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Authors: Cory Doctorow
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wire in my head,” I said.
“Your brain ate it, though.”
I looked around, suddenly paranoid. There was no one. “Shhh. Yes, but I didn’t know that my brain would eat it when I let them install it.”
“So why’d you do it?”
I thought back. “I was a kid,” I said at last. “I’d just lost my Dad and my home. They were nice to me. They said that they’d leave me alone once I had the wire fitted. That was all I wanted.”
“Did you like it?”
“Having a wire? Well, not the worst thing in the world, having a wire. I never felt lonely. And when I was sad, it passed quickly. I think it would have been a lot harder without it.”
“So you think it’s therapeutic, then? Maybe I should get one after all.”
I turned around and took her hands. “Don’t, OK? Please. I like you this way.”
We got home and sat down in the theater seats. I thought we’d talk about it, but we seemed to have run out of words. I wished for a moment that we had matching antennae so I could know what she was feeling. That was pretty weird.
“Show me this play,” she said. “I fell asleep the other night.”
So I started it up. I’d done a major, three-year-long maintenance project on it that had just wrapped up, so it was running as good as new. I was proud of the work I’d done. I wished that Dad could see it. Lacey was nearly as good.
We sat through the opening scene, rotated around the arc by 60 degrees, and went through the change to the Roaring Twenties. The family’s kitchen was now filled with yarn-like wires coming off the ceiling light and leading to all the appliances. Dad was wearing a bow tie now and fanning himself with Souvenir of Niagara Falls fan. Dad wants to show us all his new modern appliances, so they all switch on and start flapping and clacking while frenetic music plays in the background. Then a “fuse” blows—I looked this up, it means that he overloaded a crude breaker in the power-supply—and the whole street goes dark. A neighbor threatens to beat him, but then “Jimmy”—yes, Jimmy again—changes the fuse and the lights come back.
Mom and Sister are getting into costume—there’s a Fourth of July party that night—and Dad has to join them, but he gets us to sing his song. I noted that Lacey tapped her toe as we went around the arc, and it made me feel very good.
- - -
After the show, I made us diner and Lacey told me more funny stories from the road. Then we crawled into bed and she enfolded me in her arms. We’d done that every night. I didn’t cry anymore, and it felt so good. Like something I’d always missed.
“They’re going to come for you,” I said, lying with my eyes open, feeling her arms around me.
“They are, huh?”
“Put a wire in your head.”
“And you don’t think I should do that.”
“I’ll go with you.” I swallowed. “If you want.”
She squeezed me harder. “I don’t think you’ll be able to carry this thing, do you?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Liar. You’ve been taking care of this thing for twenty years, Jimmy!”
“That was when I thought that Dad would come back for it. Doesn’t seem like he’ll come back now. Stupid terrorists.”
“Who?”
“The assholes who attacked Detroit. Whoever they were.” I noticed that she’d stiffened a little. “I thought they were thieves at first, after our stuff. But from what you say, it sounds like they were terrorists—they just wanted to destroy it all. We probably had the last mountain of steel-belted radials in the world, you know?”
She didn’t say anything for a bit. “I can go in the morning. We can stay in touch.”
“I want to go with you.” I surprised myself with the vehemence of it. “I need to get away from here. I need to get away from this
thing
.” I punched out at the wall at the edge of the bed, giving it a hard thump and sending the pack scurrying around in circles. “Fuck this thing. It’s a prison. It’s stuck me down here. Just another one of
“Your brain ate it, though.”
I looked around, suddenly paranoid. There was no one. “Shhh. Yes, but I didn’t know that my brain would eat it when I let them install it.”
“So why’d you do it?”
I thought back. “I was a kid,” I said at last. “I’d just lost my Dad and my home. They were nice to me. They said that they’d leave me alone once I had the wire fitted. That was all I wanted.”
“Did you like it?”
“Having a wire? Well, not the worst thing in the world, having a wire. I never felt lonely. And when I was sad, it passed quickly. I think it would have been a lot harder without it.”
“So you think it’s therapeutic, then? Maybe I should get one after all.”
I turned around and took her hands. “Don’t, OK? Please. I like you this way.”
We got home and sat down in the theater seats. I thought we’d talk about it, but we seemed to have run out of words. I wished for a moment that we had matching antennae so I could know what she was feeling. That was pretty weird.
“Show me this play,” she said. “I fell asleep the other night.”
So I started it up. I’d done a major, three-year-long maintenance project on it that had just wrapped up, so it was running as good as new. I was proud of the work I’d done. I wished that Dad could see it. Lacey was nearly as good.
We sat through the opening scene, rotated around the arc by 60 degrees, and went through the change to the Roaring Twenties. The family’s kitchen was now filled with yarn-like wires coming off the ceiling light and leading to all the appliances. Dad was wearing a bow tie now and fanning himself with Souvenir of Niagara Falls fan. Dad wants to show us all his new modern appliances, so they all switch on and start flapping and clacking while frenetic music plays in the background. Then a “fuse” blows—I looked this up, it means that he overloaded a crude breaker in the power-supply—and the whole street goes dark. A neighbor threatens to beat him, but then “Jimmy”—yes, Jimmy again—changes the fuse and the lights come back.
Mom and Sister are getting into costume—there’s a Fourth of July party that night—and Dad has to join them, but he gets us to sing his song. I noted that Lacey tapped her toe as we went around the arc, and it made me feel very good.
- - -
After the show, I made us diner and Lacey told me more funny stories from the road. Then we crawled into bed and she enfolded me in her arms. We’d done that every night. I didn’t cry anymore, and it felt so good. Like something I’d always missed.
“They’re going to come for you,” I said, lying with my eyes open, feeling her arms around me.
“They are, huh?”
“Put a wire in your head.”
“And you don’t think I should do that.”
“I’ll go with you.” I swallowed. “If you want.”
She squeezed me harder. “I don’t think you’ll be able to carry this thing, do you?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Liar. You’ve been taking care of this thing for twenty years, Jimmy!”
“That was when I thought that Dad would come back for it. Doesn’t seem like he’ll come back now. Stupid terrorists.”
“Who?”
“The assholes who attacked Detroit. Whoever they were.” I noticed that she’d stiffened a little. “I thought they were thieves at first, after our stuff. But from what you say, it sounds like they were terrorists—they just wanted to destroy it all. We probably had the last mountain of steel-belted radials in the world, you know?”
She didn’t say anything for a bit. “I can go in the morning. We can stay in touch.”
“I want to go with you.” I surprised myself with the vehemence of it. “I need to get away from here. I need to get away from this
thing
.” I punched out at the wall at the edge of the bed, giving it a hard thump and sending the pack scurrying around in circles. “Fuck this thing. It’s a prison. It’s stuck me down here. Just another one of
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