Conversation

“Oh, for… They’ve updated the channels again. I’ve been at this for twenty minutes and I can’t find the news!”

“Isn’t it early for the news? Dad, give it here,” I said, grabbing the remote. “It’s just a few new channels. Just a sec… here you go. It’s the +1 channel, you can catch up.”

…and this just in. An earthquake was reported a few minutes ago just outside East Keeling. More details as soon we have them.

“East Keeling? That’s a stone’s throw from here. How come we didn’t feel anything?”

“I don’t know, Dad. But that is strange, if it happened over an hour ago. You’d think we’d have heard something, even if we didn’t feel it.”

We sat in silence for a minute as the newsreader reported on a dog show.

I squinted at the screen. “Hang on! That’s not a +1, that’s a -1. This must be a new channel.”

“What would a -1 channel be?”

“I guess it’s an hour before the live broadcast? Not sure how that would work, but…”

An update on the East Keeling earthquake, which happened only 15 minutes ago...

We both went silent. The newsreader seemed to be staring straight at us.

There has been damage to homes, but no casualties have been reported so far. Despite no official warnings, it seems somehow most locals evacuated before the earthquake struck.

“Come on, Dad, let’s go! We have work to do.”

#microfiction #update