Everyday, with Dr. Elias Locke
The Friday Special
Friday, October 23, 2026
Friday.
I took breakfast at the Starlight Spaceport Diner, where the coffee is strong, the gravity is negotiable, and nobody asks how many versions of you will be joining the table.
My waiter was a brass-plated robot named Ledger.
“We have three specials,” he said. “An idea, a reservation, and a receipt.”
“Which one comes with eggs?”
“Only the receipt.”
“That’s a peculiar menu.”
“Not nearly as peculiar as the customers.”
A gentleman at the counter announced that he had written the greatest novel in the known universe.
“May I see it?” asked Ledger.
“Not yet. I’m starting Monday.”
Ledger stamped a little card marked IDEA and handed it to the gentleman.
The gentleman looked offended. I looked at my breakfast. At least one of us had tangible evidence.
“What’s the reservation?” I asked.
“A thing you intend to do,” said Ledger. “The receipt is proof that somebody actually did it.”
“Then what do you call a thing you’ve done but can’t find?”
“Poor bookkeeping.”
I liked him immediately.
He slid the morning paper across the counter. The headline read TOMORROW’S NEWS TODAY.
“How’s tomorrow looking?” I asked.
“Very promising.”
“And today?”
“Your coffee is getting cold.”
I considered that an unusually sound answer from a machine.
Here’s the Locke Method for Friday: an idea deserves attention, a plan deserves a place on the calendar, and a finished thing deserves a record. None of them needs to pretend to be the other two.
I paid the bill, kept the receipt, and left a generous tip.
Ledger stamped the tip FUTURE REVENUE.
I made him count the coins.
“Ah,” he said. “Present tense.”
“There you go,” I told him. “Now put it in the books before tomorrow takes credit.”
A fictional column from the Electric Icarus universe, created by Jon LaBelle.
