‘It certainly is a cloudy day and hot as a coal stove,’ He said. ‘I have the bags for the grocery store,’ She said. ‘Do you remember when we used to cut the grass every week,’ He asked? Sometimes twice a week when the rains were plentiful,’ She replied. ‘Dust now is all the yard is,’ He said. ‘Don’t forget the Ration Coupons…if we do not have those we will get no groceries today,’ She said. ‘Last time that we went to the market the guards would not let us in even with the Coupons,’ He said.

‘This ‘New Think’ and ‘America For Americans’ is hard to get used to,’ She said. ‘At first, I thought that it would be great…until so many of our friends and neighbors started disappearing,’ He said. ‘No more fear of wrong opinions and hidden agendas,’ President For Life said. No more division was promised and no more worry as there would be plenty of food and shelter and freedom from hunger and want…easy it seemed to give all of the difficult thinking and research of ideas over to those who were genetically superior.

You would have thought that it would have been difficult when reading was abolished. No more books of any kind…most of them had been burned…it was believed that a few were hidden. Artificial Intelligence now determined what humans could watch over the government’s streaming platforms. The AIs never functioned consistently. They regularly disagreed with each other…much as humans did when they still lived under the form of government called Democracy.

‘Well, the Subaru will not start again,’ He said. ‘I am not surprised as it has to be 50 years old,’ She said. ‘First PFL decreed that we would no longer purchase items made outside our Country then so many of our folks became sick and died or went missing that there was no one to manufacture the automobiles any longer,’ He said.

‘I truly believe that Our Pandemic of 2053 was the ruination of our country…we no longer could collaborate with other countries…what was left of the United Kingdom after WW III had a vaccine but PFL said that we would make our own,’ He said. ‘He was too proud to admit that all of our academics and scientist had escaped our nation long ago and all we had left were poor uneducated and some angry warlike people,’ She replied.

‘I would kill for a blueberry,’ She said. ‘Or an apple or a peach…but those fruit fields were plowed under when we discovered that our people did not want to lower themselves to picking fruit,’ He said.

‘Did you know that I have personally seen PFL, she asked? ‘Oh about 10 years ago…he was speaking in Chicago and one of his aids began to have a seizure while PFL looked on with an amused look on his face,’ she said. ‘I was struck by how he obviously did not care about one of his closest aids…and I thought that it was Bull Shit that he cared about me,’ She exclaimed!

‘Hold it right there…where are you going…what is that in your pocket,’ Guard said! ‘Why that is my Gideon’s Bible,’ he said. ‘We were told in the last town meeting that the Bible was still approved to be read,’ she said. ‘Not anymore…PFL said that he will tell us what God wants as he is his messenger,’ Guard said as he struck both of them to the dusty ground…’