Shadow Self

Copyright 2005 Jeff Vickers

The sun broke over the rugged mountain horizon, tinting the sky a strong straw orange. At the foot of the mountain, a black BMW pulls into a parking space, guarded only by a sign reading “RESERVED: JAMES HURST.” A man gets out of the car, dressed sharply in a jacket and tie, brandishing a briefcase, shades, and a smirk. As he reaches the door to Hastings Genetic Research Inc., his attempt to open the door is a failure. He is perplexed for a moment, then drops his briefcase down and searches for his keys. The moment they emerge, a janitor reaches the front door with his mop and bucket, gets his keys out and opens the door.

“Forgot your keys again, Mr. Hurst?” remarked the janitor, with a light snicker under his breath. James simply picked up his briefcase, and awkwardly brushed past the janitor into the offices. He quickly glanced at an office directory just passed reception, and put his finger by the listing “JAMES HURST, OFFICE 301″, and proceeded to his left and the elevator.

A loud, electronic bell sounds, and the elevator doors slide open. James gets in the elevator, alone, and presses three. As horrible elevator music plays, James stares out into space. The elevator melts into darkness, and James is now staring into nothingness. Two red dots grow in the darkness, until two glowing red eyes are staring back at him. Another electronic bell sounds, and James finds himself suddenly back in the elevator, the doors now opening.

James slowly makes his way off the lift, and gawks first left, then right. After a moment, he turns back left, and nearly runs over a young, attractive secretary. “Mr. Hurst, oh, you’re in early. Can I get you a coffee?” Hearing the word coffee caused some cog to start in James’ head. “Yeah, coffee would be great. I didn’t sleep well last night. Alicia, isn’t it?”

“Yes Mr. Hurst. It must have been an odd night. C’mon, let’s get you that coffee.” James promptly followed Alicia into the kitchenette, and there she quickly poured him a cup. “One sugar or two?”

“Black” requested James. No sooner after getting the coffee, James guzzled the whole cup in one long chug. Once he finished, the kitchenette faded away, being replace by a genetics laboratory. James looked around the lab, which looked to be wallpapered with biohazard logos. Another man, in a white lab coat, stands over a covered cadaver with a syringe filled with a liquid bearing a yellow hue.

“What are you doing?” shouted James towards the unknown man in the lab. Unphased, the unknown man pulled the cadaver’s arm out from under the sheet, and injected the liquid into his arm. James ran up to him, grasping both the man’s arms. The needle on the syringe broke off, just before all the liquid could be injected, and the nearly empty syringe dropped to the floor, and the liquid residue immediately started burning the floor.

The unknown man, however, stood upright, and glared deeply into James’ eyes. “You… your kind… will not get in my way anymore.” James could not look away from the fierce, piercing glare. He could even see his own face staring back at him, but something seemed odd. James moved his head, but the reflection staring back at him stood still. James became paralyzed with fear, as the unknown man’s eyes became completely black, and red irises grew out from their centres.

Alicia shook James softly, and she whispered to him “hey, those experiments are getting to you, aren’t they. Good thing it’s Friday, you have the weekend coming up to recover.” Alicia gave James a soft smile, and left the kitchenette.

James poured himself another coffee, and promptly made his way out of the kitchen, and down the hall. He reached office 301, which read “CLONING LAB”. James promptly entered the lab, the same one where he saw the unknown man. James continued on to the washroom, where there was a large basin sink and antibacterial soap. James scrubbed hard, and then quickly leaned close to the mirror to check his face. In each eye, the still image of the unknown man reflected back. James took no notice, and proceeded back to the laboratory.

James reached the lone cadaver in the lab; he removed the clean white sheet from the head and torso, and folded it down towards its legs. James stared right into the face of the body. James’ lifeless body was staring back at him. “See James, I told you that your kind would no longer get in my way.” Standing over James is the unknown man, holding another syringe, with a green hue of liquid in it.

“Bottoms up” the man remarked, as he injected the green liquid.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

All across North America, parents are eagerly anticipating Tuesday. The day their kids go back to school. No more chants of “are we there yet” or “can we go for ice cream” (the fifth time of the day), just blissful quiet.

But why do kids start school on Tuesday? Well, it’s that lovely last holiday for the summer. Labour Day. I never really understood the day. Growing up, my father almost always worked that day. I always worked that day. Ahh the joys of being employed in the service industry. Well, then sales. As such, I guess the importance is lost on me to an extent. Luckily, in the film world, with union requirements for double time and such on holiday shoot days, we don’t work them much.

But why such an ado about a government holiday? Well, if history is repeating itself (and today we got a dose of that), each summer long weekend (the other two being Victoria Day or May Two-Four, and Canada Day weekend) the prices of gas has gone up. Usually a good 10 cents per litre.

Well it looks like we’re in for another bang this weekend. Just to get ready for it, prices have gone from lows around 96.4 cents to 124.9 cents per litre, in just one day. Yeah, I’m posting this because I got burned with that at 12:30 AM, just fresh from 14 hours of sheer Smallville bliss.

But, to save this being a rant about prices, or a flame war about who pays more for gas as a whole, all the talk I’ve heard/read/watched today, I’m reminded about a certain letter I recieved in an email quite some time ago. This is the US version of the Canadian chain letter.

THE FOLLOWING WAS SENT BY AN ECONOMIST

WITHIN THE FUEL INDUSTRY.
ANOTHER ECONOMICS PROFESSOR AT CAL REITERATED THE SAME LAST WEEK.
I THINK IT IS WORTH TRYING.

I got this from a reliable source & the web site listed is legit. We heard today from a man who is very savvy about the economy, namely, Clark Howard, and he says that the gas prices are going to start going up again and will be high this summer-$2.00 and up. We need to do whatever we can, and do it NOW!!!! Gasoline Prices: This makes more sense than the don’t buy gas on a certain day routine that was going around last year re: Gasoline Prices. Whoever started this has a good point. We need to try an aggressive response. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take ACTION! The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we don’t buy it. But, (as the gas companies know full well, and are counting on), that’s not really a practical option since we all have come to rely on our cars. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together.

Here’s the idea: For the rest of this year, don’t purchase gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), namely EXXON and MOBIL. You see, if they are not selling, they should be inclined, (i.e., “forced”),to reduce their prices. And, because of their size, and hence market share, if they reduce their prices the other companies will too. (They would HAVE no choice!). Isn’t that a “juicy” prospect? But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of users.

But it’s do-able! I am sending this note to 42 people. If each of you send it to at least 10 more …and those 10 send it to at least 10 more and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth iteration, we will have reached over one million consumers. Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on, or one you compose, to at least 10 more E-mail addresses. PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES AND KEEP THEM DOWN! THIS CAN REALLY WORK! If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!

Please do not try this. It doesn’t work and will just irritate people sending this email around.

Now with the stupidity clause in effect, we won’t be able to boycott gas stations to reduce fuel prices. First off, prices are, in general, set by OPEC, not by individual stations (surprisingly enough, if you look at the prices, they are fairly similar in scale). Secondly, all those drivers who have credit cards for specific gas chains, paid for by their work, aren’t going to pay for their own gas. Ever wonder why prices are lower in the evening? Like the long distance rates? Because gas companies know that business travel has to fill up during the day. Commercial business is their bread and butter. And here’s the hint. Professional decision makers aren’t going to change their minds because of a chain letter.

The bottom line is that we the little guy probably can’t make a difference in that price. What we can do is be smart about things.

1. Don’t drive everywhere. Get a bicycle. Ride public transit. Support clean energy initiatives. No, this won’t bring gas back to 60 or less cents per litre, but at the end of the day, you’ll spend less on transit, creating more savings, and to boot, you can save the environment too (well, a little piece of it).

2. Conserve your in home energy. Turn lights off. Limit shower time. Watch your thermostat. Don’t crank your AC. Again, it probably won’t affect the per unit rate, but you’ll use less fuel, impacting your bottom line less.

3. Get regular oil changes. If you have to use your car regularly, the better kept it is, the less fuel you will burn per kilometer. Hence savings there. And a cleaner exhaust.

I could go on, but I’m assuming you can get the point. We can’t get the prices down, no matter how clever the scheme may be. We have to take some responsibility and actually watch our dollars and cents, not bowing to the quick hard and fast ideology that pop culture instills in us this day and age.