The Smiths and Joneses (37 page)

“I approve your plan, one last point, when your agents have complete their tasks, terminate them. We don’t need them getting caught and talking.”

“Yes sir.”

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Talk radio is overflowing with calls about the shortages in the LSA; the Anonymous video was real. Images of people standing in line are compared with images from the old Soviet Union in the 1950s when people lined up for hours to buy necessities. About the only thing, always available in the Soviet Union was Vodka, which led to a large percent of the population being alcoholics. In the LSA, there wasn’t anything that was always available. Central planning never provided everything the people required on a timely basis. The population of the LSA got used to purchasing winter clothing in the summer and summer shorts in mid-winter. Black markets and neighborhood trading areas flourished as people traded and/or bought and sold what they couldn’t find in the government stores.

Talk radio hosts are overjoyed to have some hard facts to smear the LSA. President Bloomberg was very unhappy with the recent events. He wanted to taste the sweet flavor of revenge. He wanted to shame and hurt the USA for publically mocking him. He sent his agents of pain and suffering into the USA to extract revenge on the most helpless of the USA’s people, their children.

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              Children came down with a mysterious illness. Parents panicked; emergency rooms were soon overflowing with sick children. All had the same symptoms, weakness, fever, sick to their stomachs, vomiting and dizziness. So far none had died. The CDC is quickly called to lend assistance. The numbers of ill children continue to swell in nine cities. No one could find a cause or reason. In the first four hours no one could connect the dots to figure out what caused the illness. Another mystery is the issue that children are getting ill in only nine cities. President Paul suggests the country is under biological attack. He orders the pentagon to call in the military’s biological weapons group located at Fort Detrick, Maryland, to support the CDC. Investigators spread out to check for what the children have in common. What they ate, drank, and wore, everything and anything that might connect the children is investigated. President Paul calls Randolph and John at Wolf and CNN asking them to postpone the fifth episode so every resource can be focused on solving the mysterious illness. President Paul goes on international television to ask every parent to check everything their children eat and drink; he asks them to keep their children inside for the next couple of days. The President orders all schools closed and all after school actives postponed. He further orders all military medical personal, even recently discharged ones, to report to their nearest base regardless of branch of service. He asks every first responder to return to work. He orders all leaves for the military and government health workers canceled.

The hospitals report no virus or other germs in the children’s systems. President Paul, being a medical doctor, instructs the medical staff to look for poison or a mixture of common chemicals that could lead to shutting down the children’s systems. President Paul calls his cabinet to an emergency meeting where he announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have been attacked. I think our children were attacked by a mixture of common chemicals mixed in with something the children have eaten or drank. Since its only making children sick in a small number of cities, I’m sure it’s deliberate. If I had to guess, I’d say the LSA attacked our children to change the focus from the Anonymous videos.”

The Secretary of Health and Human Services says, “Mr. President, so far our analysts agree with your thoughts. Our experts think something the children consumed was tampered with. We’re checking everything they could have touched.”

“Madam Secretary, thank you. General Zanderfield, please arrange for rapid action team to be ready to move against anyone we find did this to us.”

“Yes sir. I have the 101st Airborne on 15-minute alert.”

“Unless anyone has any objections, I’m going to tell Wolf and CNN they can continue with their program.”

All of the secretaries agree with restarting the program. The Secretary of the Treasury says, “Mr. President, I think this is a very good idea. It’ll help take our people’s minds off of the issues facing us.”

The President’s chief of staff places the call to the broadcast president’s informing them that they can continue their joint program.

Wolf and Sean agree to wait one additional day before continuing the program so that hopefully, the cause of the illness will be discovered. Sean is thinking that something is very wrong since the outbreak has only shown itself in nine cities within the USA.

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Wolf News in association with Glenn’s new Burn network, spends the evening comparing costs in everyday products between the LSA and the USA. Glenn’s sound stage is filled with all types of consumer products. He starts off the special by saying, “Good evening, and thank you for joining us this evening. Due to the serious outbreak in nine of our cities Wolf News Network and CNN has decided to postpone the sixth episode in the special series for one night so that medical science can hopefully figure out what’s causing the mystery illness and come up with a cure.

“Tonight we’re going to look at the cost of typical products. For an example sitting on the table in front of me are two microwave ovens, the stainless steel one on the right is made by a major Asian manufacturer who sells millions of them in the USA and around the world. It’s 2.0 cubic feet 1100 watt unit and has a suggested retail price of $299.00. It can usually be purchased for around $249.00. On my left is a black 1.6 cubic foot unit which is one of the largest ones available in the LSA, it has a power rating of 800 watts, it has a suggested retail price of $699.00. It isn’t discounted, as discounting is frowned on in the LSA. You may be asking yourself why the large cost differences. Of course, one reason is the quantity of units built, the other is due to the unique requirements the LSA Department of Energy has mandated be built into the unit. The case must be recyclable and the seals must have a life span of 50 years. Before anyone asks the question, who keeps a microwave oven for 50 years, I don’t know the answer to that question. The glass in the door must be able to survive a four foot drop off a counter, the electronic main board inside the microwave has to be completely recyclable as does most of the other parts used in the unit. The LSA Department of Energy claims the LSA microwave oven will save the average consumer money over the unit’s expected life which is rated at 40 years. I checked my home; nothing in my home is over 40 years old except for my wife. Would you plan to keep a countertop microwave oven for 40 years? Another example is a typical home dishwasher, the one on my right is a 24” stainless steel built in model that’s rated at very low power, it’s earned a platinum energy star rating. It typically sells for $479.00; the one on my left is made by a subsidiary of the LSA government as are most products sold in the LSA. It’s also a 24” built in model and sells in the LSA for $999.00. It, too, is designed to last for 50 years. Every part of it is recyclable, it uses very low pressure and a low amount of water to wash dishes, in our tests it performed below the $479.00 model. Our engineers who reviewed the dishwashers say it lacks the pressure and water volume to clean heavily soiled dishes. On the other hand, it’s very heavy, weighing twice the weight of the lower prices unit. Just think, you can spend twice as much for a unit that doesn’t perform as well. However, it is designed to last 50 years, and if you keep it 50 years, you should save money on electrically usage.

“Next, we’re going to look into the most popular vehicles sold/used in each country. The Honda Civic is the most popular car sold in the USA; it’s build in Alabama, it gets 45MPG on the highway and 35 in the city. It’s earned a five-star crash rating. The new Honda Civic seats five adults and goes from zero to sixty in 7 seconds. It sells for $32,000. In the LSA, the most popular vehicle is a hybrid electric mini car that seats 3, has a top speed of 55 MPH, a range of 50 miles. It’s built in Oakland, California, and Detroit, Michigan, and takes ten hours to recharge. It sells for $65,000. The LSA government owns 97% of these vehicles; they are given to government mid-level employees to use. This keeps employees on the job building a vehicle that’s overpriced and only in demand because it’s given to government employees. The LSA builds products to both provide jobs for their people and also to reduce their balance of payments. The LSA has made claims that they’ve brought manufacturing jobs out of Asia back to the LSA. They now build cars, trucks, consumer electronic products and even construction equipment in their country because they don’t have enough jobs. Otherwise, the LSA can’t afford normally to import the goods and services they require on a daily basis. They borrowed over five trillion dollars from Saudi Arabia in exchange for being one of three countries the LSA imports oil from, the others being the USA and Venezuela.”

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The broadcast crew travels to Raleigh, North Carolina, where they travel an hour to the Jones’ house. Beth is playing on their driveway waiting for the crew to arrive. When she sees the first van turn onto her street, she gets excited, jumping up and down waving to Sean and Wolf. The broadcast crew pulls up in front of Beth’s house; Sean is the first one out, Beth runs to him, hugging his leg. “Mr. Sean, welcome back. I wasn’t sure you were coming back. Mommy said she wasn’t sure the program was going to continue. I’m so happy you came back.”

Sean hugs Beth saying, “Of course, we came back. The program isn’t over yet and even when it is over I promise to stay in touch with you.”

“And Holly too?”

“Of course, Holly too. I have a treat for Holly; I brought her some home made cookies and a new play toy.”

“Oh, Mr. Sean, I can’t wait until she sees them.”

Beth goes running into the house yelling, “Holly, Holly where are you? Mr. Sean brought a gift for you.”

Wolf joins Sean on the driveway, “Have you been reduced to bribing little girls and their puppies?”

“Yes, you ought to try it.”

Bob and Carol meet the broadcast crew at the front door, all four hug. Carol welcomes them in, “Please come in; we’ve been waiting for you. Beth baked some fresh muffins to welcome you back.”

The broadcast crew gladly grabs a warm muffin, Joan says, “These are really good. Are these berries?”

Carol says, “Yes, we got them at the Giant this morning.”

Sean smiles saying, “Carol, can we accompany you to your local Giant?”

Wolf sees the trap, responding, “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’m sure everyone’s seen a food store.”

Sean says, “I think after the scam in Oregon, it’s a good idea for us to visit the store. I’ll tell you what Wolf, I’m sure there’s more than one food store in town; I’m going to let you pick which one we visit. This way there’s no way I or anyone in town could pull a scam like you tried to pull over the world last week.”

Wolf says, “I really don’t think we need to waste our time visiting a store. Carol, where’s Leon?”

“He’s upstairs working on a report. He has to create a video for his English class.”

Wolf asks, “Carol, would it be OK if Leon join us?”

“I’ll check.” A minute later Leon and Carol join the broadcast crew, Leon says, “Hi everyone. I’m sorry I was late, had a large assignment to complete. I had to create a video for English.”

Wolf asks, “Leon, do you study Spanish in School?”

“Mr. Wolf, no, we study English. I don’t know if you knew that English is now the official language of the USA.”

Wolf asks Carol, “Does this mean that everyone has to learn and use English?”

“Of course it does. It’s our official language. All documents are now printed only in English. We saved hundreds of millions in not having to print every document in many different languages.”

“Carol, isn’t that discriminating against anyone who doesn’t speak English?”

“If they want to live and work here, they need to learn English or bring their own translator. We shouldn’t be responsible for the cost of translating everything if someone doesn’t make the effort to learn our language. The country provides English classes to teach people how to read, write and speak English, if they don’t use the classes it's their fault, not ours.”

“Isn’t that cold hearted?”

“Not at all, if I went to another country, how is it their responsibly to change everything just for me?”

“So that you can understand what’s going on and take part in the country.”

“Than it’s my responsibility to learn their language.”

Before Wolf can respond, the doorbell rings, Bob says, “Please let me see who’s at the door.”

Opening the front door, everyone sees two eight-year-old girls selling “Girl Scout” cookies. “Hi, we’re selling Girl Scout cookies.”

Leon runs over saying, “I love Girl Scout cookies.”

Beth says, “I want some cookies too.”

Sean laughs saying, “May I buy some cookies for everyone?”

Half of the broadcast crew says, “Yes, please.” The other half nods no. Wolf says, “How do we know these cookies are safe?”

Sean says, “Huh? These are Girl Scout cookies. What could be safer or tastier?”