Merriton

“We’re going to plug it in, wanna watch?” The sheep were lined up at the feed bins, eager for the food Elvis gave them. The old farmer put down his load and wiped his hands on his jeans before heading to the farmhouse. The three of them walked back to the kitchen before anyone spoke. The boy spoke first, “Don’t you think we should plug it into the TV?” Randy shrugged. “If it works, I guess we should, but if it blows up, I want to know now.”

The computer was held together by one of its screws and Randy held the brand new electrical cord in his hands. “Listen, I need to know one thing. Did you guys just make all this up to keep me busy?” Elvis shook his head. “No sir. This computer’s real important to me. We only have one more option if this doesn’t work.” Randy looked at Tank and he answered, “We can buy another one on Ebay, but they’re rare now. Everybody has been taking the chips out of them for some homebrew synthesizers, so we thought we might be able to buy an old console and replace the chip.” Randy shook his head, “What’s so important about this thing?” Elvis was antsy with anticipation, “Listen, boy! I tell ya it’s important! That’s enough! Plug it in!”

Randy plugged in the cord and flipped the switch…

There were no fizzles, no crackles and no acrid smoke. A quiet hum told them that something was happening. The three of them reached for the computer, but Elvis spoke first, “In here.” He led them to an upstairs room. “This was Abram’s room before he moved to San Antonio.” It still looked like a boy’s room, abandoned except for the desk in the corner. A large, but neat, pile of papers lay beside an old television set. The TV took up half the desk. Elvis expertly attached the Commodore 64 to the television, plugged it in and fired it up.

The familiar black screen and green cursor came alive on the television. Tank and Randy cheered, but Elvis immediately booted a disk. After some thought, a screen full of text appeared and Elvis sighed, “You did it, boy! You did it…” Without another word, he took the first sheet of paper from the pile and started entering information. Randy looked over his shoulder. “So, what is it?” Elvis’ rough and large index finger dabbed at the keys one at a time. “This is my flock, son.” Randy looked at the screen and found a primitive database. There was an entry for each animal indicating genealogy, medical history and a myriad of other fields that Randy didn’t understand. “Is that your only copy of your data? On that floppy disk?” Elvis kept tapping. “Well, the sheep that have died are on another, but yeah.”

Randy put his hand on Elvis’ shoulder. “Listen to me Elvis. You have to make a backup. Those floppy disks were unreliable when they were new and you’re working off a twenty-year old piece of mylar. You have to make a backup EVERY time you change things. In fact, we really should get you on a PC or maybe even a Mac. If this data is that important, you shouldn’t be relying on twenty-year old equipment.” Elvis stopped jabbing at the keys. “Most my equipment is older than me, boy.” Randy shook his head, “Computers are different. They’re like dogs. In dog years, twenty years is almost impossible. It’s amazing that your computer is still alive. It should have died years ago.” Elvis shook his head. “I looked at a new computer, but they don’t got nothin’ to keep track of my flock. I don’t need to play Solitaire, son. This one is workin’ fine now and Pudgy is gonna help me get a back up, aren’tcha?”

Tank shrugged, “If you want… Actually, Randy is right. You really should look at upgrading.” Elvis looked at his large stack of paper. “I been keepin’ track of everything by hand for a coupla months now. I can’t think about a new computer. I just gotta catch up. Thanks for helpin’ me.” He stood up and Randy realized that he was being dismissed. He turned toward the door and Elvis followed to show him out.

Randy tried to add one final note before he and Tank were pushed out the door, “By the way, Elvis. We were talking and I don’t really think Pudgy is a good nickname. Doesn’t he seem more like a ‘Tank’ than a ‘Pudgy?’” Elvis held the door open and looked at the boy in front of him. A large smile crossed his face. “Pudgy! I been lookin’ at you for so long I stopped seein’ ya! He’s right! You filled out, boy! Tank James! He’s right! That’s a fine name for you, boy!” He patted Tank on the shoulder and gently pushed him out the door. “Night!”

Randy and Tank looked at each other on Elvis’ porch and then walked down the stairs. Tank tried to explain, “He’s got a lot to catch up on.” Randy nodded and replied, “Kevin is still at the house. Want to meet him?” Tank looked up and smiled. “Heck ya!” The two of them walked along the gravel road to Randy’s house.

“So, Elvis keeps track of all his sheep on that computer?” Randy was curious and Tank responded, “Yeah. My brother wrote the database for him when he was in junior high. Elvis was desperate when his computer fried, so he came to me.” Randy asked, “Did your brother move out of Merriton?” Tank was quiet, but answered, “Yeah, I guess…”

The rest of the walk was filled with the sounds of birds getting ready for sleep and crickets getting ready for a night of mating. They climbed the porch and Randy opened the door. “Hello?!” All of the furniture that had been stacked in the foyer was gone. “Sierra?! Kevin?!” They walked into the parlor and Kevin was at the computer. “Hey, Randy! You’ve got a screamin’ connection here! I can’t believe it!” Randy’s computer desk and desktop PC was all set up, just like it had been in the studio apartment in San Francisco, between the futon and the bicycles. “Kevin, I told you guys that I was going to put the computer in the back room. We’re going to have a REAL living room here.” Kevin shook his head and looked up from the computer screen for the first time. “No one’s going in that room, man. Who’s this?” He pointed at Tank.

“This is Tank James. He’s a local kid who has been helping Elvis with that computer. I think they would have fixed that computer just fine without me… AND, he’s a fan of yours. He has been reading your weblog.” Kevin smiled and stood up. “A fan? Are you kidding?” Tank readjusted his backpack on his shoulder. “Well, you DO work at one of the biggest companies on the web.” Kevin laughed. “Yeah, for now! Well, it’s nice to meet you. You got a blog? I’ll link to you.” Tank’s eyes opened wide with disbelief, “You would? Yeah, yeah! I got a blog!” The two of them walked back to Randy’s computer. “Bookmark it for me, Kev… Kevin?” The two of them were talking and ignoring him completely, so he wandered off in search of Sierra.

He found her in the bedroom. She was putting clean sheets on the bed. “I thought we were going to set up my office in the back room.” Sierra shook her head. “Randy, you are NOT going to have your office in that room. We can put it up here in one of the bedrooms if you want, but you’re not going to have your office in that room.” The sound of laughter came from the main floor and Sierra looked at him questioningly. “I brought home a local boy who had been helping Elvis. My very own cyberstalker. The realtor asked him to check up on us and he found out more than I knew anyone could find about us, even the contract for Zerbitz.” Sierra shook her head. “Did the Smoking Gun re-post it?!” The anger in her voice was obvious and surprised Randy. “No… no… He found it in the Internet Archive. You knew about The Smoking Gun posting?” She nodded her head. “Yeah, it was my firm that made them take it down. I don’t know how they got a copy of it. Sometimes I think these big companies leak these things on purpose…”

Randy sat on the bed. “Why didn’t you tell me it was leaked?” Sierra sat next to him. “It was only up for less than an hour. I should have checked the WayBack Machine… damn…” Kevin and Tank laughed again downstairs and the two of them looked out the door of the bedroom and down the staircase. Sierra stood up. “I guess we should go find out what the two of them are up to. The way they’re laughing, it can’t be good.”