THE GLASS TOP COFFIN (standard:drama, 1547 words) [10/12] show all parts
Author: Stephen-Carver Byrd	Added: Jan 05 2003	Views/Reads: 2764/1955	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
***Part 11*** The Orate

THE GLASS TOP COFFIN 

***Part 11*** The Orate 

By: Stephen Bryan (HurricaneWarning) 

Jordan poured himself one more shot of scotch whisky then went into the
family room and sat down. Meagan was in full force running and playing. 
He looked again at his badly shaking hands then balled them tightly 
together. Kate walked out of the kitchen and called to Meagan, “Time to 
get ready for nightly.” She then escorted the little girl upstairs. 
Jordan knew he had time, Kate would be busy for at least 15 minutes 
with Meagan. He walked across the room and removed a small picture from 
the wall and began spinning the dial on his safe. 

“Damn,” he cursed at his quivering hand that struggled with the
sensitive dial. After three tries he finally had the safe open. He 
reached in through thick legal papers and past the special case that he 
had made for the special Indian head pennies years ago. Then his hand 
finally found what it was searching for, “The Orate.” He walk back to 
his chair then gave a quick glance upstairs. He switched the gold, 
triangular device to the ON position and set the timer for three 
minutes. Normally he would set it for six, sometimes ten if Kate were 
not around. But Meagan was in the house tonight and he felt it wouldn't 
be wise to become over exposed from the device. He looked into the 
screen and a vortex began to spin. Slowly at first but ever increasing 
in speed. It was very comparable to staring into the spinning funnel 
used by a hypnotist. The object of the game was to stare far down into 
the apex of the vortex until you began to feel a pleasant feeling. If 
you could maintain your concentration by keeping the color on the 
spinning sidewalls the exact same color as the inner walls, the 
sensation would become total elation. Jordan relaxed and felt this 
rapture of bliss flow through every pore in his being. Suddenly the 
Orate's screen went black. Three minutes were already up and the game 
was over. Jordan slipped his finger back to the ON switch, hesitated, 
and then clicked the OFF button. It was enough for tonight. He walked 
across the room and put the Orate back into the safe. After replacing 
the picture he sat back down and held out his hands. They were calm and 
still. 

The Orate was invented in 2023 and only had a shelf life of less than
one week before it was pulled from stores throughout the world. “The 
Game” as it was dubbed, was declared highly additive, even more so than 
heron and cocaine. “The Game” worked directly on the brain's central 
additive region and playing it just once could lead to extreme 
dependence. Treatment centers had been set up all over the world to 
treat the more than 40 million people who had played it. Unfortunately, 
the vast majority of The Game's victims were teens and children. 
Treatment lasted almost six months and withdraw symptoms included a 
temporary insanity syndrome. Some patients never recovered completely 
and some of the younger children had actually died. 

Alec Martinez, a man with many shadowy contacts yet a very good friend
of Jordan had scooped an Orate off the Black-Market. The Orate's 
original price was $69.95 but Jordan had dished out a hefty $50, 000. 
He didn't give a damn about the cost or even the addiction aspect. In 
scientific experiments it was discovered the only medical benefit the 
Orate possessed was to slow the advancement of Parkinson disease and to 
greatly improve the uncontrollable shaking. Unfortunately the effect 
only lasted roughly twelve hours. At first, Kate was furious upon 
learning that her husband had illegally obtained an Orate device. Not 
only was she worried about the almost certain addiction of The Game, 
she also worried about the $500, 000 fine and mandatory life sentence 
for the mere possession of the apparatus. But gradually, she accepted 
it, especially in light that Jordan's medication was practically 
useless in this late stage of the disorder. But nevertheless, Kate had 
set strong rules for its use: only on very bad days and absolutely no 
more than three minutes per session. 

Jordan sat back into his chair and closed his eyes. He was feeling the
wonderful warm tingle that The Game leaves in its aftermath. He let his 
mind freely drift. It meandered off toward his mother who had died of 
cervical cancer at the age of sixty-two. He still could see her face so 
vividly. Madelyn and Jordan had moved to the big city, 16 miles away, 
during January of 1964. There, she opened a small florist which rapidly 


Click here to read the rest of this story (72 more lines)