Audiologue, entry number three. It's weird being back here again, seeing a
different car in the driveway, the same front porch without the familiar rocking chair
in the corner, the bluebells replaced with peonies. It's the same house,
the same front yard, my grandparents house, the one they lived in before
my grandfather died and my grandmother moved away. Someone else lives here now.
It's the same house, but it isn't. Just being here makes me kind
of nervous, like I'm intruding somehow. But if there's a chance my grandfather's
still in there, wish me luck. I'm going in. Well, it's
a good thing I can walk through objects because I keep forgetting to pay attention
to the new layout. There are bookcases and coffee tables and places where I
used to run around and play before. If I were still bound by a
body, I'd be forced to walk through spaces that used to be filled with
my grandparents things. I keep walking around empty air to avoid bumping into an
end table that doesn't exist anymore. Well, I'm sure it exists somewhere,
it's just not here like it used to be. Hold on, I think
I hear something. Okay, it was in another room. I don't know
anything about the people who live here. Now. If I were smart,
I would have looked that up before leaving the hospital. Maybe they have some
photos up somewhere. People still do that, right, Let's see lots of
frames on the walls, but it's mostly just paintings and photos of landscapes.
Hmm. Maybe the fridge. Okay, The kitchen is down this hall to
the right. Bingo, ah, looks like a sweet couple and a teenage
kid. There's a calendar here too. What day is it again? Oh?
Right? Okay, someone named Julie is working at a nursing home today.
What time is it right now? M right? The kitchen clock isn't
there anymore, but there's a clock over there. Okay. Looks like Joey
has soccer practice for another hour, I'm guessing, and that's the teenager.
And someone named April has the day off. April that's probably who I heard
earlier. Sounded like April was in my grandfather's old study. So I will
leave that room for last. I'll do a sweep of the house and let
you know what I find. My grandfather's got to be somewhere around here.
No, dice. I checked the attic, to the basement and back again.
I even inspected the garage and the shed out back. Only place left
that he could be is the study where April is. There's a desktop in
there too, I can sense it. You may have noticed back at the
hospital, But computers are the one thing I can actually touch. I can
pick up cell phones and tablets too. They need to be turned on or
in sleep mode for me to get at them, though. But yeah,
never thought i'd be so grateful to be able to move around a mouse before,
let alone type. Still can't open a door though. Anyway, enough
procrastinating time to go into the study. Okay, doesn't look like my grandfather's
here either. Not surprised, figured he would have sensed me by now and
said hello, Oh, that must be April. They're sitting at a desk
with piles of paperwork all around them, and wow, the computer they're using
is pretty old. Looks like it's struggling to perform basic functions. I don't
think April can hear me, which is good. I don't want to stress
them out anymore than they obviously already are. I wonder what's wrong? You
remember that a honey like essence that living people exude. April's essence is brimming
with the dry, bitter tang of anxiety. I'm going to get a little
closer. I really hope that April can't see me. Oh my beans,
that was close. April just looked over their shoulder right at me, but
couldn't see me. Not sure why some people see me and others don't.
Is it something that I can control or is it only something the living can
do, like a talent or something. Never mind, that doesn't matter.
Right now, April has turned back around, and now I'm close enough to
read what they're working on. There are a lot of overdue notices. Wow,
these are all bills. April slumped over, dejected. I can see
them mouthing something into the crook of their elbow. Best I can make out,
April is saying, please, we need a miracle. I don't know
about a miracle, but I might be able to use this computer to help
them out. As much as I want to reach out and grab the keyboard,
though, I don't want to freak April out. Guess I'm going to
have to do this the non corporeal way. Okay, let's follow the money.
And see what's going on here. All the family expenses seem normal,
food, transit, taxes, medical education. Everything here is totally normal.
M let's look into these companies sending bills all right, Oh, this one
is charging way over market value, and this one pretty sure. The interest
rate here is criminally high. Just going to ping a few watchdog groups here.
Oh, and this one's just a clerical error. Okay, that's it
for the excess of bills. Now what can I do about this income?
Okay, looks like April works at a small ad agency, but this salary
does not match their skills and experience. Oh here's an all too familiar pattern.
All the exacts that this agency have masculine names, and April's coworkers with
masculine names have significantly higher salaries despite having equal or lesser skills and experience.
Oh the many joys of being a female appearing person. Let me just shuffle
these numbers around a bit. Delete the company entertainment fund, which has been
spent almost exclusively on food and alcohol in strip clubs. By the way,
honestly, who still does that? Unprofessional much? Okay, redistributing the entertainment
fund as bonuses to all the underpaid workers of the agency. Oooh m.
Strategically linking some criminally unprofessional internal emails and memos to the press and some key
law groups who that was a lot of work. Let me just tweak the
ram on this computer so it's a little less clogged. And oh that that
was weird. I was so focused on my work that I totally forgot April
had been sitting here. Just now, April got up and walked right through
me. And you know how when you're alive and a ghost is around and
you start to feel really really cold. This was nothing like that. It
felt warm, like a flesh or a fever. But the instant when we
occupied the same space, I knew her her. April definitely identifies as a
woman. I know her thoughts and her hopes and her dreams, how her
nose crinkles when she laughs, and how she broke her toe that one time
in elementary school, and how she felt how she felt when her father died.
I need to get out of here, I need a moment. That
was a lot. This show was made possible in part by our Kickstarter backers,
Apocalypse Cowboy on Twitter. Stephen Lafon from the Whichever Path Podcast Duane Farber
and nineteen eighty five, the podcast by Chari Madewell. Special thanks to our
muse on Patreon, Olivia, thank you so much for believing in us.
If you'd like to support the show, consider becoming a patron. You can
also support the show by rating, subscribing, and sharing with others. Sharing
is carrying, after all. Stick Shift Incorporated was written, produced, and
set in Vancouver, BC, which is the unseated shared traditional territories of the
Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the Musquium, Squamish and Sligwatooth nations.
This episode featured Dietree Marie Bowie. Music for the show was composed by
Anthony Louis Sanchez. If you'd like to hear more of his work, visit
Anthony Louis Sanchez dot com or subscribe to his YouTube channel. Molto Rubato eighty
eight. Stishift Incorporated is a Microphones and Monsters production. You can find Stishift
Incorporated wherever podcasts are found, or at stishift dot com. That's stixshift dot
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