"Alright, fam. I think it worked fine now" Luke handed a middle-aged man some kind of gadget.
"Here is 20 cu. Thanks brother, if I couldn't get it fixed today, you would find me scourging at the radies tomorrow." He sighed in relieved before heading back where he came from.
Luke always find tinkering with things fascinating since he was young.
He thought that it was because of his father that influenced him with his researching and engineering profession.
Luke's father always take something back home to study it 'a little more' which irritated Gram so much that one day Gram took a knife out of the kitchen and threatened to kill him if he won't stop the noise that had been going on for 6 days.
Reluctantly he stopped, but they still argue with each other which ended up with Luke's father having a black eye and a rule stating that all the works would stop at midnight with no exception.
"Do you think this part-time job gonna save us the money 'til we can buy that "Mikel glanced at Luke while he was sleeping beside the sign 'Repair all Gadget with price as low as 20 cu!'
"May be we could, if you stop lying around and help me with some actual work" Luke retorted
"May be we could, if you didn't open it in front of this remote electronics landfill" Mikel snorted
What were you thinking? You said it was how many miles from the city again? 15? Who the heck is coming other than some garbage collectors and scavengers" added Mikel sarcastically
"Firstly, it was just 10.3 miles, according to the gadget and it is a rather nice location, isn't it. Here, we could actually find the parts that we need with our work, Sorry, MY WORK.
I would say it's a strategic location and a very logical decision." Luke said proudly.
"Just say that you are afraid that Gram would find out if it was nearer. Logical decision my a**.
Anyway, I'm sleeping. I still need to wake you up tomorrow. Professor Lana's class, remember ?"
Luke's face paled and said, "Of course, and you better nudged me early. I can't afford to provoke her anymore. Gram would hit me with her spoon until my head split open if they really meet."
Everyday after school, Luke would take a local train to this landfill to work part-time.
He would repair the gadget of the passerby advertising that he charged a very low technical fees with 30 days guaranteed.
He planned to used these as an experiences so that he could repair or study bigger machines and contraptions in the future and also he needed to save up money as there was something he needed.
Necessity and Passion working hand in hand. How perfect!, thought Luke.
He chose the gadget as his main product because it was the thing that everyone had, except his uncle, of course, who 'didn't have a knack for newer technology' he said.
After that apocalyptic war, all the network failed.
It was said that the war moved the world backward for two centuries and halt the advancement completely.
Due to the circumstances, each ruling entity introduced their own communication device to isolate themselves and protect them against each other.
As for where Luke lived, it was called the gadget.
The gadget was a very interesting device. Even though, it was built mainly for identification and communication, it could help with navigation, computation, transaction and also education.
There were many functions that were undervalued and most of the people couldn't use them to the maximum potential.
After having no other customer for almost 3 hours straight with the additional highly polluted sound Mikel made when he was sleeping, Luke decided to head home.
"Get up, you sleep head. Let's go home" Luke got up and kicked Mikel's foot.
"Ouch. You know that there is a normal way to wake someone up right? You and Gram are really a cut from the same cloth" Mike complained unhappily.
"You never wake up if it's any weaker than that and I will be sure to what you said to Gram when we get home" Luke said while he was walking ahead.
Mikel's face turned pale.
"Hey I was just joking. Don't tell Gram" Mikel walked hurriedly after Luke.
Both of them walked to the nearest train station as the gadget reminded them that it was near midnight which was the time when the last train would depart to the residential area.
Luke looked up to the night sky, pondering for awhile before he couldn't keep his curiosity to himself.
"You know, I always wonder" Luke spoke.
"if it was always this depressing.
I mean, the atmosphere, the different sectors in the city, the different landfills that seemed to surround this whole land." Luke continued
"I also always wonder why you never shut up." Mikel replied, uninterested.
"Like, before the war. Before the apocalypse. Do you think it was this depressing?" Luke stared up to the moonless night, wondering.
Mikel looked up at the same time, thoughtful and then said, "I heard that the era was called the prosperity era.
It must be really beautiful."