A Real Turn-On

Little Cory was finally nodding off when there came a strange flash of light. “What the–” he began to say, shielding his eyes, but just as quickly as it appeared, the light faded, leaving behind a man, one who looked very familiar to Little Cory. Kind of like his dad, but not quite.

Then, it occurred to him. “Wait a minute,” Little Cory said, sitting up in his bed. “You’re–”

“You, from the year 2025,” said Big Cory.

“Oh, boy,” Little Cory said. “This is awesome! Tell me all about the future! Are there flying cars? Hologram movies you can walk through? Little pills you can put in the microwave, cook for ten seconds, and what comes out is a full turkey dinner?”

“Nope,” said Big Cory, sitting on the chair in the corner of Little Cory’s room. “But we do have cars we can plug in. And computers can write screenplays now. And paint pictures.”

“Whoa! And are they amazing?” Little Cory asked, leaning forward.

“Not really,” Big Cory said. “Actually, they pretty much all suck really bad. But the people who designed the computers assure us they’ll get better and then become really useful, even though, at this point, they really just ruin the lives of teachers and creative professionals.”

“Oh,” said Little Cory, clearly disappointed.

“But hey, little man, it’s not all bad. Check this out.” Big Cory got up and walked over to show him something. “This is my phone.”

“It looks like a tiny, flat television,” Little Cory said.

“It is,” said Big Cory. “But it’s also so much more.”

“What can you do with it?” Little Cory asked.

“Just watch.” Big Cory tapped the screen, and it changed. A logo on the screen read: “VeSync.” Big Cory tapped it a few more times and then looked at Little Cory proudly.

“What did you do?” Little Cory asked.

“I just turned a light on in my home,” Big Cory said, “even though I’m not there! You see, I installed things called smart switches in my condo. And now, I can control the lights from anywhere. In the other room, on vacation, in the past, you name it.”

“Huh,” Little Cory said.

Just then, Big Cory’s watch beeped. “Oh, shoot, that means I only have a few minutes. Look, why I came here is simple. Every action figure you get for every birthday or Christmas from now on, don’t take it out of the packaging. Instead, keep it safe somewhere. That way, you can sell them and maybe pay down some of the medical debt you get into when you lose your insurance because your job is replaced by one of those computers I was talking about that write and paint. Okay?”

“But I like to play with the–”

Little Cory couldn’t finish his thought. The same light flashed again, and when it faded, Big Cory was gone.

“What a bummer the future sounds like,” Little Cory said to himself as he lay back down. “But the thing with the lights was cool. I guess.”