Here's the latest installment of my current dark scifi project. This is chapter 10. If you're just tuning in, consider starting with chapters 1 and 2. Be advised that this work considers difficult subjects, including suicide. If you're in crisis, please seek help. Help is available here.
Wielding a giant paddle, Anabelle pried one ton bricks of clothes apart, sorting usable garments from rags as best she could. The rags went into a great heaping pile next to the loading dock. The good stuff went onto a conveyor belt to the neighboring laundry room, where it was steamed and folded before being brought out into the store.
Anabelle liked paddle duty better than laundry duty because she hated folding clothes. The only downside to it was that the laundry room controlled the radio. And today, instead of music, it was talk radio, which meant hearing the same few stories again and again. The White House Strategist who admitting to using drugs on camera. Four unrelated mass shootings in different parts of the country. A celebrity coming out as trans. And a NASA group's finding that some observed aerial phenomena couldn't be explained.
Not caring about any of this, all Anabelle wanted was to be off work drinking a cold beer. That's what she wanted, despite her promise to Bonnie about drinking. Finishing her shift, Anabelle went home and got cleaned up. She tried to buy a bottle of malt liquor at her corner bodega and they refused to sell to her. So she went back to her building and asked Ray to get her some booze.
"I thought you said you quit that," said Ray, smoking one of his thin cigars. "Want a cigar?"
"Sure," said Anabelle, sitting down.
"What did you think of the Hunter Domino interview?" asked Ray, handing her a cigar and a lighter. "Aside from the fact that Jo Lazarus and Tom Wilkins started holding hands during the show."
"I didn't see it," said Anabelle. "Heard about it all day on talk radio, though. I guess he was high and talking about dope on camera?"
"Oh shit," said Ray. "You don't know. Here, I'll pull it up. Just watch it."
Humoring her friend, Anabelle watched. Then she watched again. "Oh my god," she said. "I know that guy! He catcalled me!"
Ray chuckled. "Did you hear the part about the mandate?" he asked. "Or the part where the whole Syndrome is a lie?"
"Well, duh," said Anabelle. "I thought everyone already knew that. I mean, how could they not?"
"It's different hearing one of them say it," said Ray. "Domino is a serious guy. You know they're talking about charging him with treason? Saying 321SIM was a state secret that he leaked."
"Have they caught him yet?" asked Anabelle.
"Nope," said Ray. "He was last seen at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagra Falls, headed to Ontario."
"Hope he gets away," said Anabelle. "Do they ever get away?"
"Snowden got away to Russia," said Ray. "But here's the thing. Ever since the interview went live, public officials all over the country have been posting their own confession videos. Talking about how they let the public down, all kinds of stuff. They're calling it the Domino Effect on Reddit."
"That's cool, I guess," said Anabelle. "So then, is something going to change?"
"It might," said Ray. "If we change it."
"My friend Bonnie paid for me to come here, then went around to everyone in our church congregation and asked them to pony up their share," said Anabelle. "See, the Pastor mistreated me, and Bonnie said that they were all partly responsible."
"No shit?" said Ray slowly. "Sorry about all that."
"Point is, Bonnie has a way of changing things that I can wrap my head around," said Anabelle. "I was ... I was gonna do something stupid and she saved me. Changed everything for me. I'll tell you what, she wouldn't like me drinking."
"Sounds like a real nice lady," said Ray. "But you know I'm not getting you a bottle after you said all that."
"Yeah, I know," sighed Anabelle, puffing her cigar. "So you think this insurance mandate thingy is a big deal?"
"Could be," said Ray. "Down the line, though. Maybe next year. Unless we can figure out a way to stop it."
"I sorta remember people talking about the Obama insurance mandate, and how they hated it," said Anabelle. "But old people in Arkansas complain about everything."
"This isn't like that," said Ray. "Most of it's still secret. But another White House staffer leaked a briefing, so we know something. See, all the stuff they've been doing to contain 321 Syndrome, to contain the disease that doesn't exist, it all costs money. People being locked up and drugged against their will, and now the politicians want the people being oppressed to start footing the bill for their own oppression."
"Shit," said Anabelle.
"Yeah, and the numbers in that leak are scary," said Ray. "Over two million people currently undergoing treatment for 321 Syndrome. They're saying it'll be like mandatory car insurance. Like, if you're walking down the street and you get stopped by the cops, you better have the insurance, otherwise you get big fines and maybe end up locked up, too."
"That sucks," said Anabelle. "Is there any way to stop it?"
"Hey Ray!" said a passing bicyclist. "Emergency session tonight at nine. You in? Your friend can come too if she's cool."
"Yeah, I'm in," said Ray.
"I'm cool!" said Anabelle.
"Then you can come," said the bicyclist, nodding and pedaling away.
"Emergency session of what?" asked Anabelle.
"We're called RAW," said Ray. "Reclaiming Ancient Wisdom. We trip on mushrooms and talk about stuff together. Let the medicine speak through us, give us a different perspective. It might help with your alcohol cravings. Sure helped with mine. But it's definitely not for everyone, and maybe it isn't your thing."
"I'll try it," said Anabelle. "How much does it cost?"
"Don't worry about that part just yet," said Ray. "There are some risks to consider. Do you have bipolar or borderline personality disorder? The medicine can make those things worse."
"Not that I know of," said Anabelle. "Did it really help with your drinking?"
"It got me to stop," said Ray. "But it's the AA meetings keep me from going back to it. You ever try one of those?"
"Pastor Jeff ran the meeting in my hometown," said Anabelle. "I guess that kinda turned me off from the whole thing. Plus, isn't there a bunch of stuff about surrendering your life to God? Far as I'm concerned, if God exists, he can go diddle a porcupine."
"What your higher power is is up to you," said Ray, chuckling. "Tell you what, I'll bring you along tonight if you come to a meeting with me tomorrow."
"You will?" asked Anabelle. "Okay then. Do I need to do anything to get ready?"
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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