Eleven

I have cousins who lives in town.   Emily, Bob, and Wally.    They're all younger than me, but I get along with them pretty well.    I see them about once a month.

Emily is fourteen, Bob is eleven, and Wally is seven.  

My aunt and uncle did well with their RePop requirements; and rumor has it they might try for more. Then they'll get the Green Card Plus.  You get all kinds of cool benefits with that.

Aunt Jan and Uncle George are very different from my parents.  They're so enthusiastic about their children.   Their walls are covered with my cousin's drawings.   If they make some silly clay thing at school; it's prominently displayed in their living room.

I wouldn't be completely surprised if they record my cousins' farts for prosperity.

It can be annoying.

However I'd rather have them than my own parents.

My parents are never excited about anything I do.

They've never hung up my drawings on the wall.   I used to give them my clay art work from school.   My mom would say "Fantastic!"  Then it would get shoved in a drawer.   Once I caught my mom spring cleaning.  She was busy and didn't want to be bothered.  When she looked the other way, I peaked into the trash.   My clay art was in there.

It hurt my feelings, but I didn't protest.  I can't say I made anything that fantastic.

But still….

It would be nice to have parents like Jan and George.

I guess it's good I have them as an aunt and uncle.   When I was young I drew a picture while they were babysitting me for a weekend.   They hung it up on the wall.   It's still there.   They didn't throw it away during their spring cleaning.  Sometimes I'm tempted to draw them another picture.   Maybe they'd put that on the wall as well.  But it seems too childish to do that.

Back to my parents….

I give them gifts for their birthday and all the holidays where it's expected.   I don't know why I bother.  They thank me.  They say the gift is wonderful.  Then I never see it again.   I bought my mom a really nice necklace for her last birthday.   I thought for sure this time would be an exception.

Nope. 

I've never seen her wear it.  

It's all a waste really.

I don't have a job.  My money is my allowance which comes from them.  I'm really taking their money and buying them stuff they don't want.  

Then they buy me stuff I don't want.

My mom buys me these really random things that have nothing to do with me.

For my last birthday she bought me this huge book about birds.  Since when do I care about birds?   Of course I would have much rather have had a book about zombies.

She also bought me high heels.  She said I need practice walking in them.

Yes.  Exciting.

My dad never buys me anything.  If he gives me a gift; it's something he got for free from work.   His company makes pens for other companies.   So I have a large collection of pens with various company logos on them.

A few years ago his company did a deal with Z Patrol.   I was excited about getting that pen.   

But I didn't.

My dad said it turned out there weren't any extras.

Speaking of holidays.  Today is October 31.  Halloween.

In the old days that used to mean something.

Now it really doesn't.

Not one person mentioned it at school. 

Of course they did away with it because of the zombie thing.  Why celebrate pretend monsters when you have real monsters?

But now we don't have monsters.   Or at least we don't have a lot of them.   So I think we should go back to doing Halloween things.  

Three

For my seventeenth birthday I might go to the zombie zoo in Orlando.

Mandy (my friend) is really against the whole thing. She says it's cruel.

My argument is that the zombies don't have feelings. They don't care.

All they want in life is to eat.

Mandy says that's the point. They DON'T eat at the zoo.

They're not starving, though. Zombies don't have to eat. They can go years and years and years without eating.

She says it's cruel to have the zoo, because they can smell all the humans. That makes them hungry, and they can't do anything about it.

I guess it is kind of mean.

I don't know.

I read that there's a group that's pushing the idea that the zombies should be fed. They want to feed them newly deceased volunteers. The volunteers wouldn't volunteer to die. They would just indicate that when they do die (of natural and/or nonzombie related causes) their bodies be donated.

Zombies prefer to eat living humans; but they'll settle with very (VERY) recently deceased humans.

One of the arguments against it is that the zombies could create new zombies. Then the zookeepers would have to shoot the new zombies in the head.

It has happened. I've read that there have been cases where a zombie bit someone who was dead and then that person reanimated.

I'm thinking, though….why kill the new zombie? Just add to the zoo collection. Although I guess some people would be okay being zombie food but not okay being a zombie.

There's been lots of studies about zombie personality and memory. You might have read some of them.

I've read a lot of them.

I don't know what to think really.

There's been a few studies indicating that zombies have memories of their lives. I'm sure you've heard the story of Sheryl Moplex. It was done in the 2040's. She was one of the zombies that had been captured in the war. Using her wallet, they had been able to trace her origins. Then in the 2040's, they showed her video of her family. They interchanged it with video of strangers. When Sheryl saw her family, her moaning would change significantly. There was a sadness to it…a longing.

I've seen video of the study. It gave me goosebumps.

Other studies, though, haven't been able to replicate it.

In the 2060's, there was a group of scientists who tried to teach some zombies the alphabet. It didn't work.

A few years ago there was a viral video of a zombie who could say his name and hum The "Star Spangled Banner". It ended up being a hoax. The guy wasn't really a zombie. He was faking it.