Block Party!

Tonight's Episode

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“All the peach pie is gone!” Marly said as she scooped some ice cream onto her plate and looked for a good pie replacement. “What else is here?”

“Well, there’s some chocolate cake, a strawberry and blueberry medley, there’s some angel food cake, cherry cobbler, and some hazelnut chocolate mousse.” Said the nearby Frank.

“I was really looking forward to some of that pie.” Marly said.

The block party had been going on all day, and now that it’s past bedtime for the kids, the adults are all hanging out for the rest of the evening at neighborhood Bob’s garage, polishing off the desserts and having some evening cocktails.

15 or so grownups were mingling in Bob’s driveway and in the garage, talking about the successful events of the day. Desserts were being gobbled, some wine was brought out, and some secret scotch Bob kept hidden in the garage.

It didn’t take long before people started realizing something was out of the ordinary. Not only because the streets were vacant of cars and the cleanup wasn’t done on the street. Or, because the decorations were hanging between the light poles.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re being watched or something?” Frank said loud enough to for everyone to hear.

“I have a weird sensation like that too.” Neighborhood Bob agreed.

Everyone got quiet and started looking around. They couldn’t figure it out. They looked over the fences and up in the sky. They scoped out the trees and the roofs. They scanned the sky for drones. They even looked at the nearby house windows for spying kids. They had nothing. No signs of anything, but that sense was universal. They all felt it.

They decided to take a walk out to the street and take a look around. All they saw was the mess they had to clean up tomorrow. Frank scanned the light pole at the edge of Bob’s driveway and made an observation.

“That’s one of those cameras they’re putting everywhere.” He said.

Everyone stood beneath the light pole and saw that he was correct.

"It can see all the way up my driveway.” Bob said.

“Nobody asked us about this.” Marly said.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Another neighbor said.

There was a lot of disgust and some discussion. But, while people were talking, Bob went up to his garage. As people were deciding about how to deal with this obvious violation of their privacy and rights, Bob came back down the driveway and told everyone to please get out of view of the camera as he set his extension ladder against the pole.

439 Words.

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31 brand-new stories written & podcasted in 31 days