Self-awareness

This one was really difficult - and doubly difficult when you know so little about baseball - so I had to move away from baseball a bit!

F3, Cycle 94: Love and Diamonds

Write a 1000 word story about someone who has no self awareness, or, alternatively, someone who has far too much. Include the following words: curve, substitution, relief, sacrifice, strikeout.

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And, on the Sixth Day

Sunday was muggy and hot. The Padres were playing the Mariners, and Petco Park was a riot of color and noise. Tyler had no interest in baseball; he didn’t really understand it. And today, he also had no interest in candy floss or in corn dogs or in anything much at all.

‘Strikeout!’ bellowed his father, a smile of deep satisfaction on his face.

‘Dad?’

‘Yes, son?’

‘Dad, Miss Trotter told us that fish have no memories.’

‘That’s right, son.’

‘She says that they are not like us.’

‘Well, ‘course not, Tyler – they live in water.’

‘No, Dad, she says they’re not like us because we have souls and fish don’t.’

This threw Tyler’s dad somewhat and he was irritated. He didn’t care two hoots about damned fish and just wanted to watch the game.

‘Sure, son – only humans have souls – that’s why we’re special.’

*

Monday was a little cloudy.

‘Please, Miss.’

Tyler sat with his arm up and the class turned in unison to glare at him. It was the end of the last session of the day, and they all wanted to go home. Miss Trotter also wanted to get on home – she had a date with a man she’d met on the internet; he promised a GSOH. She hoped he was also DDF, unlike the last guy, who had cost her several visits to the clinic.

‘Yes, Tyler?’

‘Miss, if fish don’t have souls, do cats?’

‘Tyler, no. Only humans have souls.’

‘But how do we know that?’

Miss Trotter sighed and glanced at her watch.

‘Tyler, look up “self-awareness” on Wikipedia, that should help. Class dismissed.’

*

Tuesday dawned damp. Tyler’s mom had kept him home from school, because he’d complained of stomach-ache. When she’d caught him reading Wikipedia the previous evening, she’d been cross.

‘Tyler – there is no substitute for real education.’

Now she was at work and Tyler had all day to educate himself regarding his cat, Maisy.

The Wikipedia article had disturbed him. It said that only humans, dolphins, elephants, some apes and maybe magpies possessed self-awareness. There was no mention of cats. A link from the self-awareness article had led him to another article about a mirror test. So he sat Maisy in front of every mirror in the house and waited for her to recognize herself. He was certain she would. But, at each mirror Maisy either gazed blankly, sniffed, or walked away without investigation. Tyler stroked the sinewy curve of her back and she purred contentedly.

‘C’mon, Maisy,’ he pleaded, close to tears, ‘GET WITH IT!’

*

Wednesday was hot. Tyler had returned to school, but had found it difficult to concentrate. He didn’t get it. How come Maisy turned her head when you said her name? How could she not be ‘self-aware’ if she was afraid of the door-bell, and hid under the couch when the pet carrier appeared? He’d hoped so much that the mirror test would have given him relief from his worries, but that only seemed to prove that the cat clearly didn’t know who she was.

Their next-door neighbor, Father Morgan, a jovial Catholic priest with glowing red cheeks, was just putting his key into his front door, when Tyler strolled home from school.

‘Father, may I ask you a question?’

Father Morgan was in a hurry – the hot-tub was bubbling away nicely in the back yard and he had an expensive Chardonnay on ice. But his calling meant that he often had to make a sacrifice on his time.

‘Of course, young man – what is it you’d like to know?’

‘If you have no soul, Father – can you go to Heaven?’

Father Morgan sighed.

‘How can you go to Heaven if you have no soul, Tyler?’

‘B-b-but, Father Morgan, what are animals for if they have no soul and can’t go to Heaven?’

Father Morgan’s eyes rolled up into his head.

‘The Lord has provided us with animals to feed us and to entertain us,’ he replied with an assertive nod of his head.

*

Thursday was another gloriously sunny San Diego day. But there was a stuffiness in the air – the kind that only a good thunderstorm can clear. Tyler was late home from school, because he’d been to the library. He’d annoyed Mrs Trim with his barrage of questions, but he’d eventually found what he was looking for.

The smell of apple pie and the lash of his mother’s tongue greeted him when he arrived home. He gulped down his supper and went to bed early, taking his books and the cat with him.

‘Good-night, Tyler.’

‘Good-night, Mom.’

*

On Friday, the heavens opened. Lightning flashed across the sky and rain ran in rivulets along the sidewalk. The weather suited the mood of the neighborhood. The news had spread quickly and it was up to local journalist, Trudy Moon, to report the sad story. She did her best.

Ten-year-old Tyler Starky of 15, Rainbow Drive, was found dead in his bedroom this morning. His distraught mother, 47-year-old florist, Danielle Starky, said that she found him curled up with his cat on the floor of his room. At first glance, she’d thought he was asleep. She said that both her son and his cat appeared to have smiles on their faces. As she moved closer she noticed that the cat had earphones attached to its head. She’d thought this really cute, but when she discovered that the earphones were plugged into the electricity supply, horrific realization hit her. Both the boy and the 3-year-old cat were declared dead by means of electrocution. A library book, ‘ECT Improves Self-Awareness’ by Tonto Drake-Fitch, had been found, open, at the boy’s feet. Tyler’s father, 50-year-old truck driver, Dave Starky, who only saw his son on weekends, commented,

‘He sure did love that darned cat. He loved it more than baseball, that’s for sure.’

An inquest opens on Monday.”

***