Cool Thing 51

A story fitting for the date.

COOL THING 51:

Please enjoy this short story titled New and Old

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December 31, 4000
Somewhere over present day Antarctica, 260 miles from Earth.

The clock struck midnight. It was the next day. However, not only was it the next day--it was also the next week (if you keep track via the Monday-Sunday model), the next month, the next year, the next century and the next millennium (if you follow ordinal year names). This was a momentous New Year's Day. Perhaps the New Year's Day. And it also happened to be Greg's birthday.

He sipped his coffee. This was it. This was January 1, 4001. Coffee seemed like the right choice three hours ago, when fatigue had begun to set in and Greg needed something to stay awake. He definitely couldn't risk missing a momentous occasion such as this. Now though... now it might be difficult to get to sleep.

Greg looked out the bulbous window in front of him at the vastness of space, the distant stars. 100 years old, 100 "new" years. It all seemed silly for a moment. What was the significance of this date to the rest of the universe? What was the significance of him turning 100? What did million and billion and etc year old rocks and collections of gas care for January 1, 4001? They probably didn't. Just another 365 days around the Sun. Greg poured the rest of his cold coffee into the reclamation system.

Oh well.

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There have now been 51/52 cool things created in 2018 for your viewing, reading, and listening pleasure. Just the one remains.

Greg seems a bit of a miser if you ask me, but he is 100 years old.

-Frank (sched.)