by M J Dees
“Why did he say that?”
“I don’t think he realised he was being recorded.”
“Jesus.”
News on the big stretch moved on.
“Looks like there’s friction between the Unity police and the regular police,” Annabel commented. “But what does it amount to?”
“Power,” said Jim. “Power in the hands of Unity, half a million armed police, instruments of the state, the mood of the inebriated millions.”
“I can’t see who’ll save us,” said Annabel. “Look, Martin has left the country.”
“So we are losing our scientists as well.”
Chapter Fourteen - 19 years 6 months before the collapse
“At least we get to see each other more,” said Annabel. “That’s one benefit of not trusting social media.”
Isa and Charlotte laughed. Annabel laughed with them, but she was struggling to convince herself. Jim watched her with concern. Every morning she would wake in tears, and every day there would be some point she would break down in hysterics.
He tried to protect Olivia by keeping her from seeing Annabel’s lowest moments. Taking her to the nursery and picking her up again gave Annabel a break three days a week.
He knew it was a combination of the political situation and their inability to get credit to finish the house, and he knew he was helpless to do anything about either.
Jim turned his attention back to Elijah, who looked as depressed as Annabel.
“I’m the most threatened at work,” Elijah speculated. “Because they hired me at the university when Novak was the minister.”
“Did you get the circular asking non-Unity members to leave all committees and not give grades?”
“Ridiculous, and the one about not failing students who are Unity members. I can’t look at my stretch without seeing propaganda. Last week, on Roberts’ birthday...”
“God, that was unbearable, wasn’t it?”
“I wasn’t sure whether they were celebrating or trembling with slavish fear.”
“I almost believe that we will never see the end of this,” said Jim. “I’m almost used to having my rights taken away, I’m not a Unity member so I should feel lucky to be alive.”
“One reason I daren’t look at my stretch is that I saw Roberts at his big rally with all the police around him and the media.”
“I saw. Everyone was watching.”
“And the bloody singing, it drives me mad, all this Roberts is saving the country bullshit.”
“One day at a time,” Jim sighed.
“Tell me about your property,” Elijah tried to brighten the conversation.
“They’re only just finishing the fence. But it’s impossible to look forward to a property, we can’t get the finance. We have gardening tools and trees, we want to go up there and do some digging.”
“And your writing?”
“I can barely write anything at the moment. How about you?”
“I’m too obsessed about this Roberts` business. His decision to persecute socialists and foreigners will decide the fate of Unity. I don’t understand why he had made this idea so central. It will sink him, I think. But he may take us down with him.”
“I doubt it. The flag shaggers love it. He’s got them all up in arms about the IMP’s[4] policy on trade deficits and surpluses. Our trade deficit means we’re meant to pay more to international development. They hate foreigners and socialists more by the day, blaming them for all the country’s problems. And which countries have the largest deficits?”
“The UK and the US?”
“And who has successfully elected far right governments?”
“The UK and the US.”
“Exactly, and who has refused to sign up to the new digital international trading currency?”
“You’re not going to make me say it, are you?”
“And who is refusing to cooperate with the international human movement project?”
“Okay, I get the picture.”
*
Jim sat, looking at his stretch, not quite believing what he was reading and yet knowing it was inevitable. It was only a question of when.
We have given professor Elijah Brown a leave of absence from the university until further notice, effective immediately.
Jim was sad for Elijah, but he was also angry because it was another professor who had informed on Elijah for giving grades when Unity had prohibited them. Jim was also angry at Elijah for his flagrant flouting of the regulations. The professor said Elijah had broken his promise not to give grades, but Jim knew that Elijah had given no such promise. Jim considered who might be next. Fernandez? Smirnoff? Silva? Mohamed? They were the only remaining professors who hadn’t joined Unity, apart from Jim himself.
*
He walked up to meet Annabel and Ava on the plot, and it relieved him to see that Annabel seemed much calmer. A day of planting trees had done her the world of good, and Olivia was playing on the grass.
“Why don’t we all go for a coffee at that place on the hill?” Jim suggested.
To his delight, Annabel and Ava agreed and before long they sat at a window overlooking the valley and Olivia was covering her face with an ice cream.
“I have some good news,” Jim announced. “Tomorrow, I have an appointment with another bank. Maybe we will get a loan.”
“Do you think your salary is enough?” Annabel asked.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
“How is your lecturing going, Mr Smith?” asked Ava, perhaps uncomfortable about the talk of money.
“Quiet,” said Jim. “I don’t intend to give any grades, unlike Elijah.”
“What’s happened?” asked Annabel, smelling a rat.
“They gave Elijah a leave of absence for the foreseeable future. I thought we should pop in to see them on the way home.”
“Poor Isa,” Annabel mused. “Yes, we should see them. Oh, Mrs Gonzalez called me earlier. Her son has had to join Unity.”
“I think they have ordered the military to join.”
“Jim gave her son a reference to get him in the Army,” Annabel explained to Ava.
“That was long before this Roberts’ business, though,” Jim was quick to clarify.
Annabel took Jim by the hand.
“Darling? Now that Elijah has gone, it’s only a matter of time before they get rid of you.”
“Don’t worry.” Jim forced a smile. “Devi is on my side. He voted for the opposition.”
“But that’s no guarantee...”
“No, but I think he’s embittered by all of this.”
*
“Garcia recommended you, Mr Thomas,” said Jim, settling into the chair in front of the bank manager’s desk. “He said he was 99% sure that you could help.”
Thomas looked at a tablet on his desk.
“You requested a loan to build a home.”
“That’s right,” said Jim, full of expectation.
Thomas frowned.
“That won’t be possible.”
It took Jim aback. It was not the response he had been expecting.
“But... I don’t understand.”
“We are not in a position to grant your request at this moment,” said Thomas, without looking up.
“But I already paid you.”
“That is a non-refundable application fee.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Mr Smith, in the current climate we receive many applications, most of which we cannot grant, so the application fee helps sort the wheat from the chaff, if you like.”
“But I paid my application fee.”
“Yes, and we processed your request, but I’m afraid that with your profile we do not consider you a manageable risk for us at the moment.”
“My profile?”
Thomas sighed.
“Need I spell it out for you, Mr Smith?”
“Yes, I think you need to.”
Thomas looked disappointed.
�
�Our projections suggest that non-Unity members are likely to be a high credit risk.”
“Why?”
Thomas lost his patience.
“Because you won’t have a job this time next year, Mr Smith. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do for you.”
Thomas stood up, moved to the door, and opened it.
Jim watched him, still absorbing the news. Then he got up and walked out in silence.
He walked along the street and wondered what he would say to Annabel. She had gone up to the property with Olivia. She wanted to paint and varnish the fence. Coming and going from the property cost money for the Ride each time, and when she returned, she was still not satisfied. Jim’s savings had dried up, as had his writing. He worried about his heart and had an overwhelming sensation that the end was near.
Annabel would be back at home by now. It was their wedding anniversary and Jim had promised her they would have something to celebrate. He contemplated not going home, but where else would he go? He would have to face the music, eventually.
When Olivia heard Jim enter the flat, she rushed up to him in tears.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get you on your stretch?” said Annabel. “It’s Wilks. He must have been in a fight, or something. Look,”
Annabel led Jim to the Veranda where he was lying on his mat. “We have to take him to the vet.”
Jim bundled Wilks up in a towel and they took him to see Dr Muller.
While the vet examined Wilks, they sat in the waiting room. Jim was preoccupied by how much the bill was likely to be.
“I’ve cleaned the wound. It needed a few stitches, so we had to sedate and anaesthetise him,” Dr Muller explained when he had finished. “He will need to take some antibiotics to prevent infection and we will need to schedule another appointment to have the stitches removed.”
Jim paid the bill.
At home, Wilks slept off his sedation, and they put Olivia to bed. Annabel and Jim sat on the sofa, half watching the big stretch while paying more attention to their own stretches.
“How did it go at the bank today?” Annabel asked the question Jim had been dreading.
He shook his head. Annabel turned back to her stretch. Jim was relieved there had been no song and dance.
“The Cohen’s are leaving the country,” Annabel mumbled. “Leaving their child with its grandmother and taking their savings with them to make a fresh start somewhere. Logan and Alex are both considering emigrating.”
Jim knew that would be that for the evening, and he watched his philodendron plant, the only thing that didn’t upset him and that he didn’t need to worry about.
*
Wilks sat being pampered by Olivia while Annabel and Jim watched Roberts’ speech on the big stretch.
“Sanctions, oil prices, exchange rates, increased need for military spending and the international left trying to weaken our country’s economy are all challenges this government has had to confront,” he said. “We want to live at peace with the world and I have almost committed suicide trying to keep other nations happy by meeting their demands for our quota of the refugees which keep flooding into the region.”
Jim thought that all that was missing were floods of crocodile tears.
“Our continued need for military spending is a consequence of the nuclear legacy. Too many of the weapons from the old superpowers are in the hands of small unstable states and terrorist organisations. We would be happy to disarm if other countries did likewise.”
‘Bullshit,’ thought Jim.
“Our neighbours in Europe are profiting from both our misfortunes and the East, West, North divide. The East has entered unholy alliances and, if they are not careful, they will go the same way as the far east.”
“What does he mean?” Annabel asked.
“I think he’s playing the old innocent,” said Jim. “Blaming everyone else for our problems.”
“With your help, your devotion and your drive, we will keep on working, we will keep on fighting, and we will keep on winning, winning, winning,” Roberts continued. “We are one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. Britain will soon thrive, like never before because, ladies and gentlemen, the best is yet to come. Together we will make Britain wealthy again, we will make Britain strong again, we will make Britain proud again, we will make Britain safe again, and we will make Britain great again.”
Following the speech, the big stretch summarised the reactions from foreign governments, almost all of which were positive and optimistic.
“We’re doomed,” said Jim. “If he’s eased foreign relations, then we’ll be stuck with him forever.”
Annabel was silent. He turned and realised she had fallen asleep again. He was happy that this had been a good day for her. No weeping or screaming. Apart from going to the property to paint the fence, she didn’t leave the house, and she gave up on all the hobbies which used to keep her busy. If it wasn’t for needing to look after Olivia, she might do nothing at all.
Jim was still livid about Thomas cheating him out of his money. It didn’t seem wise in the current climate for a man in Jim’s position to make a fuss, but he felt that if he didn’t make a complaint, then Garcia and Nguyen would think he was frightened, and they would be right.
He had postponed the notice on the flat until October 1st and had developed an almost constant ache in the stomach, but didn’t go to the doctor for fear of worrying Annabel even more. Jim’s father had died at 56, and Jim wondered whether that’s how long he would have’ too.
Jim resolved to invite some old friends over. Tony Jackson would come through town next month, and it would be the perfect excuse to reminisce about London. Anything to bring Annabel out of her current stupor was worth trying.
Chapter Fifteen – 19 years and 4 months before the collapse
“It’s a coordination day for pharmaceutical sales reps from all over the region,” Tony explained. “Unity ordered it, of course.”
“How did you get into that?” Jim asked.
“You know me, anything to keep on the straight and narrow. Business is not good though, but it will pick up again and when it does, I will buy a pharmacy in the city.”
“You seem full of hope,” commented Mia Rodriguez.
“I revolve in my tiny circle,” said Tony. “I joined Unity.”
“I hate them,” Dan Knight surprised everyone with his honesty. “I don’t hold it against you though, Tony, you want to get on and that’s your business.”
“My brother has a post in Unity,” said Evelyn Ahmed from the corner.
“Everything will work itself out,” said Mia. “In the meantime, I just work hard and keep my head down.”
“Have you lost weight, Mia?” Annabel asked.
“I have lost a bit, yes. To be honest, I haven’t been well.”
“Are you still working as a social worker?” Jim asked.
“Yes, I think because I was a nurse in the military, they overlooked the fact that I hadn’t joined Unity.”
“They’ve placed me on temporary retirement,” said Amelia Ivanov, who was also sitting in the corner with her sister and Evelyn. “They said only a member of Unity could hold my post.”
“What are you doing now?” asked Jim.
“We’ve moved in with our brother,” said Amelia.
“It’s a terrible business,” said Jim.
“You should move somewhere with no fibre optic to take your mind off your stretch,” said Evelyn.
“Do you realise what is going on, Evelyn?” Jim asked. “My colleague, Asher, has had to take on the work Unity prohibits me from doing because I am not a member.”
“How is the job?” asked Tony.
“I have three at some lectures, twenty at others. My most enthusiastic student is Abigail Lopez, the Unity student leader.”
“So it’s not all bad,” said Evelyn.
“I suppose not,” admitted Jim. “I helped the Gonzalez family get their bo
y into the Army. They are anti-Roberts, but they forced their son to join Unity.”
“And how about the writing?” asked Tony.
“It’s funny you ask. I was achieving nothing, and then I got two writing offers out of the blue. One from Kim and one from Papadopoulos that Annabel can help me with.”
“That’s great,” said Tony in his usual upbeat way.
“Yes, but it will be a lot of work,” said Jim, finding the cloud around the silver lining. “I also sent my work-in-progress to Martinez, hoping he wants to publish it, but so far no reply.”
“Tell them about that business with Thomas,” Annabel suggested.
“I’m sending my complaint tomorrow,” said Jim after he had recounted the story. “Otherwise, Garcia will think I am trying to protect Thomas because he is not in Unity like us, which is what Thomas is counting on.”
*
“Seven years,” said Annabel.
“Seven,” Jim agreed.
“You get less for armed robbery,” David Rossi joked. “I can’t remember when I first met Charlotte. Don’t tell her. I hope you don’t mind me intruding on your anniversary.”
“It’s only the anniversary of the day we met, not our wedding anniversary,” said Jim.
“Even so.”
“You are always welcome here,” said Annabel. “We need all the friends we can get right now.”
“I hear that,” said David. “Did you see Moore resigned yesterday?”
“Yes, they’ve dissolved,” said Jim. “That means that Unity is the only party now.”
“I’ve lost all courage,” said Annabel.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” said David. “Tell me, what’s new in your world?”
“I just got a message from Martinez. He works at Hernandez and Jackson. He’s asked me not to push for publication of my paper because the publishers are full of not very qualified ‘nugget’ cells supervising publication. He doesn’t want any excellent papers ruined. I decided not to pursue it. What would be the point?”
“You should only do things if they compel you to,” said Annabel. “You shouldn’t reject your beliefs of your own accord.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, don’t worry, David, I’ve been living off some work I got from Papadopolous. Hernandez and Jackson can just end my contract if I don’t deliver any work. But Papadopolous still has to approve it, and I think he’s likely to pass that decision onto the publisher.”