Four Categories

As the ball rolled down the chute, anxious eyes abounded. They jostled and thumbed at their mobile devices to see just what the final number would be.

“Eight!”

A collective “aww” swept over the crowd of people. Late December had crept up on them like a specter in the night. They had taken their pay, sometimes a week’s worth, and gambled it on the end of the year jackpot. There were no winners this time. So they settled for the various diversions which went along with the current times. Games, news clips, funny videos, movies, TV shows, all invaded the brains of the people still dejected from not being the one winner in the night’s contest.

One thing that they looked forward to was the final farewells to the titans of industry, the movie stars, the musicians, the politicians, and sometimes the ones that fit all of those categories. But this year remained different. Executive producer Isaiah Cloud, held the position as head of Cloud.tv on the web based in Newark, Delaware. He contacted the major networks, the cable stations, the streaming apps, and at least eighteen hundred sites on the Internet.

“That’s right, we’re not going to do it this year.” Cloud said.

“Well, what will we do?” Lanette Best asked. She was head of Walk It Talk It Networks online.

“I’ve got something planned. If we can whip together sounds and images from the past, we can most certainly feature people who can peer into the future.”

“You mean like psychics, stones, and spells and all?”

“No, ‘Nette, I mean figures who can predict based off of data and information the course of this country and the world.”

“I’m dubious, but I like it. Those end of the year specials depress me greatly. Though they are rated highly. We get the most views out of them every year.”

“That’s all about to be altered.”

Cloud commissioned his staff to find the most talented, best spoken, most riveting people in the fields of economics, science, ideas, and education.

“What are you trying to do, put people to sleep? We’ve already got the dead list loaded up and they’re probably turning in their graves over that idea,” associate professor Meia Ells said to her boss.

“Look, people grow weary of all of the remembrances. They want to see some kind of image of the future. With these specific people talking about a specific time, we may find that to be revolutionary.”

“Or a huge mistake.”

“Look, if it makes you understand more clearly, we can always have that reel of the celebrities who passed queued up and ready for whenever people want to see it. But I want to do this show live. With live people talking about other live people about the future. That’s great TV.”

Archibald Ott stood as man with two PhDs in economics. Professor Delana Flake represented the field of astrophysics and had just finished her master’s degree at 19. Calla Humphrey wrote books on philosophy with dual bachelor degrees in English and French Literature. Reginald Rogers completed his work as an educator without ever earning a degree. He presided as CEO over a hundred schools that most boasted as the best in the nation.

“What do each of you say about the coming year?” Cloud asked.

Ott: “Recession. But investors will be more confident than ever.”

Flake: “There will be a better understanding of how man’s impact on the global warming issue is minimal if nonexistent and continue the carbon footprint.”

Humphrey: “I think that the field of thought will increase in size and scope, and the government will do the opposite.”

Rogers: “As the foundation for all of my fellow colleagues, I can say that education will be privatized across the board and made available to billions of people for free like this Web show.”

“I thank you all for your participation in this panel. And to those of you at home let us know about what you thought of this episode by chatting in the comments section and liking and sharing our work. I’m Isaiah Cloud. Thank you and so long to the year that was.”