Cowboys and Drones by Aaron Frale

even though his day job felt as far removed from science and research as it could be. Being smarter than average wasn't a handicap. He looked at the world and realized people like himself gave humanity the ability to travel around the world with ease. The smart people created a system where people could connect and socialize with anyone instantly around the world. He saw one of those motivational pictures on the internet that said, "The only way to eliminate prejudice is to know them personally." The motivational poster featured a man staring off into the sunset. Len always thought those posters were funny. Who stands stoically looking into a sunset or raises their hands to the heavens on a beach? Len visited California as often as he could and never once saw a person standing on a beach raising their arms to the heavens like the ones in motivational posters. Len wished he was in his homeland of California. Instead, he was stuck in Iowa, in an icy, dark winter. It was so cold outside that frost formed on the inside of his windshield. Because Jed would not return his phone calls, Len would have to go out into the cold looking for him. Len wrapped himself in a long overcoat, scarf, hat, earmuffs, and gloves. The temperature was in the negatives, and the wind chill would probably freeze the inside of his nose. He hated when his nose froze. Luckily, Jed had impeccable timing and burst into Len’s office and began to unwrap his winter gear. Len did the same. Jed had dirty blonde ha