After six o'clock in the evening, the city already seemed like a desert without people around or garbage manipulated by the wind. Stray animals quickly adapted and hid, escaping robotic guards once the curfew alarm goes off.
There was no doubt that Cleveland was beautiful, but at a high cost; that's the price you pay for more security and peace of mind. The poverty rate has decreased, as well as mortality and crime. Here you must lower your head before the imposed rules, you cannot let those bastards touch you for disobeying or it will be the last thing you will feel.
Cleveland's new government was manipulative and harsh, yet it let some things slide; the people did not know it, but the high leaders did.
In an abandoned theater, already consumed by time, rubble, and holes that breathed air pollution, lived two ragged homeless people over 50 years old.
Ralph was the name of one of them; he had a thicker beard than his companion; who was half-beardless. He wore a red cap stained with grease and oil. His face was always shiny from the accumulation of dirt. His cheeks were huge and round, like a doll's; and he always wore the same warm and worn clothes, because he said that with those same rags he was elected governor of the city.
His partner was Chris, and he is the smiliest person you could ever meet. He thought everything Ralph said was a joke, especially when he talked about his days as the supposed governor of Cleveland. He didn't believe him, but that didn't bother Ralph, since Chris's company was pleasant to him; Well, he was a person who listened and with whom you could talk about any subject.
Even though the place they chose to live in was a complete mess, they had more than they needed. In one of the pillars that supported the ceiling, a holographic television of the highest technology was placed, which could be stretched to the size that the user wanted; with Premium channels, even prohibited by law for the majority of citizens.
The great stage of the theater where they rested, was full of furniture, empty food bags, soda cans for boxes, and three refrigerators where they kept meat and sausages. They had knick-knacks by the oodles, but every time they consumed something and finished it, they tossed it aside as if the ground under their feet was the garbage can.
They each had their double bed, much more comfortable than that of any middle-class Clevelander, but they always used the same sheets; worn, stained, and riddled with food corpuscles. Every morning when Chris got out of his bed, a colony of cockroaches would rise and flee for cover. Some flew and settled on the walls, this new breed of insects seemed more intelligent, who would have thought, right?
Ralph and Chris had everything they could want, but stinky bums weren't welcome in the new Cleveland, so they always stayed in their twisty, comfortable palace. Even though the fluid from her armpits already needed antiperspirants. Even though his entire body has been consumed by the wild smell of horse. Even though her disheveled hair hid colonies of nits about to migrate to other more intimate areas. They were happy, but Ralph wasn't quite.
He was telling the truth to Chris, before the new Cleveland was established, he was the governor. Ralph liked to talk a lot about those days, he didn't care that he only had Chris to do it; his mocking laugh was like a companion tune to him. The life Ralph leads now is because the new Cleveland government has given it to him. The former governor of Cleveland has told Chris almost everything, but not that specific part, and Chris is not interested as he just wants to watch TV and eat. Ralph still longs for those days, but fleetingly, he now just watches men on television playing leaders with half promises.
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