Chapter
13
A Serialized Story of the
Not So Distant Future
March 29, 2005
Part Nine
The journey into the supermarket was almost as surreal as the conversation Sam just had with his mother. 13th avenue looked the same at first glance, groceries, pizza places, cell phone stores, etc... but there was an undercurrent of control about it all barely visible.
There were small red, white and blue "ARF" stickers everywhere.
There were even ARF magnets on many of the cars, each featuring the
number of the Chapter they belonged to. They had replaced the yellow
ribbon magnets as decoration of choice, although there were still
plenty of yellow ribbons to be found as well.
The outside of DaVinci's Deli actually featured a U.S. Recruitment
poster, but instead of the image of Uncle Sam, this one had a cartoon
eagle with it's wings spread across the contiguous 48 states, with
Alaska and Hawaii awkwardly squished under the edge of it's wing.
YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU
was printed across the top and beneath the image it reminded males 18 to 25 that they were required to register for the draft. Failing to do so meant that you would be ineligible for student loans, a driver's license, hunting license, fines up to 10,000.00 and possible jail time.
Inside the supermarket, the world hadn't changed very much. Sam
noted that there weren't even self service checkouts here, as there
were in some of the larger stores. They still made Peanut Butter
Crunch, and the Cap'n hadn't yet been promoted to Admiral. There were
a hundred new kids cereals, including a new "GI Joe" brand being
featured on the end cap.
As they reached the checkout, Sam noted that there were no bag boys, only girls. The store manager was an older man, and besides Sam he was the only man in the entire store. The cashier wore a yellow ribbon with a button over it which read: "My man is overseas." The cashier barely noticed Sam, and he realized that to her, he must look about 60.
As they walked home, Sam's legs really began to feel the effort of their short trip. He was determined not to let his mother worry, so he paused for a moment when he spotted some grafitti that read: Chp 13, in silver marker.
"I guess Chapter 13 can't afford car magnets." He joked.
"There is no Chapter 13 dear, they skip all the 13's because
it's an unlucky number." Martha told him.
There's obviously one, Sam thought as they continued home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This Part of Chapter 13 has been sponsored by GI Joe Nuggets, because
Flakes are for sissies.
posted by John at 8:18 PM | link |
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