chapter 2 (we're going to edit eventually right?)

“Did you ask them about food?”
“Yes. I asked them about food.”
“Well what did they say. I want to bring Charlie.” She cradled the old cat close to her chest.
“For Christ Sake Dottie, we’re not bringing the cat.”
“Did they say we couldn’t?”
“No I’m saying we can’t.”
“How do we eat?”
“I don’t know. She told me but I don’t get it. We take a pill. That should be enough. They’re in the thing.”
“So I can’t go to France and have Brie.”
“Well you can. But you don’t need to. Fine. Okay. I’m just going to repeat everything I know for you and then we’ll shut up and get in the damn thing. She said the pill should hold us. Our bodies aren’t being transported anywhere.”
“But then—”
“Shut up and listen. Our consciousness is being transported to, Christ I don’t remember. It’s like we’re everywhere we want to be at once, but we can’t interact and it’s like we’re in our bodies but our bodies aren’t actually here. There are beacons every mile, on our ‘plain’ where we can eat whatever the food of the place and time is but it’s not feeding you, it’s just giving you the experience of eating. So. Eat as much as you want. But the screen’s going to tell us all that anyway.”
Dottie was already in the cylinder. “There are pills for cats too!”
“Jesus,” he said. “They don’t recommend it though,” he said. “They don’t recommend it for pets, pregnant women, retards or suicidals.”
She stepped back out. “You aren’t suicidal. Are you George?”
He looked at his wife, still in her stupid, dumpy old nightgown, clutching that cat. “No sweetheart. Of course not. Are you?”
“No,” she said. “No of course not.”
“Take your pill darling.”
“Come on Charlie,” she says. “Take your little pill.”

chapter 1

They looked at the screen.
"What do you think?" Dawn said.
George said, "I guess it's all right. It'll really-- How do they do it? It's safe?"
"I'm pretty sure whatever they do, it's safe. They wouldn't be able to do it if it wasn't safe."
"I don't know how I feel about your ideas. Your guesses really suck sometimes."
"What did I do, could you just tell me that? Why am I being interrogated?"
"Nothing. Nothing, forget it. How does it work? What do we have to do?"
"Jessica said she and Maura just sat down."
"What else did they say?"
"I didn't ask anything else."
"It can't be that easy, let's call them."
George called Jessica and Maura. The machine answered.
"Try calling the travel people, ask them."
"I'm angry right now. Just let me calm down before I say, all right, this is what we'll do instead of getting on a plane. This is my first vacation in twenty years."
"It's mine too. If you won't, I'll go get a round-trip ticket or whatever they call it there. I'll have as much fun as they did, all by myself, and you'll just be waiting here for Jess and Mo to call back."
"You know? I don't want to argue about this. I'll call them, but I want to wait until tomorrow morning."
He called the travel people.