Killing the Screen

Evie was absolutely done with the bully in town. It wasn’t a bully like in the 90’s where one would get a punch in the face and it would be over, no – this bully hid behind her smartphone. She was sick of it, and she sat there laughing with her big fat gut giggling. “Stop. Stop! STOP.” She never stopped. Evie went once again went home and told her parents. “Can I just take that thing and smash it?”

“No, if you do that, you’ll have to pay for it – its private property.”

“What if I just take it and throw it in the weeds?”

“Sorry, they could call the police on you and still have you pay.”

“So, I’m just supposed to sit there and let her record me?”

“You should tell the police or come home.”

“But they already said there’s nothing they can really do! AND if I come home, she’ll just do it again later.”

……….

“Sorry, you’ll just have to cover your face and walk away.”

“That’s not fair!” With that, the conversation ended with dad saying, ‘life isn’t fair.’ Yes, she knew that, but there must be something she could do! She hated being recorded and that fat bully needed to be taught a lesson. All the idiots that do that ought to be taught a lesson!

Evie was about to go to her room demoralized until her dad said “follow me.”

Weird. Now, she knew her dad was a crazy marine, but she had no idea how crazy until he spread the diagram in front of her. “Look, what I am about to show you is a very dangerous invention. It was invented by Nicola Tesla a long time ago…do you know who that is?”

“The famous inventor?”

“Yes, he was a master of electricity and frequencies and still is. In fact, The FBI took all his inventions and all his papers the moment he died. They are still locked up somewhere…all except this one.”

“What is it? Wait, where did YOU get it?”

“Never matter, the old marine smiled, but it may be just the thing you need against this bully.”

“What is it?”

“I won’t tell you until you gather all these things for me, and we will see if you are really serious about getting this bully back.”

That made her smile, and she was handed a list of strange things she’d never heard of, and directions on how to find it. All of it was right in front of her – and her dad was clearly excited.

“Ok, I’ll get it all.”

“Wait, dad said in a hushed tone, while you’re doing this, don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. AND, don’t even mention it under your breath because that dumb Alexa is always listening.”

“Wow, is it bad?” Now she was a little worried.

“No, young lady, but its easier say nothing and claim ignorance if it’s just you.” She didn’t know what he meant, but it was clearly important enough to stay quiet, so she did. That night she stared up at the ceiling wondering what exactly her dad did in the marines. In fact, there was a lot of things she did not know about dad.

The next day Evie went about it. All was exactly where he said it was. There was a strange component in an old railroad sign and she yanked it out. There were a few things called “capacitors,” some large - some small and she found those too. Then there was something called a “coil,” when she found it - it did not look like a coiled snake or anything coiled; but she ripped it out too. Then it was a lot of copper wire – big stuff and small, and all sorts of resistors and aluminum – it took two weeks to gather it all, and she said nothing the whole while. When it was all in the basket it looked like a mess, and she was quite proud of herself when she went to dad in his garage. She didn’t expect what her dad immediately said.

“Where’s your phone?

“Inside.”

“Alexa?”

“Unplugged it everywhere.”

“Have a tablet or anything nearby?”

“No.”

“Good girl.” That made her happy. “Close the door, we have work to do.”

It took all night. She tried to keep up with what he was saying but sometimes could not follow. He was a good teacher though and explained it all. He made a lot of smoke soldering it together, and she was busy making wires stripped perfect to connect to the small circuit board – she even soldered a bit too. It was not as easy as it looked. In the morning hours when the sun had just gotten up, it was finished.

“What is it?”

“This, my dear, is the solution to all the bullies.”

She was nervous when she went to the park where the bully was. She had no idea what the thing would do, but she saw dad put all his electric stuff in a giant cookie tin “to keep it safe,” he said. The instructions were simple: make sure there were no cars in the area and go about fifteen feet from the bully and wait until she started recording. Then – it was simple: reach in the heavy bag slung on her shoulder and push a button.

“What’s going to happen?” Evie said.

“Let’s just say the phone will stop working forever.”

There she was fifty feet, thirty, then twenty, and just like usual the mean girl started recording. She couldn’t even remember to see if there were any cars around like dad said and was so angry - ready to teach her a lesson she just pushed the button.

BOOM! There was a huge blast, and the green electric box at the playground immediately fumed in smoke. It scared both Evie and the bully ducking out of reflex. Then a second later the bully shrieked not because the green transformer was on fire, but the smartphone in her hand superheated and she cast it to the ground. It immediately caught fire. Her mean mouth was open like a hooked, large-mouth bass and a pathetic whine seeped out. Then there were noises in the neighborhood and all sorts of people looking around. Part of Evie was giddy, and part horrified because she knew it was because of dad’s invention. All of it happened in ten seconds. It was time to go home.

One the way cars were stopped all over the place. People were yanking at the wheel turning keys and trying to use their phones. Even the jogging girl stopped to see why her phone wasn’t playing music. The buds in her ears superheated and she cast them to the ground a few seconds before. Some people came out of their houses – some very pasty people she’d never seen. Then she passed the cops house, and he was outside trying to hail someone on his microphone – nothing. Cars weren’t starting, people were in the streets; some were cursing. Evie couldn’t get home fast enough.

 “Dad! Dad!” He was sipping tea in his office completely at peace. You should have…huff huff…you should – did you see what just happened?!”

“Of course it happened.”

“Huh?”

“Nicola Tesla called it an ‘electro-magnetic pulse.’ It destroys anything with a complex microchip in seconds – like a cardiac arrest to the entire world. Anything that was on and working is now fried.”

“Everything? But I just wanted to teach her a lesson.”

“You did. And so do I. AND to teach a lesson to all the other cowardly bullies online and in the whole world who think they are untouchable. Yes. Right now, everyone in the world is freaking out – and it’s a good thing. They will think they are suffering for now, but in a few weeks when things get back to normal – they will have reset their dopamine-hooked brains and maybe, just maybe, wake up forever.”

“Wake up from what?”

“Exactly.”

……….

“Even good people can be stuck on the screen, dad said. They start perfect like the rest of all human beings, and they are corrupted by the world – these days it’s the screen it all its forms.”

“Every screen?”

“Do you ever see me watching TV?”

“Almost never.” Evie heard shouting outside.

“Its because every screen is like a syringe in your bloodstream. It changes how you think, and how you act usually for the worse. Now, the people will wake up.”

“I just wanted to teach her a lesson…”

“And you did, young lady. Hear that shouting? People will now be forced to help their neighbors instead of sitting on a screen all day inside alone. Do you think that’s a bad thing?” Outside the neighbors were talking in a circle and people looked scared - yes, even the normally tough ones looked like it was the end of the world.

“Believe it or not, we are helping them.”

“I feel like...like…” She could scarcely contain or even say a word, all of it was closing in. There was dad looking out the window smirking – all the sudden he could have been the bad-guy in any of her movies, but he couldn’t be – there’s no way he would do any of it for the wrong reason…

“Like the bad guy?”

“Yes…no. I mean you’re not…I’m not…”

“Don’t worry - I’ll be the bad guy,” dad said smiling. Then he got serious and the crows-feet of his eyes cut deep.

“It’s time to wake up.”

Wake up.

Wake up!

WAKE UP!