“Yeah,” he said, feeling the hard plastic press against his thigh. “Just checking.”
Leo slid the switch back to . He put the remote in his pocket. He walked over to Mira, wrapped his arms around her, and held on. Serial Number Checker Switch
Leo spent the next hour scanning everything. The toaster. SN: 06-14-2019-TOAST-04. STATUS: DEPRECATED. The oak tree in the backyard. SN: 04-01-1972-OAK-09. STATUS: GROWING. END OF LIFE: 2031. The mailbox. The car. The neighbor’s kid’s bicycle. Everything had a serial number. Everything had a status. Active. Deprecated. Paused. Pending recall. “Yeah,” he said, feeling the hard plastic press
Leo’s hand trembled. He looked at the remote. Under the LCD screen, the rubber button had a secondary function he hadn’t noticed: a tiny slider switch labeled on the left, RECONCILE on the right. He walked over to Mira, wrapped his arms
He ran upstairs, the remote clutched in his hand. His wife, Mira, was chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Without thinking, he pointed the remote at her back.