Where's My Bubble City and Flying Car?

In first grade I had Mrs. Bosso. She was tall, grandmotherly, with dark hair and long red fingernails. She was kind and patient. I was fidgety and talkative and couldn't sit still, so she was the perfect teacher for first grade. I had a crush on Wendy who sat behind me, a cute, spunky girl with red hair and freckles. She was my first girlfriend. Once at recess we had a fight during a game of tag. "I'm going to run away and join the army," I announced. She pointed defiantly in the general direction of the Army. "Go!" she said. Wendy was captivating. Clearly she knew how to handle me.

The Christmas party neared and we had to draw names for gifts. I had chicken pox that week so Miss Bosso saved my slip, and early in the morning my first day back she handed it to me with a knowing smile. I was still learning to read. I opened it and looked up to Mrs. Bosso. "Who is it?" I asked hopefully. She leaned down to me with her kind face and whispered into my ear. "Wendy." she said. It was the sweetest sound my young ears had ever heard. Kindly Miss Bosso had rigged the Christmas gift exchange for a fidgety boy with chicken pox. I bought Wendy a tea set from Woolworth's, and Miss Bosso a Whitman Sampler.

By third grade I was less fidgety and had become a good student. We had Miss Brewer, strict and stern. I remember third grade science books. Near the back was a depiction of the future, complete with flying cars and gleaming cities under glass bubbles. "By the year 2010," the book intoned, "life on earth will be much different." It certainly is. TVs are much bigger and everyone has color. But where is my flying car and bubble city?

Truth is, we're lagging on the future. Too much energy went into the Cold War and the Space Race and the pursuit of the American Dream, which is more cars and more stuff. But I did read in yahoo news that a company called Terrafugia has developed the first flying car. Pretty cool. It costs $194,000 and so far 70 people have put down a deposit.

Now all we need is a bubble city and a cure for oil. The future will have to hurry, to outrace the mess we've made of the present.