In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven
o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid
that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating
and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!
In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and
ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight
eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses
of milk.
"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice
from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It
repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's
birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable,
as are the water, gas, and light bills."
…..
Five o'clock. The bath filled with clear hot water.
Six, seven, eight o'clock. The dinner dishes manipulated
like magic tricks, and in the study a click. In the metal stand opposite the
hearth where a fire now blazed up warmly, a cigar popped out, half an inch of
soft gray ash on it, smoking, waiting.
Nine o'clock. The beds warmed their hidden circuits, for
nights were cool here.
Nine-five. A voice spoke from the study ceiling: "Mrs.
McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?"
The house was silent.
The voice said at last, "Since you express no
preference, I shall select a poem at random." Quiet music rose to back the
voice. "Sara Teasdale. As I recall, your favorite….
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools, singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
.....
The crash. The attic smashing into kitchen and parlor. The
parlor into cellar, cellar into sub-cellar. Deep freeze, armchair, film tapes,
circuits, beds, and all like skeletons thrown in a cluttered mound deep under.
Smoke and silence. A great quantity of smoke.
Dawn showed faintly in the east. Among the ruins, one wall
stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again,
even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam:
"Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026,
today is…"