Chapter 4 - THE DIGITAL WALL
The waitress pointed her index finger at the glowing tablet.
Her nail tapped sharply against the glass screen.
Tap. Tap.
"If this page reaches 10,000 followers, I'll give her the meal for free."
The boy froze.
He stared at the blue light reflecting off the waitress’s eyes.
He slowly lowered himself from his tiptoes, his heels hitting the checkered floor with a dull thud.
His brow furrowed.
His brain ground to a halt, struggling to process the impossible words.
Ten thousand.
He knew how to count to one hundred.
He knew that three coins bought a piece of gum at the gas station.
But what was a follower?
Was it a type of paper money? Was it a person standing in line?
If ten thousand people stand in this room, there won't be enough air to breathe.
Why do we need invisible people to make the food hot?
He looked back at his grandmother.
She had buried her face in her weathered hands.
Her shoulders were still shaking, her sobs completely silent now.
The physical reality of her starvation was colliding with a digital wall he couldn't touch or see.
The waitress crossed her arms over her chest.
She shifted her weight to one leg, adopting a stance of absolute finality.
The terms of survival had been set.
No copper. No silver.
Only ghosts.
The boy looked at the three coins resting on the counter.
They suddenly looked incredibly small.
They looked like useless pieces of trash left behind on a highway.
He didn't take them back.
He left them on the wood, an abandoned offering to a god that no longer accepted metal.
May you like
He turned his body away from the counter.
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