{"id":573,"date":"2015-06-18T15:48:58","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T19:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/?p=573"},"modified":"2015-06-18T15:48:58","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T19:48:58","slug":"birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/?p=573","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Here’s one of those short stories I was telling you about<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\u201cNext,\u201d said the clerk sitting\u00a0behind window number 8\u2014eighth out of the ten windows that lined the wall of the Birthday Bureau processing center. The woman in front of the line of five moved about ten feet from the red line painted on the floor up to the window.<\/p>\n

Though an older woman, beyond ‘mature,’ she still had some rusty color laced through her silvering hair. She stood straight, proud and dignified but not arrogant, and was wearing a teacher’s dark purple tunic. Several insignia showed she taught with distinction. The loose, sagging flesh of her neck and jowls did not detract from her alert blue eyes, or her tight lips. Was it worry that tensed her brow, that made the fine lines of the crow’s feet around her eyes a little deeper?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 clerk looked up with a droopy, uninterested stare. He was a large, bulky man. A dark fringe of hair ringed his shiny bald head and matched the color of the bushy mustache that adorned his pudgy face. A dusty yellow civil tunic along with the short little maroon and chartreuse tie denoting a level 4 civil servant draped his considerable paunch. \u201cVictor Poochm,\u201d proclaimed his nametag.<\/p>\n

\u201cID, please,\u201d Victor Poochm said.<\/p>\n

The woman placed her thumb on the plate mounted in the ledge in front of the plasteel window. The clerk scanned the holo, transparent from the woman’s point of view, that projected before him. \u201cLook into the retinal scanner, please.\u201d A green square appeared on the window and the woman leaned forward slightly to look directly at the highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery good,\u201d said Victor, \u201cnow your personal cloud, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

She placed the data crystal implanted in her right forearm over the data scanner mounted in the ledge next to the thumbprint plate. With a flash the scanner uploaded the facts, details, and data of her entire life since the crystal was implanted at age three. The three methods of identification would be matched against records. Her personal cloud would be updated and stored for future reference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are 85 years old today,\u201d Victor Poochm said. \u201cHappy birthday,\u201d he added mechanically. \u201cGood of you to check in\u2014Rebecca Hoosier. Your 85th<\/span><\/sup> birthday is a very important date for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m required by law to report to the Birthday Bureau every year just like everyone else.\u201d She looked over her shoulder then back, there were at least 40 to 50 people in the center. \u201cAs you well know. So let’s cut the chit chat and get to business.\u201d Her eyes squinted down just the tiniest little bit and her lips pulled tighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Birthday Bureau was instituted nearly a century ago to review citizens’ performance on a yearly basis.\u201d Victor reeled off the statement he’d made countless times before. \u201cIt’s the citizens’ duty to perform to the best of their abilities and to report here on their birthdays. We don’t support those who don’t contribute. It’s pretty simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

She glared at him. \u201cJust get to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Deadpan, the clerk said: \u201cYou are a teacher.\u201d The woman continued to glare at him, her lips pulling inward at the corners. \u201cYou’ve had a good career it seems,\u201d he went on. \u201cHad a hand in the education of several thousand citizens in your lifetime. Some of your students have risen to social prominence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor looked over the holo projection for a moment then said, \u201cUnfortunately, Rebecca, in spite of your good performance, we don’t need your services anymore and you are dismissed.\u201d He spoke in a bored, mechanical tone, he’d said this many times in the past. \u201cYour records are updated and you are now officially unemployed.\u201d He looked at the woman through the holo with an \u201canything else?\u201d expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cDismissed?\u201d she said, unbelieving in spite of knowing its inevitability. \u201cDismissed?\u201d she reiterated with more force. \u201cDismissed? I taught the damn president!\u201d By now her eyes were squinted to slits and her lips were but a thin, straight line. Citizens in the center, as well as bureau strongarms scattered about the room turned to see what was happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did indeed help educate our current president, madam. You’ve obviously done a fine job,\u201d the clerk said, nervously glancing up at the overhead monitor that recorded everything. \u201cHowever, there are many eminently qualified, much younger teachers that need jobs. You’ve reached your mandatory retirement age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn’t mean I’m suddenly useless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor sighed. \u201cAs far as society is concerned, Rebecca, I’m afraid that it does. We can’t afford to support aging and failing citizens any more than we can support the disabled or the malingerers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not failing and I’m certainly not a malingerer!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps not at the moment. But statistics show a significant drop . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStatistics be damned!\u201d Rebecca said, eyes flashing.<\/p>\n

Victor let it go, he’d been through the argument too many times before. In an effort to defuse it he said contritely, \u201cI can’t help the way things are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman stood silent for a moment, her thoughts almost visible. \u201cSo what am I to do now?\u201d she said quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s up to you to decide, ma’am. Do you have relatives who will take you in?\u201d Grim, she shook her head. The clerk looked at the holo, \u201cHow about your savings?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can see,\u201d she said bitterly, \u201cat the triple premium unemployed must pay for goods and services it might last about a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInsurance?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cInsurance! Ha! Who can afford to pay the pirates?\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor shook his head. \u201cIt’s a shame we can’t support citizens who no longer earn their living, but the truth is they drag us down and we’re much better off not carrying the weight. You know this, you’re a teacher, you teach it to our citizens. We simply can’t afford to support anyone who is not contributing to the common good.\u201d He waved across his desktop and cleared his holo. \u201cMy advice to you, ma’am, is this: enjoy the year or so you have left and then do what everyone else does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTurn myself in to the Deathday Bureau? Have a Deathday Party?\u201d she said, appalled at finally uttering the thoughts that had been dominating her private moments for the past several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s much better to do it voluntarily than the alternatives, believe me. What else can you do?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll damned well think of something!\u201d she said as she turned and walked away, her disconsolate carriage belying her fighting spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext.\u201d Victor Poochm yawned.<\/p>\n

It was my turn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Here’s one of those short stories I was telling you about.) \u201cNext,\u201d said the clerk sitting\u00a0behind window number 8\u2014eighth out of the ten windows that lined the wall of the Birthday Bureau processing center. The woman in front of the line of five moved about ten feet from the red line painted on the floor … Continue reading Birthday Party<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chitlinchildren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}