Short Stories From Out There

All That's Right With The World

Since I'll be dead soon, I should get things down. I'm not sure how to break this to you, so I'll just say it. You are now in charge of protecting All That's Right With The World. Yes, you. By reading this, you are now drafted. There's no getting out of it now. I'm sorry if this will be a hardship for you, but this thing needs doing, and you're the one who gets to do it.

What exactly is All That's Right With The World? It's a flower, the one over in the median, to be exact. It's one of a kind, and you won't be able to miss it. The flower only exists when the sun shines on it. When there's no sun shining, you get a break. I don't know where it is when the sun goes away, just that it's not here.

I've watched the flower now for two and a half years. I don't know who watched it before me or if it even existed. What matters is that it is here now. What matters is that I know what it is, and I've kept it safe.

She left me, my wife, four months in. Not having a husband at home except at night was too hard on her, and she didn't believe me, so she got another husband. It's okay. It would have been nice to have someone to watch the flower with me, but that wasn't in the cards. I lost my job, too. I enjoyed what I did, keeping things in the warehouse organized. I was up for a promotion, but it's hard to keep a job when you can't go there anymore.

Only my wife knows why I left. She was so mad. I'm lucky she never really followed up. I could have been committed or something. Well, we're all lucky. If I had not guarded the flower, who knows how bad the world would get?

How did I get this job? Why did I get chosen for this task? I think it's because I get things done. Always have. A ball needed hitting, I'd hit it where it needed to be hit. If a math problem needs solving, I would solve it. I was told I have some kind of autism that makes me very good at new things. I just know I do what I'm told.

I met my wife in high school. She was hurting one day, and I was walking by. She was asking someone to make the pain stop, so I sat down next to her and said what needed to be said. Then I held her the right way. She later said she fell in love with me at that moment. She said stuff about a knight in shining armor and other nice things, but I think she probably wanted the pain that I stopped to stay away. She never liked to hear my take on her love.

She told me to ask her to marry me, so I did. She told me to find a nice, stable job that wasn't crazy, like a cop or a doctor or something big like that, so I got the warehouse job. One day, after we argued about money, she told me I might as well go and find something better, so I did. I'm good at doing what I'm told, so I found All That's Right With The World. People who want me around have to be careful. I get things done, even if it means not being around them anymore.

From that moment, the flower told me what to do. Not with words, mind you. I'm not weird or anything. It just told me by the simple fact that it needed things done. My wife tried telling me to stop going to the flower and to come home, but it didn't matter. I had found my true purpose, and nothing or no one would sway me from my task.

Today is my last day alive. I know this. I feel this. I look up at the sky and see the birds and planes and I know this is it. A car will almost run over the flower. I have to stop it. I have to get run over. My death will cause them to put up a barrier, finally. The flower will be much safer that way.

But, of course, someone needs to take over from me. I've written this to save you the headache of figuring it all out. I hope you are ready and it'll be easy to get your affairs in order. I hope you feel good about your new life because it is good. Very good. You are now the most important person alive. That's pretty neat.

Make sure you get started right away. Lobby for the barrier around the median. They'll be cleaning up the accident. You might even have seen me die. Don't let that intimidate you. This needs to be done.

The car will be here any minute, swerving out of control. I need to go. Don't let the world down. Don't let New York down. Think of all the people counting on this. Even the thousands up there in the Twin Towers.

Best of luck to you!

Your Predecessor,

Gregory Mund

September 10, 2001