SotA Anthology 2019-20 | Page 44

ENGL275 Creativity : Socially Engaged Writing Practice
his last piece of honest , traditional toast ever , and he supressed the urge to hurl the appliance across the room . Turning on his heel , the Detective picked up his coat and stomped out of the house .
Stepping out into the rain , shoulders hunched , the old investigator clambered awkwardly into his AutoCab TM . Prentiss hadn ’ t manually driven a car since 2025 . He sorely missed being able to choose where to go . He was just old fashioned like that . He had also often complained that his model was much too old and much too small , and a colleague once remarked stupidly that it fitted the ramshackle old bastard perfectly then , didn ’ t it ? Unluckily for said colleague , Prentiss had been frugal with his expenses that month . He tapped his alwaysWATCHing TM onto the ignition switch , simultaneously activating the car and the camera in the wrist device . Company employees were contractually obligated to wear an alwaysWATCHing TM at all times when employed by The Company , in order to ensure good practise . The camera in the device provided an uninterrupted stream while in use , and the footage was automatically sent to and reviewed by managers at the end of every day . The only time these services were allowed to be
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switched off was in the home . Other than that , no matter whether you were working or not , you were on the clock , and the clock was most certainly on you . The Detective felt a momentary , familiar jolt across his wrist as the watch activated . He winced as it also activated his old recoil sprain injury . The one thing Prentiss didn ’ t feel , however , was the thrum of the engine starting . He pressed the watch to the ignition again . The car gave a pathetic sputter and died .
Christ on a crystal meth binge I ’ m going to fucking drive this fucking thing off a cliff once I get it working we ’ ll see how it likes it
The list of expenses grew ever longer . Trying very hard not to scream , Prentiss slowly and calmly stated into his wrist :
“ Car not starting . Will have to move on foot to factory .”
His voice , as always , was a dull monotone , deadened and impassive .
Walking in the rain was not something Prentiss especially enjoyed . In fact , he hated it . The world was just waking up , yet already the streets were filled with flocks of pedestrians trudging to work , and the air was continually pierced with the angry bleatings of