Michael Burstein - Teleabsence

Illustration by George H. Krauter

Tony put on the spex and scrunched his hands into the tight datagloves. He pushed a button on the right earpiece, and the world around him changed.

He had been sitting in his little room, with tom clothes scattered about, a broken dresser, and a dirty window that looked out onto a brick wall. Now he found himself in a classroom. The floor was clean and the walls were a bright yellow. Tony counted fifteen desks arranged in a roomy and orderly fashion, fewer desks than he had ever seen in a classroom before.

Tony had jacked in at a few minutes before nine so he’d have a chance to explore before anyone else showed up, and he started with the windows. These windows weren’t broken, like those at his own school, and it looked as if morning sunlight actually streamed in from a clear blue sky. He opened one and stuck his head out to see an incredibly large playground a few stories down; nothing like the old broken-down one in his neighborhood, where Mom never let him go, even in the middle of the day. Not that Tony was about to do so, ever; he was just as scared of the gunfire as his Mom was.

Tony pulled his head back into the room and continued exploring. Walking around felt strange, since he could feel his legs not moving as he sat in his room. And yet, in this classroom he was standing, and moving his hands around caused the rest of his body to follow. He traced the edge of the room, sliding along the screen-board at the front with the alphabet printed above it, and along the walls on the side, which were decorated with the artwork of the school’s students. There was a calendar, set to this month, September. He also noticed a seating chart, with each student’s name in a different handwriting.

He came to a mirror in the back comer of the room, and stopped short. Staring back at him wasn’t his deep brown face and curly black hair that was all too familiar, but an image of a white kid with blond hair, dressed in a button-down shirt and slacks. The spex and gloves didn’t appear in the mirror either, just sparkling brown eyes and smooth pink hands. Tony moved his arms and face around, and the mirror image did so too. No wonder the gloves are so small, Tony thought, this kid has got to be at least a year younger than me. Maybe this isn’t a sixth grade class —

A sharp buzz startled Tony and he jumped. At the front of the room appeared a pretty white woman who looked as old as Tony’s teachers, but she wasn’t scowling the way Tony’s teachers always did. Instead, she was smiling. Despite that, Tony felt scared.

“Good morning, Andrew,” she said. “I’m surprised to see you here early.” Her voice was soothing to Tony’s ears, and he calmed down. There was no way she would figure out that he wasn’t Andrew; the mirror had shown him exactly as he appeared in this virtual classroom.

“Hello, Miss…” Tony trailed off. He knew that he had taken Andrew’s place, but he had no idea what the teacher’s name was.

“Why are you here early? You’re usually one of the last to jack in.”

“Ummm… well…” Tony looked around as he stalled, and spotted a nameplate on the desk. Fortunately, it was facing towards him.

“Miss Ellis, I just felt like taking a look around before we started.” Tony’s voice sounded like his own to his ears, which worried him. Would Miss Ellis be able to hear that he wasn’t Andrew?

Apparently not. “OK, Andrew, though you won’t have much time.” She looked at her watch. “In just a minute—”

Another buzz, and this time a cute girl popped in, already seated at a desk. “Good morning, Miss Ellis.”

“Good morning, Sheryl.”

“Hi, Andrew!”

Tony wasn’t sure how to respond, but it seemed safest to say little. “Hi, Sheryl.”

Sheryl opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by another buzz. The ritual repeated itself over the next few minutes; another kid popped in each time, some already sitting, some at the door, and one or two in the comers, until there were fourteen other students. Most were white, although he saw two who were black and three who he thought were Chinese. Tony noticed how happy they all looked, as they milled about talking to each other. Tony wanted to mingle, but was afraid, and so he stayed off to the side, studying the seating chart. Andrew was assigned to the front row, second seat. At least he would know where to sit when class began.

He traced the name of the student he was replacing, Andrew Drummond. Now he had a full name to attach to the spex.

Another buzz, deeper and longer, startled Tony, and a chill went through him. What if that was Andrew jacking in? He would ruin everything, and everyone would know that Tony was a fake! Tony looked around, scared, but didn’t see anyone that resembled the kid in the mirror.

“OK, class,” said Miss Ellis, “it’s nine o’clock. Time to begin.” So that’s what that different buzz meant. Tony relaxed into his—into Andrew’s —seat. As long as he had Andrew’s spex, he realized, he was Andrew, and there was no way that the real Andrew could pop in and prove otherwise. Tony wished he could be Andrew all the time, but at least he could be Andrew for the school day. Then he’d have to return to his own life. For the first time, he dreaded the final bell that would go off at three o’clock.

Miss Ellis began the class by taking attendance. Tony remembered to respond when he heard Andrew’s name, which was second, right after Melissa Connor, who sat to his left. Once Miss Ellis noted that all were present, she told the class to take out their homework from last night.

At first, Tony didn’t know what to do. He felt a lump in his throat as he realized that he couldn’t take out last night’s homework since he wasn’t really Andrew. He knew the punishment he could suffer for not having his homework with him, and he started to tremble.

Then he noticed what Melissa was doing. She pushed some button on her desk and her computer screen flashed, and now she was waiting patiently. Maybe the homework is also done in virtual space , Tony thought, and he looked at the buttons on his desk. Sure enough, among all the letters and numbers of the keyboard there was a button labeled “HOMEWORK.” Tony pushed it with relief.

His screen blinked, and a message came up: “Please enter your homework password.”

Oh, no! I don’t know Andrew’s password! Tony thought. Now what? Maybe Miss Ellis wouldn’t notice if he just sat there looking intently at the screen. If he kept his head down, perhaps she wouldn’t call on him. Then he wouldn’t be found out.

“Melissa? Please tell us how you did the first problem.”

The first problem was an easy math problem, but Melissa got it wrong. Tony braced himself for the explosion, but it didn’t come.

“That’s OK,” said Miss Ellis instead. She worked out the problem on the screenboard in front and showed Melissa where her mistake had been. Tony was shocked. She hadn’t yelled at Melissa for being wrong, and Melissa hadn’t made any rude comments or started crying.

“Andrew? Would you please explain the next problem?”

Bad luck. It looked as if Miss Ellis went through the class alphabetically when going over homework, and naturally that meant Andrew was next.

But Tony knew he couldn’t go over the next problem. What could he do?