Michael was watching television in his apartment when he heard a knock on the door. He muted the show, then put down the remote. Without bothering to look through the peephole first, Michael opened the door. He saw a man about his own age (thirty). The visitor was holding a clipboard, and was dressed in blue jeans and a long-sleeved button down shirt that was not tucked in.
Michael said, “Can I help you?”
“Hello. My name is Frank and I’m the new superintendent of maintenance for the apartment complex.”
The man’s name was really Charlie, and he held no such position at the apartment complex.
“What happened to Shawn?”
“Uh, he got a promotion to another complex. He’s doing very well. But the reason I'm here is because there appears to be a slow leak in your master bathroom. The water is staining the ceiling of the unit downstairs.”
“Come on in. I didn't know anything was leaking or I would have called.”
Michael stepped back and Charlie entered. Charlie closed the door behind himself and locked the deadbolt. He also fastened the door chain. Michael was surprised to see him do that.
“Do you always lock the doors of the apartments you're working on?”
“What? Oh, that. I'm sorry. I used to live in a bad area, and I got into the habit of locking everything. Sorry. Would you prefer that I unlock it?”
“No. You don't have any plumbing tools with you, so you'll have to leave in a minute anyway.”
Charlie smiled. “That's right. I won't be doing the work myself. I just need to assess the situation. I'll send someone else to do the work. Uh, is anyone else here? I'd hate to walk in on anyone in the bathroom.”
“No, it's just me.”
Michael led the way down the hallway. He walked until Charlie saw that Michael was in a position where he couldn’t be seen through any window by anyone outside of the apartment.
“Sir, wait!” said Charlie.
Michael stopped and turned around. Charlie approached him.
“I need you to sign this sheet saying that you gave me permission to inspect the apartment.”
“Is that a new procedure?”
“Yes.”
Charlie extended the clipboard, and Michael took it. Michael read a few lines of the form, then began to sign it two seconds before Charlie punched Michael as hard as he could right on the jaw.
Michael was taken completely by surprise. He fell over backwards, landing with his back on the floor. Charlie moved in, punching Michael twice more in the head to make sure that Michael was unconscious. Charlie stood up and looked down at Michael. Charlie’s face showed no emotion.
Michael woke up in the master bedroom. He was zip-tied to a chair, and he was gagged. He looked around in panic. He saw Charlie sitting on the corner of the bed. Charlie was staring at Michael, and Charlie was tapping his own leg with the side of a knife blade. The room in the apartment was comfortable, but Michael was sweating.
“I'll bet you didn't expect this when you woke up today, did you?”
Michael slowly shook his head.
“There's a couple of ways we can do this. I can leave you gagged up, and just give you Yes or No questions, or I can take your gag off and we can talk man-to-man. If I take your gag off and you scream, then I'll have to cut your throat with this knife. I'd prefer not to have to do that, but I'll leave the choice up to you.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Michael’s eyes were drawn to the knife, which Charlie was still tapping on his own leg.
“Can I take the gag off?”
Michael slowly nodded his head, shifting his attention from the knife to Charlie’s eyes.
“And you're going to behave so that I don't have to kill you?”
Michael nodded his head again. Charlie removed the gag.
“My god, what do you want?”
Charlie held the knife up as a warning. “I'll ask the questions. Understood?”
Michael nodded his head.
“Very good.” Charlie pulled out a photo from his shirt pocket. He held it where Michael could clearly see it. “Do you recognize this woman?”
“Ye – yes. She was my girlfriend until two weeks ago.”
“I see.” Charlie put the photo back into his shirt pocket. “She also happens to be my wife.”
“What?! I – I didn't know she was married! She didn't tell me!”
Charlie held up the knife again for silence.
“I believe you. While I was in Afghanistan doing my duty to our our country, Carol was doing her duty to her pussy. I'm sure she didn't advertise the fact that she was married. I've seen her emails to you from her secret account. She didn't even give you her real name.”
“She said her name was Susan. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to – do anything with your wife. If I'd known she was married I would have left her alone.”
Charlie shrugged. “I'll bet you did it right here on this bed, too, didn't you?”
Michael opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. Charlie nodded his head, laughed, then shook his head. He stood up and paced.
“How did you meet?”
“Uh, it was at a coffee shop. She smiled at me and we started talking. She said we should get dinner some time.”
“Well don't feel too special. You weren't the only one she was seeing.”
“I didn’t think I was. That’s why I broke up with her. She was only free a couple of nights a week, and I wanted more.” Michael paused to take a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “How many men was she seeing?”
“At least two other men, and one woman. That's not counting any one-time hookups she might have had.”
“I don't know what to say. I wouldn't mess with another man's wife if I knew she was married. I'm so sorry. I really am.”
Charlie sighed. “I believe you. I do.” He paused. “If I let you go and you call the police, you know they're only going to hold me for a little while?”
“I'm not going to the police. I'm not stupid. Plus, if I were in your shoes, I’d want to do the same thing you’re doing, although I’m not sure I could pull it off.”
Charlie cut the bonds holding Michael to the chair. Michael stood up and rubbed his arms where the zip ties had been. Charlie put his knife in a scabbard which had been hidden by his shirt. He covered the knife handle and scabbard with the bottom of his shirt again.
Michael said, “Thank you for letting me go.”
“Sure. I've been killing people overseas for the last two years. I'm sick of it. I don't want to kill anymore, but I will if I have to.”
“What about your wife?”
“I'm not going to kill her either. I'll think of something much more special than that.”
Charlie left the bedroom. Michael heard the sound of the locks on the front door being unlocked, then he heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Michael sat down on the bed. His hands were shaking. The television show he’d been watching no longer seemed so interesting.
Dr. Drew interviewed Scott Adams recently, and Scott Adams mentioned the absurdity that Republicans went to overthrow the government on Jan 6, but they neglected to bring their guns. On the first or second anniversary of the event, that alleged oversight made the narrative appear absurd to me, so I made a "video" that was supposed to be audio from January 6, captured on a video camera from which the lens cap had not been removed. I'm posting it again just because.
While I was waiting on hold to talk with a human at the IRS, I decided to put some food out for the dogs. I set the full bag of dog food on a chair, and walked away to get the bowls. When I turned around I saw the bag slowly tipping over, spilling much of its contents onto the floor. Fortunately I had help cleaning it up.
The main task for today is to begin revising McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader. It may take a couple of weeks, possibly more. I still have to work at Publix, and next week I start a new job in the memory care unit of a rehab/nursing home facility, and I'll also be working at Publix at least one night.
After that I'll take a look at the double-slit experiment, and see if there is an interpretation that is consistent with my theory of wave physics.
Also, I came across the attached meme, which I had created two or three years (or so) ago. I thought I'd include it because I still like it.
I recently proposed a theory of matter and energy called Wave Physics. In this theory, the only things in the universe are energy and the universal membrane, which is the medium through which all energy is transfered and stored.
Tonight I realized that according to this theory, everyone and everything in the universe are connected to each other at all times. Things that would be impossible according to the standard model of particle physics, are very possible in the universe of wave physics. Psychic transmissions and the power of prayer are physically possible and make sense if the universe works in any way like the theory I proposed.
If you've ever heard the phone ring and felt sure who it was before answering it, and were proven correct, this makes sense in wave physics, but not with particle physics. If you've ever looked intently at someone, and had that person quickly turn and look directly at you (I have), that phenomenon makes sense if all of us are parts of the same vast, ...
I was only scheduled to work three days this week, so I decided to work on a theory I'd been playing around with for fun over the last few years. I'd never been a big fan of the standard model of particle physics, so a few years ago, just for fun, I thought about exploring some alternate ideas, with zero training and zero experiments.
This week I wrapped up a few loose ends, and posted it to a community I created called Wave Physics. Originally I had called it Alternative Physics, but I changed my mind, so the link still has alternativephysics in it, but the community name is Wave Physics. I'd love for people to pay $5.00 a month to tell me how wrong I am.
https://alternativephysics.locals.com/
I also posted it on my personal website:
