"The Flea Market" by Craig Zimmerman

The other day, I was  driving through Federal Way when I noticed that the old Flea Market was gone. 

I don't even remember the official name of the auction-thrift-knick-knack store, to my boyhood amusement it was always called  "The Flea Market."

Most of the flea market was composed of  booths where vendors sold a variety of items. I just loved looking through forgotten corners where I could find old books and magazines and maybe a Wheat penny, a Buffalo nickel, or a Mercury dime for my coin collection.

Over the years, The Flea Market lost some of it's charm and became more of an antique store. Eventually, even that was gone.

I have noticed that it is just about impossible now to find places like the  flea market. Everything has become more commercialized and there is little room left for kind strangers who are willing to give a young boy a good deal on an old Wheat penny.

"Prison at the End of Time" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

In 1977, Jerry was convicted of murder and was given life in prison without parole. Unlike a lot of his fellow inmates. Jerry freely admitted his guilt. It was a drug deal gone bad and two people ended up dead.

Sometime in the mid 1980s, Jerry was approached about volunteering for some kind of experiment. For several months he was injected with a substance. He never did find out what it was.

After the experiment was over, Jerry didn't feel any different and he once again settled back into the routine of prison life.

Years  went past , guards and administrators grew old and retired, but Jerry remained as he was. At 55 years old, looked and felt like   the 32 year old he had been  when the experiment ended.

The prison doctors examined him over and over. but had no explanation. Apparently, there were no records anywhere of the experiment that Jerry had volunteered for in the 1980s.

More years past, guards and administrators retired. His latest lawyer tried to get Jerry released on the fact that he had served over 60 years of his sentence, but he was denied release.

In the year, 2050, scientists found a way to end crime by some type of new behavioral modification and the prison began to empty.The scientists tried the behavior modification on Jerry and released him.

The world of 2050 was confusing and bizarre. Jerry committed some minor vandalism and they put him back in the pen. Eventually, Jerry was the only prisoner left in the penitentiary. He suspected that law enforcement authorities didn't quite know what to do with him.

In the year, 2108, Jerry was moved to a new prison built just for him. Other then him, there were no other humans in the prison. Mechanical guards and workers did everything.

Centuries past, Jerry no longer saw any humans. It occurred to him that something may have happened, but he didn't care that much he was content.

A thousand years went by, the prison was no longer functional and Jerry  walked out into the world. He could find no people or any indication as to what happened to them. 

Not knowing what else to do, Jerry went back to his old prison and started to grow his own food. A 100 thousand years past, something was wrong with the sun. Even if Jerry could have diagnosed the coming Supernova, there was nothing he could do about it.

The sun exploded a few months later destroying Earth and the rest of the solar system. Jerry's sentence was over.

Book Review- "!984" by George Orwell

In my opinion, "1984" by George Orwell is in my opinion, one of the most influential and prophetic novels of the 20th century.

Orwell's vision of the future has an all-powerful government controlling every aspect of life. Any opposition to "Big Brother's" rule is crushed.

Orwell's hero of the story is middle-aged Winston Smith who spends his working days altering  media to conform to the latest party line.

Smith fantasizes of rebellion  against Big Brother and for a time actively engages in it, but in the end,  Smith is manipulated as easily as the past is changed by the state.

Nearly seventy years after Orwell wrote 1984, technology and human nature are making his vision become reality before our eyes.

The government now has the ability to track ordinary people through a variety of methods.

Enemies can be eliminated by remote control machines.

In the world of  1984, Big Brother proclaimed "Freedom Is Slavery." Today, freedom is increasingly becoming an illusion.

The Skating Rink by Craig Zimmerman

When I was growing up in Federal Way, there was a group of downtown buildings called "European Square." As the photo shows, all of the buildings were fashioned after old world style architecture.

A skating rink was located in the building with the clock tower. On Fridays and sometimes other nights , me and a couple of friends would go around and around the oval to the latest 1970s hits.

There was something magical about that brief time that I have not known since. All these years later, I still think about the first time that I skated around the rink with a girl, holding hands.

 Some time ago,the skating rink with all it's magic was replaced by a big box store.