Thursday, January 16, 2014

An Adaptation of Time Enough At Last

For some reason, I found myself laughing at the end of Time Enough At Last. It wasn’t because it was funny; the show was actually very tragic since half of the episode focused on the main character’s desperate journey though an empty town. I guess I was just laughing at how impossibly unfortunate the events were. If I could, I would make an adaptation of the show that would make use of our current technology. I would also make the circumstances less brutal for Henry Bemis, the main guy.

Bemis would still be a bookworm. This time, however, everyone else wouldn’t condemn books as much as they did in the original episode. They would just be busy with their new smartphones and tablets. People would try to convince Bemis to use an iPad for reading instead of sticking to books with yellowed pages. They’d chuck the books away and shove an Android phone into his hands. Being the book lover that he is, Bemis would shy away from all the confusing contraptions and just open his book.

Then the nuclear bomb would hit. Everyone would be dead except for Bemis who was reading a book in his basement (which was actually an underground bomb shelter). He would emerge from the basement unscathed and would look for survivors. He would never find anyone alive, but he would stumble upon half a bookstore. Bemis would venture in and discover bookshelves full of books. ‘At last,’ he would say, ‘I could read without anyone bothering me and I have all the time I want.’

To his surprise, the books wouldn’t full of words he could get lost in. They would be iPads and iPhones disguised as books. A horrible act of book murder, Bemis would think. Then again, he could still read things from those gadgets so it wouldn’t all that bad. Trying out one of the smartphones, he would discover that it was all out of battery. This would be the same for all the other devices. With nothing to read and no one to talk to, Bemis would mumble famous book quotes to himself until he goes completely insane.

Hannah Dungca
2013-14765

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