bomb shelter too.
[Bartleby places the books back on the shelf and walks back to the middle of the room,
placing the camera on a tripod]
So that’s why I’m here in my safe room, while the others are outside at their
parties. I’m a firm believer in being self-aware. That’s why I read the local paper’s like
the Detroit Free Press, but also national ones like The New York Times, and what remains of
the news between CBS, NBC, and ABC.
I like the local news the best because it tells me exactly what is going on near
me, so I can know what to prepare for. Janice tries to convince me to watch less of the
news and actually go outside. She says that the world is not as bad and as violent of a
place as it seems.
[Bartleby pauses]
But the news just proves my point on how dangerous the world really is. Life is
more dangerous now that the Soviets are gone.
I mean just yesterday I read that more children are getting abducted in safe
neighborhoods than in unsafe neighborhoods. The same article went on how the safest
neighborhoods are more likely to house pedophiles than the unsafest neighborhood. For
Christ sakes, anyone of my neighbors could be one of these scumbags.
It’s not like when I was growing up when you could go out till late at night
with no worries.
I mean I don’t have any children to worry about and for that purpose: why
would I want to have a child grow up in a world where he or she couldn’t go outside? I
mean if it wasn’t a pedophile neighbor, it would be acid rain or global warming. It’s just
not like it used to be. The 1950’s, now that was the time to grow up in. Detroit was still
considered the Paris of America, you could find jobs and careers out of high school. Crime
was low or petty at best. It truly was the best time to grow up and live in.
[Bartleby laughs.]
Of course, I was born in the 60’s, so I really wouldn’t know, but from what I
heard, it was much better then, than it is now. Hell, the Lions at least won games back
then. My neighbor, Steve, thinks that they’ll never be a team worth rooting for, but I say
that he is a non-believer.
[Bartleby looks around and then gets closer to the camera.]
Just between you and me, I don’t like Steve too much. He’s one of those pseudo
-intellectuals who thinks just because he went to college and got a Masters that he is so
much smarter than us working class folks who went straight out of high school to work
for the auto-plants. But what does he know? He went out and got dial up internet and
then put his money towards Apple stock. What good will that be when the world ends?
I’ll tell you, nothing. He should have used his money like I did, build a bomb shelter and
buy a camera so he can remember what it was like before the world changed forever.
I think he’s the one that convinced Janice to go out to the party.
[Bartleby notices the camera is low on batteries as its red light starts flashing. The time
indicates on the camera 12:05]
Oh Christ. It’s already New Years. I know the builders of the shelter said you
wouldn’t hear or feel anything, but I really didn’t think it would be so silent. Well, this is
the new world I gues