The little blond haired boy jumped out of bed. He scanned the clock, it read March 18, 2212 8:02 A.M. His eyes brightened as he ran into the bathroom, threw his clothes into the sanitizer and hopped in the shower. He placed his hand on the tile in the center of the wall under the faucet. The door closed with a hiss and the shower started pouring out the water at the temperature he liked. He was so excited, and the shower couldn’t be over fast enough. The water finally shut off and the ceiling and back wall dryers turned on, dried him for a full minute to get all the water back into the drain, and then the door opened again. He ran over to the sink popped a Colgate pill in his mouth and swished a mouth full of water. Turning around, he placed a hand on the screen. The temperature for the day was displayed along with a number of outfits. He picked his favorite one and waited for it to come out of the processor.
A few minutes later he bolted down to the kitchen where his mother was waiting with his favorite breakfast. The omelette was completely artificial. Every thing now was made without killing animals. The ham tasted great, the eggs were soft, and the cheese…the cheese tasted amazing.
“Keith, slow down or you’ll choke to death before you get your presents” his mom chided.
His eyes went really wide and he slowed down. He took a drink of juice and almost choked on it.
His mom chuckled, “wrong pipe?”
He nodded while coughing. The juice was a pineapple flavor today. Finally finishing, he placed his plate, cup, and utensils in the dissolver. Seconds later the materials they were made of were transferred to the dish rack where they reformed perfectly clean. He put them away in the cupboard and ran to the living area of the apartment.
Sitting on the floor beside a large trunk, the boy’s father had the biggest grin on his face. “You’re ten seconds slower that last year, Keith” his father laughed.
The child wasn’t listening he was already trying to open the trunk. “What is it? What did you get me? Is it something from Greatest Grandad’s collection?”
His father bopped him on the head “slow down a minute.” Keith straightened up and sat back against the couch. “Now, what do you say?”
The boy looked at his father with the most serious look a ten year old boy could “I promise to take care of these items for as long as I live. I cross my heart and hope to die if I let any harm come to them.”
His father patted him on the head and smiled to his wife. The boy could tell that his father was just as excited about this as he was. “So, what do you think it is this year?”
The boy sat there for a moment thinking about everything he knew of his greatest granddad. He looked up quickly “Is it books?”
His father smirked and placed a finger on the front pad of the trunk. He opened it slowly and couldn’t believe his eyes. The look on his face could have lit the entire city of Georgia.
Scanning the pile inside the trunk “there’s at least thirty books!” He hopped up almost tackling his father in a hug. “Thank you father!” He hopped up and ran and gave his mother a huge hug as well. “Thank you mother!”
He got up and started dragging the chest to his room to unload his presents. He back into the two Sers that had come to help him. “No, leave, I’ve got it” he griped while waving one hand and trying straining to hold the trunk up with the other.
He finally made it back to his room and immediately started placing the books in stacks according to genre. He wasn’t at all surprised when he got finished and found that all but one book were either science Fiction or fantasy. All of the science fiction and fantasy books seemed to be regularly published books for that time. He looked over at the lone book that seemed handwritten. Flipping through it he found it to be a book that listed names. Each section had the title of a book before it. He looked down at the title he stopped on and read “A Terrible Tragedy and New Beginnings.” The first name under the title caught his attention “Reavyn – A troubled Paladin seeking to avenge his parent’s deaths.” He’d read about Paladins and loved everything he could get his hands on about them. He grabbed the antique wooden sword he had gotten for his last birthday and jumped on the bed. “I’ll avenge you my parents!” He said while pointing the sword at the ceiling. He quickly slid off the bed and searched through the books until he came upon the book with the same title. Half an hour later the words became bleary and he started nodding off to sleep.
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