The Birth of Dystopia

by A. Q. Moser

  “You did that expose on the Senator?” Wolfgang looked to May surprised.

  May nodded. “That was what gave me the foot in the door at the Daily Toronto newspaper at the tender age of nineteen. From there my journalistic skills were highly regarded and I was given bigger stories to cover. I moved up the ranks fast. I think this was only possible with the help of Aerial’s list,” she divulged the last part in a softer tone. “That was it.”

  Every detail was jotted down. Cadet seemed to have a knack for transcribing on the fly. He then proceeded to copy out May’s list for his personal record.

  “Are you sure that’s it?” Billy checked as though May was holding back some details.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’m a journalist and details are very important to me.” May held her ground and stared Billy down.

  Giving up, Billy crossed his arms as if he had enough.

  Finished, Cadet returned the list to May. “It’s an interesting read.”

  Wolfgang rubbed his shaven chin. “I’ve got a perplexing question for everyone. I observed Tamme persistently asking how we got together. Why would he ask this if the subliminal message was delivered by his organization?”

  Cadet pointed at himself. “I don’t know.”

  “What’s your theory?” May requested Wolfgang.

  “It’s possible we were never supposed to have met. In science, depending on the experiment of course, it’s common to separate the test animals at the pre-clinical phase thus ensuring a better control over the conditions of the subjects. Given we’re never to have met, and our first dream was the steamboat dream that united us. Could it be that this dream wasn’t from them?” Wolfgang questioned.

  “What are you gettink at?” Billy asked for clarification to Wolfgang’s train of thought.

  “He’s saying that there might be a supernatural connection.” May rephrased the comment.

  “I don’t know about that.” Wolfgang cut it short on anything to do with the divine aspect.

  All speculation aside, the military tried to play god by experimenting with our minds. And whether they intended it or not, we got linked up mentally and we experienced the same nightmares.

  “Let’s remember one think, Tamme is a liar tryink to play us. He’s on the other team so don’t forget it,” Billy bellowed.

  “In my experience as a journalist, people always reveal some underlying truth unknowingly whether it be through idiosyncrasies or words,” May enlightened.

  “I disagree with that girl over there.” Billy pointed.

  “Hey, I’m not that girl.” May bore a subtle frown as if she was insulted.

  “What? You can’t take a joke?” Billy grinned and then smacked me on my back.

  “Hey, stop it!” I reacted to the rudeness.

  “Is there anymore juice?” Wolfgang requested.

  “Woe, Mister Sensitive all of a sudden.” Billy turned to the fridge. “Check the fridge,” he said to Wolfgang with kinder words.

  No matter what Billy did, he would not be able to bother me without a fight. He should think twice before trying anything against me. I was a new me and the new me would stand up to anyone who dared to upset me.

  Seeing I was not accepting his abusive behaviour, Billy leaned over to catch a glimpse of Cadet’s scribbling. “What’s the plan, Caddie Haddie?”

  Upon hearing the rudimentary nickname, Cadet perked up the side of his nose and bore a few teeth as part of a wary facial gesture. He inverted his paper drawing to show us and thus move past the cheeky insult. He pointed to a rectangle with an X in it. “The X represents where Aerial’s shop is at the corner of Ellinton and Scarlet Street.” He looked around for any objections. “Billy and Joel will go in first and park on Ellinton Street, south of the shop, across the parking lot.” He pointed to a second, smaller rectangle to represent our position. “Both of you will stay in the car keeping a vigil lookout for any suspicious activity. I will go with May and Wolfgang and be dropped off one block north of the shop before Scarlet Street.” He pointed to a third rectangle. “I’ll walk in from there. Wolfgang and May will stay put in the car also being on the lookout. The portable two-way VHF FM communication radios should be fine within a three block radius. If anything bad goes down, then the code word is firehouse and―”

  “Firehouse? That sucks.” Billy disagreed. “How about windtreat?”

  “Isn’t that the name of one of your songs?” May inquired.

  “Yeah, so what? It sounds better than firehouse,” Billy undermined.

  “I vote for windtreat,” Wolfgang sided.

  “Are you guys for real?” May objected. “This isn’t a game. So stop fooling around.”

  “Ohhhh, I’m scared.” Billy mischievously covered his head.

  Wolfgang laughed at Billy’s reaction. This encouraged Billy to hide under the table and pretend to cry.

  Still pointing at the rectangle, Cadet was not amused. “Fine! Windtreat it is. Everybody leaves following a different route back here. Any problems at all, drive away.”

  “What about you?” I asked Cadet.

  “I’ll find my way here on my own,” Cadet assured. “I lived in a junkyard alone. I think I can handle myself.”

  “So what are you doing when you get there?” I asked for clarification of the plan.

  “I’m going to pretend to be a customer and talk to Aerial. If she’s not home I’m going to break-in and explore her place.” Cadet had a serious look on his face.

  “So we’re not kidnappink her?” Disappointed, Billy seemed to want an all-out Armageddon on Aerial.

  “I don’t think Aerial will do anything bad to us,” May said. “She’s not a bad person.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Billy returned, expecting the worst.

  “We should inform Bruno and Giselle to scope the neighbourhood in case anything happens while we’re gone,” Cadet directed Billy. “Actually have them also leave the front drapes down for now. On first sight of trouble, have them raise the drapes as a signal for us not to come back. In this case, we need to meet at a crowded area. We’ll rendezvous at the underground bridge at the mall on Jolin Street where we dropped off the station wagon.”

  “Sure thing, captain.” Billy saluted Cadet in a prankish fashion. Such an over the top gesture was hard to tell whether he would cooperate with the orders so that we could work together.

  Cadet turned to May. “Can you get me a turtleneck sweater? I saw one in my room.”

  “Let me go to the washroom first. I’m so nervous.” May excused herself.

  “Joel and Wolfgang check each vehicle to ensure no mechanical failure. I’ll check the communication system. We meet in the garage in five minutes.” Cadet took the helm and steered it to action.

  Into the covert plan, Wolfgang skipped out first along with Cadet to the garage. I followed them but not before catching a quick glimpse of what Billy was doing. At a blistering snail’s pace, he eased out of the chair dissatisfied over the new course of action.

  51

  The undecorated garage no longer housed the maroon minivan with the tinted windows we drove in on. It was replaced with two different vehicles conveniently facing the garage door: a second minivan in cobalt blue and a silver SUV. Both vehicles had with tinted side and back windows. Each vehicle was in pristine condition and had that new paint shine.

  Wolfgang retrieved two sets of keys from the doorway. “Since Bruno trashed the other minivan last night, we got two new cars tonight. Do you prefer the minivan or SUV?”

  “It doesn’t matter with me.” I had no preference, though I doubt Billy would pick the ride the minivan over the SUV.

  “Here take these.” Wolfgang handed one set to me of keys to me. With the other key set, he pressed a key button to electronically open the hood of the SUV.

  Having no mechanical experience, all I knew about cars was how to drive them and check if the gas tank was full. So I walked over to the minivan and unlocked the driver’s side door. The minivan started fi
ne and had three quarters of the tank full. I was done as far as I was concerned.

  By the side of the minivan, Cadet shuffled through the duffel bag looking for the communication radios. He wrapped a black wire around his neck over his throat pertaining to the microphone and placed the clear earpiece part in his ear canal. Then he turned on the two-way radios. “Test, testing, test, testing. All set.” He looked my way and displayed a thumb’s up.

  Fiddling over the engine of the SUV, Wolfgang tugged at various metal parts and tubes until he was satisfied. He slammed the hood down and went inside to examine the dashboard dials. “This one checks out.”

  “My car is fine too,” I informed Wolfgang.

  Cadet handed out the two-way radios, one to me and the other to Wolfgang. He glanced over each vehicle. “I’ll take the blue one.” He pointed to the minivan.

  “That’s mine. I thought you were going with Wolfgang and May?” I questioned the decision since it diverged from the original plan.

  “I need a dark colour car for coverage,” Cadet explained his decision. “Switch it up.”

  “The SUV has more horsepower and so is faster.” Taking a liking to the SUV, Wolfgang tried to convince Cadet to the contrary.

  “Never underestimate the power of camouflage over speed,” Cadet clarified.

  The precision behind Cadet’s ground plan was a definite plus for our side but I had a strange feeling that he was pushing his newfound authority a little too far. Billy and Wolfgang appeared to be taking the orders well for the time being but what I have seen in the past, it was a matter of time before one of them would snap back.

  “Joel, go call everyone,” Cadet pointed to the door to the house.

  Obedient, I left the two-way radio in the minivan and proceeded inside. “May, Billy, we’re ready to leave,” I hollered from the hallway next to the stacked washer and dryer.

  “Relax, I’m comink,” Billy reacted coldly from the basement.

  Halfway down the stairs, May flew down and turned the corner, running into me.

  I caught May with both arms. “Careful.”

  May beamed a radiant smile from the brace. “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay,” I replied, a tad embarrassed, yet, pleased by the situation.

  “I found some women’s clothes upstairs. Do you think I look cute in them?” May twisted her hips and arched her back like she was fainting. Styled in new clothes, she wore a sleek denim skirt with a tight V-neck sweater that stretched tightly over her frame.

  “Definitely, you look very pretty.” A hot wave of air swept over my face. Was I blushing?

  Delighted, May winked my way. “I want to wish you good luck, darling,” she said affectionately. In her hands, she held out an emerald green turtleneck shirt. “We’d better go before they yell at us.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her to the garage.

  Entering the garage, Cadet was demonstrating to Wolfgang how to operate the two-way radio.

  May launched the emerald green turtleneck shirt at Cadet. “Can Joel and I ride together?”

  Startling May and me, Billy walked in from behind. “No, we’re stickink to the plan.” He had his baseball cap on and a leather pilot’s jacket with the furry collar up.

  “I agree. The plan stays as is.” Cadet put on the turtleneck shirt and ensured it covered his neck microphone. “If you see anything wrong, use the code word windtreat. If you here the code word, abandon your post and return here. If the house’s front drapes are up, we meet at the mall.”

  Taking turns, we all nodded except Billy who saluted in a less becoming manner.

  “Since we won’t be using our real names on the radios, Billy and Joel will comprise of the March team.” Standing straight, Cadet saluted us as if we were generals in command. “They’ll go in first to their position. Once in position, they will announce on the radio March team in place.”

  “March team, yeah, got it.” Billy saluted back in a less than dignified fashion.

  “Wolfgang and May will comprise of the August team.” Cadet saluted the next two generals. “You’ll drive me there. Once again, when in position announce on the radio August team in place.”

  “Let’s go teams.” Billy clapped his hands once as a football player leaving a huddle.

  “No unnecessary communications. It’s a go. Don’t mess this up,” Cadet declared openly.

  “Shut up.” Billy took it personally as if Cadet was referring to him. He walked over to the silver SUV and slammed the driver’s side door.

  Cadet was taken a back from the remark.

  “You can count on us,” I assured them for the both of us.

  Ready to head out, I jumped to the passenger side of the SUV. It was a leather seat overstuffed for extra comfort. The front view was really high off the ground; it was like riding a big rig truck with a high profile. Installed behind each headrest was a mini television monitor. This was going to be a cosy ride.

  Immediately as the garage door lifted up for the SUV to clear it, we sped out, as any teenager would do to flaunt his first car. Due its size, the SUV ride blasted over the deep potholes treating them like nothing more than flimsy paper obstacles.

  “Smooth handling.” I addressed the comfortable ride.

  Billy turned on the car radio. The blasting music had the windows thumping to the bass of the beat. “This car rocks,” he screamed, appreciating the opportunity to let lose his wild side.

  Alternating pressing and depressing the gas pedal, Billy made an effort to match the beat of the invigorating music. For each time the SUV thrust forward, its horsepower pressed me against the leather seat.

  As the song ended, Billy lowered the volume and his face went all serious looking. “Do you want to surrender?”

  “What?” I was stunned by the comments. Was this guy for real?

  “This plan to revisit Aerial is a joke. We’re goink to get caught and then what?” Billy was not happy with May’s scheme.

  “That’s why we have a fast car.” I anticipated a laugh.

  “Burn rubber. Outlaws verse the law.” Billy smirked, showing a set of perfectly ordered teeth. “That would be awesome.”

  Lauding over the notion of fame despite the consequences, television had both of us imagining an old-fashioned showdown with the military. I could see myself going down in a blaze of glory for the world to witness—a true heroic ending. It would certainly add favour to our cause. It was far better to die trying then get caught and be incarcerated. I admired the edginess of our mission and the exciting notion of being infamous.

  Out on the highway, the night drive was traffic free all the way to York West where Aerial had the psychic shop. Billy was cautious in terms of the car’s velocity once we left the highway. Traveling south on Ellinton Street, we did not want to draw any unwanted attention from the local police.

  Five measly stores all linked together and an empty parking lot formed the strip mall at the corner intersection of Ellinton and Scarlet Street. Everything looked closed except the second last shop, the one with the trimmed oak tree in the front yard and the flickering neon sign of a half-star.

  As we passed the strip mall, I pointed to the allocated parking spot set forth by Cadet’s plan. Billy slammed the brakes hard nearly causing me to drop the two-way radio. He appeared to be in his world again, phased out by the drive. He turned off the engine and lowered the car window to let in air.

  “I guess we wait,” I opened the discussion.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Billy eyed up and down the street for any suspicious characters.

  I followed suit and opened my window. The parking lot next to the strip mall was vacant except for a lone vehicle. The inconsequential bucket that had been there the last time we were here rested against the wall of the first shop. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  “I don’t know, it all looks too good to be true,” Billy feared. “Why would Aerial have her shop still open so late in the night? It’s like she’s expectink us.”
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  “I don’t know.” I picked up the two-way radio and fidgeted with the buttons. “March team in place,” I announced and then waited for a response.

  After a minute, Billy grabbed the device from my hands. “You didn’t do it right.”

  “Boy, the March team are fast,” May radioed in just as Billy was about to redo the broadcast. “August team in place. Ciao.”

  Billy laughed at the comment. “That girl cracks me up.” He placed the two-way radio on the armrest between us.

  “Yeah, she does,” I agreed.

  “Can you believe she asked me out?” Billy disclosed with a playboy attitude.

  “Really?” I was shocked to hear this. Before I left the house, my encounter with May was real touchy feely.

  “It’s funny but I get this all the time. Girls want a piece of the rock star lifestyle. Money and fame have girls droolink. I’m just one guy with too many girls to go around.” Billy shrugged his shoulders in pity for the less opportune girls. “It’s not in the cards for some girls.”

  Celebrity status needed a really big ego for support. Billy was bragging big time like he was God’s gift to women. His conceived alpha status just seemed unreal. I have heard of celebrities like this before, they all see themselves in a greater light brought on by being thrust into a demi-god status. If it were not for his popularity and celebrity standing, would women still be flocking to him? This delusional existence could be dangerous as anyone who tried to displace the light against the celebrities’ wishes was dismissed, adjusted or refuted. This was also the number reason why misfortunate celebrities who fall out of the public eye try so desperately to get it back.

  “How did May approach you?” I played on for my amusement and curiosity.

  “She called me to get together and talk. She emphasized makink my acquaintance, if you know what I mean.” Billy smirked with a sexual innuendo.

  Either way Billy read into her comment, I wondered whether May appreciated what was being said of her behind her back. Where did the truth really lie in this player’s rendition?