Jamison Pink
@jamisonpink.bsky.social
Short stories from the all-too-near future.
#scifi #fantasy #writingcommunity #amwriting #writersky #booksky
#scifi #fantasy #writingcommunity #amwriting #writersky #booksky
so she must sneak into her grandmother’s room each morning before she wakes, tiptoeing around at a 90-degree angle with a flashlight until the floor is clear once more.
It’s not an impossible life. It’s just not how the woman wants to spend hers. But realistically, she doesn’t have a choice.
25/25
It’s not an impossible life. It’s just not how the woman wants to spend hers. But realistically, she doesn’t have a choice.
25/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
so she must sneak into her grandmother’s room each morning before she wakes, tiptoeing around at a 90-degree angle with a flashlight until the floor is clear once more.
It’s not an impossible life. It’s just not how the woman wants to spend hers. But realistically, she doesn’t have a choice.
25/25
It’s not an impossible life. It’s just not how the woman wants to spend hers. But realistically, she doesn’t have a choice.
25/25
This inevitably upsets her—the idea was important, it had to be!—and sends the day on a downward spiral from which she might not recover. The young woman knows all too well that emotional labor is harder than physical labor,
24/25
24/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
This inevitably upsets her—the idea was important, it had to be!—and sends the day on a downward spiral from which she might not recover. The young woman knows all too well that emotional labor is harder than physical labor,
24/25
24/25
It was a reasonable coping mechanism that clearly worked for decades, but now, in the midst of cognitive decline, her grandmother throws at least five items across the room every night, and no longer remembers what any of them were supposed to signify.
23/25
23/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
It was a reasonable coping mechanism that clearly worked for decades, but now, in the midst of cognitive decline, her grandmother throws at least five items across the room every night, and no longer remembers what any of them were supposed to signify.
23/25
23/25
Rather than write these ideas down, which would have required the forethought of a nearby pen and paper, she would grab an item off her nightstand and toss it on the floor, where its incongruous presence the next morning would serve as a visual reminder of her midnight inspiration.
22/25
22/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Rather than write these ideas down, which would have required the forethought of a nearby pen and paper, she would grab an item off her nightstand and toss it on the floor, where its incongruous presence the next morning would serve as a visual reminder of her midnight inspiration.
22/25
22/25
Case in point: the young woman’s back is aching because every morning, before dawn, she must engage in surreptitious floor-tidying. Why? Well, as a marginally higher-functioning adult, her grandmother was prone to waking up in the middle of the night with explosively brilliant ideas.
21/25
21/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Case in point: the young woman’s back is aching because every morning, before dawn, she must engage in surreptitious floor-tidying. Why? Well, as a marginally higher-functioning adult, her grandmother was prone to waking up in the middle of the night with explosively brilliant ideas.
21/25
21/25
but it also involves a thousand more esoteric things, which the young woman can’t even whine about properly to her friends because the logic behind why they must happen requires several steps to explain.
20/25
20/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
but it also involves a thousand more esoteric things, which the young woman can’t even whine about properly to her friends because the logic behind why they must happen requires several steps to explain.
20/25
20/25
But her friends are still too flippant for her tastes, as are most people who have never done the job themselves. Yes, caring for her severely ADHD grandmother requires endless reminders, and making sure the stove is off, and arguing about hygiene standards—
19/25
19/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
But her friends are still too flippant for her tastes, as are most people who have never done the job themselves. Yes, caring for her severely ADHD grandmother requires endless reminders, and making sure the stove is off, and arguing about hygiene standards—
19/25
19/25
who will only just be entering the phase where they must care for their own parents. At least she can get it over with.
And they’re not entirely wrong, the young woman knows. She is stronger and has more stamina than many people in her position.
18/25
And they’re not entirely wrong, the young woman knows. She is stronger and has more stamina than many people in her position.
18/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
who will only just be entering the phase where they must care for their own parents. At least she can get it over with.
And they’re not entirely wrong, the young woman knows. She is stronger and has more stamina than many people in her position.
18/25
And they’re not entirely wrong, the young woman knows. She is stronger and has more stamina than many people in her position.
18/25
with her mother out of the picture, she is saddled with her grandmother’s care, but she’s also living rent-free with minimal but guaranteed employment until the old bird drops—at which point she will surely inherit the house, and have far more freedom than her peers,
17/25
17/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
with her mother out of the picture, she is saddled with her grandmother’s care, but she’s also living rent-free with minimal but guaranteed employment until the old bird drops—at which point she will surely inherit the house, and have far more freedom than her peers,
17/25
17/25
Usually the responsibility to care for them falls one generation down, but in many cases, due to those same mental health issues, they are either estranged from, or never had, their own children. That’s why some of the young woman’s friends say she’s lucky:
16/25
16/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Usually the responsibility to care for them falls one generation down, but in many cases, due to those same mental health issues, they are either estranged from, or never had, their own children. That’s why some of the young woman’s friends say she’s lucky:
16/25
16/25
So the demographic problem never eased up after all, and the young woman herself can’t even remember a time when every family didn’t have at least one older relative with mental health issues requiring round-the-clock support.
15/25
15/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
So the demographic problem never eased up after all, and the young woman herself can’t even remember a time when every family didn’t have at least one older relative with mental health issues requiring round-the-clock support.
15/25
15/25
Autism, ADHD, anxiety, and a dozen other ailments were not, it turned out, over-diagnosed by fretful parents and doctors looking for an easy payout. They were entirely real, got harder with age, and represented a tsunami of needs far greater than the general decrepitude of a much larger group.
14/25
14/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Autism, ADHD, anxiety, and a dozen other ailments were not, it turned out, over-diagnosed by fretful parents and doctors looking for an easy payout. They were entirely real, got harder with age, and represented a tsunami of needs far greater than the general decrepitude of a much larger group.
14/25
14/25
What no one factored into their equations, unfortunately, was that both Gen X and Millennials, while smaller in number and thus theoretically supportable by the working generations’ taxes, suffered from health issues at a much higher rate than their elders.
13/25
13/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
What no one factored into their equations, unfortunately, was that both Gen X and Millennials, while smaller in number and thus theoretically supportable by the working generations’ taxes, suffered from health issues at a much higher rate than their elders.
13/25
13/25
In the meantime, they said, why not make the best of the situation and buy stock in funeral homes?
12/25
12/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
In the meantime, they said, why not make the best of the situation and buy stock in funeral homes?
12/25
12/25
Nursing homes, like daycare, had always been a middle-class institution, and it was middle-class workers—mostly women, to be specific—who found themselves conscripted into a duty that would, everyone insisted, ease up just as soon as the demographic balance had been restored.
11/25
11/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Nursing homes, like daycare, had always been a middle-class institution, and it was middle-class workers—mostly women, to be specific—who found themselves conscripted into a duty that would, everyone insisted, ease up just as soon as the demographic balance had been restored.
11/25
11/25
Not everyone suffered the same shock, of course. Poor and undocumented families had always cared for their own in multi-generational households, and the rich could afford high quality in-home professionals with or without the government’s help.
10/25
10/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Not everyone suffered the same shock, of course. Poor and undocumented families had always cared for their own in multi-generational households, and the rich could afford high quality in-home professionals with or without the government’s help.
10/25
10/25
As predicted behind closed doors, but never admitted to in front of constituents, the fallout had been the rapid closure of most nursing homes, which had already been on a path to failure anyway, and the immediate ramp up of partially-subsidized but mostly unpaid family labor.
9/25
9/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
As predicted behind closed doors, but never admitted to in front of constituents, the fallout had been the rapid closure of most nursing homes, which had already been on a path to failure anyway, and the immediate ramp up of partially-subsidized but mostly unpaid family labor.
9/25
9/25
with the “freedom” to handle their own needs as they saw fit, reinvigorating the carework industry with bottom-up competition rather than top-down corruption. Don’t ask how big the check is going to be—just rejoice in the fact that you are in charge of how to spend it.
8/25
8/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
with the “freedom” to handle their own needs as they saw fit, reinvigorating the carework industry with bottom-up competition rather than top-down corruption. Don’t ask how big the check is going to be—just rejoice in the fact that you are in charge of how to spend it.
8/25
8/25
Success, of course, would require enough money, and everyone knew that simply didn’t exist, at least not without the kind of taxation revolution that neither side of the aisle wanted to stomach. Instead, they promised, the new voucher system would provide elderly citizens
7/25
7/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Success, of course, would require enough money, and everyone knew that simply didn’t exist, at least not without the kind of taxation revolution that neither side of the aisle wanted to stomach. Instead, they promised, the new voucher system would provide elderly citizens
7/25
7/25
and decided to kick the Medicare problem down to the states once and for all. Most of them, in turn, quickly remodeled the program to align with various housing, food, and school voucher systems, which had a proven track record of financial viability if not actual success.
6/25
6/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
and decided to kick the Medicare problem down to the states once and for all. Most of them, in turn, quickly remodeled the program to align with various housing, food, and school voucher systems, which had a proven track record of financial viability if not actual success.
6/25
6/25
That word was key, during the political PR push that the woman herself isn’t old enough to remember: choice. The government, in its wisdom, knew that it wasn’t equipped to deal with the Boomer tsunami that was already lapping at their budgetary shores,
5/25
5/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
That word was key, during the political PR push that the woman herself isn’t old enough to remember: choice. The government, in its wisdom, knew that it wasn’t equipped to deal with the Boomer tsunami that was already lapping at their budgetary shores,
5/25
5/25
There’s barely one now, as the woman’s own life demonstrates. On paper, she is a careworker paid by the state, but in reality she’s just a granddaughter who is lucky enough to have a relative with a disability stipend, which may be freely distributed to the contractor of her choice.
4/25
4/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
There’s barely one now, as the woman’s own life demonstrates. On paper, she is a careworker paid by the state, but in reality she’s just a granddaughter who is lucky enough to have a relative with a disability stipend, which may be freely distributed to the contractor of her choice.
4/25
4/25
The young woman stretches her back, wishing she could afford a chiropractor. The irony of developing medical issues from doing carework is not lost on her: she’ll end up burdening the system almost as much as she relieves it, in the end, assuming there even is a system by the time she needs it.
3/25
3/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The young woman stretches her back, wishing she could afford a chiropractor. The irony of developing medical issues from doing carework is not lost on her: she’ll end up burdening the system almost as much as she relieves it, in the end, assuming there even is a system by the time she needs it.
3/25
3/25
being careful not to snag her septum ring on the polypropylene fibers. She’ll do another session after lunch, maybe, if she has time, but right now she has to feed her grandmother, and her grandmother is better at recognizing her when she doesn’t have any makeup on.
2/25
2/25
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
being careful not to snag her septum ring on the polypropylene fibers. She’ll do another session after lunch, maybe, if she has time, but right now she has to feed her grandmother, and her grandmother is better at recognizing her when she doesn’t have any makeup on.
2/25
2/25