Last Man Standing - Part Four

Part One and Two and Three are waiting if you've stumbled on the end first.

If you're ready then, enjoy the final part.

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Last Man Standing - Part Four
A Short Story by Hyrum Zaragoza and Dianna Zaragoza

“Hey!”

Dr. Eames raised his head.

From out in the audience, a chubby young girl stood on unsteady legs.

“If he doesn’t want to sit, he shouldn’t have to.”

More people nodded around her. Another young man shifted to stand up out of his chair.

“Where’d you take the other guys?”

Before he could fully stand, the same silver shackles rose out of the armrests of his chair, surrounded his fleshy wrists and pulled him back down.

“What? Hey!”

Dr. Eames raised his hands. “All right now everyone. Please – go ahead about your own lives. Let’s not get off on the wrong foot – “

Another young man, dressed in a carpenter’s apron, stood straight up from his chair. Pulling a pair of pry bars from his apron, he pried the man’s hands loose from the thin silver rings.

Dr. Eames pointed at him. “That’s private property damage, young man. That’s illegal. Someone stop him!”

But the man called out to the audience. “One small step for man, one giant leap for Texas! Stand free y’all!”

And some listened. They stood up or, if they were unable to stand up quickly, they rolled forward onto the hot Texas asphalt. Some waited too long, and sat and struggled helpless in their seats, screaming for help now that it was too late. Some flew up and then away, running into other chairs mid-air, and some colliding and falling to the ground on top of other chairs.

The police squadrons scrambled to assist people and bring order to the scene. People screamed. Blood ran red on the pavement.

Dr. Eames flew forward, a single man against a sea of flying chaos. “Please – please everyone sit still!”

Two. Can’t afford…to lose?

“Are you okay? Don’t let them get a leg up on you…”

Artie looked up to see a stranger standing over him. He smiled a broad grin, and held out his hand.

Artie took it, and stood up on his feet again.

The man handed him a pry bar.

“For your wife.” And the man took another pry bar in his hand from his belt, and ran back into the confusion of the crowd.

The general understood immediately. He ran forward to the line of hovering executive chairs, where his wife sat. The others scattered in surprise, or in the cacophony and confusion of what was happening with Dr. Eames and the growing insurrection in the impromptu audience.

He pried his wife’s hands free, and lifted her down from the chair.

“Mariana? Mariana!”

“Artie…?”

He smiled at her.

“You’re smiling. I missed your smile.”

“Yes…number three. And I remember why. Number 4.”

“And…?” She smiled back.

“I love you.”

Her eyes closed. “I love you too. I’m glad…you remembered. What about the others?”

“We’ll come back for them. Right now, we’d better go.”

They set off through the confusion of medical personnel flying in, through police chairs setting up a perimeter, through reporters in chairs asking Dr. Eaves when the handcuff option had been installed in the chairs and for what purpose exactly. 

They passed down the street, heading step by step back home.

The mysterious crowbar guy never appeared in the news, although word of him spread like a breath of wind to all parts, as did the story about General Arthur Culatio and his small band of resistance fighters. General Artie Culatico wished there’d been time for them to talk, to swap some war stories. He’d never wanted to sit down with someone so much, but he was gone…

Lieutenant Melvin and Sub-Lieutenant Joe and Corporal Jiang were released by demand of the courts after a few weeks, and were fine, although they tended to speak fondly of good woodworking details and overstuffed chairs for many months after the experience. 

When the federal government stepped in, Dr. Eames and his company agreed to remove the shackle feature from all current and future models of any flying chairs, footing the bill of several million dollars. Dr. Foote, who replaced Dr. Eames as CEO, promised more balance and transparency in company marketing tactics in future. 

The flying chair and the wheeled chair did not go away – people still enjoyed their comfort – but the old walking trails were rediscovered and rebuilt, and actually used, thanks to a required grant from the New Republic Company as part of their reparations. So there came to be walkers, and proudly so, on the streets of Dallas and everywhere, as well as those who rode and those who flew.

Artie and his band became the subjects of an Oscar-winning documentary, and his TED talk, “Our Feet Were Made for Walkin’” were viewed millions of times. His walking foundation and podiatry practice thrived, and every day he and Mariana could be found enjoying their treks around White Rock Lake in the early rays of the morning sun.

The general even won the war of Mr. and Mrs. Mankey. They agreed to take a daily walk for their circulation…on the condition that they could have all the eucalyptus-medicated lotion they wanted.

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