Passage of Time

-Part One-

 Mary is 210 years old.  She visited her relatives on back on Earth today.

Even though the science of long distance travel has much improved since the first pioneers of the technology in my day, I'd still say that the trip from Mars to Earth is as uncomfortable as ever.  I don't understand why, in that metal tin-can can they call a teleportation machine, they can't save  some room for seat cushions.  Ever since doctors discovered that "miracle drug" that prolongs life, my back has gotten worse and worse.
 
My daughter was waiting for me when I arrived.  I raised her well.  It's a shame she had to go off and marry the sad excuse of a man that she did; he didn't  give a hoot about life or responsibility;  left when the boys were three and probably for the better.  She helped me out of the machine and slowly walked me over to a vehicle similar to what used to be known as a car, but has neither tires or a steering wheel.

On the ten minute trip from San Diego to Portland, she told me all that was going on with the boys at school and afterwards.  There used to be devices called telephones, but preference for text to spoken word became commonplace and soon enough, phones became non-existent; though I still prefer the latter.   As I thought, my daughter continued to talk about life on Earth; but I was not listening.  My mind is like a computer, operating way beyond the warranty; spending too much time on the simple rather than the complex.  Too often I find myself reminiscing about the days of my youth, when things were less complicated; now a hundred years past when I should have died, I am lost in this new world I once called home.

"So how's life back on Mars, mom?"

"Horrible" I said, "The days are scorching hot and  the nights are frigid cold.  My air conditioner and heater are already falling apart and I'm just waiting for the day when they finally break and I first bake, then freeze like a pre-cooked sausage you'd find at the grocery store."

"That's too bad.  The weather here has been fine."

"Because of that new artificial atmosphere contraption, the weather's  always good here."

Long after I left Earth with the promise of reaching an inter-stellar paradise, hurricanes and other extreme weather became frequent due to global heating caused by excessive pollution back on Earth. The countries of the world then decided to clean up the atmosphere and install a new artificial weather generator that would  help maintain a pleasant living climate all around the world.  

"Well, once they get it installed on Mars, the days and nights should become more bearable."

"After they take all my money through taxes to build the damn thing."

"The payments are only temporary, while the effects are long lasting."

"It'll make no difference.  To old people like me, things are either hot, or cold, black or white.  You're too young to understand the suffering that comes with age."

"Mom, you're not that old.  I know people whose parents are a hundred plus years older than you."

"You still don't understand do you.  It's not the age, there's a million drugs to take for back pain and  arthritis.  It's the things that all this new technology and drugs can't fix.  The passage of time."

"What do you mean?"

"What was once mystery is now science.  What used to be considered state of the art is now in a museum.  When the world progresses forward, people forget to look back and see those who have been left behind in the ripples of the past.  The vision of what can be clouds the history of what has been."

"But progress is good."

"You are young.  All you have known to this point is progress.  Fifty years from now, what you consider to be fun will be looked upon as primitive.  As time progresses, friends will disappear and what used to make sense will become foreign in the name of progress."

"But with the new miracle drug, my friends and I will live hundreds of years longer and there is always room to learn new things."

"  All things must come to an end.  Your friends may live for hundreds of years, but they will die and the pain of that never leaves.  Look at me.  I am two hundred and ten years old.  My last friend passed away thirty years ago.  I am too old to go about meeting new people.  The world for me has become confined to the walls of my house and the memories of the past.   Life has become a shackle holding me to a world I am no longer a part of."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there comes a point where life no longer becomes desirable, where one hopes to go to sleep and not awake to see the rising of the sun." 

"Mom, are you saying you want to die?"

 "When Edward, your father, many years ago refused to take the miracle drug, he warned me what would happen should I continue to live longer than nature intended; and it is only now that I truly realize what he meant. "

"Mom, quit talking this nonsense and lighten up a bit, we're almost here."

"I wish I could," I said wheezing.  I forgot to take my pills that morning.

-Part Two-

The flying car-like machine began to slow until it came to a complete stop whereupon my daughter and I unloaded and  made our way to her front door.

"The house may be a bit of a mess," she said," but I told the boys to clean up before we got home."

We stepped through the door as it parted down the middle and carefully made our way into the entry way of the house making sure I didn't slip on the hard, polished floor.  The sound of video games, or at least that's what they used to be called, echoed off the hard floor and the polished, white walls.

"Boys, please come down and meet Nana."

No response.

"Boys please come.  I don't want to have to yell!"

Again, no response.

"Boys! Come now!"

Still no response as the echoes of my daughter's now shrill voice faded away and the quiet murmur of the video games once again became the predominant noise in the stillness.

"Wait here while I go get them."

 I stood in the entry way looking around at the geometric shapes of the furniture and the slanted ceiling with the orb-like light fixtures hanging from it.  It reminded me of a doctor's office, probably because I have been in so many over the last forty or so years.  They say an apple a day will keep the doctor away; until you reach a hundred and thirty that is.  In little or no time, my daughter came down the stairs with two short boys.  One had hair with bangs cut in a straight line and large glasses covering his eyes.  His brother, a bit taller, had messy hair with obviously no attempt made to fix it and a few more freckles.

I bent over best I could and said,"Hello boys!  Nice to see you again.  Come over here and give grandma a hug!"

The two boys unsure at first slowly made their way over to me and stiffly wrapped their arms around me one at a time and hurried back to their mother.

"My, how you've grown since I last saw you!"  I said to Al, the oldest.

He gave a weak smile kept his eyes fixated on the ground until he looked up for a second and returned them to their original position.  I could tell, through my years of experience, that this, for the boys, was absolute torture.   Their faces closely resembled those of a beaten puppy and their stature that of a man older than myself; and their arms held in ready as if to "fend me off" in case I attack.

 After another few moments of awkward silence, their mother said, "All right boys, you can go now."

They quickly shuffled out of the room and made their way back up stairs.  My daughter and I exchanged glances while the video game sounds quickly resumed.

"It's gotten worse," I said.

"What has?"

"Their behavior."

"What's wrong with the way they greeted you?"

"They didn't...couldn't even say a word!  I've told you, you need to socialize them more.  I never realized you'd let it get this bad.  You need to get them out of the house and meeting people.  How do you ever expect them to make friends or meet nice young girls if they never even leave their computer monitors!"

 "There's nothing wrong with the way they socialize!"

"Yes there is!  Being able to hold a personal conversation is an important life skill and essential in employment and relationships!"

"My boys are just fine," her voice now rising, "and they do have friends.  Al has 1066 friends and Earnest has 912; more than half each, mind you, are girls!"

"Those friends don't count," I countered, "They can't even name all of them!  If you don't know their name, how are you their friend!  And the girls, have they ever even talked to any of them?"

"I've already told you mom," the word slipped off her tongue like venom from the mouth of a cobra, "phones are out dated.  Nowadays people are texting rather than talking.  It's faster and more easily understandable; though I wouldn't expect you to know, you're still living in the 50's."

"I wasn't born until the 1990s for the record, and just because technology changes, doesn't mean relationships do!  Personal interaction is absolutely essential in a relationship!"

"You're so out-of-date mom!  Who even knows what a record is anymore!  Why is it that every time you come to visit, an argument has to ensue?   Just for once, mom, try to live in the present.  I know it is hard for you to adapt to this rapidly changing world, but there's nothing you can do to stop it.  If you can't keep up, at least try not to hinder anyone else from moving forward; will you?"

There was a long pause.  It had been a while since my own daughter lectured me like that.  I raised her well indeed!  "Oh all right," I said.  "But answer me this, how will they ever get a job if they can't communicate?  Communication is essential in the work force."

"You forget, everything is digital now.  In the work force, there is hardly any personal interaction if any now that everything has moved online.  They have come out with the newest computers that practically think for you they're so fast!  And with the latest server technology, thousands of people can visit a single page at one time!  Why speak only to one person when you can type to a whole audience!"

There was a long pause, I didn't know how to respond.  In the end, a simple "alright" sufficed.  

"Well, you know where your room is, but make yourself at home and if you need anything, just give me a holler.  Dinner should be arriving anytime so don't make yourself too comfortable," she said brightly and moved out of the room.

I slowly made my way around the oddly-shaped furniture and sat down on a couch with one end wider than the other and the back higher on one end than the adjacent side.  I glanced the circular coffee table for some reading material until I remembered that books no longer existed after the coined "digital revolution."  I touched the table with my fingertip and light burst across its surface as an Internet browser appeared asking for a query to search.  On this homepage were articles about celebrities and other popular nonsense I had no interest in reading.  In the end I laid my self down careful not to injure my back again and took a short nap while we waited for the dinner to arrive, as the days of cooking were long past.

 -Part Three-

 After a little while, how much time I can't remember, dinner arrived.  We gathered at the table and  after a hurried grace, began to eat.  I knew there was no use in talking, so I ate in silence along with the rest of the family for the remainder of the meal.  

The sound of video games echoing off the walls of the cavernous house resumed shortly after dinner as my daughter and I waited for the dinner van (though it wasn't really a van) to return. We did not talk.  The difference between our two worlds separated us and like a great wall and there was no getting around it.  A ring sounded through the house and my daughter got up and moved the dirty dishes to the open door where an automated arm took the tray and emptied it into the back and moved on its way.  She sat back down and the silence between us resumed as though the disturbance had never occurred. 

As I drifted off to sleep, ready to fall off the couch, she broke the silence.

"Wow, it's late.  You should get to bed mom, tomorrow is a big day and you'll need your energy."

"What's going on tomorrow.  Did I forget something?" This was becoming more common with each visit.

"Tomorrow, you're getting your medication.  You know, to keep you strong and healthy these next hundred years."

I remembered.  I had noticed my energy and strength  drop quite significantly over the last thirty or so years, but the requirement is that the "miracle drug" be taken in periods of a hundred twenty five years to be safe.  "Oh," I said, "It must've not crossed my mind.  These last hundred and twenty five years have passed by so quickly," I said with a hint of sarcasm that my daughter didn't pic up on. 

"It's ok mom, just one little shot and that's all you'll need.  But enough chit-chat, you need to go to bed or you'll be too tired tomorrow morning for your appointment."

"All right," I said and slowly  made my way up the stairs to the bedroom with the big window in it.  It was my favorite as the window overlooked the mountains and one could easily observe the stars.  I made my way slowly to the middle of the room and dressed myself for bed, all the while thinking about tomorrow and my "vaccination against death."  I remember when it first came out, the "miracle drug" that made man " master of death."  I remembered the wars and conflicts that immediately ensued after its release because after all, who would want to die when one could live forever?  It is only now that I realize the problems with life eternal.  After all, with great age comes great wisdom, mostly because when you're falling apart, your vision is bad, and have lost the will to get up and go out, there's not much else to do but think.

I  turned the room lights off and sat down on the padded window sill and looked up at the moon and the stars.  Even as a little girl I was fascinated by the majesty and sheer number of the small balls of fire up in the heavens; and now, as an old woman, I find my self still gazing up with childlike interest.  I thought about how the moon never changes, and after all these years, has remained the same as it was when I was young.  I thought about the stars and the endlessness and vastness of the universe.  I thought about Edward and all the friends I'd had lost in my many years and how they are all up there, young as I remember them, looking back down on my old and haggard self.  A single tear, almost with weight, rolled down my wrinkly cheek and dropped to the floor with a soft pat.  The carpet of my daughter's house adsorbed the tear quickly; probably some new super stain adsorbing material. 

I got up slowly to avoid straining my back and made my way over to the rectangular bed centered against the back wall, adjacent to the window.   The light of the moon cast a soft glow on the edge of my bed and lit up the left half of the room.  My daughter came in then and asked softly,"Mom, are you all set?"

"I'm just fine," I replied.

"Ok.  I was just making sure since tomorrow is a big day."

"Thank you."

"Alright, good night."

As she began to leave the room, memories flooded my mind of when she was just  a child and it was I putting her to bed.  "Elane," I said into the darkness.

"Yes?"

" You are right, times have changed and I haven't kept up with the new.  Though I may not understand all that you do, I trust you'll raise your boys to be fine young men."

"Thank you," she replied.

"Good night."

She came over and gave me a hug, then a kiss  on the cheek.  She then moved over to the doorway and whispered, "good night."

The door then closed and I was left again in the darkness.  The world has changed and my time has long-since passed.  I thought again about  what Edward had said to me all those years ago.  I closed my eyes, turned my head and looked again out the window, towards the stars.  I remembered what I had told Elane earlier today and I somehow knew, in the deepest recesses of my being, that when the sun rose in the morning, I would not be there to see it.  With one last glance at the night time sky, I took in a deep breath and drifted off to a peaceful and restful sleep.