Chapter 2

1. Citizens must meet with the accepted physical, mental, sexual, and spiritual standards. Deviation from these norms is an offence.

2. Citizens must carry their identification cards at all times. Failure to do so is an offence.

3. Aiding or abetting a non-citizen is an offence.

These were the three principal laws. From these, all other laws stemmed. Each one strictly enforced ‘for the benefit of society’ as the advertisements never grew tired of announcing. They’d been introduced at the tail end of the Great Cleansing.

The Great Cleansing, as every citizen understood, had been a reaction to the increasing discord and outright violence generated by both overpopulation and by a global society who were unable to cope with the ever increasing freedoms available to them. With crime rates soaring, increased terrorist attacks, and standards of acceptable behavior, in general, plunging, the hidden elite had decided it was time for another war. The war had been a cover. It provided a means to address the problem of overpopulation and to introduce a new world order. Entire nations were wiped out with terrifying weapons so advanced, so discreet, that not a single shot had been fired. Targeted first were the non-western centers of overpopulation—China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The elite, through their government puppets, had long ago made known the irritation they felt stemming from the centuries-old conflicts in the Middle-East, in places such as Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, as well as those in Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan, and had likewise laid waste to the populations of those regions. Drugs had been added to the water supplies of poorer countries in Africa, south-east Asia, and South America to render the populations in those areas infertile. Depopulation by this method was less instantaneous, but Rome, as the old saying went, had not been constructed in a single day.

In the western world, where the elite had its various headquarters, the population was merely thinned out. Citizens who were mentally or physically disabled, elderly, or in any other way impaired or incapacitated, were now considered non-citizens according to the normalcy laws and therefore eliminated, usually by means of lethal injection or, equally as lethal, by bullet. Citizens found practicing any of the established religions, one of the major sources of discord before the Great Cleansing, were similarly eliminated. Spirituality was encouraged. Religion was prohibited. Homosexuality, bisexuality, and any other form of sexuality that deviated from the stated norm of a single man and woman union were outlawed. Those found to be engaging in anything other than heterosexual sex were eliminated.

It was therefore no surprise that the sight of a white van had Michael’s heart pounding. Having been attracted to men his entire life meant Michael lived every day since the normalcy laws were introduced in fear of being arrested and eliminated. A patrolling white van was the last thing he needed for while there was no proof of his homosexuality, a single thirty-nine year old man, especially one blessed with model-good looks as Michael was, would draw suspicion. And once suspicion had been drawn, it was like gum on the bottom of your shoe—next to impossible to remove completely.

From a distance, Michael and Rebecca could be mistaken for a typical family unit. Since moving in with his sister Michael had been able to sleep a little easier at night. Only on one occasion had the Black Guards followed him home. As he climbed the front steps and approached the front door he had called out to Rebecca as loudly as he dared so that she would come to the front door. “Hug me,” he had said as she opened the door. And as they hugged he had asked, “Have they gone?” After a short pause she replied, “Yes.”

They returned to Rebecca’s car. While she was buckling the children into their seats, the white van pulled up alongside them, effectively blocking their exit.

“Mamma, look!” said Kim, pointing.

“Yes, I know, sweetie,” said Rebecca, pulling her daughter’s hand down and placing it in her lap. “But we don’t point at people.”

Michael stood waiting behind Rebecca, who was checking Nathan’s safety belt. He felt uncomfortable, strangely vulnerable. Rebecca at least had the children to distract her. All he could do was look at the tinted windows of the white van. He dare not smile or wave in case they considered it a sign he had something to hide. He dare not ignore them, either. That could be also construed as the actions of someone who had a skeleton in their closet.

Rebecca, having assured herself that the children were safe and comfortable, shut the car door. They glanced briefly at each other. Michael had thought about putting an arm around Rebecca, but decided that would look like too obvious a display of marital affection. Every muscle in his body was tense. Why aren’t they leaving?They couldn’t stand there indefinitely, staring at the darkened windows behind which the Black Guards were doing God-knows-what.