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Walki Rick was lying on his b minutes before leaving foi Walking, or rather thinkii session. He had never tri( especially since that new He reached under his pill The Final Report of the P Conditions. He opened to "In conclusion, we find longer make it necessary than or on the same level studies reveal that the firs regained their normal pre density levels to pre-disast again stand and use wal thermore..." Noise from the other roor looked over at his clock, muffled dialogue of his fat Carefully he stuffed the sure none of the edges w grabbed his transportation bed. Rick hated this contr one horizontal - mounted li platform on wheels. He restrictions, yet there was r Rick pulled both legs ove his knees, his head inches switch pointed him towards true. People had not walke then everyone had becom Turning left into the hall walking, he nearly collided the hall closet. "You leaving?" she sai - "Yes." Rick wondered why his had a full time job too. His "Try to be home early Ri "Yes, Mom," he manag "Don't forget to hook yc house, and please drive c, "Yes, Mom...Mom...Wou "You shouldn't say such again. The strain would be "Yes, Mom." He maneu living room. He had to go tl "Good-bye, Mom." There was no way he c leaving for the party now Rick said as he passed be didn't want to have to st< "So long Rick, have a g spoke his long grey mousta A small intense moust spoke. "This isn't going t< to walk, is it? I've been Don't those young people r up?" Rick stopped and turne Rick glared at his father table. "You know Rick would grandfather said. Rick's disaster happened and hai up had taken years to get about, and by then it had longer able to stand witho driven, people could no loi doctors to realize that k stopped the dizziness. It " "Don't you believe that "No, that's not enough fc "But, Dad, facts are fa "I'm not sure I want yc have are telling you all ti "Aw, what's wrong with grandfather said. His gral "Rick, answer me, have "'No."~ . You're not lying are y "Don't you believe mei~ "Don't talk back to me don't think you should go o' "That's a stupid thing t father didn't hear. Rick turned and sped ofi and plopped on the hed. again turned to the last j ".and furthermore, w< propriate funds and init people to living in an upi Rick placed the book b; swinging his legs over the floor. Maybe his mother walk. But just maybe.. A Short Story 19 By Carl Naylor d thinking about walking. He had 15 the party, and nothing better to do. ig about walking, had become an ob d it himself, but had often wanted to, report had been issued. )w and withdrew his copy of the report. -esident's Commission on Atmospheric the last page. that new atmospheric conditions no for humans to keep their heads lower as their hearts. Recent government t three layers of our atmosphere have portions, resulting in a rise of oxygen -r figures. This means that people may king as a mode of travel, and fur a diverted his eyes from his reading. He it was time to go. He could hear the her and his grandfather. report back under his pillow, making ere showing. Then, more quickly he machine, swinging it to the side of his aption: three steel bars - two vertical, ke an upside down "U" to a motorized hated its coldness, its simplicity, its io other way to get around. r the horizontal padded bar and hung by from the platform. A tug on a control the door. Rick wanted that report to be : or even stood in over fifty years. Since a accustomed to being upside-down. way, his mind occupied with thoughts of with his mother as she stacked linen in I. nother did all the housework since she rather never did any of it. 2k, and be good." ed. our safety straps before you leave the irefully," she added. ld you like to be able to walk?" he said. 'hings. People will never be able to walk too much for our bodies." vered around her and headed toward the wrough it to leave. ould avoid talking to his father. "I'm good-bye Dad, good-bye Grandfather," tween them and the media-screen. He p. ood time," his grandfather said. As he che bobbed up and down. ache shook violently as Rick's father be one of those parties where people try reading about that idiocy in the paper. ealize how dangerous it is to try to stand : towards his father. Unable to hide it, as he placed his beer can on the coffee n't do anything that wasn't right," his grandfather had been twenty when the l'told Rick about it. The pollution build )ad enough for someone' to do something been too late. Suddenly people were no at getting dizzy. Cars could no longer be iger go to work. It hadn't taken long for eeping the head lower than the heart was still a tremendous handicap though. iew report, Dad?" Rick asked. r me. There's not enough evidence."' u going to this party, these friends you uis nonsense." his going out and havin some fun," his Ifather's opinion was never listened to. you ever tried to walk?" ou?" Rick, I'm just trying to protect you. I it tonight. Go to your room." o do," Rick's grandfather said, but his .Once in his room he unhooked himself Reaching for his copy of the report he age. a recommend that the government ap Late teaching programs to re-educate ight position." ack under his pillow. Slowly he sat up, 'side of the bed, his feet landing on the was right that people could never again reality A Short Story By Carl Baab The almost-organic object roared to life with the downward thrust of right foot on kick starter. He grasped the moment. After months of painstaking work, the machine had finally returned to the living, and the boy's mouth parted to form s smile that meant little more than impatient anxiety. He twisted hard the black handle-grip on the right. The engine screamed its pleasure as if begging him to mount. The tachometer told him the machine was ready. He was ready. The spine-chilling feeling awaited them. As he rolled the machine toward the just-opened door,it seemed to form a wake behind them as he pushed tools and assorted equipment aside. They left the grease and filth, the dull surroundings and overworked air, and emersed themselves in sunlight. They were ready. So, without considering the situation further, he mounted the machine and accelerated down the driveway into the street. A Short Stoi By Carl Naylor Morning announces itself wi sunlight, its glare, quickly p< eyelids, jolts me back from a Sitting slowly, I swing myself arn against the cold, damp, rock har the footboard of my bunk. I shoi Not here. I stare down at the '. pillow. That's why I had begun search road yesterday; I needed to es< glare. It had been a long time sir1 and I had gone sailing on Watkin: and then the summer job had kep but I had been layed-off that mo three weeks until school started v time for a reunion. It was a hot, sunny day, and soreness in my leg muscles hac three miles back, about the timi country store with the gas pum coke sign, it was the sun's t steered me down into the tunnel over, shaded old road. It took five bumpy course to jar my legs into Pedaling along the path as it folk of a rushing brook, I searched for and rest. "e impic He thought for a moment that he might have tried too hard too soon, for as the cycle left the gravel and met the asphalt, it reared like a horse. But old reflexes reacted quickly and without indecision. The boy thrust his full weight forward and twisted the throttle back ever so slightly. Again in control, he let his mind examine the incident. The startling speed and deliberateness of his motions had spared him and the bike. He was still good. Now the road opened-up before iim. His mind captured the ntire scene with a glance, yet his ;oul put him above it. He was on he outside looking in. The boy ried to reason with the enrap ured feeling he was experiencing rnd what he had always ex erienced when he balanced iimself on two wheels, numbed nimself to the incessant roar and vibration of the engine, and felt the forces of acceleration. Was it the sensual feeling of motion within his body, or simply the rushing wind on the outside? Or was it the visual sense of wit nessing telephone poles race by as if they were only -posts on a picket fence? It was both, yet it was neither. There was something else creating this picture in his mind. It was an unavoidable, pervasive sense of Choosing a y spreading oak t the desert, I sat closed. To hell with legs in defianc( their damn jot Opening my i brook was abi h a shaft of sounds drowne nietrating my heard. At the f hoppy sleep. looked like a sn uznd to lean up rectangular bo I wall forming contrasting ir: Idn't be here. surroundings. icated sun-lit closer look. I I when it becani marijuana plai sg for that old Now I've see ape the sun's never before s e my 10-speed about fifteen fei Road. School Not wanting to us separated, a few choice le ning and with heavy parts of a had plenty of gently grasped vyen though a female plant. begun almost I passed that Suddenly I w s and the red grey uniforms -ightness that waving hideous of that grown especially larg rninutes of this you're under a irther fatigue. A,ed the course They brought a place to stop flooded half thi don't belng hi isbn detachment. The lives of people, their cares, his cares had been cast into the motion of flesh and machinery. The whole goddamn world was rushing down this street. Yet he was detached, above it all, flying high over the whole squalid mess. Motion. Motion sending him invisibly screaming by the lives of other people, each one tragically small and self-contained. Each one inevitably followed by another. But reality continued to exist and it snapped back with star tling quickness. The boy had entered a viciously sharp turn only in his subconscious, but it was all too real. He was un balanced and going much too fast. He was not going to be able to avoid the collision with reality, but he might be able to choose its dimensions. He let the bike go against the turn and jammed the rear brake. The locking rear wheel slid the bike into a reasonably controlled sideways skid. He braced for the impact and met the curb broadside. The sound of metal meeting concrete vibrated through him before he blacked out. The boy got up, completely unscathed. Twenty feet away, in the street, lay the machine in ruins. It had flipped once and then come down on its vitals. It would take months of painstaking work to fix it. He wished he'd been hurt. large open spot with a single ree standing there like an oasis in down, head against the oak, eyes them, I thought, stretching my of their tightness. I didn't need anyway. !yes I scouted the territory. The )ut ten feet away, its soothing d any other noises I could have ar end of the clearing I saw what all garden. Its straight rows and r'ders were out of place with the -egular shapes of its natural Curious, I was drawn to it for a ladn't taken more than two steps e abundantly clear - they were Its. in marijuana before, but I had een so much of it. There were nale plants and about ten male.. be greedy, but deciding to snitch ayes from the upper-most pollen a few plants, I walked over and the stalk of the most, mature is surrounded by freshly pressed Aith sparkling badges carelessly guns at each other. And me. An e well-fed grey uniform says, rrest - boy. me here. The shaft of light now a bunk and most of~ my legs. I ~re Not here.