Footnote activity

So this is a scene a had to write for my fiction class and I figured I would transfer it over and use it for this exercise, which is of course to footnote a story so that people many many many years in the future can understand what’s going on.

Joel was behind the house pruning his rosebushes when he heard the soft growl of Meredith’s Civic[1] as it pulled into the driveway. He checked his watch[2]. Quarter till five. At least he probably wouldn’t have to worry about dinner. He resumed, carefully searching each stem for a group of five leaves and cutting before the bud above it. Standing for a second he kicked the foam pad he used to cushion his knees down a bush.

Ten roses alternating between pink and yellow lined the back of his house. He had three more to finish. Joel wanted to have them done before five, but at his current pace would be stuck out there for at least half an hour, probably forty-five minutes. The main reason for his delay was because of work. He had spent some of the morning and the majority of the afternoon trying to assess his client’s funds and property in order to make a realistic estimate of just what he could save from the man’s ex-wife. In his opinion, she was a harpy[3] and her lawyer equally as bad. Monday around ten thirty felt uncomfortably close.

At 5:32 (according to his watch) he completed the pruning, most likely for the year. The temperature had already begun dropping. Heading inside, his nose immediately sucked in the greasy scent of pre-roasted chicken.

“Smells good,” he told Meredith.

“It’s from the store,” she replied.

“So it’s ready?”

Meredith shrugged. She pulled the little bird out of the oven. With a fork she peeled back the golden skin. Selecting the small cleaver, she sliced off half of a breast and placed it on her plate. Joel followed her lead, but kept his skin.

“Carrots?” she asked, offering him the bowl.

He took it and dumped the remainder of its contents onto his plate. The watery orangish juice pooled under his chicken. Frowning, he joined Meredith at the kitchen table. He noticed that she had already found her bills[4] and had taken them elsewhere. Often he suspected that she had a secret office in the house where she kept all of her financial information. Before she had decided to go back to work (Gavin’s senior year of high school[5]), everything just went into a single bills pile on Joel’s desk in the study.

Both began eating. Meredith’s knife clinked against her plate as she cut through the chicken. Joel’s fork scraped against his teeth as he pulled carrots off of it. Meredith always cringed when his teeth and fork made contact. Occasionally, Joel looked up only to find her concentrated on the plate in front of her.

He swallowed a mouthful of chicken. “Found the bills?” he asked.

Meredith kept her face down, but raised her eyes to look at him. They rolled over to where the envelopes had been and then back to him. Her eyebrows lifted.

Joel smiled. “Right.”

“Did you trim roses all day?” Meredith asked after a few minutes.

“Just part of it. I had to work on another divorce case.”

She nodded and split a carrot with her fork.

“It’s against Brenbaugh again too. Talk about a snake of an attorney.”

“I thought he moved.”

“No that was Krimpton last year. Brenbaugh’s still here and he gets greedier with age.”

Joel waited for Meredith to say something. She stared past him. “Who’s he representing?” she finally asked.

“You know I can’t disclose that, but I’ll tell you what; she’s worse than Brenbaugh. I mean my client’s a nice guy. Quiet, seems hardworking.” He stopped and ate the last piece bit of food on his plate. “And she just wants to clean him out. I’m really going to have to fight for this poor guy.”

“Sounds like it,” she said standing. She pushed her chair in and took her plate to the sink. “It’s your turn, right?”

Joel shrugged. “Probably.”

Footnotes

[1] A Civic was a small four wheeled car made by Honda. I was used to drive on roads, primarily asphalt, but it could also traverse other small dirt paths. It was fuel efficient during the twenty-first century because it burned less gasoline when driving long distances. Of course being from the twenty-first century it lacked all modern hover capabilities.

[2] A watch was a small device commonly strapped to a person’s wrist. It ran on a battery and a series of small gears. The primary function was to tell time. More professional watches used a face with hands and numbers, while others used digital numbers for easier reading.

[3] A harpy dates all the way back to the ancient Greeks. It was a monster that resembled a giant eagle with a woman’s head. In one Greek myth harpies repeatedly steal the food of a king as divine punishment. In fact harpy comes from the Greek word to snatch or steal. As time progressed harpy became a word used to describe unfriendly women. In the story the author has made use of that connotation in addition to the original Greek connotation by implying that the woman is stealing from the man in the divorce case.

[4]Bills during the twenty-first century could be done online, however it was still more common for them to be mailed the person through the postal service. Thus in this story the bills that are being referred to were in envelope form and had arrived via the physical mail.

[5] High school was a level of schooling for youths ages fourteen through eighteen. It typically contained introductions to critical reading and middle level math such as calculus or trigonometry. In the twenty-first century information was not simply transferred directly to the brain, but in the format of students and teachers. The process took many years and often over half of the information was lost. Efficiency standards were not as they are today.

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