Special

Photo by: Al Forbes

Atlanta in 2114 differed from much of the world. It was a counter-gravity society. Cars, signs, even buildings all floated in the air, held aloft by invisible counter-gravity beams. It changed the people there in curious ways.

Talia and her husband Mark raised their son Henry in Atlanta. The couple grew up in Bismark, North Dakota, and were still adjusting to Atlanta’s peculiar society. Henry, having grown up there, never doubted anything.

When Julio went to visit cousin Talia she warned him, “Be careful. Henry is special.”

Saddened by the news, Julio resigned himself to the fact that Henry was developmentally challenged. But as the whole group rode to Talia’s home in a transit pod, apparently hovering in the air, Henry proved capable of a regular conversation. Henry didn’t seem so special. He seemed ordinary.

They stopped beside a hovering market and Henry stepped out of the pod. He walked across thin air to go inside. Julio realized he wanted ice cream and started to follow Henry. Talia grabbed his arm. “Don’t!”

“What?” said Julio. “I’m just going to follow Henry across the counter-gravity walkway.”

“There is no walkway.”

“Huh?”

“Did I mention Henry is special?”
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Written for Sunday Photo Fiction: https://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2017/07/23/sunday-photo-fiction-july-23rd-2017/

Author’s Notes:

You will never see me use the term, “Anti-Gravity.” It’s perhaps elitist of me, but that’s the way I roll. The term itself implies certain things that cannot possibly be. Think of it. If anti-gravity were possible our universe could never form stars and planets. So in my stories I always write, “counter-gravity.” Airplanes, hot air balloons, and helicopters use various forms of counter-gravity. The “effect” of gravity can be “countered” by things like aerodynamic lift (how an airplane flies), but there is no opposite (or “anti-“) of gravity. From Wiki: ” ‘Anti-gravity’ is often used colloquially to refer to devices that look as if they reverse gravity even though they operate through other means, such as lifters, which fly in the air by moving air with electromagnetic fields. ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity