Ones and Twos Ch. 10
Morty got dressed as Dr. Spicer told him he’d have the test results in a few days. Morty walked back to his room and realized how hungry he was. He knocked on Patty’s door to see if she still wanted to have dinner with him. She answered quickly as though she had been waiting for him.
“Oh hello Morty, please come in.”
He entered her quarters to find them exactly like his own except that the bed was made and all the bathroom supplies were arranged at right angles. He chuckled to himself at this observation.
“How did your tests go?” she asked.
“Oh you know: ‘open, close, finger, tube’, the usual pleasantries.”
“I know what you mean. I felt quite uncomfortable with some of the places that Dr. Shu was going.”
“I’m sure. On that note, you hungry?”
“Ravenous. Let’s go to the hall.”
They walked back to the multipurpose room and sat down at an empty table. There were others around them already dining, but both preferred the company of each other alone. After ordering from the servo, they began to talk about their lives that had past and what they planned to do in their next one.
“I want to travel to as many different cities as I can and see how they’re different from ours,” she said. “Different kinds of people intrigue me. To think, there are other ways of doing things, other traditions then those we’ve got.”
“How do you know?”
“Sometimes I’d see them walking through the Productivity center when the big wigs would get together to compare how each Productivity Center was doing.”
“What did they look like?”
“Well there’s all kinds. Some are brown, some are black-“
“Oh you mean different races, well they’re all over the city.”
“Yes, but these were different, they just sounded different, some even spoke another language. It was deeper then that though. The way they walked, the way they interacted, the way they stood just felt… different.”
“Interesting. I’d love to travel as well; see all the world and go to a place called the Philippines.”
“Where’s that?”
“I have no idea, but a Two-One friend from back home told me about it and it sounds beautiful.”
“We should travel together.”
“Why not? As soon as we get to the White City and get settled, we’ll pick a destination and just go.”
“I love it,” she giggled. Even though her body had lost its ‘oomph,’ her bright blue eyes gave off her boundless spirit.
He picked up his glass, “To experiencing things we’ve never dreamt of.”
“And to experiencing them together.” She raised her glass and they toasted.
That night, Patty stayed with Morty. He loved having her there with him. Even though this new place was a path to heaven, it felt sterile and unfamiliar. Her body next to his was the one thing that made sense to him. And his body for her, made her feel safe in this strange place. In the morning, Patty woke Morty up, asking him if he’d take a shower with her. His groggy eyes said no, but somehow his mouth replied, “Of course.” Afterwards, Patty wrapped a towel around her old and wrinkled body and retreated down the hall to her room to get dressed. Morty put on some clothes and looked at his schedule for the day:
“0800: Cardio
1000: strength training
1200: lunch
1400: meditation
1600: free time
1900: dinner”
“Well they’ve got it all laid out don’t they?” Morty said to himself.
Morty was pleased to find Patty’s schedule was similar to his and enjoyed spending the day with her. The cardio work out and strength training were killers. He felt like he was ready to die afterwards. They monitored his heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation while he worked out. Every once and a while, they’d say something like, “Slight ST elevation there,” or “See that PVC, that’s not good,” or “Blood pressure’s a little high, we might have to regulate his diet.” He felt like a bloody lab rat. But he understood that they were just being thorough. It was worth it to be sure the procedure went through without a hitch.
His lunch tasted better then any lunch he’d had there. He devoured it with unyielding voracity. Meditation consisted of sitting Indian style, or as Indian style as everyone’s old bodies could get, and breathing in and out slowly. Thirty minutes into the class, one man broke out into loud snoring. A few others followed after or woke themselves up when they fell over. Everyone laughed. Patty and Morty took a nap together before dinner and then tried out some of the video games on their entertainment center before they went to bed. Apparently, it was harder then one might think to get a car sized frog across a street.
The days followed after each other in a similar fashion. Morty received his scan results which showed a slight blockage in the coronary arteries for which Dr. Spicer put him on medication to reduce the blockage. There were some other minor problems, but nothing unexpected. The procedure date could go ahead as planned. He also received his initial lifestyle profile which put him in a middle class accommodation in the White City. He would own a three-sailed schooner capable of crossing any ocean. He had access to a trainer who would teach him how to sail and had been given a membership to the local regatta club. He couldn’t wait to get over there.