Young Writers Society

"A widescreen iPod with touch controls," Steve said, stood on the stage before a throng of an audience. His words instantly earned him applause: clapping and cheering. But the Apple CEO wasn't done yet. "A revolutionary mobile phone. And the third, is a breakthrough internet communications device."

There were even more cheers from the audience, one man could even be seen punching the air at Steve's announcement of the revolutionary mobile phone. It was fantastic, a day both Steve and Apple had been looking forward to for a long time.

"An iPod, a phone, an internet communicator," More cheers began to erupt from the audience as they began to get the idea of what Steve was getting at. "Are you getting it? These are not three devices. This is one device!"

Steve held his index finger up to the masses as an indicator and soon they were cheering, and cheering loudly at that.

"And we are calling it..." Steve spoke with an air of Godliness in the room, he paused for effect as all great performers must. And then the word appeared on the screen, in unison with the word escaping from his mouth, "iPhone."

1972

"Wow..." Steve muttered as he held the circuit board in his hand. His eyes were fixed on it and he had to brush a strand of his long, brown hair out of his sharp eyes. He scratched his thick beard briefly before looking up at his friend, the man who'd designed the board. "Woz, this is awesome."

Steven "Woz" Wozniak had worked hard on the board that his close friend, Steve Jobs, currently held in his hand. Steve Jobs was a tall man and had a svelte frame. His long, auburn hair was brushed behind his ears and beard was neatly trimmed in a tamed manner. Woz, however. Had a rather different physique to that of Steve's. Woz was a man who carried a considerable amount of weight compared to Steve Jobs. His hair was much longer and much curvier and his beard was just a little less tame and orderly.

Woz shrugged his shoulders in something of a humble way and looked to the circuit board in Steve's hand, "Well I just... I... I... Like making cool toys for guys like us," Woz pressed the tip of his index finger to the bridge of his glasses to gently push them back up his nose.

"This is... This is brilliant, Woz. Barely anybody's making anything like this," Steve allowed a grin to spread on his lips, his eyes still fixed on the circuit board.

Woz shrugged again, ever the humble gentleman when it came to his work. Woz was, without a doubt, much more adept in the field of making circuit boards compared to Steve. Of course, Steve had often dropped in on engineering classes during his time at Reed College, both when in the six months he'd been officially attending classes and during the eighteen months after he'd dropped out.

"Well..." Woz trailed off, as he so often did, and at last Steve managed to peel his startled eyes away from the board and connected his gaze with that of Woz's.

Atari Inc. Office

Steve sat back in the chair that faced the wooden desk. The small circuit board was perched right in the centre of that desk and the man himself, behind the desk, was inspecting it intently.

Nolan Bushnell, co founder of Atari Inc., looked thoroughly interested. He reached out and picked up the circuit board, holding it between his stubby fingers and bringing it up to his eye line to inspect. His eyes narrowed just a fraction as he took a look at the small board.

"This is good..." Bushnell said and after a moment his stony face was carved into something resembling pleasure and interest. "This is very good Mr... What did you say your name was?"

"Jobs," Steve spoke in a courteous manner, despite the fact he was sat in the chair with his head resting on his arms behind him and his bare feet resting against the floor in a cross legged manner. "Steve Jobs."

"Well, Steve Jobs, I can tell that this is one very good board," Bushnell smiled as he placed the intricately made circuit board back down on the desk, "And I can say, quite confidently, that I would be happy to offer you a job as a technician on the spot. There's just one problem..."

Steve's brow furrowed at Bushnell's words, "What's the problem?"

Bushnell stood up and leant closer to Steve across the desk, lowering his voice to something just a decibel, above a whisper, "If you wanna work at Atari, y'gotta start wearing some shoes."

Bushnell nodded to Steve's bare feat and Steve chuckled, standing up and taking hold of Bushnell's hand, shaking it with a grin.

"I think you've just about got yourself a deal, Mr Bushnell," Steve smiled as he shook Bushnell's hand vigorously.

As he lay on the ground, a patchwork blanket between him and the deep green grass, Steve had one person on either side of him.

On the left was Steve's closest friend, Daniel Kottke. Kottke was young with a beard and glasses. His hoar was long and scraggly while his beard was unkempt. His hair was dark, his skin a little tanned.

One Steve's right was a beautiful young woman, her skin was fair and her hair was a warm orange. Her eyes were sharp and she stared up at the sky. She was Steve's girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan.

All three of them were laying on their backs and all three of them were high on LSD.

After what seemed like an hour of total and complete silence, nothing but the gently breeze rustling the grass permeating the air of quiet, Steve finally spoke.

"How can someone do that to their child?" He said, beginning his speech on a topic he would often broach when tripping. As a baby boy, Steve had been put up for adoption and the young man didn't have the slightest idea why. "How can they just abandon their own baby son like that? As far back as I can remember Paul and Clara Jobs have been my parents.... But I've gotta wonder, who are my real parents? Why did they just abandon me like that? Why..."

Steve trailed off and Kottke spoke wing out turning to look at his friend, "No offence man... But that's kinda depressing."

A small, shining tear rolled down Steve's cheek as the sky was attacked by warm colours as sunset drew in, "Well I'm sorry my life is ruining your high, Daniel."

Chris rolled over and leant up, so that she could stare down into her boyfriends eyes. She gently cupped his cheek in her hand and whispered softly, "Oh Steve...."

Steve didn't day anything and when Chris leant down and pressed her lips against his in a passionate kiss, he closed his eyes. Chris and Steve held the kiss for a while before she finally pulled away to whisper to his lips, "I love you Steve...."

"I love you too..." Steve said quietly and he kissed her again, the sun setting in a beautiful way over their heads.