2084 (21-12-06)

odyText style=”MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt”>2084, by Wim Boswinkel, was first published in the ’amaBooks collection Short Writings from Bulawayo II. Wim left Holland straight after school to become involved in farming and tourism in South America and Africa. He has lived in Bulawayo since 1988. His novel Erina, which was published by ’amaBooks in 2003, won first prize at the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association awards for Best First Book

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Although situated in the landlocked province of Zimbabwe, the inhabitants of the sparkling city under a perpetual blue sky spent lots of time at Indian Ocean resorts. Several times a day, a climate-conditioned magnetic propelled passenger train left Bulawayo, to arrive within the hour in the coastal territory of Mozambique. There, for a while, the travellers could forget about oxygen production, water purification and energy collection, and instead enjoy the surf and super-fresh seafood during a well-deserved leave of absence.

John was seated with his parents in a family compartment of the train. These cubicles were all identical, as every family was the same size, nowadays: three persons. That Chinese demand had been adopted, even before the move of the seat of the World Government from New York to Hong Kong.

As a seventeen year old, John had recently matriculated and would begin studying history after these very holidays. Old books had always fascinated him, even from as far back as the second half of the twentieth century; their contents had stimulated his interest for the Dark Age. He was looking forward to researching the past, also to get a better understanding of the present Light Age.

They had spent a marvellous time at the beach and were now returning home. John enjoyed speeding through the African bush, which had recovered so magnificently after almost two centuries of mistreatment. It was teeming again with wildlife and covered by lush vegetation, producing all the pure water and clean air that was needed.

The SAYP-screen in the compartment was showing pictures of features of interest along the railway line; he had programmed it to concentrate on archaeological topics and a large selection of images, reflecting the distant past, flicked by. There were graveyards, sites of both primitive and industrial mining, and many indications that intensive farming had once been the main land-use in the surrounding countryside.