The Pole Shift

Sean's Special

Sean watched the cop and the woman leave from his upstairs window. He was confused, so he lay on his bed and quickly fell asleep. A deep sleep he had needed for weeks. When he woke the next day he went through things, speaking aloud.

                "That blonde chick came in and was playing me, she said I had hurt next doors kids, but it was really her. She said she might move in, then that dude came and said that we were both being watched by the government?" Sean made coffee and walked outside to sit with the chickens.

                He addressed his four brown hens. "He said they would help us, if we survived the Shift. We had something others didn't, but he seemed to think I was a surprise inclusion and so did that woman." He smiled, glad to be singled out as special even with little proof of merit.

                "Special." he said and sipped his coffee.  He really wanted to get drunk, alcohol was still available to buy, it was not free like food. Some conspiracy websites said that booze would carry on as usual because it was a tried and tested social control medicine. Angry drunk people are a lot easier to control than angry organised people. Others said that the breweries would cease operations, what was the point - they were businesses. Money wasn't as important, paper money was not fiat anymore. Sean was still pondering the longevity of alcohol supply on his way back from the booze shop, he had re stocked his vodka supplies and felt pretty good about himself. "Special." he muttered for the twelfth time.

                In the middle of the garden was a crate of Grey Goose vodka. His eyebrows shot up.  It must have been delivered by a drone. Is this what they meant by help? There was a note on the crate, it read:

                "If you ask then you will receive." That troubled him, he had wanted vodka, but was it right to use 'help' in that way? He looked behind him,  into the woods, then upwards. All was quiet. The Mountain Ash swayed in the breeze under a blue sky, mimicking the sound of waves.  Beautiful he thought, and within a minute poured a large one.

                Sean woke a couple of days later, there was a knocking at the door, the gentle kind. Funny how the  knock of a door can affect your feelings. He groggily made his way down, wishing he could have a shower or change clothes, but the knocking was steady, patient and not going away.

                "Sean?" Called a soft female voice. Oh Christ, he thought, Sally. He gingerly opened the door to his ex wife. He felt no anger or betrayal, he hadn't had time to stoke those fires. She smiled at him, as if they had both made mistakes but had come through it. Looking up at him was their old Labrador, she wagged her tail happily, and he had the absurd sense of them both wagging their tails. It was as if they had come back from a long walk and their endorphins were in full flow, happy to see him. Had that in fact happened? Had he just had an enormous dream? But she asked to come in, and it all came back, he sighed and made way for them.

                "So," she said, "what an enormous mess it all is, I'm strung out, beat up  and so so tired."

                "Where's Tom's fat brother?" She ignored that and went on, about herself. It didn't annoy Sean, he was thinking about the Grey Goose, and whatever she said now was just noise. He got up whilst she whinged about the brats, about Tom's zealot like behaviour, about his obsession with Sean and Keith's irritating servitude to his older sibling. Sean had gulped directly from the bottle, in full view of Sally, who a year ago would have thrown a brick at him but now ignored it.

                "Is Tom's fat brother a good root?" The vodka had instantly focused his mind at a level of nasty, but he didn't want her going just yet, he knew what she was about and he wanted to enjoy this. 

                "Keith. Not particularly." She had paused before she said that, probably wondering if denial was a viable option. "It's not about Keith anymore. Apparently Sean Waters runs deep. What was all the intervention stuff? Who were those people, you're the dark horse aren't you?" She was actually smiling at him like he had won the hundred meters.

                "Special." He said thinking of Lett.  She had said Sean Waters ran deep too.

                "Special? In what way?" He shrugged his shoulders and she nodded more to herself than him. He tried to correct his own bewilderment.

                "Apparently the drones are much more advanced than we thought, there might be one in the room now.  Ever had a fly in your house that never died? The flies that never die they're called. " He had made that up on the spot, feeling cock sure of himself. "The government  watch we do on the net. There's some software that, AI I suppose, that has been looking at us and running algorithms to see what we are like as people and what our circumstances are, with a view to giving us a leg up before the Shift, and helping us should we survive it." He was quite pleased with himself, that's pretty much what Macka had said but in his own words. Sally was looking thoughtful.

                "It must be this place, this part of the hill."

                "Yeah sure! It could have nothing to do with my hidden talents, it must be the hill!" He sneered. "Why hasn't the whole neighbourhood been given special treatment then?" Sally went on, again to herself rather than Sean.

                "There must be something about this particular acre, some model that shows it doesn't get hit hard. Like being in the tube of a wave." They both visited their own thoughts, and Sean was annoyed that he hadn't thought of that. Wasn't he special after all? He was hurt by her analysis.

                "Get out." He said sadly, "Get out like you did before. Or.."

                "What!?"  She snapped at him.

                "I'll have them take you all away. "

                "What do you mean?"

                "I can do whatever I fucking want Sally, I'm special." There was a note of alarm on her face, the sudden aggression had gone and she realised that going back to be being friendly wouldn't even fool Sean.

                "Don't do that. Perhaps we can form a partnership, I'm not talking about a relationship, but a team. To survive this. We know each other pretty well, warts and all."

                "What about your new family? What about those kids?"

                "Forget them, they aren't the future. You are it seems and whilst I don't see it, powerful people do!" She suddenly laughed and added, cruelly he thought. "My God what could it be if it's not the land."  He turned his back on her.

                "No, get out, I prefer the other woman." He could feel her stop short of her next sentence, feel her body shift in some way, he could imagine her expression, a expression reserved only for females.

                 "Have it your way." She said icily, then left.