Magnetism "The Day Nothing Worked"

Kevin M.

The most horrible day in history undertook the guise of a regular Monday in July. It began for me like any other summer morning; I woke up and lazily "hopped" out of bed. Next, I went through my bathroom routine with only one problem, the water pressure was barely there. I forgot about it and continued get dressed, eat and turn on the television. After much struggle, the picture managed its way onto the screen. I was looking forward to watching my usual morning cartoons but every channel had a new special covering the same topic.

The dim picture was on how a black hole has been destroying our planet. I didn’t even know what a black hole was. The report went on to state that the black hole is sucking a certain ingredient out of our atmosphere. At this time scientists had no idea what this might be, nor had I. The report concluded with the lone fact that more things stopped working every few moments. I decided none of this would affect me, so I got my things together and headed for work. I left my house into an unusually dim morning and headed for the Bullet Train. . .

As the train approached, yet another strange thing happened – it stopped! Right before it got to the platform the train stopped! Life was getting weird. This was the most reliable train, it was always on time, never late, and today it sat there failing to budge. I figured this would be a good day to take a vacation. So I picked up my things and walked home. As I opened the door and went to turn off the alarm system, I found the monitor was blank. "This has never happened before," I thought. Again something reliable had failed me. I figured I’d call the company that afternoon and get everything straightened out. That’s what I planned at least.

I got settled once again. I sat down on the couch and pressed "power" on the remote control. However, this time after a brief sound of success the picture never appeared on the screen. Something terrible was going on. I just couldn’t figure out what. So I decided to relax and read the newspaper only to find it was yet to be delivered. So I just sat . . . still thinking . . ."What was that on the tube before? A black hole…hmm… They said it was taking something out of our atmosphere. But what do all these things have in common: the train, the alarm system, the water pressure, the television, the car of the paper deliver. . . and now the lights. . ."The room plunged into darkness. I clumsily made my way to the curtains and found it was also dark outside! How could this be? It was nearly 9:00 in the morning!

Then the light bulb clicked on. Not the one in the lamp stand but the one in my head… MAGNETISM!!! All these things needed magnetism to function; from the train’s slight elevation above the tracks to the atmosphere’s deflection of the cosmic rays. As I made this discovery, I immediately thought to inform the authorities. I haphazardly made my way to the telephone, began to dial and there was only silence. "Of course," I thought, "the phone wouldn’t work because magnetism is essential to it’s functioning. I felt alone as the sole enlightened one and even more so when I appeared on the vacant street and my screams fell on deaf ears. As I walked the atoms in my body lost their fusion because of lack of magnetism and I fell to slush just as I woke up to the bright sunshine and blaring clock radio in my bedroom. The morning sun shone in, along with my new appreciation for magnetism.