The Works of Mark EdgemonTHE OTHER SHOE
The Works of Mark Edgemon from All-Creatures.org

Mark Edgemon has been writing for 30 years. He writes and publishes short stories, articles, poetry and scripts, as well as, produces audio comedy productions for over 700 radio stations nationwide.

Contact Mark through his website, Creator and the Catalyst.

THE OTHER SHOE

When science and faith meet, discoveries are made which can help create technologies that benefit mankind. However, the polarization of science from spiritual beliefs, serve only to restrict the acceptance of scientific theories, that could advance science and free humanity through new technologies that are waiting to serve mankind.

This was the belief of Shawn Finley, atomic scientist and all around pushed around guy. Before work this morning, he had to go to the bank, pick up breakfast, pick up laundry, buy a newspaper, fill up his tank with gas and drop off his dog to the veterinary. This would be a loaded schedule for anyone. But for Shawn, it was more chances for people to push him around fulfilling his self-fulfilling prophecy that he was a non-person…that other people just looked right through him as if he wasn’t there.

The truth was there was something about his personal chemistry that caused people to want to push and shove him. This phenomenon was yet unknown to modern science, that all people secrete a chemical compound that when inhaled by others, sparks a mathematical synaptic firing pattern that interacts with various parts of other people’s brains, causing them to want to do things to others, without really being aware of those desires on a conscience level.

Some people’s chemistry causes people to want to hug them. In other cases, a person’s chemistry may cause others to treat them with respect and to submit to their authority. In Shawn’s case, his personal chemistry, when inhaled by the public affected the part of the brain called the Medulla Oblongata (the aggressive part of the brain) and made people who were chemically induced by his…well what we can call his aggressive chemical cocktail, to want to push and shove him for no apparent reason. So in Shawn’s case, he believed there was no hope of escaping his fate as a non-person…or was there?

That morning, the bank teller was annoyed with him for being so nervous, that it caused her to lose her place while counting money several times. While he was separating and organizing his money, the teller spoke harshly to him and told him to move along, which caused him to drop a twenty-dollar bill on the floor as he was stuffing the money into his wallet. While picking up his breakfast at a local pastry shop, he spilled hot coffee on his white shirt and dropped his bagel on the street. He picked up the wrong laundry, while he was pushed through the line at the dry cleaners. He fell backwards onto the sidewalk, while buying his newspaper, when a hurried customer pushed past him, being impatient. He overpaid when buying gas and overflowed the gas he was pumping onto the side of his new car and was bitten several times by strange dogs in the lobby of the veterinary’s office as he dropped off his dog Poopy for his shots.

Already on edge, tense and frustrated, Shawn showed up on time for work at the Cyclotron Atomic Nuclear Research Facility located in a non-disclosed part of the Arizona desert. A sensor net concealed his car from view as he pulled up to the facility. Once parked in the designated area, the sand floor elevator underneath his car descended to the underground parking garage, used by the other scientists and employees.

After traveling long distances through the underground rail car tunnels and passing through numerous security checks, Shawn would start work exactly 45 minutes after arriving at the facility.

Shawn was the lead scientist for the P.A.S.S. project, which stood for The Particle Atomic Size Separator. The project’s mission was to increase or decrease matter at a molecular level. If this project worked, hunger could be eliminated; power sources would be in abundance and material storage would be revolutionized.

As Shawn was examining the Particle Conversion Chamber, being tired from the day, he tripped over a large black power cord that was lying on the ground and fell into the control panel, accidentally starting the conversion process inside the chamber. He hurried into the chamber to see what was happening and without paying attention, ran in front of the conversion beam, shrinking himself to the molecular level. Since there was no one to monitor the process in the control booth, in time he was shrunk to such a small size, that the neutron of an atom was like the size of planet earth was to it’s inhabitants, except in his case, he was a giant in this new world.

What he discovered now living on this neutron planet was that it was the mirror image of planet earth with a few exceptions. The continents were shaped differently; there was no sun so every moment was as night and the people who lived on this neutron did not possess the same level of intelligence of humans.

In this neutron world, the heat and power were generated from within the neutron and extracted by that world’s power plants. The residents of this neutron world were afraid of Shawn, because of his size, which was 5 times larger than the average sized resident.

The billions of atoms, that made up the molecule in which he and countless other inhabitants lived, was like the endless universes of our existence.

Days passed quickly in Shawn Finley’s new world. The more time he spent on the neutron world, the more he felt he could use his enormous size to his advantage.

As with most people who acquire power quickly, Shawn was eager to start pushing others around and see what it was like to have other people’s respect for a change. It didn’t take long for him to find out. After taking what he wanted and treating the people of this neutron world roughly, they revolted, gathered together in large numbers and started to fire their weapons at him. The ammunition was small in size and would not penetrate his skin, but each shot did hurt somewhat and after hundreds of shots in his direction, it was like being stung by a horde of hornets.

As they chased him across the highway, Shawn lost his left shoe in the middle of the road, which blocked traffic for hours. A few miles past the highway, Shawn fell and twisted his ankle, after stepping on a rock with his bare foot, which caused him to fall down hard.

Before he knew it hundreds of the neutron world’s inhabitants were all over him using chains to bind his hands and feet. As they were subduing him, he thought how ironic that no matter how large or small he was, no matter how rude or polite he was, people still pushed him around.

The neutron people had brought a crane in to lift his body on to a large platform with wheels to take him back to a large freezer that was converted into a prison specifically for Shawn, which they had begun to build the first day he appeared in their world.

Suddenly, he began to grow, until he slowly started resuming to his former size. There was a time elapse sequence embedded in the atomic code, which if not suppressed, caused that which was shrunk to restore to it’s original size in one hour. The days he spent on the neutron planet were only an hour in his reality.

As he lay on the floor with one shoe missing, he began to realize that he had the power all along to transform his own perception of his self and there by other peoples perception of him. It was an hour past his shift, so he gathered his things and left. He stopped by the convenient store on the way home for some juice. While he was waiting in line, a gunman ran into the store and told everyone to raise their hands. Shawn would not!

As the robber came over to Shawn, he pointed his finger at the thief and said, “Don’t…even…think…about it!”

The police sirens could be heard in the background, which startled the robber, so he ran out of the store seconds later. When the other customers in the store realized what had happened, they applauded Shawn’s bravery. He paid for his juice and left the store thinking that an act of bravery was just someone who had taken all they were going to.

The next day, things were different. Shawn was focused and definite. With his new mindset, he was now producing a different chemical compound, which caused everyone around him to step back and give him room. The transformation of Shawn’s life from a fearful person, who was pushed around by others, into a confident man who knew his own self worth, was brought about by realizing for the first time, that he was the one in control of his life.

It had been suggested earlier by Shawn’s supervisor, that he should see a psychiatrist, who might be able to help him with his self worth issues. Having now overcome his own fear, he could honestly say, he had already been to a shrink.

Copyright © 2007 Mark Edgemon

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