I was reading over some old journals today, working on my book, when I came across a re-constructed phone conversation I overheard and wrote down probably four years ago. When I was in college, I liked to sit in public places and record interesting conversations in my notebook. This was one of the more interesting ones. Obviously, I could only hear the one guy talking. I really wanted to know what "John" was saying:
I’m in the alumni lounge at Cal State, listening to a young man talking on his cell phone:
“Towards the end of the reign of dinosaurs, the earth was ruled by birds. Large, predatory, two-legged birds, like ostriches. This has been known for a long time. It’s nothing new. The earliest ancestors of the horse were these three-foot forest dwellers that the predatory birds ate. So there was a period of time when birds ate horses. Funny, huh?”
“[John responds]”
“I love nature. I love the environment. And I love adventure video games that re-create these environments.”
"[John responds]”
“In the future, fish will go extinct. They have predicted this because of volcanic activity and whatnot. They can predict this very easily, John. And so what will take the fishes place? Plankton, probably.”
“[John responds]”
“Did you know that the oceans are going to dry up and turn into salt flats? Did you know that, John?”
“[John responds]”
“Monkeys are more tree-oriented.”
“[John responds]”
“Of course a lot of people disagree with this stuff simply because their religion prevents them from learning the way the world works. It’s okay. This country will get more educated and the standard of living will go up.”
“[John responds]”
“You’ve heard of the sabretooth tiger, right John?”
“[John responds]”
“You know what the sabers are for?”
“[John responds]”
“Whales have an interesting past. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, John. Whales came from rodents.”
“[John responds]”
