The Smiths and Joneses (25 page)

              Jason opens the door welcoming Sean and Wolf. “Welcome back.”

              Sean replies, “Jason, Sharon it’s good to be back. For a short while there we didn’t know if we’d be back. We got on the plane anyway; we figured either we’d get permission to land, or we’d land in Las Vegas.”

              Sharon says, “We understand Vegas isn’t the safest place to be right now.”

              Sean replies, “Most likely someone lost too much money and was looking for a way to distract the casino.”

              Jason smiles saying, “We understand those casinos don’t have a sense of humor about collecting. We hear all the time about people getting their legs broken.”

              Sean smiles and laughs, “Jason, those are old movies, nothing like that really happens, Vegas is as safe as here.”

              Sharon replies, “Not as safe as here. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the USA that’s as safe as here.”

              Wolf jumps into the conversation, “Crime is on the decline here. We have cameras everywhere. Our Department of Public Safety sees and hears everything. We’re able to stop many crimes before they happen.”

              Sean asks, “How do you stop crime before it happens?”

              “If the cameras see something suspicious officers are dispatched to the site. Many times they can arrive in time to stop the crime before it happens. The officers arrest the potential perpetrators.”

              “Are you saying you have a pre-crime arrest policy?”

              Wolf says, “Our software is very good at projecting future actions, most of the time the perpetrator admits they were going to commit a crime if the officers hadn’t arrived. We’re stopping violent crime, property damage and who knows what else.”

              Sean responds, “That’s my entire point, who knows. No crime was committed yet. Are people in the LSA innocent until proven guilty?”

              “Of course they are.”

              “Then how can you arrest them before they commit a crime?”

              “Because they were going to commit a crime.”

              “You can’t be sure of that.” 

              “Yes we can, our pre-crime software isn’t wrong.”

              “How can you say that?”

              “Because the crimes our software projected didn’t happen.”

              “Wolf, that’s because you arrested the people before they broke any laws. Can’t you see that’s totally wrong? Did you see the movie or read the book ‘The Minority Report’?”

              “No, why?”

              “It’s a story about a department of pre-crime that goes wrong because humans can and do change their minds. A crime that was projected didn’t happen because the perpetrator changed his mind. You’re not giving the potential criminal the chance to change their mind and maybe not commit the crime.”

              “In order to protect the people we have to act first.”

              “That makes no sense. There’s no proof of any crime yet.”

              Wolf says, “We can agree to disagree. Let’s get back to the interview.”

              Sean shakes Jason’s hand saying, “Jason, Sharon, we’re sorry we neglected you. We’re very happy to be with you again. For a while, we weren’t sure we would be able to continue.”

              Sissy runs over holding her puppy, “Look what I got.”

              Wolf asks, “Sissy, when did you get your new puppy?”

              “Yesterday. Two nice men came and brought me three different puppies to choose from. I choose Holly Rebel because she looked up at me saying pick me.”

              “She’s very cute. Is your mommy teaching you how to care for a puppy?”

              “She’s trying. Mommy never had a puppy. We’re looking up what we need to know.”

              Sean says, “I’ll bring you a couple of books explaining how to care for a dog, written for children.”

              Sharon whispers, “Sean, please make sure they are on the approved list. I don’t want Sissy to get into trouble for having a banned book.”

              “Sharon, how do I find out if the book is approved?”

              “Wolf can check it for us.”

              “Thank you. I don’t want to cause any problems.”

              The four adults sit in the living room; Sissy is running after her puppy. Wolf looks around, “Where’s Scott?”

              “He’ll be here very soon; he stopped by a friend’s house.”

              Sean says, “Sissy, can you tell us about your after school program?”

              “Sure. After school, my teacher takes all of us, except for two boys who are picked up by their dad, to the gym where three guides watch us till we get picked up.”

              “Sissy, what do you do in the gym?”

              “If it’s nice outside we go out and play on the playground, if it’s raining we play in the gym, sometimes we play board games, sometimes we draw pictures, sometimes we get to use the play-set. Sometimes we watch movies - that's my favorite.”

              “What are the movies you watch?”

              “I don’t remember the names, they’re about children who help find the bad people, or about how children hear bad people saying bad things or about a little girl who discovers a group of bad people on her street who hide and pray.”

              Sean continues, “Sissy, is praying bad?”

              “Oh yes. We’re taught that praying makes people bad. It’s everyone’s job to be watching for bad people. Everyone is counting on everyone else to find the bad people. Once all of the bad people are found everyone else will be safe.”

              Sean asks, “Sissy is this what your teacher tells you?”

              “Mr. Sean, everyone knows this, sometimes you’re silly.”

              Before Sean can continue Scott walks in the house carrying backpack. His shirt is hanging out of his pants, and his sneakers are untied. Sharon asks, “Scott are you OK?”

              “Yea mom, why?”

              “Because you look like a mess.”

              “Oh. I was in a hurry to get home to be here when the broadcast people arrived, sorry I was late. I’ll go change and be right back.”

              Scott goes upstairs; Jason asks Sharon, “Where was he?”

              “He said he was visiting a friend.”

              “Do you know if a friend was a boy or girl?”

              “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

              “Yes.”

              “I’ll ask him later.”

              Sean asks Sissy, “Sissy, what else do you do after school?”

              “Sometimes we get to record letters to the President.”

              Sean stops mid-word, “You record letters to President Bloomberg?”

              Sissy responds while smiling, “Sure we do it a couple of times a month.”

              “What do these letters say?”

              “That we thank him for everything he does to protect us.”

              “Does your teacher tell you to do this?”

              “No, the guides do.”

              “Who are these guides?”

              “The people who take care of us after school.”

              Sean asks Sharon, “Do you know who these guides are?”

              Laughing, Sharon responds, “They’re usually student teachers. Part of their education is working at the after school programs. They learn to handle a large group of children.”

              Sean says, “Oh, so they are in school learning how to become teachers?”

              Sharon responds saying, “Yes, I’ve met them, most are in their third year, next year they’ll be in the kids’ classroom. We have fewer guides now then we did a couple of years ago. The budgets are tighter now.”

              Sean says, “Sharon, we learned that parents can’t help out because you don’t have a teaching background, however, why don’t you have a bake sale to raise money for the afterschool program.”

              “Oh no. Bake sales aren’t allowed. Who knows what goes into home baked goods? How would we know the calories and fat content in home baked goods? How would these fit into our daily diet and food allowance? Bake sales have been banned for at least ten years.”

              Before the discussion can continue, there is commotion outside, two armed Department of Public Safety officers enter the Smith’s house. One of the officers says, “I’m sorry, however we’re going to have to interrupt your program, there is a small problem across the street. A couple of demonstrators have found their way here. Somehow they’ve avoided our officers. Since we don’t know who they are or what they want, we’re going to have to ask you to pause your broadcast until we can assure you’re not in any danger.”

Chapter 14

“Brad, do you think the LSA has gone too far? Have they created a country like North Korea?”

“Honey, nothing could be as bad as North Korea was. I think it all started with their central government trying to provide and help their people. Look at what they’ve done well, they’ve brought real manufacturing jobs home. They build consumer electronics and even cars in the LSA. They have almost total employment; no one is homeless. There’s very few that go hungry. Government paid education goes from preschool through college.”

“How do we know no one is homeless? We haven’t seen any images from their major cities; we’ve only seen the roads from the Portland Airport, which is outside of the city, to Beaverton where the Smiths live. Their cities could be a real mess. We have no idea. They hand picked the Smith family for the program. You heard what Sharon said; many have issues with their health insurance. Many are short of medications. I know the LSA brags that they’ve never had a terrorist attack while we’ve had six large ones in the previous twelve years.”

“Kathy, they claim they’ve never had an attack because they have no military and aren’t a threat to anyone. I don’t buy it. How do we know they’ve never had a terrorist attack? Maybe they have, and we just don’t know about it? Maybe they're in much worse shape than we know. Maybe they’re hiding a massive secret. My gut is tells me they had a couple real serious attacks when they broke away, then used the attacks as a reason to set up the massive security organization they use to monitor their people. I guess something bad happened and they overreacted to whatever it was that happened.”

“Brad, why do you say that? Isn’t it possible President Brownie and Bloomberg imposed these programs to control their people?”

“Anything is possible, but would they have gone so far without a reason?”

“Look what Obsma tried to do when he was President. Progressives want a perfect society; one where no one disagrees with the government, one where everyone is equal, except for the ruling class. One where the government doesn’t trust the common people. My gut tells me there is even more spying and control of their people than they’re allowing us to see.”

“Brad, what else could they do?”

“What happens if you get fired by the government? Can you ever get another job? Are you left to starve? If you disagree with the government are you isolated from their society? In Russia they used to send such people to Siberia, they told them to count the trees. Most died from the very harsh conditions.”

“Brad, you’re right, I hadn’t thought of that. Oh my God, the people can’t ever launch another political party because the ruling class will know everything in advance and starve the dissenters until they agree. They can take their children away from them.”

“Kath, hell, even our government can take people’s children away if they think you’re an unfit parent.”

“Brad, it’s horrible. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“The only thing I can think of is to make sure it doesn’t happen here. I’m hoping that this program opens a lot of people’s eyes. Unfortunately, I worry that some will see what the LSA has done as a good thing and push for more progressive programs to be implanted here.”

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Sean asks Sharon, “Do you know what the protesters want?”

“Sean. I didn’t pay attention to them. However, before we judge them, we need to understand what they’re feeling. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and fully understand what motivates them. Until we know what they’re feeling and if anything in their childhood caused them to act out like they are, we shouldn’t take any negative action against them. They could be justified because of their backgrounds. We don’t understand how they feel.”

“Sharon, is what they feel that important?”

“Of course it is. Too many times we’ve made decisions without understanding how people feel about the decisions and actions will affect them.”

“What action is the right thing to do?”

“How would we know what’s the right thing to do if we don’t understand their feelings?”