Book of Deceased Agony

By Elias Sassoon

Ordinary people not involved in romantic escapes or mysteries, living routinely lives that are interesting, bizarre and different. Behind the closed door, the ordinary exist with humor and sadness and ugliness; their stories are fascinating while involved in the daily struggle with family, work, health, and politics. Keeping from drowning; competing for breath. Dealing with anger, depression, drinking, violence. An effort to form and keep relationships: mother-daughter, father-son, daughter-mother, husband-wife, boss-worker. A wrong word and there’s dissolution. Relationships as temporary alliances ending in death. Avoiding the pitfalls and potholes while dealing with the world and its hurricanes and monsoons and earthquakes and diseases, and crimes, and injustice and poverty and hunger. That’s the ordinary life that’s never ordinary, which these stories reveal. Enjoy them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312006607

Elias Sassoon

Elias Sassoon is the author of approximately, roughly, terminally twenty-five works that include short story collections, novels, poetry collections and non-fiction, essay collections. While producing his writing by night, he has earned his daily wage in honest labor that ranges from professions like teacher/bathroom attendant to a door-to-door bible salesman/fish cleaner and everything in between. Elias continues to work hard, grinding out the words and turning them into literary gems, or if you prefer, literary pearls of wisdom. He lives with his wife, two children and a dog-named Brandon in a suburban area in the vicinity of the great Metropolis known as New York City. There he prepares barbecue dinners for neighbors and friends, roams the area for yard sales, watches flies and other moving insect life die in his backward where he also sits on a metal beach chair deciding on the future of the world as we know it.

Book preview

Book of Deceased Agony

Book of Deceased Agony

Stories

By

Elias Sassoon

Book of Deceased Agony

ISBN: 978-1-312-00660-7

Copyright © 2014 by Elias Sassoon

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or, other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval systems, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of any of the characters to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

First Printing:March 2014

Dedication

To myself for getting through an impossible period of my life. It could have broken me, but didn’t. Down deep, I kept going because I had faith that life isn’t just a downhill ride. Along the way, there are little joys. Waking up every morning, you never know what gifts might await. That is why I push on with a smile planted on my face.

Table Of Contents

Preface

I. A Computer Person, Or, A Person Of Computers

Section I

Section II

Section III

II. Starting A Job Using Your Feet To Step Into It

Section I

Section II

Section III

III. A Woman Of Steel Rusting In The Light

IV. A Trader In Moonbeams, Sunbeams  & Assorted Accessories

V. Beginning Travels By Crashing The Plane Into The Sea

Section 1

Section II

Section III

VI. He's The Man With The  Suit Married To A Woman Wearing A Dress

Section I

Section II

Section III

VII. Brothers With Jewels In Their Eyes

Section I

Section II

Book of Deceased Agony

Preface

Writing about ordinary people, not people involved in romantic escapes or murder mysteries, or vampire chronicles or zombies gone wild, , ordinary people living every day in a routine manner. Their lives are interesting because all lives are interesting and quirky and bizarre and different in their own way. That’s a fact of life lived in the fast lane but never acknowledged as such, Behind closed doors, all doors, inside the doors where people exist, ordinary people, you have extraordinary lives that are all different in one way or another. Different meaning distinctive, maybe funny or happy, maybe indifferent, maybe ugly or sad, but different and distinctive.

Ordinary people, out there, day after day and each involved in the daily struggle for survival with family, work, health, politics, the greater world; a struggle to compete, get ahead, keep from sinking, keep from drowning in a sea of humanity, a struggle yes. Getting up in the morning, a struggle. Could die at any moment. No guarantees. Could get fatally ill at any moment. No guarantees. Could lose everything at any time. No guarantees. Always a struggle, marriage, childhood, old age, jobs, kids, dealing with others, a struggle to exist and keep on existing. It’s never easygoing from one day to the next. Dealing with it, some can, some cannot. Drinking, crime, violence, anger, dealing with it not well. Enjoying life and its struggles, some do and thrive.

Ordinary, people really are not ordinary. In truth, they’re exceptional. It takes exceptional people to navigate through life, to relate to others and keep from colliding. It’s always an effort to make relationships and keep them healthy and happy and strong over time. This goes for the personal, mother-daughter, father-son, daughter-mother, boos-employee, etc. A wrong word here or there, an improper action, can cause turmoil, anger, dissolution of lives, hopes and dreams. Relationships everywhere, at home, at work, casual relationships, serious relationships, relationships that are temporary alliances, relationships that are permanent and to the death. People relating, drawn together by accident and chance, drawn together by magic, drawn together while on earth in bonds that are fascinating in themselves.

Problems everywhere too in relationships; problems with ordinary individuals. Pitfalls everywhere. Individuals, their daily lives, avoiding the pitfalls and the potholes of human interaction. Avoiding too while dealing with the natural world with its hurricanes and monsoons and earthquakes and its crimes against humanity and critical accidents and injustice and poverty and hunger. That’s what an ordinary life is, and it’s never that ordinary.

The stories presented are not romanticized versions of life. They are not filled with action or canned adventure or love triangles that lead to happy endings that bear no significance to happiness. Real life, it is filled with the drama of living, which is the greatest drama we will ever know. These tales represent that without pretense.

I. A COMPUTER PERSON, OR, A PERSON OF COMPUTERS

Section I

Cory Roobe raises himself off the bed in that slow, careful way of his, contemplating all the problems that could occur with any fast, sudden movement. It is early, Monday, 6:00 A.M, The place, the basement of his parent's Long Island home. This morning he is frankly exhausted. Cory has spent this past weekend at his basement computer terminals to all hours of the night. Maybe he’s gotten two hours sleep total sleeping on the cot he keeps here.

Cory Roobe lives and spends much of his waking hours, when not at his job, in the basement. It’s dark and it’s dingy, and there’s a moldy smell in the air mixed with the odor of heating oil from the oil tank at the far end of the place. There’s only one small window, Fluorescent lights in the ceiling, are turned off. There’s computer equipment everywhere, including an ancient IBM mainframe, surrounded by a bank of desktops, laptops, IPADs, electronic tablets, lasers, printers, external drives, disks, monitors, and LCDs. There are wires and flashing red and green and yellow lights everywhere. Monitors are filled with thousands of lines of programming code along with elaborate schematic diagrams or immense encrypted database tables and spreadsheets with millions of records, or attuned to pages and pages of informational Internet sites. The LCD screens and tablets are filled with individuals, scientists, mathematicians, historians, politicians talking in language that a layman could never understand. Cory Roobe can. What is going on?

Cory Roobe is a computer hacker of sorts He’s written  programs that have gained him access to  the most secure Internet sites in the world, and that includes government (both foreign and domestic), military, academic, and corporate sites worldwide. This is a criminal offense, yes. It’s a breach of national security, yes. And, it is an affront to everyone whose personal records are online, yes. But, Cory won’t be caught; he knows how to cover his tracks. Nor does he feel one bit of guilt about it. The information he garners is used in his applications to improve the condition of everyone. His work includes:

a)      An application to improve the efficiency of electric cars and hydrogen-based engines,

b)     A project to desalinize sea water to make it fit for drinking. Associated with this, the construction of underwater farming on a mass production basis.

c)      A genetic application to modify human DNA to reverse the effects of aging. Associated with this, a viable system to mass produce human organs to order for implant into all specifies of animal, including humans.

d)     A new defense system to neutralize atomic and chemical weaponry around the globe, and a missile defense system.

e)      An application that allows airplanes to run on oxygen alone, and a solar energy system that works in conjunction with hydroelectric and wind power.

f)       A system for reversing global warming, and one that absorbs pollution and transforms it into a new fuel source.

g)     Systems for managing hurricanes and tornadoes and typhoons and earthquakes.

h)     An application to transform non-biodegradable waste into new topsoil.

i)       A program that mediates and solves geopolitical conflicts, and eliminates dictators and totalitarian regimes in their infancy.

j)       An application that allows for sharing of natural resources between different regions of the world.

k)     A system that destroys the seeds of racism and religious bigotry, and eradicates future outbreaks wherever they arise.

l)       A system that eliminates the need for governments and nations and replaces them with computer directed laws, decisions, and enforcement responsibilities. .

Cory has never finished anything. He always gets to a certain point and then moves on to something else. Maybe if he’d shown his work to others or asked for their help or sponsorship, maybe the projects might have become reality, but Cory could never do this.

Currently, Cory’s focus has changed. He has been working on an artificial intelligence system; he calls Jezebel that combines all the computer programs he’s previously worked on. It’s Cory Roobe’s ambition not only make Jezebel a storing house of data, but also a thinking, reasoning being with emotions, one who can react and draw conclusions and share them with the human race. Cory looks to the day when his Jezebel will solve the problems of the world, cure the common cold or the most insidious cancers, and even prevent natural and man-made disasters. She will create a new universe of inventions that will turn humans into Gods with lifespans longer than Methuselah. Cory can spend hours conversing with his Jezebel. What brilliance and logic she already has but there is more to come.

But, this morning, there’s no time for thought. He’[s got to go upstairs, take a shower, throw on some clothes and rush through a breakfast his mom is fixing. Half dressed, Cory sits down at the kitchen table. His mother eyes him with horror.

Cory, you have to stop driving yourself like this. You never sleep. You never get fresh air. You barely come up to eat. I don’t know what you’re doing down there with those computers. This is no good, no good. You are going to get sick and then what will it all come to. You should go out like other young people. The only places you go are the basement or to work. What is that?"

The father joins them at the table. Cory, listen to your mother. What kind of life do you have spending all of it down there playing with buttons? That’s no life. You work yes, but you don’t save; you spend all your money on buying gadgets. I don’t understand. What do you do down there? You never tell us. You’re not doing something bad, are you?

The son hasn’t heard. His mind is focused on a problem with one of his computer programs. Meantime, the mother has spread the table with cut fruit, oatmeal, eggs, sausage, and pancakes.

I do not understand you, the father continues while have some fruit. What are you thinking about? Don’t you want a good life?

The son slurps up a bowl of oatmeal and take s pancake but doesn’t answer.

Maybe it’s not so surprising that Eva and Herman Roobe do not understand their son. They’re German immigrants from Munich. They came to America as teenagers; their families were friends in Germany. After they married, Eva worked as a secretary in the city while Herman apprenticed as a plumber and soon went out on his own. They saved their money and bought this split-level home on Long Island. Then, after years of trying, the Roobe’s had Cory.

You are thirty-five years old and live in your parent’s basement, the father persists. This is not normal. You don't give yourself a chance. There is a world outside. You must go out, you must experience."

The mother stands over her son, dishing out more pancakes from the frying pan. At least get some fresh air in your lungs. It is not good to hide away in a basement. We will not always be here for you. You must think of that. You don’t want to be alone. This is the time for you to go out and enjoy and find a nice girl."

I’m content, Cory responds while carefully devouring eggs. I prefer to spend my time in a productive manner. I've been making progress with Jezebel.

The parents shake their head, but only the mother responds.

This is all you think about, this Jezebel, Eva Roobe answers. But, she is nothing, just a computer. What does she do or can do for you. Nothing. You find a real girl and not think of this fake one.

Herman Roobe shakes his head in agreement. You mother is right. It is crazy the way you talk like this program of your is a real person. At least if you made money from it; then, I could understand a little. But you don’t. You waste your time and life on nothing that I can see.

The son does not answer. He never does. He finishes eating and rushes away.

I have to say, Eva, Cory scares me, Herman Roobe admits then. He has no desire to settle down, to meet a nice girl and start a family. I do not understand his way or what he is doing,

The wife frowns and sits down at the table with her husband. It looks like we will never be grandparents!

Where had the Roobe’s gone wrong? They had come to America, lived the American dream, worked hard, bought a nice house in a typical American suburban amidst the grass and trees and away from the pollution of the cities, surrounded by good schools and caring teachers. They were there for their son, took him on trips to museums and to ball games, bought him the toys he wanted, encouraged him to have friends and all, but despite  their efforts, Cory would turn out like this. When did it start?

As a toddler, he avoided human contact. When his parents handled him, he’d cry. Cory liked to sit in the corner playing with his fingers and toes with a calculating look on his face. The parents feared something to be wrong. They took him to specialists and had him tested. The doctors and psychologists found nothing physical or mentally askew. They advised the parents to stop worrying.

Cory