A Day in the Life

Dyllyn was an average man, a common sort, who had a wife and a boy. Common for a man living in the North American Union when they celebrated the 150th anniversary of man walking on the moon, when technology had come so far moonwalks were available to anyone with means.

Which Dyllyn was not. And he had no interest in it anyway. He’d experienced it at VirtualWalk and that was enough for him. What he wanted was the weekend to relax, be with his wife and son. He left the office early to get a jump on crowds.
 
He boarded his car, nothing fancy but it ran. “Hey Siri,” he said, “take me to the drive-through at Chipotle on 7th.” The car started, reading his chip for confirmation, and pulled out of the parking lot, easing into the stream of other cars going exactly 30 mph. While the car navigated through the streets, he checked his phone: news updates, Instapix, and he started a game of Words with Friends with a woman in Brazil he’d met on Friendli. He was interrupted by a computer voice as his window automatically retracted.
 
“Bienvenido a Chipotle. Introduzca su pedido cuando estés listo.”
 
“In English, in English,” he snapped.
 
“For English press or say two.”
 
“Two damn it.”
 
“Touch the items on the screen to indicate your choices.”
 
He put together dinner for the family, held his forearm over the scanner, and told his car to proceed to the next window.
 
Once home, his wife looked up from her phone when he walked in.
 
“Bring dinner?”
 
He held up the bag.
 
“Great. I’m starved. Draven!” she yelled. “Dinner’s ready.”
 
Like a typical preschooler, Draven ate only half of his burrito. “Take it into the kitchen and we’ll save it.”
 
“Después del programa,” he said, eyes glued to the TV.
 
“English, Draven. At home, only English.”
 
“Is our date night still on?” Dyllyn asked his wife.
 
“Yeah, of course. In a bit. Anita’s having another crisis and needs to talk. It won’t be long.” Her thumbs flashed across her phone screen.
 
While he waited, Dyllyn checked his depth chart for the Mexico City Aztecas for his upcoming VR Madden game. At 8:00, Draven came out. “Me lavé los—I brushed my teeth.”
 
“Let me see.”
 
Draven handed over his phone.
 
“That wasn’t long enough,” Dyllyn told him scrolling through the app. “Brush longer. And I see you skipped your vegetables at lunch.”
 
“I hate peas.”
 
Dyllyn searched Vimeo. “Here, watch this before you go to sleep. You need to learn that peas are good for you. Goodnight.”
 
Finally his wife stopped texting.
 
“Anita all fixed?”
 
“For now, I guess. Ready for me?” she said, scooting next to him with a seductive smile.
 
“What do you want to do?”
 
“How about Scrabble? I’m ready to beat you.”
 
“Ha! Prepare to lose,” he said with a laugh.
 
Grabbing their tablets, they began their game, sitting side-by-side like a loving couple the rest of the evening.