text: “Happy anniversary honey,” Evelyn said as she leaned over to kiss her husband’s cheek. Isaac groaned as he woke. He smiled sleepily, momentarily forgetting where he was. “Happy anniversary, babe.” Evelyn smiled back at her husband. After all these years, she still loved this man. This goofy, dorky, adorable man. He looked different now. His thin physique twenty years ago was now replaced with a slightly heavier frame and his once dark brown hair was grey in places. But at least it was still there! She always felt prouder when she saw the balding heads of her friends’ husbands. “Open curtains.” The curtains slowly opened as the morning sun shone through into their bedroom. Isaac turned away from the window. “No, close the curtains. I’m still asleep.” “There’s a reason they don’t recognise your voice or we’ll never getting anything done. If it was up to you we’d just be spending the entire day in this room.” “Now is that really a bad idea?” Isaac asked as he rose up and kissed Evelyn. “I love you Evie.” “I love you too.” “What have they cooked up today?” Evelyn picked up the plate from the processor tray. “Well, for me it looks eggs and avocado. And look at this. They’ve added a hash brown as well. I guess I’ve been good this week.” Isaac walked over to the processor. “Isaac.” The processor acknowledged him, as much as a machine can acknowledge a human, and produced a bowl of oatmeal. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! Of all days!” Evelyn smiled. “If you’re good I might give you a bit of my hash brown. But you know if you eat it, tomorrow they’ll give you more oatmeal.” “And I’ll send this thing right back to the shop.” Isaac took his bowl of oatmeal and sat down at the table. He touched the corner of the table which automatically turned on the holographic screen in front of him. As Isaac ate his oatmeal he scrolled through the scores from last night’s games. “Oatmeal again huh, dad?” asked Sally as she entered the kitchen. Isaac grunted in response. “Leave your father alone. I’m glad they’ve caught onto how much he cheats when he’s out of the house.” Sally walked over to the processor. “Sally.” The processor produced a plate of eggs benedict with salmon. “Ooh, must be my lucky day.” Sally took her plate and sat down next to Evelyn. “So, congratulations you two. Twenty years. I can’t believe it!” “Yes, twenty years,” replied Evelyn reaching over to touch Isaac’s hand, “The first few years weren’t always easy but we got through it.” Isaac turned away from the screen and gently squeezed Evelyn’s hand. He didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Isaac’s look said everything Evelyn needed to know. “Ok, now that that’s over,” interjected Sally, “I’m heading over to Bec’s house after the thing tonight, is that alright.” “She’s the one in Montreal? When will you be back?” asked Evelyn. “Just a few days. I’ll be back by Sunday afternoon.” “Ok, say hi to Bec’s mother for me.” “I will.” Sally took a few bites from her breakfast before her watch began to beep. “Oh no, I’ve gotta get back to class,” Sally said as she picked up her plate, “The Professor is from London today. These time differences are the worst!” “Ok honey, enjoy your class,” Evelyn said as Sally hurriedly walked out of the dining room. “I should probably head off as well,” Isaac said, finishing the last few spoonful’s of oatmeal. “There’s a shipment coming in today. There shouldn’t be an issue but I like to be there when these big ones arrive.” “Alright, I’ll see you tonight.” Isaac walked towards the door which automatically opened. He looked back at his wife, “See you tonight babe.” The doors to the family car opened as Isaac approached. He sat down at the front seat. Call him old fashioned but sometimes he liked to imagine that he was still driving. “Work please. Sports,” Isaac said as he settled into the seat. “*Work. Traffic normal. Arrival time in 23 minutes*,” the in-built computer replied. Isaac sat back in his seat and tried to relax as the two hosts discussed last night’s game. *“... how can you say that? You’re trying to tell me that despite two losses in the last three games that Buenos Aires can still remain favourite?”* *“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying because you’re not taking these losses into context. First, lose to London which is always tough when a team has to travel east for the early games. And then it’s back to Europe to play the G-fed and they manage to win. And last night they’re back in B.A to play a well-rested team in Los Angeles and narrowly lose. Context matters and the next few rounds will show that they are still the team to beat.”* *“The great teams win, no matter the conditions. The New York team from last season ...”* “Ah, sports talk radio,” Isaac thought to himself, “Sometimes things never change.” “*We have arrived at the destination. Travel duration 23 minutes 42 seconds. Enjoy your day*.” Isaac stepped out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the facility. The words Angel City Furniture were written in green letters above the door to the entrance. Isaac looked up towards the scanner as the doors opened. “*Good morning, Isaac*.” Angel City Furniture were the largest manufacturers and distributors of household furniture on the west coast. Customers within the city would place their orders and the furniture would be built on site and delivered within a few days. In the early days, Isaac remembered, there were sales teams taking orders and guys on the factory floor watching the machines making furniture. There were also people tasked with programming the delivery trucks. Slowly, over the years, the people began to disappear. The whole operation, from the initial sale to the delivery of the products, could be done without human interaction. Even the delivery of the raw materials were done by self-driving trucks that could load and unload cargo on their own. Of course, some of the old timers like Isaac still liked to come in once in a while. Isaac freely admitted that he really wasn’t needed here but the routine of coming in for an honest day’s work filled him with comfort and purpose. And the purpose today was a delivery of timber. Bubinga Wood, to be exact, coming in from Thailand. Isaac made his way to the loading dock where he saw that the delivery had actually arrived ahead of schedule. The truck’s cargo hold was attached to the conveyor belt as pre-cut timber rolled out of the truck. “Danny!” Isaac called out to the man sitting by the truck. The man looked up at Isaac and gave a wave. “Hey Sarge, I thought you’d be here today.” Isaac walked down the stairs towards the man and warmly shook his hand. “How are you Danny, I can always count on you to do the rounds.” “You know me, I love to get out of the city every now and then. I’ve been in Thailand for the last few weeks collecting these guys. Hot as hell, but it’s so beautiful down there. I’m always there for work but haven’t been there for a holiday.” “Has the hotel been built yet?” “No not yet,” Danny replied. “I went to have a look, had a delivery there as well, nothing but a bunch of machines, wood and metal.” “When’s your next delivery due? Got time for a coffee?” Danny smiled, “Sure do, Sarge.” Danny sat down on a chair in Isaac’s office as Isaac brought in two cups of coffee. “And there we were,” Danny continued as he reached for his coffee, “You, me, Freddy, and that little guy from Texas. What was his name again?” “Vincent.” “Yeah, that’s right. You, me, Freddy and Vinny out on that little hill, in some goddam place. I think we’d been there for like three days clearing out that town. Freddy walks away, I thought he was gonna get some ammo or something, but he leaves and as it turns out, he didn’t have his sidearm. “So you know, we’re there and it was you and me loading up the gun, when Freddy comes running back pants around his legs!” Isaac smiled as he pictured the scene in his head. “So Freddy’s running and we look over and he’s being chased by three guys. He’s yelling “Shoot ‘em, shoot ‘em”, and he can’t run with his pants down like that. So finally after we laughed our asses off Vinny takes ‘em out and they just dropped dead.” Danny stops abruptly as his smile begins to fade. “They just dropped dead.” Isaac watched as Danny stared at the floor. “They were unarmed Sarge. They were just ... they ...” “It’s alright Danny,” Isaac said calmly, “You can say it.” “They were just scared. And they were just hungry. And we dropped ‘em.” Isaac said nothing. There was nothing he could say that they haven’t been told before. Danny stepped back into the truck and closed the door. “Where are you headed to next?” Isaac asked through the open window. “New York. Then it’s back home for a while before I ship out again.” “Will you be at the anniversary tonight?” Isaac asked, although he knew the answer. Danny looked away for a moment. “No. I don’t think so.” Isaac nodded. “Well, let me know the next time you’re coming through these parts. You take care of yourself Danny.” “You too, Sarge,” Danny said as the truck started up. “It was good to see you.” “It was good to see you too.” Isaac replied. And he meant it. Truth be told, he wasn’t seeing a lot of people these days. “Are you ready, honey?” Evelyn called from downstairs. “In a minute,” Isaac yelled back. He rummaged through his dresser drawer. “I swear I just saw it in here a few days ago,” Isaac muttered to himself, “Must’ve fallen into one of these ...” “Ah there you are,” Isaac said as he found his medal inside one of his socks. Isaac walked towards the mirror and pinned his medal to his chest. He had put on weight, who wouldn’t after twenty years, but the uniform still fit. Barely. Isaac made his way down the stairs where Evelyn was waiting in the living room. And there she stood, the love of his life, on the night of the anniversary. Her hair was tied tight and she stood proud. “How do I look?” Evelyn asked. Isaac smiled. She was older now, there’s no escaping that. But she was still the same woman he first saw all those years ago. The war was nearly over. Nearly, but not quite. Isaac was stationed at a base somewhere in Brazil when Evelyn walked into the cafeteria. She was with a few friends, and by the colour of their uniform they were easily distinguished as members of the air force. Isaac couldn’t look away. Of course he couldn’t do anything. He was about to be shipped out and hell, she was an officer and he was a lowly NCO. But as fate would have it, after the war he would meet this same woman, this time as a civilian. So yes, the first time they met were as civilians. But the first time Isaac saw her, she was in that very uniform. “You look amazing,” Isaac replied as he put his hands around Evelyn’s waist. “I can’t believe the old girl still fits,” Evelyn said as she put her arms around Isaac, “And you don’t look too bad yourself Sergeant.” “Ooh, it’s about to start,” Evelyn said as she picked up her visor from the coffee table. Isaac did likewise and picked up his visor. He placed it on his head and his vision fell into complete darkness. Slowly it began to light up. He couldn’t see much at first however after a few more seconds he could begin to make out that there were people all around him. He could hear their voices too. Finally he could see it clearly. He was in a city centre surrounded by thousands of people in uniforms just like his. Of course they weren’t just ordinary people. Isaac knew these people were just like him, they were veterans. In front of him, past the throngs of soldiers, there stood a platform. And on top of this platform was a podium. Slowly a hush grew over the crowd. They all stood at attention as an elderly man stepped up towards the podium. “Good morning,” the man said into the microphone. “Or good evening depending where you are in the world. Our world. The world we fought and died for. The world we won! “Twenty years ago today the last bullet was fired and the guns fell silent. But there was no peace treaty. No changeover of governments. No occupying force. Our victory was more complete than any that have happened before us. “It cost us everything we had but we persevered. And we made the necessary sacrifices to achieve our great goal. But why did we do this? Why were we fighting all those years? “We did this because we weren’t fighting for a king or for our president or even for our country. We did not fight for our God. No! We were fighting for our world, the very planet we live on. We knew our world was dying. And we knew *exactly* how to save her. “But it wasn’t going to be easy. In fact, it would be the hardest thing any of us would ever have to do. We lost some very good men and women. We lost friends and family. But they did not die in vain. “The world they helped us rebuild has seen unprecedented peace. For the first time in our history as a human race we have not struggled. We are no longer fighting for land, or food, or wealth. “The effects of human civilisation, once thought of as irreversible, have been halted and finally the earth has been able to heal. Animals roam free across Africa and Eurasia. The rainforests in South America have finally returned and the seas have repopulated. “In our world there are no more starving, helpless people. No refugees of war. No one struggling to survive day to day under oppressive regimes. Our children will never know of the hardships faced by billions before us. The world they live in now is one of abundance, happiness and peace! “We fought and died for today. Today is a great day. Today, this very day, is the anniversary of the greatest day in human history!” The crowd erupted around Isaac. Isaac looked down at his feet. And he wept.