Dead Already
Matthew was captivated by the mysterious book he found in the old tanker. It described a nightmarish vessel. A morbid capsule to store mankind's collective memories. The repository was referred to as a Tumbler and the book went into great detail on how to build such a device. Even though Matthew was an exceptionally bright boy, the book was too complicated for him to understand. His eyes soon became heavy and he fell asleep.
Again, as always, he dreamt of the blurry figure walking towards him. But this time it was different. This time another figure joined in the slow ghostly drift. They floated through the mist, slow and ghost like. They were closer now, but still too far away to identify.
As before, the dream slowly melted away. Like every morning, he found himself in the warm interior of his grandmother's house with only the a blurry residue of the previous night's dream.
He cleared the sleep from his eyes and stretched a bit. Downstairs in the kitchen his mother and Grandma Brenner were talking loudly. Breakfast was always loud in the Brenner household.
Matthew descended the stairs hoping to smell pancakes. He entered the kitchen and sniffed the air, but there was no sign of them.
"What's for breakfast?" He asked.
"Cereal for you and corn for me," his grandmother said. She was partial to corn on the cob, and if given the chance, would have eaten it regularly for all three meals. Her teeth, those she still had, were old and worn. It was difficult for her to eat the corn off the cob. She favored the gold morsels and would strip the kernels off with a sharp knife to eat them with a spoon.
"Go to the garden and pick me two ears, you little devil," the old woman commanded.
Mother glanced up without saying a word just to let Matthew know he'd better do as he was told.
Without hesitation the boy went to the garden. The corn surrounded Matthew in a thick forest of lush green stocks. He walked along the furrows searching for two large ears of corn. He could hear Sarge rustling through the corn sniffing and snorting. Just like Matthew, the dog was searching for breakfast. The boy and his dog met at the edge of the cornfield. Matthew bent down and rubbed the hind legs of his cybernetic mutt.
"How are you, buddy?" The dog turned and licked Matthew's face. Matthew slapped him on the tail, "go find your breakfast while I pick Grandmas'."
The dog turned, pushed his nose into the ground, and disappeared into the stocks of corn.
Matthew returned to the house with two ears of corn. He laid the corn on the kitchen table and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He hastily scooped up a heap of flakes in a spoon and milk dribbled down his chin.
"Slow down, Matthew, you're going to choke on your breakfast," his mother said.
"I don't want to be late for school," Matthew said, face down in the bowl.
Mother picked up the corn and began shucking the large green husks, "You don't have to go to school today. I want you to keep your sister company while she takes your father to the airport. He needs to fly out to the coast. He needs to be at the United Space Agency when data comes streaming in from the probe."
Matthew's father came down stairs with a thick ream of paper tucked under his arm.
"Matthew will help you carry your things to the car." Mrs. Brenner said as she handed the cleaned corn to Grandma.
"Kerri, get down here... your father is ready to go." She handed the keys to Matthew. "Give these to her," she added.
"Wait," Matthew said and ran upstairs and grabbed the book he had found in the old Tanker.
