The Narrator, a bright-eyed boy with messy hair and eager hands, watches as older students guide small robots in transparent Perspex boxes across wide, white sheets of paper. The air smells faintly of fresh paper and ozone from the machines, and excitement shimmers in the voices of children mastering commands.
"If you type 50R 50Up 50L 50Down, you can make a square," whispers a high school girl beside him, her fingers deftly programming the robot. The narrator’s heart races as he tries his own commands, watching his creation come to life.
He raises his hand. "I hear it in my left ear," he says, grinning when the teacher nods. Later, blindfolded and reaching into a mysterious bag, he calls out, "Spaghetti! Grapes! King Kong action figure!" Laughter echoes around him, and he feels destined for something greater, his senses sharpening with each challenge.
His hands itch for the laser pen, but only textbooks and chalk dust are within reach. He stares out the window at gray skies, imagining circuits and commands, feeling his journey abruptly stalled.
He learns binary code and simple switches, his fingers memorizing the rhythm of ones and zeros. Home computers remain a distant dream—Atari consoles are unprogrammable, Spectrums and Commodore 64s too expensive. Still, he persists, building knowledge from scraps, longing for a machine of his own.
In his small apartment, he assembles consoles—Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64—each a step closer to the future he once glimpsed. He buys an Ericsson T-10 mobile, marveling at its compact power, yet games and gadgets remain bittersweet, shadows of the computers he’d dreamed to build.
"If only I could have started over in 1984," he muses, picturing a world where his skills merged with opportunity. He imagines inventing new computers, leading technology forward, shaping an age of touchscreens, laser pens, and AI. Yet, reality persists—upgrades are slow, chances scarce. Still, he writes, hoping for a door into the future.
"The future can go two ways," he whispers. "I’ll survive AI. Maybe, just maybe, my qualifications on an AI computer will finally read: Welcome (back) Home."
