A Brief History of My Future. Part Two.

2020: Grandparents Koster turn 80. The Toronto Sun is the only newspaper in Canada still printed on paper, simply on principle; the New York Times and the Washington Post are likewise in the States. Canadian troops are brought home from both Afghanistan and Iraq but Canada pledges to continue to provide peace keeper support to the United Nations efforts in both countries. 1,167 soldiers died. American soldiers are the only foreign force left in the two countries.

August 2021: Same old shit, different piles. Elton John dies; the lyrics to Candle in the Wind are altered for a third time and are sung by an aged Eric Clapton at John’s funeral. Clapton dies four months later.

June 2023: President George W. Bush dies in the Oval Office, he is found clinging to the desk. Barack Obama immediately takes the Oath of Office with Will Smith (D-California) replacing Joe Biden as Vice-President. U.S. Congress and Senate both vote unanimously to donate Bush's severed head to a live action feature film of Matt Groening's Futurama. The decision is widely well received by the U.S. population. Obama makes a holographically transmitted announcement that his government will begin preparations to withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East.

September 2024: C.J. is promoted to Head of the English department at Paul Martin Secondary School; Elli Jane turns 10; Lucas George turns 4. NASA publicizes plans to colonize Mars. Britney Spears retires from music and disappears from public life. CNN, the first fully holographic news station, reports that nearly 86% of the Earth’s population now speak English.

January 2025: C.J. turns 40. Lucas George starts kindergarten at Layton Elementary School. President Obama concedes that U.S. troops will never fully withdraw from Iraq. William Shatner, age 93, stars in a new comedy-drama about a perverted music agent: the show is a run-away hit.

December 2026: Jinah becomes the special assistant to the President of the University of Waterloo for International Student Relations, netting an income of $83,000 CND a year. C.J. makes $56,000. Elli Janes stars as Tiny Tim in her school’s Christmas pageant performance of A Christmas Carol. Lucas George has a fascination with his nostrils. The Catholic College of Cardinals vote to elect their first Hispanic Pope, a Cardinal named Pepe Rodriguez.

April 2027: C.J. and Jinah and the kids travel via Intercontinental shuttle to Korea to witness the re-unification of the two Koreas; the trip is two and a half hours. The average life expectancy for men is raised to 120; the life expectancy for women is 140. Miley Cyrus retires from her porn career.

November 2028: C.J. and Jinah receive some unexpected news. President Obama, age 67, runs for re-election against Senator Hillary Clinton, now a Republican and 81 years old. Obama wins by a landslide. Clinton retires to Arkansas.

2029: Jinah turns 50. A month early, Jin Rachel Koster is born and is 4 lbs., 7 ounces. Mother and daughter both are released after two hours in hospital. Buttons and keyboards are effectively outdated and are replaced by touchpad and screen systems particularly in all Apple products. The United States lifts the embargo on Cuba; the Cuban tourism industry booms with an influx of American visitors, so much so that all launches to the Gates Orbital Hotel are now run through Cuba.

September 2030: C.J. becomes Vice-Principal of Forman High School. Elizabeth, Queen of England dies at age 104, a month before her 105th birthday. Her eldest grandson, Prince William addresses the British House of Lords and encourages them to consider voting to disband the Monarchy.

June 2031: Elli Jane graduates from high school and attends Atwood University in September, planning to major in Bimolecular Science. The U.S. lands on the lunar surface for the first time in 62 years. Other nations quickly follow suit. Biospheres are set up; NASA estimates that the moon could be prepared for a civilian population by 2062.

March 2032: Lucas George has his index finger severed by a high energy laser beam during a science experiment at school. The original finger is discarded but a new one is grown using advanced limb replacement technology. A group calling themselves Ryons claim that they are from a distant plant of a related name: they say that they have lived on Earth for decades and after years of observation have finally choose to make their presence known to humanity. Australia absorbs New Zealand, the Melanesian islands – except New Caledonia which is controlled by France – and a large portion of the Polynesian countries making it the largest continent in the world.

February 2033: C.J. becomes Principal of Forman High School. Steve Carell, age 71, is awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 106th Academy Awards held in the Eastwood Theatre for the Arts in San Angeles – the merged city of San Francisco and Los Angeles; Dakota Fanning, now 39 years old hosts the event. A.I. cyborgs now make up a portion of the world’s minority populations.

July 2034: Elli Jane graduates from Atwood University with honours. Lucas George becomes addicted to a drug that combines the sensation of being high with feeling full; he loses eleven lbs. in a week. Jin Rachel starts kindergarten. Tom Cruise publicly admits to being the leader of the Ryons – interest in the group declines and their claims about being from another planet are dismissed by many critics. Canadian, Mexican and American leaders and diplomats open discussions about eliminating their respective borders at the United Americas summit in Dayton, Ohio; the move would form the United States of North America.

January 2035: Jinah plans an elaborate party to celebrate C.J.'s 50th birthday. Both Grandparents Koster, cryogenically frozen after their death, are in attendance. Television becomes obsolete. Hyundai, now a transport company, begins experimenting with the concept of turning an object into an energy pattern which can then be dematerialized in one location and rematerialized in another. William Shatner, now 103 years old, is chosen to be the first living subject to participate in the trials; prior to the start of the first test, Shatner utters to journalists "Beam me up Hyundai."