Luis G. Abbadie

A Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Day

The carriages was sliding down the side of the avenue and my seat companion gazed out the windows with enthusiasm. The white horse pulling us was synthetic, an AmisTM, a likeness of the extinct species. Private vehicles moved freely, but carriages followed their own rails. After our arrival from the Parsons colony in Mars, Walt and I had had typical Mexican dishes for breakfast at the Tacobell Classic, not far from the Chapala spaceport, before boarding this carriage in order to visit the most remarkable sights in the city of Guadalajara. We passed the Cathedral, with its sole standing tower since the earthquake of 2035. Walt absorbed it all, stunned, with childish enthusiasm. It made me sad to see how little remained of this country, how badly it remembered himself.