THE MOMENT
"Right, and I'm the Queen of England," Sheila replied to Greg with a heavy dose of sarcasm. He remained unfazed by his best friend's doubts; he'd doubt what he said too. Especially if he were dragged out of bed at 5 in the morning. But, he couldn't wait to tell her. He was sure to have breakfast ready before he shook her awake. Now they sat in the kitchen almost an hour later. With the food eaten, Greg finally revealed why he was there.
"Do you want to be?" he asked with a large grin. "I'm telling you: anything we want." Sheila lifted the card-sized pane of glass from the table and peered through it. It was unnaturally clear; no matter how she twisted it, it failed to catch a glare from the fluorescent light. There were no smudges or fingerprints despite it being manhandled for most of the meal. It should have been sticky with syrup, but it remained pristine. If Sheila couldn't feel the edges between her fingers, she'd doubt she held anything in her hand.
"And you just found it in the woods?" She asked Greg. He nodded. "The woods that you were walking around in at four in the morning?" she asked. Again, Greg nodded. "Why were you there?" she changed the topic from the glass rectangle he claimed was magical.
"I can't really explain it," Greg said with a shrug. "Something was calling me. I don't know how it works out, but it was definitely that node," he pointed at the glass in Sheila's hand. "It was like a habit I didn't know I had. I woke up, put my shoes on, then walked out of my house straight to that. Like the universe wanted me to find it or something," he said.
"I played with it for a bit and learned how to work it. Then, I had to tell my best friend. So here I am," Greg explained. "I didn't want to make any major changes without you."
"Anything?" Sheila asked. Greg nodded.
"Okay," Sheila said. "I want all the money in the world." Greg chuckled.
"We can have anything we want. We don't need to worry about money; it's just the middle man," he said.
"Anything I want," Sheila repeated. "I want to see it work. I want everyone to deposit their money in my back account." Greg nodded.
"Okay," he took the node from Sheila's hand and began navigating through its menus. After several taps and swipes he paused. "Ready?" he asked. He pressed the node one final time when Sheila nodded. After a few moments, she started receiving deposit notifications on her phone. And just like that, the entire world deposited their money into Sheila's bank account.