BBQ restaurant but he would try to not spill anything on it. Tony met Carol at the restaurant as his auto taxi dropped him off. They got seated immediately and ordered beer and whisky. It turned out they both wanted the brisket so they ordered some fried pickles and baked potatoes with the full fixings. Carol wore a nice top that showed off her ample cleavage which Tony both enjoyed but was trying to look into her eyes because he was raised right by his mom. She dropped a fried pickle in her cleavage and Tony tried to help and Carol did not seem to mind. After dessert they went back to her place and made out like horny teenagers. They did not make love that night but on there third date they did and they could not be without each other from that point and were going to move in with each other when they figured out what house to move too but they had plenty of time to figure that out or maybe Tony will keep his house as a man cave that way he did not have to move all his shit anywhere.
At the Headquarters of one of the companies where all the machines that monitor the devices that control the bubbles an alarm goes off and alerts that there is a breach in boundary between the red and blue bubbles and technical staff had been dispatched to the area to repair the boundary where cross interference had canceled out the field.
The technical staff drove up in a work van scanning for the problem and quickly found the boundaries had been broken and installed repeaters and changed the settings so it would not happen again. This would be a problem if the bubbles did not work and people could interact freely and everyone would demand refunds.
Tony woke up in a blank void and was not on Carol’s bed anymore and everything was just a blank void which was kind of embarrassing to be in your silk boxers in the middle of the street and he ran to his house like the fastest run of shame he could manage. He tried to call Carol but her phone would not answer and he could not figure out what had happened and he got some pants on and went back to her house but it was just a blank spot like it was in one of the other bubbles. A terrifying thought had crossed his mind because he never bothered to ask her politics: was she in a red bubble and he in a blue bubble. Politics was not discussed because people were in their own bubbles except maybe during elections. He called his bubble company and explained what happened and they said there was a problem and it had been fixed. They were going to give him free lifetime service to make up for his disruption. He explained that he wanted to contact her and they said he can use the interbubble email system because sometimes communication between the bubbles was necessary. Carol received a very long email on her phone from Tony which she had been sleeping through the whole thing. She said she did not care about bubbles but wanted to see him and after several messages they would opt to leave their bubbles and meet. They called their bubble providers and canceled their service.
A strange thing happened because they could not see each other despite meeting at Carol’s house which was still a blank void to tony. They both called their bubble providers and they said they would send technical staff because this did not happen where people decided to leave their bubble so maybe a setting was off. A van pulled up and the driver took readings and found unusual readings so more vans and more technical staff had to be called in. Eventually the top scientists were called out and after much research. Found the bubbles had soaked their inhabitants with radiation that had made them permanent even after a full shutdown. They believed the bubbles would take a 100 years to fade but were working on ways to neutralize the effects but they could not find anything.
Carol and Tony sent emails of love and loneliness to each other after they had found out what the top scientists were finding out. All bubble generators were deactivated and more research had to be done. There were some weak spots in the bubbles and people could break through for a few moments. The closest weak spot was a park and Tony and Carol met at the same spot and on a good day could embrace each other from 10 seconds before the bubble field reasserted itself. The world governments had massive investigations and people were stuck in their bubbles which had gone from a safe place to a cage keeping the world apart. Tony and Carol did not care about any of that but just hoped for a embrace for ten seconds once a day but sometimes they could not see each other at all. They spent their free time at that park for the rest of their lives in hope of a breaking of the bubbles. They lived long lives apart from each other mostly but they both died the same night after 60 long years of only seeing each other for moments at a time. Maybe they could finally be together then.
THE END
Amelio's Palace of Stories 