Generated by Dream by WOMBO

I startle myself awake and instinctively look towards the place where my clock should be. I am still not used to this new brain implant that is supposed to improve my “quality of life”. Everyone is required by law to receive the implant by the time you turn sixty and, honestly, I put it off for far too long since I just cannot understand how to make this damned thing work properly. I check the time in my head and leap out of bed. “I’m late!” I scream as I race towards my bathing unit. “Of course I set my alarm for PM instead of AM…” I mutter to myself as I input the desired length and heat for my lightning quick shower. Why haven’t they invented a time machine by now? It is the year 2050 after all and this whole morning could, and should, have the ability to be reset. I think about all the things I could do with a time machine as I dissociate from reality in the warm embrace of the water. Once the timer runs out and my unit automatically dries me, I swiftly brush my teeth manually (old habits die hard as they say) and throw on my attire for the day. “Here we go again, another day in paradise” I say aloud, to no-one of course, as I enter my teleportation machine to head off to work.

Head still spinning from the brief, but jarring trip from my living room to the staff lounge, I stumble out of the door and down the empty hallway towards my classroom. The bell must have rang about five minutes ago as I could hear my students chatting away upon reaching the entrance to my room. I tried to sneakily enter and tip toe towards my desk without being detected, but alas, a student saw me. “WHAT THE FORK MR. HUNTER, ARE YOU LATE?” yelled Stephen from the back of the class. I know that Stephen just dropped an F bomb in class, but the schools profanity filter was working as intended so I let it slide. I tried to play off my tardiness with a casual “No you” directed back at Stephen, which earned a few light chuckles from the students in the front row.

“Alrighty roo kiddos, now that I have arrived, it is time to plug in your math textbook and begin working on the chapter six problems we discussed yesterday.” It still boggles my brain that students are doing homework… in their brain; literally! The custom USB port at the base of the neck is an easy to access portal directly into your conscious that I have the unfortunate pleasure of remembering the entire “installation” process. Kids nowadays have their USB port installed at birth, which would have been a nice option to have way back in 1991. I take a seat in my chair and plug myself into the school system to begin the lesson.

School days always fly by when you are plugged in. In what felt like eight minutes, eight hours had passed and it was time to wrap up the current lesson and send the students on their way home. Most teachers take breaks during the day, but I like to stay on the grid for my entire shift. I can still nourish my body while online with meal and hydration pills, so I do not need to log out to accomplish trivial tasks such as eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom. I finally unplug and dismiss my class. I receive a few waves goodbye out the door and I make a point in telling Stephen to “have a grape weekend!” to which he replies “eat shirt…” under his breath. I try to stifle a smirk as I arise from my chair and begin to head out the door. My legs always feel like jelly after a long time sitting down. I wobble back to the staff lounge to say goodbye to my colleagues and quickly teleport back home.

I usually stay longer and chat with everyone, but I have been exhausted lately and could use some alone time to finish my book. I am writing a novel about how education and learning in general has changed since I first began my career as a teacher. As I reflect back on my time in the post-degree education program, I smile and mentally scroll through the contact list I have saved from that stage in my life. “The book can wait”, I tell myself as I begin to formulate a group call. It will just be like old times…