Late in the afternoon, the whole family was again at home to enjoy a so much earned quiet time after a hard day’s work. George was watching the news on the local TV, interrupted once in a while by commercial breaks, which basically emphasized the need for cosmetic surgery and all products to maintain it.
Daisy slept peacefully in her cradle while Jill was busy typing on her laptop.
In the living room, Beatriz was on the sofa beside her husband, checking something on her tablet when the doorbell rang. The couple frowned almost at the same time. They were not expecting anyone. Who could possibly be at a time like that? Well, there was always one way to find out.
Again, the doorbell cried its imposing call. As George did not move, it fell to Beatriz the task to open the door.
She found two men in black suits standing on her porch.
“Mister Secretary!” She greeted one of them. “Why don’t you… come in?” She barely had time to finish that sentence before the gentlemen stepped into the house.
George immediately jumped to his feet to shake hands with the illustrious visitor.
“Oh, welcome to our humble habitation!” He promptly said. “Make yourselves at home. What can I do for you gentlemen today?”
“We need to talk to you.” The other man in suit spoke.
“Sure!” George agreed. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
“Can I get you something?” Beatriz offered “Coffee, maybe tea?”
“No, thank you.” The Secretary declined. “I’m afraid we don’t have time for this now.”
“Anyway, take a seat, please.” George insisted. “You honor us with your presence.”
“We don’t have time for this, either.” The Secretary replied dryly. “Pardon my bluntness, but this is not a social visit.”
“Is there something wrong?” Beatriz asked with a shaky voice.
George swallowed hard.
“Where’s your daughter Jill?” The man in black queried.
“She is in her room, doing homework.” Beatriz answered.
“Could you please bring her here?”
“Y-yes.”
Beatriz left the living room, while George stayed with the men, smiling at them like a peasant before landlords.
The woman came back with the child.
The Secretary went down on his knees to level his head with the girl’s.
“Hello” He said.
“Hi, Mister Secretary” Jill responded.
“What were you doing just now?”
“Homework.”
“So I heard. You have your own laptop, right?”
“Yes.”
“And an internet line.”
“Yes.”
“All provided by the company.”
“Is she running for a prize or something?” George asked.
The other man in suit gazed at him with very angry eyes.
“Sorry!” George said with a congenial smile and a wave of his hand.
Beatriz also gave him a reproachful look.
“Are you grateful to your mom and dad for all these benefits you receive without having to lift a finger of your hand?” The Secretary continued to the little girl.
“What kind of question is that?” Beatriz blurted out. “She’s just a child!”
The other man brought a forefinger to his lips, as to shush the woman.
“Yes” little Jill replied, but her voice was turning into a whisper.
“And do you think is fair to use such privilege to watch forbidden You Tube videos?”
“Hey!” Beatriz yelled.
“Now, wait a minute!” George also intervened. “What’s all this? You’re in our home! Could you please tell us what this is all about?”
The Secretary stood up to face the man.
“And this house also belongs to the company, another privilege you should be thankful for.”
“I’m afraid your daughter was caught accessing forbidden content.” The other man in suit showed he also possessed the gift of the gab.
“This is not possible!” George spoke. “Our little girl would never do such a thing!”
“There’s not much room for lies in here.” The secretary said. “We monitor communication in all homes. And believe me, it’s a low price to pay for the many benefits you receive from us – a stable job, a nice home, two cars in the garage… All we ask in return is just a little loyalty once in a while.”
“There’s got to be some mistake!” Beatriz said. “Our daughter has a very vivid imagination, but she would never do anything illegal!”
“What exactly do you claim she did?” George asked.
“Your daughter watched, not once, but several times, the Elementary School video with the fake rescue of the children perpetrated by the evil one.”
George’s face became whiter than marble and Beatriz brought a hand to her chest. Both seemed to be hyperventilating at the same time. Jill lowered her eyes.
“You understand now how serious this is.” The Secretary spoke.
“It just… can’t be.” George said.
The Secretary turned to the little girl.
“Why don’t you tell us, darling?”
Jill did not answer.
“Come on…” The Secretary pressed.
In the eyes of a child, even a short adult may turn into a giant.
“Let me talk to her.” George said and walked to the little girl.
The other man in suit drew a club from his belt and stopped the father.
“No! Please!” Beatriz cried.
The Secretary signaled to his partner and he let the man go.
George kneeled down by his daughter and with very tender eyes he asked:
“Did you do that, honey? Did you watch the Apocalily video?”
“You don’t say this name aloud here!” The Secretary thundered on the man.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m nervous here, alright!” George turned back to the girl. “You need to tell me, bunny.”
Jill stared at her small sandals.
“Look at me!” Daddy shook her arms slightly.
She raised her eyes to meet her father’s.
“Did you do it?” He asked her.
“Yes.” Jill confessed.
“Oh no!” Beatriz started to sob.
George closed his eyes.
“I must say, this is quite a feat,” The Secretary continued, “since we deleted each and every sign of this video from the web.”
“I downloaded it.” Jill whispered.
George felt as if an elephant was compressing his chest. He could not breathe.
Beatriz felt sick in her stomach and thought she was going to faint.
“She’ll have to come with us.” The Secretary informed.
“NO!” Beatriz screamed.
“Let me… Let me talk to her!” George was about to cry. “Let me straighten this out.”
“Time for talking is long gone.” The other man in suit said. “You should have raised this kid better.”
“We’ll discipline her.” Beatriz spoke in despair. “I promise you this won’t go unpunished.”
“Too late for that” said the Secretary. “This girl is coming with us.”
“And what are you going to do with her?” Beatriz queried.
“She’ll learn some values.” The Secretary answered. “All those things you failed to teach her. She’ll learn once and for all not to defy authority and never again being stupid to the point of believing nonsense about fake heroes and…”
“She’s real!” The little girl exploded in rage, surprising the man. “She’s real and she’ll come! You’ll see! And she’ll teach YOU a lesson!”
All George could do was covering his mouth with a hand.
Beatriz collapsed on the floor defeated.
“Take her.” The Secretary told his partner.
“No, please!” George cried. “I can’t let you do it!”
He tried to stop the man in suit, but took a powerful
punch to his stomach. George bent his body, contorting in pain.
“Leave him alone!” Beatriz shouted and jumped on her husband’s aggressor.
However, she was easily subdued by the man. He threw her to the floor.
Jill shrunk in fear and the baby began to cry.
The man in suit pulled out his club. He was about to hit the woman’s back, but a strong hand held his forearm.
“Do we hit women now?” Robert Hedgiest angrily said.
“Mister Minister!” Beatriz once again gasped to yet another man in suit that trespassed into her property.
Hedgiest helped both man and woman standing up.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“I think.” George answered but he had trouble talking.
Beatriz just nodded a yes. She ran to the baby’s room to comfort little Daisy.
“Don’t worry.” Hedgiest continued. “A doctor will be here shortly to make sure everything is fine. It’s the least I can do after this preposterous behavior of my people.”
He turned to his men.
“As for you two,” Hedgiest spoke “what do you think you’re doing? Invading a private home and brutalizing a family? These people are respected contributors of our community!”
Both men’s attitude changed from pit-bull to Chihuahua.
“B-but, Mister Minister…” The Secretary stammered. “This family broke one of our most important laws…”
“I guess I’m very aware of that.” Hedgiest retorted. “And we have to deal with such matters like civilized human beings, not gorillas in the jungle. After all we’ve been through to build a peaceful society, is that the way you act? Haven’t you learned anything? Mister Secretary, I’m very disappointed at you! As one of my men of trust, you should know better!”
“Yes, but…”
“Quiet! And get out of this man’s home! I’ll deal with you later.”
And, like children scolded by their father, the two men in suit left the house.
Beatriz came back to the living room with the baby in her arms.
“You shall forgive my people sometimes.” The Minister turned to the house residents. “Unlike you and me, they don’t have kids, so they don’t know how those things are. I must apologize for all this inconvenience.”
“Thank you, Mister Minister.” George said.
“Thank you, Mister Minister.” Beatriz repeated. “But what about Jill and what she did? What’s going to happen now?”
“Oh that!” Hedgiest turned to the little girl.
And he was another man to kneel down in front of her.
“So, that’s the little brave wild one who caused all this mess!” Hedgiest said jovially. “Say, did you really watch that video?”
“Yes, Mister Minister.” Jill answered embarrassed.
“And why did you do that for?”
“I like heroes.”
“Oh, I see. But why do you need to look for dimensional heroes in a monitor when you got one right here?”
Jill raised her eyes to face him.
“Are you a hero?” She asked him.
“Who? Me? Oh no! I meant you, my darling! You’re a brave little thing.” He pinched her nose. “Who needs an Apocalily when you can rely only on yourself? Oops! Did I actually say that name?”
Beatriz and George smiled while Jill giggled.
“Are you going to do that again?” Hedgiest queried in a fatherly tone.
“No.” The girl replied.
“And you’re going to delete the video for me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Great! And if somebody evil comes here again, like those two ugly men, you have my permission to punch them right in the nose, what do you say?”
The girl giggled again.
“I’m sorry for what I did.” Jill said.
“Wonderful!”
Robert Hedgiest stood up.
“See? Everything’s solved.” The Minister concluded. “No need to make a fuss.”
“We’re really sorry for all this trouble, Mister Minister.” George spoke.
“Think nothing of it. Like I said, everything’s back to normal. But I’m afraid we’ll have to cut your internet services for a month. You surely understand the need for discipline. If we don’t act like this, then our laws exist only on paper.”
“We understand, Mister Minister.” George responded. “Actually, you’re doing us a favor. Nothing good comes from that thing.”
“That’s why we monitor communication.”
“Can I get you something, Mister Minister?” Beatriz offered.
“No, thank you. I’d better be going.”
“Thank you very much for your visit, Mister Minister.” George said.
“Just keep up with the good work!”
And the Minister left, closing the door behind him.
“As for you,” Beatriz angrily turned to her daughter “how dare you to put us in this position? You could have gotten us into real trouble! Do you want your father and me to lose our privileges?”
“No mom.”
“Then why did you do that to us?”
“I’m sorry, mom.”
“Sorry is not enough! You’ll never touch that laptop again! Now, go to your room!”
“Yes mom.”
In the limousine, Minister and Secretary shared a bottle of whiskey, one glass each.
“Nice acting, James.” Hedgiest said.
“Not nearly as nice as your acting, Robert, you should be nominated for an Oscar.”
“Well, we’ve rigged Oscar nights for years, why not doing it again?”
And they laughed.
“Seriously, now...” James spoke. “We got to do something about the brat. Such rebel attitude can be dangerous.”
“I know, but it’s also important to maintain my image as a white knight on a steed. If I’m a silver hero in the eyes of regular citizens, they’ll see no need for any Apocalily crap.”
“So, how we do this, Robert?”
“Do you have the results of Jill’s and Daisy’s tests?”
The Secretary took a tablet out of his suit pocket and touched its screen a number of times.
“Yes, I have them.” He announced.
“Did they pass?”
“With glory, they are viable alright.”
“No, they are not, if you get my drift.”
“I see your point, but do you really think it’s a good idea to waste viable subjects? They’ve been hard to come by these days.”
“Viable subjects with subversive tendencies can be much more dangerous than defective ones.”
“This is true. And why the baby has to pay for her big sister’s misdeeds?”
“Bad behavior might run in the family.”
“Very good, sir. Nice way to solve a couple of problems in a quiet way.”
“Thank you.”
“See you tomorrow at the stockholders’ fundraising party?”
“Oh, I’ll be there.”
They raised glasses, toasted and drank.
One more beautiful day sprung to life in paradise.
George and Beatriz waited with anticipation, but also self-confidence, for the doctor to come back. And it did not take long for the physician to reappear from the confines of the huge hospital.
The couple jumped to their feet almost at the same time.
“So?” George asked excited.
“I’m afraid I got bad news.”
It was like a blanket of darkness had fallen on the parents’ faces. Amazing is the power of a few words, especially when high expectations are not fulfilled.
“Your children didn’t pass the test.” The doctor said. “They failed some of the trials.”
“Both of them?” Beatriz asked with trembling lips.
“Yes.”
George wrapped an arm around his wife.
“But… Are you sure?” George asked. “There are no contaminated genes in our family… as far as I know.”
“Yes, but
those things are complicated.” The doctor explained like a teacher. “Sometimes, the paths of the human biology are dark and obscure. One can never know what we’re going to find next.”
Mother and father hung their heads, as if ashamed of their own bodies. No explanation, no matter how academic and well formulated it is, can attenuate gigantic disappointment and sorrow.
“I know it’s a shock for you, but at least your ordeal won’t last.” The physician said. “You’ll all go together as a family.”
The main square in the center of town rose beautifully to the eyes. A gorgeous fountain of crystalline water adorned a green carpet of grass. A road of gravel surrounded by pine trees led to an open field, where a metallic platform stood above a mob of residents organized in rows, each person with an empty glass in hand.
One by one, an entourage composed by eleven men in tuxedo made their way up the stairs to the top of the platform. They arranged themselves five on each side, with the Minister Robert Hedgiest taking position in front of a pulpit, placed in the middle of the stand. A microphone was already up and running to amplify his powerful voice.
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 4