Same Old, Same Old?

Please note, I do not own this storyline. With exception to a few characters, all the other characters and plot are based on the short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" and belong to Ray Bradbury.

As the sun rose, the house was quiet. Ms. McClellan stood at her window, still in her pajamas, waiting to hear the dreadful voice of the clock. When did her life become so repetitive? She knew she was miserable, but everyone else seemed to find it normal. Maybe it was the new way of living, she had to adapt to the technology. Before she could finish her thought, the voice-clock announced "Tik-tok, seven o'clock."

"Yeah, yeah; time to get up," mocked Ms. McClellan, rolling her eyes. The house suddenly came to life, turning on lights and opening windows. The children came down the stairs, still half asleep, and sat at the table.

"Do we have to go to school today?" asked the youngsters in unison. "We hate school."

"Why do we have to go through this every morning? Your only responsibility is to go to school."

"You heard your mom," added Mr. McClellan as he walked into the kitchen. "You two are not missing a single day of school unless you absolutely have to."

The kids, not surprised, groaned and put their heads down on the table. Just as Ms. McClellan was going to scold them, the voice clock sang "Seven o'nine."

"Breakfast time!" shouted Emily as she darted towards the toaster. The toast sprang into the air and landed perfectly onto Emily's plate, next to her eggs and bacon. She sat back down and patiently waited for her glass of milk.

Ms. McClellan didn't understand how her family was so excited and optimistic everyday. It was always the same. In fact, she knew that in exactly two minutes the voice clock would report the date and the city where they lived, and it would do it three times. Except, she already knew what day it was, it was July 31, 2026, her 10th wedding anniversary. She also knew where she lived, she had been living in Allendale her whole life. But, regardless, the voice clock still went on with its daily chime.

Mr. McClellan had noticed that for a long time, his wife seemed unhappy. He didn't know what was the cause and he didn't plan on asking. It was common sense that communication was the key to ruining your marriage. He just had to stick to the schedule and eventually everything would go back to normal.

"So, sweetheart," Mr. McClellan approached his spouse shyly, "I got you something for our anniversary. I-I think you'll like it."

Ms. McClellan almost fell off her seat. Something new and exciting! She couldn't believe it, she hadn't felt that rush in who knows how long.

"Oh, honey, you didn't have to."

"But I wanted to, you deserve it. You're what holds this family together, we wouldn't be anything without you."

Ms. McClellan's stomach felt like it was being churned from the inside. Her husband would've been right if he said that a few years earlier, but lately she had been feeling pretty useless. The house had everything under control, she didn't have to do anything anymore. In fact, taking the present made her feel a little guilty. She would've returned it if she wasn't so desperately looking for something to be entertained by.

"I know it's not much but, my dad told me the traditional anniversary gift for ten years is tin." Mr. Mclellan reached under the sink and pulled out a couple of tin pots with tiny little plants peeking out from the dirt. "I thought they could look nice somewhere around the house. You always find a place for everything." He smiled and gave Ms. McClellan a big hug.

Ms. McClellan was thrilled. She saw an opportunity of a lifetime in those pots. "Thank you so much dear, I love them. In fact I-" She was cut off by the voice clock, which reminded the family it was time for the kids to go to school. Mr. McClellan looked at his watch and started hysterically running around the house to grab everything he needed for his day at work.

"Okay hun, glad you liked it, see you later!" Shouted Mr. McClellan as he raced through the door. It slammed shut, and again, there was quiet.

Usually, Ms. McClellan would sit and wait around the house for everyone to come back, but she refused to do that today. Today would be the day that her life changed forever. She slipped out of her pajamas and took a bath, a bath so long that she even memorized a few new poems. Afterwards, she put on her brand new track suit and took their dog Bailey out for a walk. She hadn't done that for a very long time, usually they just let Bailey go out and walk herself. Finally, she got home and turned off the voice clock. She decided to cook lunch herself, instead of letting the house do all the work.

Not long after, her family got home. Emily and Luke bolted to the table, expecting their lunch to be waiting for them, as usual. When they got to the table, they were baffled to see that there was nothing there.

"Mom, is something wrong?" asked Luke, "where's our food?"

"Wait just a second, I'm just finishing up." answered proudly Ms. McClellan.

The childrens' jaws dropped when they realized that their mom was cooking for the first time in years. They couldn't even remember the last time they tasted something made by her.

"Here you go, it just came out of the oven so be careful."

Mr. McClellan was bewildered, he had no idea what was going on. "Um, honey, are you doing alright? What is going on?"

"Oh, nothing, I just thought we could switch it up a bit."

"If this is about what I said this morning I didn't mean to startle you, I love how our lives are, no need to change anything."

"Darrel, we've been married for ten years, if we don't switch things up once in a while we'll end up old, miserable and regretting not doing something new when we could."

"Dad," interrupted Luke, "I think mom's right, we should all do something new today."

"Actually, I was thinking about those tin pots you gifted me. What if we all go out to the yard today and do some outside activities? I could plant the pots, you could mow the lawn and the kids could play ball."

"I don't know, I have some work I have to get done and-"

"Oh, come on dad, we never do things like that anymore, it could be really fun!" added Emily.

"Fine, let's do it!"

Ms. McClellan was so excited. She couldn't believe she had finally convinced her family to do something out of the ordinary. If the neighbors found out it would be talk of the town. Spontaneous and out of the routine activities were frowned upon in their community, but Ms. McClellan didn't care anymore. Her family was having fun, and so was she. The backyard was filled with laughter, and the McClellan family was finally bonding.

As Mr. McCllelan mowed the lawn he told his wife, "You know, this isn't so bad. Maybe we could do this more often."

Ms. McClellan smiled, she accomplished something that day. As she opened her mouth to say "I love you." there was a BOOM! And everything went black.