Peddling Words

I never understood why kids were still into these things. I grew up without ever reading and I got by just fine. They all told me it was about the high you got from it – a feeling that couldn’t be recreated by film or computer games. I just shrugged off their opinions – after all, why spend days reading a novel when you can watch a movie adaptation in two hours?

Before my time – a long time ago – I heard that these things were legal. You could buy them anywhere and sometimes they were even mandatory. There were even public areas called libraries where people could read books without paying a single cent!

People read in public – on busses, in restaurants, at the side of the street – it was a completely different world back then. They could even claim for them in their taxes returns. People were encouraged to read.

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What a lovely night to be lonely

I turned on the TV and it was still on her favorite channel, The Food Network, which we were watching during dinner earlier. An Iron Chef rerun episode was playing. I never understood the fascination she had with watching people cook, but I decided to watch it for a moment. It didn’t hold my attention for more than 30 seconds. I could only guess why she enjoyed it.

She was always up for something new and I’m pretty sure some of the meals she’s cooked for us had come from the countless hours she spent watching the channel. But this evening was special. She didn’t cook us dinner. I had texted her earlier in the day that she was in for a surprise when she returned from work. I was the one who made us dinner tonight.

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The Captcha test

Bob typed in his name, email address and password and carefully read through the terms and conditions before clicking “accept”. The form disappeared and another page appeared.

“Please verify that you are human” were the words on the screen. Below it, a check box next to the words “I’m not a robot”.

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