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History Repeating
By E.S. Wynn


“Hey, dad. Did you get my message?”

“Yes, it was-- I enjoyed the pictures. It looks like you had fun.”

“But you didn't write back.”

“Well, you know how it is. Your mother and I are still trying to learn how to use the Mindweb. It's new for us. We didn't grow up with it like you and your brother did.”

“It's not that hard, dad. It's all thought-based. With a little self control, you can navigate the world, send feelings, sensations and memories to anyone on Earth.”

“Maybe it might be easier if you used more conventional means of sending messages to your mother and I. You know, a phone call, maybe an email. I've heard there are apps on the Mindweb that allow you to send emails.”

“Emails are boring, dad. They have no emotion or color. They're just boring black text on a boring white background. Writing an email is like doing homework with a stylus on e-ink and sending it to your teacher. I don't know how you and mom managed to use it for so many decades without being bored to death by it.”

“It wasn't boring when it was new. It was exciting. It was like a mailed letter you didn't have to wait days to read-- it came instantly. Your mother and I actually got to know each other over the email-- well, over Facebook, actually.”

“Facebook? That's the channel you could watch homemade videos on, right?”

“Website, and no, you're thinking of a site called Youtube. They had similarities-- comments, upvote buttons--”

“Dinosaurs, Buddha's baby photos--”

“Oh come on, I'm not that old.”

“You still laugh at memes, dad.”

“I laugh at anything funny. Besides, you kids on the Mindweb laugh at memes too.”

“They're not called memes, dad. They're called been-theres. There's an art to making them. People collect them.”

“So, funny memories instead of funny pictures. Memes.”

“It's not the same.”

“Yeah, the curse of the young. I felt the same way when the classic rock station started playing Nickleback and Creed.”

“Nickle-who?”

“Nevermind. It might take a while before your mother and I are able to send more than sense-static on the Mindweb. In the meantime, if you want to talk to us, you should just call. You have our number.”

“Yeah.”

“Your mother would really love to hear your voice, you know.”

“She could hear a lot more on the Mindweb.”

“Yes, well, in the meantime--”

“In the meantime, okay. Fine. I'll call.”


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E.S. Wynn is the author of over fifty books available in print and electronic formats.