When I was eleven our class was assigned to write a story about the future. Apparently this was for a city writing contest for elementary kids and the best stories would be compiled into book. I wrote two full pages without a sweat, and the teacher selected me and two other classmates. He thought I had the best one. I can barely remember what happened after that. Months later my mom and I were invited to the party at the city hall. There were so many people in that small room in the back of the city hall. Even the mayor was there for the book release event. There were journalists photographing. I got one copy of the book and opened it.

…Except they spelled my surname mistakenly in the book and I remember having been upset, because my name is easy! They messed up by inserting a random t in my name! It’s not like I have a foreign name, so why the mess up?! I was the proclaimed spelling wonder among my classmates. Why can’t an adult spell my name correctly?!

However, I remained quiet about that, since I was far too impressed and shocked with the entire happening! I got my story in a book! This was probably where I got my huge inspiration to continue writing fiction.

So I asked my mom about the book, who indeed thankfully kept the book and the original (it had no spelling mistakes) saved, but I was most surprised by the title of the book: 

The city, the street, the society. Maastricht in 2010

…well! That’s in the present. It’s basically about how the city will or should be like in 2010. There are tons of complainers in the book; mostly about the lack of multiculturalism, things that need to be changed, the locals who live here don’t accept outsiders, lack of disco, blahblahblahboring… and suddenly! Sci-fi creative writing from elementary students! According to my mom, out of all elementary schools we were the best.

A translation if you can’t read Dutch:

Laura: “Floating houses were invented 5 years ago and that was very useful. On the ground it won’t become that busy any more. With the atmosphere there were in no problems, because of the silent cars. Bad gasses are no longer used on the Earth and you only get your driver’s license at the age of 25.
While looking through the super strong crystal windows I noticed a girl who could run 5 meters with each step. That’s probably due to the C5 pills.
I push a button and suddenly the doorbell rang. A robot is standing before me, and he asked in dialect to pay up 25 euros. So I gave him the 25 euros and stuck it in his mailbox. He put down the groceries and flew away. What I found between the groceries was a lottery ticket and if you won, you would get a free trip to the moon. The moon probably became fertile, I think? But the food also changed a bit. I didn’t get normal food, but eating pills. You had to do it like this: you put the pill in your plate and sprinkle some water on it. For example, a hamburger appears on it.
I sat down in front of my 3d-television and watched the journal. The journalist said there was poverty on earth and that they invented a video phone in New-Mexico.
It’s only 7 ‘o clock, so I sat down in front of my school computer. You didn’t need to go to school if you had a computer. The exercises you don’t get will be explained by the teacher. I was ready at twelve ‘o clock, that’s two hours earlier than in the year 2000.
Then I read in the news paper that the hurricane Gregor had been in Mexico. That’s pretty bad, but maybe in 100 years everything has already changed.”

LOL. I frowned several times. (Driver’s license at 25?!)

The other boys had pretty much the same crazy and over-active imaginations about the future.

Boy 1 (13 years) made a fantastic wishlist of pure win for the future:
- flying cars and skateboards.
- driver’s license at 14
- driver’s license for a skateboard (because they can travel 100 kms per hour)
- a skateboard costs 100 guilders (old currency)
- cars run on solar energy and each car has a video phone.
- Video phone contains a real-time translator.
- phone costs are 1 cent per hour
- secondmachines that take you anywhere in just one second. He’d make a trip around all the countries in the world!
- it’s possible to fold all the things that were listed above into a small package that you can insert in your trouser’s pockets.
- the foot balls in 2010 will be softer, but if you kick it, it will go faster, because it contains some kind of motor. It’s a prevention against brain damage and the players will get better.
- the local club MVV will be the world champions in 2010.

Boy 2 (11 years) had written in a similar prose style like mine:
- He sits in front of the computer, and is being able to talk to televisions and command them to change channels. Televisions have four monitors so he can watch 4 programmes at once.
- chairs can move around and take things from his pockets, in this case a megaphone with video. the chair has tons of buttons!
- One push on a button and you become invisible …and transported in merely one second to Japan. The next moment he’s sitting next to his Japanese friend.
- Said friend suggests making a trip to the moon. Friend has a villa and has flying skateboards around it. They get two skateboards and fly to the closest rocket base.
- A trip to the moon costs “5300 Worlds”. They arrive three hours later at a space station and walk to the city on the moon between the aliens.
- They go back to Japan, and then back to Maastricht. Friend’s name is Juribashi (. . .).
- The boy’s mother has a limo, which can fold its wheels and fly.
- Fly into the shopping center through a window. His mother buys ordinary things like toothpaste and bread.
- The boy says “Mom you’re so old-fashioned, why do you never buy a kavariet*?” They go back home and he sits in front of the computer again.

*does not exist

I’m surprised about the currencies used. For an eleven year old kid I was pretty up-to-date about upcoming events, while Boy 1 obviously didn’t know about the currency change… the other resorted to a global currency.

- Why did I mention (New-)Mexico twice in my story?
- Guys, what’s with the flying skateboards?! ^^; Fast trips are good…
- Boy 1 and I are at odds at the driver’s licences…
- I was the only one who thought about environmental issues and general concern about the world. :’)
- Trips to the moon are popular.
- Boy 1 is probably disappointed the local club never made it to the nationals in 2010.
- aliens on the moon?!

What did become reality was the use of a long-distance video communication, added television functions, computer-based schooling, groceries at the doorstep, robotica in the workforce… real-time videophone translating, in the near future, probably?!

Somehow I did end up doing something with future lifestyle technologies and am currently writing a science fiction (the teacher said that I’d probably be a famous writer by now…. lol!). …and I’m still thinking about how to get the moon fertile for humans to live on…