GloKat and the Art of Timing, page 1
GloKat and the Art of Timing
A NOVEL IN 100-WORD STORIES
RAN WALKER
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2022 Worldspark Studios
Cover Image and Design by Alvin Lee for Worldspark Studios
Additional Images by Alvin Lee for Worldspark Studios
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 979-8-218-09708-0 (print)
ISBN: 979-8-218-09710-3 (ebook)
Worldspark Studios
Dallas, TX
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Ran Walker
For Zoë
“When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!”
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND BY LEWIS CARROLL
* * *
“Vibrate higher.”
ANDRÉ 3000
Chapter
One
Her stepmother insisted she wear a black dress, that they be a united front as they laid her father to rest. It had been seven years since the accident, the details of which Gloria knew very little. Arturio Industries claimed it was a workplace accident, that his body had disintegrated within seconds after being exposed to a secret project.
Still, Gloria and her stepmother held out hope—for seven years, the length of time required for one to be declared legally dead.
She would do this funeral with her stepmother, but she refused to accept that her father was gone.
Chapter
Two
The service was short and the list of attendees shorter: Gloria, her stepmother, the officiant, and several Arturio employees who’d worked with her father. She wanted to ask them questions after the service, but they left before the symbolic burial box was interred.
There were times when Gloria wondered if her father really was gone, because she could still feel him out there somewhere. Or maybe this was what people meant when they said they could feel the presence of a loved one who’d passed on.
She couldn’t imagine her father not being there, not being alive, ceasing to exist.
Chapter
Three
In the days following the funeral, Gloria’s stepmother revealed her plans to sell their home and leave Denver altogether. She wanted to move on with her life and had made plans to board a retirement station outside Earth’s atmosphere.
“You can stay on campus until you graduate. Then you can use some of the money from your trust to get your own place,” she said.
Gloria realized in that moment she’d never been very close to her stepmother. There was no need for them to continue pretending the glue holding them together was still there.
She hugged her stepmother goodbye.
Chapter
Four
Gloria Martiene Holbrook never knew her biological mother, but her father had once told her that her name (Gloria) had come from her mother, who was obsessed with a classic American novelist named Gloria Naylor. Her mother had enjoyed literature, had even attended college during a time when many of her friends were choosing to leave Earth. She wanted to help people. It was in her nature, Gloria’s father had said.
So Gloria had chosen to stay and attend Whitmore University, although she preferred to major in urban planning.
She wanted to stay and help fix the world around her.
Chapter
Five
Her father had insisted she attend Whitmore, a private university whose primary benefactor was Arturio Industries. Gloria had been adamant about leaving Denver and heading east to New Detroit to participate in grassroots efforts to rebuild what was left behind from centuries of climate erosion.
“If you’re going to stay on Earth, you’ll need an education. You can do more when people view you as valuable,” he’d said.
She only remembered bits and pieces of the conversation, her having been twelve at the time. She’d planned to prove him wrong, but when he died, she reluctantly complied with his suggestion.
Chapter
Six
Denver, due to its elevation, weathered much of the climate erosion with little impact at all. In fact, most of the remaining American companies had headquarters there, making the city by far the most affluent of all American cities.
The remaining urban strongholds, however, were destabilized by climate erosion, failing infrastructure, and economic despair, the largest (and closest) of which was New Detroit, a midwestern region stretching from the Canadian border down to the Mexican border. Only the history books held the names of the “states” that had once occupied those lands.
That was where Gloria had planned to go.
Chapter
Seven
Standing in front of the mausoleum that housed her father’s burial box, Gloria felt both sad and confused. She suspected there would be no true resting place for her father. His remains were not there, assuming there even were remains.
She only knew the story of what had happened, had even tried to imagine what it meant to disintegrate. How does one disintegrate while working as an executive at a toy company? The story didn’t sit well with her.
She doubted she’d ever return to the mausoleum to visit the box. What was the point?
She refused to say goodbye.
Chapter
Eight
Gloria was not completely surprised to learn the house had sold so quickly. There were enough people in Denver willing to purchase a multibillion dollar home, just to avoid living near the badlands that experienced most of the climate erosion.
Her stepmother told her she’d need to clear out any remaining things she wanted to keep by the end of the month.
Having decided to practice minimalism a while back, Gloria sorted through the various belongings she hadn’t already placed in her dorm room.
The only thing she decided to keep was the oversized parka her father had given her.
Chapter
Nine
The StarKat parka was the last birthday gift her father gave her before the accident. It was one of the properties Arturio Industries developed. There was even a corny television show about the character that used to come on.
The gift was the kind of thing that reflected little imagination and felt like an afterthought, the kind of t
So the parka moved to the dorm.
Chapter
Ten
Some mornings were easier than others, but the dull ache of missing her father persisted, even when she tried to throw herself into campus life and her classes. Anything could trigger the pain of his absence: the easy gait of an athlete, a male professor wearing a suit, even a laugh could stir up memories that would send her to her dorm room in tears.
Her limited emotional bandwidth only allowed for her classes and her plan to go to New Detroit and help out. She figured if she could do that, she could somehow reconnect to both her parents.
Chapter
Eleven
Her father told her a story about her mother dancing through the aisles of a supermarket. Ever a lover of classic American soul music, she could often identify a song within seconds.
He’d just reached for bag of apples when an old Earth, Wind & Fire song came on over the store speakers. The next thing he knew, she was dancing. Other shoppers, noticing her grooving to the music, also joined in until the entire store was dancing.
Gloria loved these stories, not because of her mother’s starring role in them, but because of the joyful look on her father’s face.
Chapter
Twelve
Whitmore was composed of students who, after experiencing the good life of living in Denver, quickly redirected their interests towards majoring in areas that would help them steer clear of New Detroit and remain ensconced in the upper class—that is until they eventually decided to retire and catch a ride to a space station.
Gloria was the only student (she knew of) who had her eyes set on leaving the environment she’d grown up in to go and help others.
She didn’t view it as altruism or even pity. She believed everyone deserved to live a life of dignity.
Chapter
Thirteen
Scientists had predicted by 2495 that Earth would be entirely extinct. Gloria was mildly relieved that it hadn’t happened, but the climate erosion didn’t leave much time for the world she knew. Most educated guesses put Earth’s extinction within the next two hundred years, just long enough for the wealthy to enjoy what was left of their existence there. Many had already left Earth to live in various space stations floating outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Gloria read in her history books what Earth had been like before, and a part of her hoped people could recreate that magic they never knew.
Chapter
Fourteen
She’d read about the rails having once been used for things called trains and subways, iron machines that ran on fuel. She couldn’t imagine anything other than rail-bikes and rail-cars, which operated off of human movement to travel. This was why most people rarely left their cities.
Denver had the benefit of some sophisticated solar-powered hovercrafts, but those were used only in the city. To travel to New Detroit, Gloria would have to pedal her way there on the Interstate Rail System and that would take proper conditioning.
As a result, she rode her rail-bike as often as she could.
Chapter
Fifteen
The StarKat parka rested on the back of the chair at her desk. She mused how she had ridden her rail-bike all the way home to bring back only one thing. She had succeeded in moving the parka from one closet to another. By placing it on the chair, though, she hoped to break that cycle.
It wasn’t so bad. The parka was colorful and animated and fun to look at. Maybe it was just her troubled feelings about Arturio Industries that jaded her thoughts.
She tried to focus on her father’s smile when he gave it to her.
Chapter
Sixteen
The parka reminded her of a time when she used to curl up on the sofa on Saturday mornings, a bowl of StarKat cereal sheltered under her arm, waiting for the latest episode of The StarKat and Friends Show to come on.
Sometimes her father would sit down and watch it with her. Afterwards, he would ask her what she learned. It was always something about friendship or helping others or being strong and courageous or simply being kind. It was her favorite show—and not just because her father’s company developed it, though that part didn’t hurt at all.
Chapter
Seventeen
Gloria often questioned why she didn’t have many friends. Maybe she kept her head in her books too much, or maybe she just felt like there’d be time for that later, once she had completed her studies.
Wanting to help people was, in her mind, her intended vocation, but being around people in a personal way was something she found herself wrestling with, the melancholy of it all oftentimes borderline unbearable.
She longed for the arms of her father, that magical embrace that made her feel visible and understood, appreciated and loved.
He’d left her to face the world alone.
Chapter
Eighteen
How does one disintegrate while working at a toy company? The thought would have been comical, if it weren’t real. When her stepmother presented her with a crude description of the dangers that went into manufacturing toys, the idea became slightly more plausible. Still, Gloria couldn’t help wondering if maybe there were things Arturio Industries worked on that had little to do with toys of any type. She wanted to talk to someone about her suspicions, but every time she brought up Arturio Industries, she was inundated with praise for the company’s investments in salvaging what was left of America.
Chapter
Nineteen
She hadn’t planned to start talking to her parka; it had simply happened.
Being lonely and having no friends around her made it easy to anthropomorphize something that already felt familiar and comforting.
It reminded her of when she used to watch StarKat’s exploits in outerspace with that misfit crew, her little legs swinging over the edge of the sofa.
