THE NEW LIFE, THE NEW ME - an Apple Loving Individual Thriller

Chapter 13 - Chilling First Time Together

Chapter 13 – Chilling First Time Together

Thursday, May 10, 2046
6:11 PM
Dawson Plaza, Bellaire
Houston, TX

To be honest, I'm blessed after what happened recently. Getting a better job was one thing, but meeting Jake was truly a miracle. Being born to my parents, who are both Gen Zs, the cohort of people born between 1997 to 2012, I was born in an amazing era where the hundreds of new jobs and industries existed. For one, I'm glad I didn't have to take out my own garbage anymore. My robots did that for me.

I arrived at Dawson Plaza and it was amazing. To give a little backstory on this place, Dawson Plaza is the beautiful and spiritual hub for many restaurants and current day landmarks. Founded in 2031, this replaced an old shopping mall in the Bellaire area, which didn't survive the Shopping Mall Crash; a name given to the period from 2022 to 2032, where many retail outlets and shopping centers succumbed to the rising popularity of online shopping. Speaking of the devil, I witnessed drones by Amazon™, Ebay™ and Facebook™ Marketplace making their rounds, delivering orders weighing less than fifty pounds.

Jake arrived at the plaza as well. Me and him decided to do a little sightseeing prior to eating dinner. Not everyday you'd come to such an iconic landmark of the city. Yes, landmark was the best term for this place. Me and Jake looked in awe, as this was our first time in quite a while.

"Last time I came here, was last year!" said me, in thrill and excitement. "It was Fourth of July, and I came here for fireworks."

"Must've been much different back then, as this place changes fast." Jake said.

"Very fast, indeed."

"To be fair, I don't miss much of the real world nowadays, because reality indeed is a bummer." Jake sighed. "Then again, as per that really old movie, it is reality that's the only thing that's real."

"Amen!" I had to agree with him. "Not to mention how many people in the last few decades have been screwed up in the head, due to the Internet and social media."

"Tell me about it, and they acted like fools. I often would hear people say growing up, and in the army, 'Shit! Just be glad they haven't replaced us with robots, yet!' as the economy and workforce was changing. That's a different story years later, it actually happened."

"Well, just be glad losing a few hundred jobs in the past created millions of more. And enough to curb a lot of poverty and homelessness."

Me and Jake eventually then toured the plaza more, took more selfies with one another. Looked at my smartphone, and occasionally the network icon was fluctuating between 6G and 7G, as we walked. Not that it really affected us, as those networks were still pretty fast.

"Let's eat now, whaddayasay?" asked Jake.

"Why not?" I added. "Hungry like a wolf, at the moment."

We eventually stepped into the food court, where there was a large variety of food chains.