Story Excerpt

Uptown Apparel's shop window reflected a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl. A sleek wraparound VidLens 610 visor with dual Zeiss camera lenses covered her eyes. The girl tapped the record button and spoke to the reflection.

“Hello my lovelies, it’s your Meye-Life queen, Lydia. Welcome back to Lydia’s Lovely World. Once again, I’m coming to you from Milltown, the high-tech city you all wished you lived in. The city too impatient to wait for the future so it’s creating it today.”

She twirled from side to side. “Shout out to my number one fan FashionGal2027 for providing today’s outfit. Visit her online store using the QR code on screen. These gorgeous high-heeled boots are one-of-a-kind from the pop-up store I was gracious enough to promote last week.”

Lydia delivered a running commentary about everything of interest during her walk around the city. Everywhere she looked, the sidewalks bustled with people wearing holograph displaying outfits and cybernetic adornments. The roads teemed with curvaceous chrome and mirror-glass-covered exotic cars.

Lydia circled back to where her mom had dropped her off. She clapped when she spied a familiar man on the corner of 5th and Elm holding a printed "Homes For Heroes" sign. A young Doberman sat nearby.

“He’s so cute. What’s his name again for my viewers?”

The attractive, well-heeled-looking man glared at her. “Murphy.” He turned the sign to face her. “As I’ve said before, he isn’t my dog. Murphy and I are hungry and we’d be grateful for any donations.”

“That’s so sweet of you to care for a stray. You see viewers, these are the saints you’ll find in Milltown.” She extended her arms, ensuring her visor's eye cameras, or i-cams, recorded her dropping cash into their donation box.

She turned toward the Tektronics shop window. “That’s all for today. Don’t forget to caress the upvote button for this video and pledge yourself to my channel. I love you all. I’m almost to my funding goal for the new i-cams. Blow up my fundage by pledging Super Gifts or donating to my MoneyShower account.”

Lydia threw a sideways peace sign. She pressed a button on the visor to stop recording. Then stooped over and picked up the donation box. “I accidentally put a twenty in there. I’m taking out a ten.”

The man side-eyed her and replied in a fake Southern accent, “Bless your heart, miss.”

"You really should get a Tap2Pay terminal. Cash is so old fashioned." She patted the dog’s head and trilled, “Bye-eee,” before skipping off down the street.

Lydia found her mother, Sarah, idling in a new Electrodyne Streetcruiser 4000 sedan, watching videos on the dashboard console. She slid into the passenger seat. “Hi ya, bestie.”

“How did your shoot go, dear?” Her mother looked like a mature, supermodel version of Lydia.

“Super hungry and dying to get out of these lame boots.”

Her mom drove them to a Neo-Cape Cod-style house in the affluent-looking suburbs of Milltown.