13.


John opened the journal book, whose cover was the pressing of tree bark, and read words in his grandfather's hand:

      To my loving grandson, John, on his twelfth birthday,       September 12, 2099. You are my greatest gift.

            Grandpa George

Along the inside binding of the journal lay a sleek titanium shaft, a Writer, with the initials 'G.S.' etched into its side.
    "That was my Writer, given to me by my father, your great grandfather, Henry Smith. You don't have to worry about it running out of writing fluid. There's a lifetime supply of dry ink inside which automatically mixes with moisture drawn from the air to produce the fluid.
  "When the journal is full, push down on these two buttons in the front and back inside covers. This will cause the writing on the pages to be stored in an internal memory chip which you can download into your main computer. Once the data has been stored, push the clear button and the ink will automatically disappear from the pages, leaving you with a blank journal, just like new."
    "This is really cool, Grandpa. I promise I'll take good care of it." said John, holding the gift delicately in his hands.
    "I know you will, John. Now let's get a move on. By the look of it, the fog's already hit town, and walking in the mist always puts me in the mood for some of your Mom's hot chocolate."
    "I'm always in the mood for that!" said John excitedly, and with a renewed sense of purpose, they began their descent.


OBL Home         Lung Lit         Previous         Next