Car I Am #7days

By Eva Ellis

Twenty years ago, when the devastating surge of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic shook the world with deadly blows, everything changed for humanity and its relationship with technology. It's the year 2040. The post-pandemic world is surprisingly a better world that has curiously un

• Language: English
• Publisher: Life to Paper Publishing
• Release date: Oct 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781777373603

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ADVANCED PRAISE

"It’s a book! It is a movie! It is Car I Am!

This modern fable will give you a glimpse into the future. I have never read anything like it! It is pure and beautifully written from the heart. Car I Am: #7days reminds me of a modern-day The Little Prince, with echoes of C-3PO and Star Wars mixed in."

Karl Hansen

Executive Director of Trust for Sustainable Living

Copyright © 2021 Eva Ellis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

To request permissions, contact the publisher at

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Hardcover: 978-1-777-3736-1-0

Ebook:  978-1-7773736-1-3

First paperback edition October 2021.

Edited by Tabitha Rose & Flor Ana Mireles

Cover art by Spencer Robens

Life to Paper Publishing Inc.

Toronto, Canada | Miami, U.S.

www.lifetopaper.com

Disclaimer: This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imaginations or used fictitiously.

This book is dedicated to Harriet Tubman;

My generous host and spiritual compass…

I love and miss you!

La liberté spirituelle est la plus précieuse des conquêtes humaines. Elle constitue notre raison d’être, et sur ce point l’accord des religions et des philosophies est complet.

— Jules Payot, L’apprentissage de l’art d’écrire

We must distil favorable ideas and sentiments in our soul, and must then transform these abstract ideas into warm, living, affective feelings.

— Jules Payot, The Education Of The Will, The Theory And Practice Of Self Culture

Preface

When I set out to write this book in 2020, my purpose was clear. I looked out into the world and saw a sea of wounded spirits, including mine. Every human I came into contact with had been enduring a hopeless climate throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, global recession, refugee crises, murder hornets, Nigeria protests, the U.S. Election, Australian bushfires,  police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people. These events and more had left people with a heavy feeling of what next? and what I noticed was a fear of the future. Many retreated into places of isolation, away from urban centres, and altered their ways of living to past traditional methods, relying on sustainable practices. Most notably, I would hear people saying, put down your phone and stay off technology, as though our next impending doom would arise from the takeover of our evil devices. There were many who believed that this had already begun to take place, just as many dystopian novels and films had predicted.

A turn of events in my own life led me to spending more time with my two daughters, which, at first, was a strain, and I am sure they might say the same, but it turned out to be one the most prolific experiences I have had in recent times. Amidst all that was going on around me during the last half of 2020 and beginning of 2021, my early teenage daughters challenged me in the best way. They reminded me that I too once had a sense of wonder, believing in things I could not yet see. I also had a great hope for the future. Spending this time with them, at first a not-so-pleasurable challenge, was understanding that teenage girls often have a desire to break free—but I learned it is because they only have necessary fears. My daughters, I came to find, never discussed fears and resistance because they do not yet exist for them. I found myself thinking, I hope they never come to learn the kind of fear I have. They also have a great deal of empathy, not only for all human beings and animals, but living non-living things like stones, Siri and robots as well. This time spent together has amplified my faith in teenagers and young adults. This wondrous journey has restored in me a youthful spirit. I have felt joy in knowing that it is still there. I have witnessed that each person, if they listen to their heart, will find virtue, no matter what situation they were born into.

Naturally, I expect there will be those who would classify this story as a dystopian futuristic novel. I understand. My intention, however, is to allow you to find a space to dream. For the mature reader: I hope that this story will ignite sensations of you in your youth while you honour where you stand today as you feel youthful sensations to break free and be curious. To feel as though life has limitless possibilities, as I observed my daughters do now, amidst everything going on around us today. For the young readers, please don’t give up on your dreams and always rise above your fears if they stand in the way of achieving what you want.

When searching for a partner to help develop this story and put it to paper, I did not look only for credentials and technical skills, but to find a feeling of knowing plus sensing. I was referred to the editor-in-chief of a small publishing house called Life to Paper by a friend and scheduled what she refers to as a Dream Session. As a dreamer myself, I was looking for what I call a Wonder Partner, who could transfer my Platonic-Atlantis Dreams and failing moments into a story. Tabitha and I jumped on a Zoom call and began to talk about my hope for a better future and how I would like to speak up to make that possible. We also spoke a great deal about my life. As a life story writing expert, I believe she expected she may be helping me write my memoir. After almost two hours of speaking, she was shocked to find out that it was not my story that I wanted to share. Her response was, I am not the one for you, but my response was, I believe you are. I had known at that point, regardless of experience in fiction writing, her ability to dream and see the world through the eyes of a little girl with a sense of sustainability and wonder was just what I was looking for. Although she first tried to convince me otherwise, we concluded our conversation with the decision that she would begin and try. If things were not to move forward, she offered to help me find someone who could help me paint this rather peculiar-sounding picture of a tale.

With that, we began. Our first session, I was anxious and overwhelmed, finding it hard to know where I should start despite Tabitha’s quest for answers. It was clear she herself was trying to dive into this story as if to sneak a glance at what I envisioned the world in twenty years to look like. Mind you, this was in the midst of a pandemic and global lock-down. Neither of us had left our homes for more than to gather essential items for months. She quickly came to learn how I learn, think, and communicate as a person touched by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and synesthesia. Her experience working with people to write their life stories had earned her enough compassion and insight to guide her approach. This worked for us and we both felt something click into place as we sat face-to-face via Zoom, dreaming up this story. What she would soon come to learn is that my life story, too, would be woven in and throughout this fiction story. I shared videos with her while we shared emotional tears, me recounting my life’s journey and her learning what they entailed. We never spoke explicitly about my experiences in my early years, but there was a knowing between us that reconfirmed why the two of us were placed together at this point in time to tell this speculative fictional tale. 

Car I AM #7days is an adventure into a hopeful future. As Margaret Atwood has taught us, speculative writing is a way of dealing with possibilities that are inherent in our society, but have not been fully enacted. These characters take many forms in this story, as they come to learn about themselves and the world around them. We often don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are, and with that, through the eyes of an extraordinary young girl named Deepa, we look ahead into a future filled with possibilities.

Our intention has never been to change your view on global issues or politics. Tabitha explained to me she had spent the early years of her career involved in partisan politics and was content to have stayed away from even writing political memoirs for fear of treading back close along those lines. The truth is, there was never an issue of either of our positions on matters, or even the characters, for that matter. We found ourselves passionate to design and share the story of  Deepa, her mother Su, father Elu, Cat and, of course, Car. The way the characters see the world and interact within it felt to be an interesting discovery for Tabitha and I. Each member of this family has unique ways of seeing the world and universe as they all came into it in a different way. We all come in on different ships… and live in them, as someone once told me.

I should tell you that, when we first began, I had thought this was Car’s story, but Tabitha had questions. How would we tell the story from the perspective of a Car? How could we understand the Car’s emotions? Even though this was a smart, driverless car, it cannot feel as humans feel, or can it? How could readers connect to Car as the protagonist? Yet, we forged on and found a way. Thank goodness for a writing partner a.k.a Co-Pilot, I thought. The truth was, Car was our symbolic character and, most importantly, the confidant to Deepa and even Su, despite the fact she may not know it.

Car represents a concept