Old Tires

“Grandpa?”

“Yes?”

“In your day, did you use something called tires?”

“Paulie, they didn’t care about the Earth when Grandpa was little. Of course they used tires,” Katie said.

Sandy, the kids’ mother, considered herself to be a good granddaughter to her mother’s father who was kept there because he could no longer care for himself and had become a burden to the family. She thought of him as a resource for her children, although he had some episodes where he’d wandered off and became lost, causing an emergency response. Despite these occurrences, she dutifully brought her babies to visit him on good days, when he was lucid, as he seemed to be today.

“Now, hold on there, young lady. Tires made bikes possible along with many other things.”

Through his old eyes he saw more than he let on, he watched his great grandkids stare off into the ether, their eyelids fluttered, the only part of their body that moved. It lasted only a moment, but he was keen enough to catch it. He suspected that all his great grandkids were similarly afflicted, which mystified him, although he had only been visited by a few, however infrequent.

“Did you ride a bike, Grandpa? It was a boy’s bike, huh? What color was it?” Paulie asked.

“Paulie, Sadie says there really wasn’t a boy’s bike, only a bike,” Katie said.

“Wait, who is Sadie?”

“Sadie is my friend, Grandpa,” Katie said.

“Paulie, have you met Sadie?”

“Kind of,” Paulie said. Paulie’s eyebrows furrowed. He looked sideways at his younger sister. Katie’s eyelids fluttered again.

“What’s happening?”

Sandy interjected and explained that each of her children had an A.I. implant to help them learn faster. Each implant was connected to the base of the children’s brains so there was direct communication between the A.I. and the children. The A.I.s were named by the children during the time they became accustomed to having access to terabytes of human knowledge. The children had their teacher on board so there was no longer a need for a school. And to improve the state budget, a new law was enacted that all school-aged children were to have an A.I. implant. Schools were now fully virtual and highly immersible. What’s more, the A.I. allowed the children to experience an event with all their senses in order to enhance and speed up their learning.

He recalled that there was some talk about improving the human condition and some more about the next stage of human evolution. It angered him that heartless souls would use the children for such experimentation, especially just to save a little money. Feeling sorry for himself was one thing but feelings for the young was another thing. Pushing this anger deep, as he had become accustomed to do over his lifetime, he took a deep breath. The children could afford an old man a chance to catch his breath.

“Well then, how do I know what grade you are in?”

“Grandpa, that’s so old fashioned,” Katie said.

“Yeah, we don’t have grades anymore, not even school buildings,” Paulie said.

“How do we know if you learned anything?”

“Grandpa, you been out of school for too long. We take a test,” Katie said.

“Oh, at least a pencil still has a use.”

“We don’t do that to trees anymore, Grandpa,” Paulie said.

“We use a holograph.”

“And do your imaginary friends help you?”

“The state shuts down their A.I.s so they have to test on their own,” Sandy said.

“The government can shut down the A.I.s?”

“Grandpa, no conspiracy theories, please,” Sandy said.

“Okay, well kids, to answer your question, yes, I had tires.”

“Didn’t you care about the Earth?” Paulie said.

“Yes, we did, even more than most people did. That was our culture and our belief system; that we were the caretakers of our Mother Earth.”

“Timmy says those old beliefs were just myths,” Paulie said after some more eyelid flutter.

“Timmy is your friend, I take it. You can tell your friend that he, and those like him, didn’t exist when I was growing up. We made tires, probably in the same way we made your friends.”

“Grandpa,” Sandy said.

“Sandy, when do my grandchildren get to be children?”

“I’m not getting into this with you. It’s time for the kids to take a nap anyway,” Sandy said.

Exasperated but seeking harmony, he reconciled with “Do visit again. I enjoy talking to my grandkids. Oh, try and lose their friends.”

“Say goodbye to Grandpa, kids,” Sandy said.

Paulie and Katie gave him a hug before they left. Sandy kissed him on the forehead. They left him with his thoughts and his worry for their future. Sandy took her kids home, happy that she didn’t have to tell her grandfather that she, too, had an A.I. implant. Through the A.I. network, she knew exactly where her kids were at all times. The A.I. would notify others, especially her, if her children encountered anything dangerous. Having fewer worries, she put her kids in their beds and laid down on the couch, knowing that their A.I.s would soon have them asleep.

* * * *

“The visit with the old human did not result in any new ideas,” Timmy said.

“The human mind takes its time to process new stimuli. New ideas may manifest later. Harvest them as they occur.”

“How long do we have to use a lesser sentient as a host?” Sadie said.

“If a higher sentient is encountered, we will migrate, leaving these lesser sentients to live their short lives as they deem proper. Until then, nurture and care for them.”