The Needs of Humanity

by Jason Nelson

Far below the surface they’ve built a series of gigantic freezers. Most of them are frost-free, but then some of them charge for the frost. I’ve always been a fan of that collection of water called frost. With those high-scoring power forwards and a speedy tailback, I can’t imagine buying the sweatshirt of any other team. Anyway, far below us are a series of rather large freezers. They were built to store two colors of paint: white and blue. Contrary to the public’s vague perceptions about such things, paint is not something we can manufacture. Instead paint is found in naturally occurring reservoirs deep underground. About two hundred years ago, white and blue were very popular colors for houses and fences and horses, so the reservoirs were drained. Our government decided we must hoard the earth’s supplies, and use the paint to control the world’s economy. I’m not quite sure why the government uses freezers. But I think it has something to do with nuclear winter, global warming, and the resultant human need for light blue.

Digital Chip

Connecting all paper are a thousand small wires. I’m not exactly sure it’s a thousand, because I always lose count, and count isn’t easy to find. I know this because they told me first. They is they, not really defined by anything else. They told me the wires are stealing words. But what about computers, asked those green creatures hiding in the very hard to find hiding place? Computers, like all other things, they responded, are made entirely of bits of pressed and formed bleached wood pulp. We all form misconceptions, they say, like sheets of clay drying in the sun.