Same Ride to Work

Dithers woke up feeling oddly rested. Most nights he ended up staying awake for a good hour or two longer than he should playing ‘World of Realcraft’. Although the simutronics device offered the option of having your body go into a near sleeplike state, the brain still required rest from being “on”. Dithers downloaded another restaurant onto his X-Gear, a truck stop diner in the winding hills of rural Tennessee, and had a hearty breakfast there while in the real world he ate yet another fiber bar. I sipped the perfectly brewed coffee and watched the leaves Fall. Why was I always setting the program to Fall? I should put it on Spring or Summer, something to cheer me up. Dithers unplugged. He boarded the train and stared out the window on the way to work, brooding in a state of withdrawal from his favorite familiarities. All of the buildings the train passed were grey and looked to be apartment complexes. Dithers couldn’t even remember the last time he had rode to work not playing the game, had it been months or even years? There were no billboards, no signs for people to look at. For the first time, he noticed that there was hardly even a store for whole sections of the city except for the occasional Mall-Mart. Dithers hadn’t shopped anywhere else in ages, getting his fiber bars, clothes, and technology needs from the same store. He hadn’t noticed that either.