Story: The Girl in the Cafe and an Ionized Environment

The Girl in the Cafe and an Ionized Environment
Art and fiction by Henry Chamberlain

She sat at her regular table on the second floor of her favorite cafe. It was the same old crowd. It was a steamy summer day. She had the whole world before her. There was the Space Needle right out the window to keep her company. She made herself comfortable. She wiggled her toes. Someone was overheard saying, “An ionized environment really helps.”

Well, she’d heard just about everything there was to hear during her cafe stays. She liked the sound of the guy’s voice. It wasn’t a whiny hipster sound. It wasn’t arrogant. It wasn’t stale. What it was was pleasant. She wondered what he’d say next, just for fun.

She flexed her toes in anticipation, all scrunched up, and then let them all relax. She cautiously turned her head to see who the voice belonged to. She thought she’d spotted him. His head was nodding, lost in whatever the other person was saying on his phone. He had found himself a nice little spot, assuming that was him and, if it was, he was a certified hottie. She liked them cute.

“It’s the healthy negative ions that feed our cells,” the hottie said. And, yes, sure enough, she had placed the handsome voice with the handsome boy.

What was he talking about anyway?

“There is no way to avoid the toxic electromagnetic fields. EMFs are emitted from all our gadgets. Wi-Fi, computers and cell phones aren’t going away. And what do you get for your loyalty to technology, to the status quo? Stress. Memory loss. Tumors. Brain damage. Why are we even having this conversation, right?” The handsome young man laughed.

“You won’t get cancer anytime soon. It will gradually creep up on you,” he went on with a heavy sigh, “I’ve gotta go.”

She looked at him and he caught her gaze. They examined each other as if they were the last two humans left on Earth and, by the way he was talking, she could easily feel that way.

“What are you doing for the Apocalypse?” was her way of breaking the ice.

“I do have a solution,” he said.

“But you said we can’t avoid all that harmful radiation.”

“It’s all around us, that’s true.”

He walked up to her. He stood over her. She leaned in, waiting for a response. She was in a relaxed pose, one leg crossed, her foot dangling in front of him. He gently bowed and held her exposed bare foot. She did not resist. It felt so natural.

“The solution is right under our feet. Your feet need to be grounded to the Earth. In that way, you are receiving the natural and healthy negative ions emitted from the Earth.”

Who was this dashing young man, some sort of guru? She had news for him.

“I’m barefoot most of the time. I mostly wear flip flops.”

“Then you are on the right path. But it has to be direct contact with the Earth to get the full benefits.”

“I agree. Boy, you’re quite passionate about this but I don’t blame you. I think we’re all headed for disaster but we’d rather pretend nothing’s wrong.”

“Everything’s wrong. It’s hard to resist, the reality we’ve created for ourselves.”

He looked away for a moment, as if to catch his breath and collect his thoughts.

“And every step we take back to nature, is a step back to basics, back to our true selves, healthy and sound.” She was on a roll. She was proud of herself, and she meant every word.

“I like the sound of your voice.” He surprised himself. He suddenly felt vulnerable.

“I like the sound of yours!”

He nodded with approval and recognition.

“You know, they say with enough salt lamps you can effectively counter the effect of EMFs in your home.”

“Yeah, there’s that. There’s all sorts of products, now that I think of it. I see some of them in that New Age shop on Ravenna.”

“Well, it would take a lot of steps away from the status quo to break free and be more in tune with yourself. It wouldn’t be easy, at first, to dismantle this trap.”

“You know, this place has really excellent Wi-Fi.”

“I know. Isn’t that terrible?”

“Depending on how you look at it, yes, it’s pretty atrocious.”

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