Heisenberg Switch (part 2)

Click here for Heisenberg Switch (part 1)

“Well, that was fast,” Luke remarked. He looked up to see if he could spot the departing drone with his bag in tow, but there was nothing to see…

He spent the day at work giving little or no further thought to it. In his mind the garbage problem had been solved, and that was that.

It wasn’t until a few days later, after a solitary pizza party, that Luke decided he should get rid of the two pizza cartons, the beer bottles, and all the paper tissues he’d used up while watching a particularly tear-jerking tragic love-story on TV.

It was while he was collecting everything in a single undifferentiated black bag that he remembered how quick they’d picked up the previous load.

This time he wasn’t going to miss it.

He placed the bag on the platform in his back yard. The light went red.

As soon as he got back inside he went to the window. The bag was still there, the light was still on. He opened the window a little, so he would hear the approaching drone.

He waited.

It had taken them considerably less, last time. As he grew impatient, he began to fidget with the small cactus plants on his windowsill, always keeping the red light in his peripheral vision.

His phone rang from the backpack he’d left on the sofa. He looked at the sky and listened carefully in between rings. No drone in sight, no helicopter blades whirring. He had time.

He ran to the bag and got the phone. It was Sandra.

“Hey, hi! I mean, hello there! Who’s this?” Luke corrected himself when he remembered Sandra didn’t know he’d spied her number and saved her contact as ‘SandraLove (triple heart)’.

“Oh, hello Luke. This is Sandra. I was wondering if you could whup! me.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, I was wondering if you could help me…”

Luke walked back to the window. “Help, yeah, yes, sure.” The sound had come from outside.

“Yes, you see, I have my night shift tomorrow, but I have another…engagement.”

The light was green. The platform was empty.

Luke ran outside and looked at the sky.

“I was wondering if you could cover my hours right after yours,” Sandra continued on the phone, “It would mean very much for-“

“Yes, yes sure, no problem. Consider it done. Gottagonowbye,” Luke cut her short and ended the call.

The sky was empty. There was no sound.

He ran back inside, grabbed the few used capsules from the coffee machine, a semi-dried half lemon from his fridge, and every stray piece of paper and plastic he could find around the house. In the end he had barely filled half a shopping bag. He kept shopping bags in a box over the fridge, neatly rolled up and ready to be recycled. He used more of them to fill his bag.

His shift was due in an hour, that afternoon, so he was sure he’d be able to see the pick-up this time. He placed the bag on the platform, red light, and sat on the grass, and waited.

Nothing happened.

After some time, he realized the nothing happening was getting too close to his shift. He decided to let go of the issue. Sighing, he stood up and walked back towards his house, planning to resume his investigation the next day. He opened the door, considering the possibility of collecting some garbage from work. Maybe filling a second backpack-

Whup!

Luke spun around with a start. The light was green, the platform was empty.

“Damn!” he shouted. Fighting with the urge to try again, Luke begrudgingly got ready for work. “One thing’s sure,” he muttered to himself as he left his home, “that was not a drone I heard.”

He spent all his time at work obsessing over the platform. He barely even noticed when Sandra came by and popped a kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you!” she said.

“Uh, yeah, you’re welcome…hey!” Luke said just as she was leaving.

“Yes?”

“Have you ever heard of ‘Bob’s garbage collection for people’? They take your garbage at any time of day or night, mixed up is not a problem, and say it is all recycled.”

“Sounds too good to be true. Betcha they’re dumping it in some ocean. Never heard of it. Must be expensive. “

“No, that’s the funny bit. It’s free, at least for the first year.”

“And then? How much?”

“Er…I don’t know…”

“Haha. You’d better make sure you can opt out before the year is up, because they’re gonna nail you with a nasty bill you can’t afford.”

“Oh dear, are you sure?”

“Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, my grandma used to say,” Sandra said, “good luck with that, and thanks again for tomorrow.”

“Yes, sure,” Luke replied. “Wait. What’s happening tomorrow?” he asked, but she had already left the room.

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Thank you for reading part two of my short story! You can go on to the final part here.

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