by Emma Knox
“Betas pass through here under supervision.”
That didn’t go down to well with the masses. And Phillip and Chuck looked fed up already. I just let the gum pop and waited for the next speaker because the room was emotionally charged, and Chuck wouldn’t be able to finish that one.
The next speaker was on the taller spectrum with a triangular nose and sharp cheeks. He had the sort of hair that could be sold as a shower cap when it’s filled with a woman stuffing her hair underneath it. If that makes sense? He was a Beta, very softly spoken in all his mannerisms. The Beta movement next to me were cheering Henry on to talk. The council wasn’t impressed.
“I’m Henry Villa, and I as well as other Betas would like to know what can be done to improve our quality of life?”
Mark augmented his voice with his palms pressed tightly to his mouth and used it as a speakerphone, “Answer that one for us, Phillip!”
The room came alive, and Phillip, out of discomfort, rose to speak directly to Henry Villa. “We know that the Betas and the movement feel that injustice has come their way.”
Interruptions of ‘yes’, and ‘never-ending’ was travelling all around me as my head spun to see.
“But we are working on cementing a programme where Betas can feel more at home here in Juneau.”
Henry broke in, “But not just Juneau. Anchorage and Fairbanks find that the respect they get here in this community is partially void of care.”
Betas from all those cities made themselves known.
“I live directly here in Juneau, and I find that Alphas and even Omegas get work far easier than I do. I’ve checked the statistics and want to know why?”
“That is not true.”
“It is! Ask any Beta in this room if they feel it is easier to get a job!”
“The council helps aid all. Not just Alphas and Omegas. If Betas need employment, then we are there to give them advice on how to do so.”
The room screamed, “Lies.”
I wanted to leave.
One of Mark’s friend was up there and wanted to know, “Why are Betas treated as second class citizens? When will it stop?”
The council was having a horrific time. But Chuck took to the stage for this one. “If Betas feel this way then we will look into it and see that all are treated the same.”
“Time and time again the council has sat there and said this. But I’m out of work and can’t purchase a license to be a fisherman. I must take a test so that the council deems it worthy for me to be employable.”
“The test has helped us keep a mark on what citizens can bring to this community—”
“So, you configured that Betas contribute the least? And are fat and lazy with nothing but the worthiness of providing Alphas with procreating options? They have their Omegas for that! We want to feel like we are at home.”
Mark and a few others were out of their seats and applauding the mutual fire between them.
As I took in the debate, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around… “Robbie, I didn’t know you were going to be here?”
“Neither did I. But funny how things work out for the better,” he whispered behind my chair. “Can we go out into the entrance? It’s a little loud in here.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
However, a drawback came, and Robbie and I had to sit back down when multiple Betas stood in a thunderous anger at Chuck’s word that we didn’t hear.
“Mark, what did he say?” The room was so excitable that my voice could lose to a mouse’s squeak. And it didn’t die down until Phillip got up and held up both his hands like this would mellow the noise.
The Beta movement was up and moving to the mic, but I gripped Mark and took him to the entrance instead of Robbie. It was difficult to get him to come. But I needed to have my say before he got up there and announced what changes he wanted to see for the community. Robbie only glanced at me and turned back to see Chuck and Phillip emerging as referees between a few Betas and one council member with a crooked beanie.
“Sean, I need to be in there protesting the cause! I know what you’ve dragged me out here for and I don’t want to hear it!”
“Well you need to. Because I like my career, thank you.”
“Yeah. Hunky-Dorey for you! But what about the rest of us who can’t get a job until the Alpha and Omega get screened and selected?”
“Ah come o—”
“And oh, the best one, let them take the menial labour trades because who better to clean up other’s people’s shit than the back-scratches of the community!”
“Yeah, bu—”
“And then to place it all on a pyramid, that bias runs from Juneau, to Anchorage, and even Fairbanks, that is witnessing more poked fingers up Betas’ noses than anywhere else. It can’t continue, Sean. We need a resolution! And not just the same old farts in our faces suggesting that we are overreacting or close to having a monthly cycle.”
“They might be right.” I took that back when the live bull in Mark wanted to grow horns and a ring through the columellate of the nose. “Before you issue my death warrant, take into consideration that your upheaval for justice will change the ways of the working community. And that’s what, forty percent of Juneau, with the other twenty-five scattered in both Fairbanks and Anchorage. The Alphas only make up ten percent. We only ask that you think of what you are trying to uproot?”
“You speak for yourself with those calculations. Alphas, are a big part of the population in Alaska and you shouldn’t believe the council’s fairy tales of money being put into more than just their own pockets.”
“I’m from California.”
“Then stay there and stop trying to get in my way over here. It’s so typical of you, Sean. Putting number one before anybody else.”
“I agree with the Beta cause.”
“Then stay and hear what we have to say!”
“I do trade through Anchorage and Redwood, Mark. I come, sign on with ease, and then leave with no troubles or worries. Betas can do the same with the right license and paperwork.”
“Who in the community is the lowest wage earner?”
“Ma—”
“Who in the community earns less than the minimal wage!”
“I’m practically self-employed, so is it me?”
“Last year I applied for twenty jobs…and out of those twenty, I lost out to an Alpha or Omega in every single case when I checked back with the company and found that as we aren’t that big of a population, that the names of the shifters were known to me. Even if they were acquaintances only. And those who beat me, were happy to confirm that they felt that I was clearly more over qualified than they were. So, help me out with that one?”
Arguing with Mark was a hippopotamus coming for the attack! He was talented when it came to politics, but he lacked two ears that would listen to any other reason but his own. I suppose that’s why the same sort of transfixing blood seeped through our veins. And the time we spent with each other was more on an unbalanced scale then an even one.
“So, nothing I’ve said has hit any sort of sympathetic chord with you, Mark?”
“Throw that question back at yourself! Has anything I’ve said hit a chord of reasoning with you, Sean?”
“It has! But I don’t want to find that your hollering starts a whole new chain of command!”
“Well tough dough! I’m going back in there to join my fellow Betas.”
I let him know that I wasn’t finished by standing in the way of the entrance. Whenever a point needed to be made — become a blockage! “Why not come to California with me after this? I’m heading back after this meeting. I can show you that work over there is equal in more than just pay for Betas, Alphas and Omegas!”
“You’re in the way and somebody wants to get past.”
I slinked to the side and a couple of Omegas walked out.
“Leaving the meeting?” Mark asked.
I stayed to the side like I was ready to jump with surprise.
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The Omega who had the skin of a peach answered in a more downbeat manner than Phillip from the Alaskan council said, “It’s turning into a war zone in there and Omegas aren’t getting any say in the matter. It’s only the Betas taking to the floor and leaving no room for anybody else.” His two friends who seemed joined at the shoulders only nodded and then carried on to their minivan chattering most likely about the crazy Beta-heads!
“Omegas will get there say. Betas are just fed up. We feel like it’s our time now.”
“But council meetings last for a few hours. And two have already passed with no resolution. I’m not going to fight to have my say. I’m too civilised for that—”
“And Betas aren’t?”
“You put those words into my mouth—”
“But it’s no less the truth!”
I jumped out with that surprise after all, but the Omega had already walked down the four steps from the entrance. I wanted to be the mediator. “We all need to work together.”
“Go inside and try to work together with that new-found Beta movement!” The Omega walked to the minivan, and Mark was ignorantly going to hound him to the ground with his bullish right that he had to release!
“Leave him, Mark.”
Mark did leave him, but he had to have the last say, “You’ll see that the Beta movement is representing all. Including yourself!”
The Omega replied, “Yeaaaaaaaaa. A month from now we’ll see if you’re right about that.”
“I am—”
“Let the guy go home!”
The Omega slammed the driver door. Or that’s what we heard when that car door closed, and he drove off for his fast escape.
“I guess not everybody agrees with your movement.”
“So, what? All I need is the council on my side and then the changes will happen.”
“They might end up calling me to that mic, Mark. I’m your cousin and they’ll want to know where I stand with you.”
“I’m not some celebrity Sean. And when has us being family ever stopped you from thinking with your own stubbornness?”
Mark being older didn’t stop him from being wrong. I had a diplomatic approach when it came to other opinions. When he first came to Juneau and I had helped him move, he was still the same old wild horse throwing guns and acquisitions at the unwelcome basket that he didn’t receive. I thought back over that day…
“I had to fight to get this place. And I’m sure they charged me more because I’m a Beta who whose been unemployed for more than three months meaning I don’t provide a stable resource for the mortgage lenders. And all the while they judge my resume as junk! Are you hearing me, Sean?”
“I’d hear you if I was all the way in Fairbanks. You make yourself heard loud and clear, Mark. And it’s a little more pleasant if you don’t treat every Alpha and Omega out here like they plan to assassinate you.”
“I stand up for myself. Not like other Betas who are happy to play with a silver medal. I want the gold.”
“You want the gold? Around here you’ll need to be a little friendlier.”
“You don’t even live in Juneau, so how do you know?”
“I make the trip often. And I do odd jobs when I can. They have an easy-going system.”
“Well you would get the top olive branch, because you’re an Alpha. And include the good looks, and the reproduction priority that is so highly valued out here. I can use my hands just as well as you, but I want to be in a more office and tie type of job.”
“Your wrong there, Mark.” We had hired a van for only a minimal amount of gear. He had like four boxes with clothes, desktop, an odd bedroom dresser, some bedsheets and curtains, kitchen utensils and pans, and then one box that was stuffed with his studying books. I took that one first as it was the heaviest for me. “You studying to be a lawyer?” I tried my best at not cracking my spine as it slanted. “Jeeeeee-zus!” I said that all the way until we reached inside.
The estate agency was doing a special offer, so Mark had actually gotten this one-bedroom home at a steal price with less zeros at the end. It wasn’t nothing to brag about, but it was homey, and required less usage of central heating. The kitchen was big enough for a single man, and the living space had windows on both ends so he got plenty of light during the day.
“Drop those in here.” He referred to the square foyer, and I did as Mark requested. “You’re free to stay here if you like.”
“We’d only argue about politics.”
“That’s why I want you to stay. Nobody else annoys me more than you.”
I’d stayed for two weeks with Mark, and during that time I got an idea of what the treatment of the Betas was like. He took me to events that were held all over Fairbanks and Juneau, with numbers growing because of a movement that were protesting for their rights. The Beta movement had an attractive package to offer the Alaskan council, and young Betas would soak up their words like wet sponges, Betas like Mark who needed a good wringing.
The Beta movement wanted to enforce an employment scheme, as well as better services in terms of single parents, out of work programmes, and work licenses that didn’t involve a three-way test scheme — and then no actuality that you might be able to work in the shifter community. How it affected the Alphas was that there was already an employment scheme in check, and the work licenses, which could be pricey, were issued on a basis that Alphas were Alaskan and Canadian citizens.
I did my best to roll with the punches that this young and dynamic movement were purposing. But it strayed too far against what it would mean for me. And although some Betas found me attractive, they singled me out as privileged and weren’t up for any fun. I cracked an egg on that one. Me, privileged. I supposed working your ass off and hoping that you got paid after was favoured. So, I strolled along with Mark, and thought he’d leave the group alone. But he succumbed, and I got word from an Alpha that my cousin was making things very tricky for Alphas who had no problem with the current work arrangement and enjoyed the traveller’s life of a mechanic.
My mission was to get Mark to unjoin the Betas, and so far, I had managed to only rile him up more. I needed influential guidance from a professional who could sway a hot head. But then I’d be lying to myself because I had that same spirit in me for my own way of life. When Mark and I went back in, the Beta movement had to be removed for others to have a chance to speak. They would be allowed back in later.
Mark went off to find them as there was a back room and one council member had gone to join them. It was the older lady who had been the quietest, but still had a presence with her ginger hair formed like a Cornish pasty and bronze hooped earrings. She seemed disinterested the whole way through and had a face more serious and circular than a barn owl.
An Omega who I knew as Charlton was up now with a sheet of paper in his hands. The room spoke to each other and disregarded his presence. But Phillip the jaded worrier stood up and spoke in a subtle defiance! “Can I please ask for silence in this room! There is a speaker up here who deserves the same treatment that you have passed on to all the past spokespersons who have taken to the mic. This is an Omega speaking… Betas are not the only ones who will be giving our time.”
“Don’t forget money!” Whoever shouted that out timed it perfectly because Phillip’s face was a priceless please-shut-the-hell-up, because I know my own lines! And he said no more and let Charlton speak. But he didn’t sit down. He just stood like a translator ready to give his own version of what Charlton had to say.
“Hi, I’m Charlton. And I would like to ask Phillip and the rest of the committee what can be done in terms of pack-less Omegas and Betas who choose to remain single for their own personal preferences?”
I thought Charlton asked a good question. One that I would rather hear. And my opinion on that was respected by more than one Alpha in the room. The throng remained waiting for Phillip’s or anybody else’s answer. But Chuck took to standing and Phillip sat his ass down with a lot on mind.
&
nbsp; “Hi Charlton, I’d just like to know if you are one of those pack-less Omegas?”
“I was a few months ago.”
“Ok. And is your situation near enough the same now?”
“Only recently have I entered back into society’s acceptance of me. I found love with a new Alpha who wants to bind with me. But before that I was near enough shunned by not only the council, but members of the community like I was stray with rabies. It was disgusting to feel ashamed of registering down myself as an abnormity just because my ex had divorced me for another Omega.”
A few buzzed whispers of disagreement were met. Charlton touched on a subject that some were even afraid to speak upon. Me as Alpha, I was laid back on the whole losing your mate and then finding that because of that, there was little chance of being resurrected back into the same pack. Omegas had it hard out here with that one.
Not all places in the world treated Omegas so badly for horny Alphas who were the main cause. It was mainly Alaska who had a very strange policy for abandonment and loss. They blamed the Omega, and there was no other way of wording it. My patience was dwindling with all this, but Charlton had given me some interest to spit-shine on.
“Can you give me some idea of your treatment by the council?”
“I was a single Omega with a child. My son is five years old, and because of my ex being the sole earner and pretty much dominating my entire life — I had to find a job and support my child. I heard there was a scheme for single Omegas and Betas, but when I applied in the local Juneau office I was turned away because I didn’t qualify under the engagement of domestic abuse and near homelessness. But yet, I was without work and struggling to maintain food on a table.”
A couple hmm’s and some tut-tut’s were all that surfaced. “The Alaskan council made this structure formal for the case of homeless and single parent Omegas and Betas.”
“But I had no job and was responsible for a five-year-old—”
“I’m aware—”
“And the job centre takes time when it comes to finding the right interview and work placement. It was slow. Real slow.”