344 A Christmas Quantum Part 1: the Ghost of Christmas “Is”

All cool cats, eventually, should veer away from self-serving solipsism and ponder the "meaning of it all." It can't be all about bitchin' cars, "it" couples, clicks-and-likes, and liquidity, can it?

I was too late. I was being sized up for a cherry solid-wood coffin. (Still, cherry—how cool is that!)

The lid sealed and my box slid underground. As I lay there, the ghost of Schrödinger appeared to me.

"Dude."

I was pleased this specter called me Dude. How cool is that? Still, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that undigested bit of beef, blot of mustard, cheese crumb, and underdone potato.

"There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

"I am the probability vapor," it said.

"I'm in the presence of quantum determinism? Must be, 'cause I'm dead. Now what?"

"More like indeterminism," said the wraith. "Tonight you'll be visited by two spirits. The first will show you your afterlife."

"And the second?"

"A solemn phantom, draped and hooded, will come, like a mist along the ground, towards you: Oblivion."

"Not cool."

"We're past cool and uncool. You thought you were alive. Were you? When your final box opens, will you go on, or will you never have been."

"Will I care? I mean, if I go on—how cool is that! And if oblivion happens, I can't even care."

"Be ready," Schrödinger cautioned. That's when the bell tolled once. For whom?

"Dude," a new spirit called. (How cool is that?) "Come with me. Consider your cherry box."

"Sure." I recognized well what my estate shelled out eight grand for.

"Behold, it's opening."

"Whoa, wait! Who's opening it? Why the hell is anyone opening my casket?"

"You're being exhumed."

"Why?"

"I don't know these things. But it's got to happen. The observer effect that collapses your probability cloud. How cool is that?"

"Not! So, what happens now?"

"Now what happens, happens. Does your soul move on or are you lost to oblivion?"

"OK, I take it back. I do care. Really!"

Just as the seal began to separate, it slammed shut and I was returned to my interment. I guess I beat the odds.

"How cool is that?" the next spirit asked.

________________

PART 2 HERE

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Monday, December 9, Day 344 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge.

366 WORDS (without A/N)

22 DAYS TO GO! THE STORIES KEEP HOME-STRETCHIN' ON IN THIS VOCAL CHALLENGE, 366 WORDS A DAY.

There are currently three Vocal writers in this 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. (Spice) Schäfer

• Rachel (Vice) Deeming

• Gerard (Lice) DiLeo