Dave flipped through the book, which, as far as he was concerned, was old technology. Why they even bothered with paper anymore, he had no idea. But the truth is, even though his nose slightly twitched upwards as he felt the raw fibers beneath his soft fingertips, he couldn’t help but catch a whiff of the smell of paper, glue, and binding. As much as he hated it, the scent made his olfactory faculties kick up nostalgic feelings toward the books. The internal conflict of yearning for a simpler time without technology vs. the convenience of it was something that he fought regularly. The people of Vertex always had. It is what divided the East from the West. The life on the other side of the bridge was very alluring. To be free of devices and screens probably created a better value on life. And yet, there was so much value put on them.

Ziggy’s book was fairly easy to navigate, and it wasn’t long before Dave had something to show Bill. Bill turned to the beavers and made the signs. The beavers looked impressed, but a little confused, and so Dave also did them. This time they seemed to get what the humans were saying. They had to make concrete. They had to fix the dam. A subtle but clear cracking noise below them sealed the deal. There was a thump-thump-thump as they smacked their tails onto the paving stones. More beavers came out of nooks and crannies. A confused Toshi popped out as well, and instinctively Crystal bent down to cover her socks. But she need not have feared. The Toshi had grown up with the beavers and was convinced that it was a beaver as well. A small piece of plywood was attached with rope to its posterior as a type of beaver tail.

The beavers all immediately jumped into action. The team looked over the wall and could see all the little cracks, leaks, and holes sprouting water, slowly closing up one by one. It was incredibly impressive. There were high-fives all round, except from Rammi, who realized that the only way to get back down to the town was to clamber back up onto Smut. He grumbled and complained as they took off.

Again, Crystal was all too happy to close her eyes, as was Lydia. The men couldn’t completely take it upon themselves to fully trust the bulldog. But the girls spread their arms up and enjoyed the freshness of the night air that was descending on them. It was cool and brought with it a sense of peace to their otherwise chaotic day. The flight provided them with a much-needed sense of closure.

They climbed off Smut, who took off again, no doubt to return to the roof of Sir Arthur. The gang went to their favorite spot at the cafe and ordered a round of drinks. Lydia and Bill were soon laughing—an unlikely couple, but the rugged gardener had grown warmth for the woman of the city, and vice versa. Crystal and Dave were sharing their love for numbers, although each one used it in a different field. Rammi jumped between each discussion, then eventually decided that he had to go talk to the chef who was making their evening meal, as he simply had to find out what spice was used in the sauce.

Shortly afterwards, Rammi came out with another round of drinks that they all cheered to.

.

None of them noticed that while they were laughing about the day’s events, there was a slight spring-pull sound. Gears moved, cogs turned, and little dials danced backwards. At exactly 12 p.m., there was a dong that rang through the city. By that stage, the team was all in bed, as they were mostly 35 years of age and up. Nobody with any reasonable sense in the latter half of their life is still awake beyond 9, maybe 10 pm.

After the dong rang out on sleeping ears, there was a slow tick-tock noise of another countdown. But it wasn’t scheduled to go off for a few decades, so nobody paid it any attention. In fact, a number of the people in the town didn’t even notice that it had counted down in the first place, and for a brief moment, it had even stopped.

Well, well well, look what we have here! A reader who has finished a tale! Congratulations. I hope you enjoyed this one. Impending Doom is the first real story on this blog, and for me, it was really a tale to see if I could get others to read. And here you are! Before you run off on another adventure, there is just one more engagement that I would appreciate, and that is a poll, so that I can get a better sense of my readers. After that, you are welcome to take a badge and paste it on your own WordPress site, blog, or even Social Media. Then you can scroll through our other tales and see if there is another you like. Ziggy, Toshi, and Maude will be waiting. As will I – Sam the Skull.

Have a Badge!

Right-click and ‘Save As’ on the badge on the left to save your image, if you want to DIY. Otherwise, create an HTML box on your blog where you want to display your badge, and use the HTML code on the right and paste it in.

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Did You Read All the Chapters?

Use Maude’s Bingo Card to ensure you got all the chapters in this tale!

Well, That Was Fun, What Should We Do Now?

Well, there is nothing stopping you from reading another! Let’s go back to the world of Toshi’s and Maude’s. Forget work tomorrow. It sucks. Call in sick and rather curl up and read some more about the world you really want to live in. And the best thing is that because all your favorite characters are there, it’s like returning home, but with a new interactive, interesting storyline. Nostalgia with a twist!