ONE:
Blood
ran off the edge of the stainless steel table. It splattered the
tops
of the man’s boots, and pooled in large sticky puddles on the
floor
at his feet. He wielded the large knife with surgical precision,
it’s
blade glistening with crimson as he went about his work.
His
mind drifted as he sliced the tough hide from the flesh,
finding
solace in memories of better times. Sure, he had a job,
such
as it is, and a roof over his head, which was more than some
could
claim, but he was as far from content as a man could be.
His
memories often slipped back a decade, returning him to
the
little shop where he turned boxes of rusty parts
into fire-breathing
steel
steeds. To the shiny chrome, glistening paint, and supple
leather
that his hands assembled into an extension of his soul. To
the
wind blowing through his beard, and the long black hair that
flowed
from under the small helmet he wore as he cruised the back
roads,
his Avon tires caressing the curves.
Inadvertently,
his right hand twisted the knife as his mind
twisted
the throttle, causing him to slice through the hide. The
hole
was small, but if the foreman caught it, they’d dock him the
price
of the hide for damn sure. “Son of a bitch,” he mumbled, “In
a
bastard society like this, you can’t get ahead no matter what you
do!”
He’d
had to close his motorcycle shop ten years before, ending
a
life-long dream because the damned bureaucrats in Washington
had
decided that motor vehicles were ruining the air quality, so
they
had rationed gasoline, and restricted travel to a bare minimum.
No
more cruising the back roads and boulevards. No more
trips to the coast for the weekend. Now, you had to have
papers to
travel,
and those were only issued on an as-needed basis, for business.
He
laughed under his breath when he thought about how it
all
began.
In
the mid-90’s, both major political parties,
who had been
the
only viable leadership for over 200 years, were embroiled in
scandals
the likes of which were never seen before in American
politics.
One
of the oldest families in the political arena, the Kennerlies,
were
involved in drug use, sex with teenage girls, adultery, and
financial
double-dealings. Used to the media turning their heads
at
the appropriate time, they were shocked to discover that this
newfound
notoriety cost them seats in the Senate and the House,
and
even forced some of the family into taking private sector jobs.
The
Speaker of the House, an abrasive fellow to begin with,
lost
the public trust when he was censured by an ethics committee
for
financial misdeeds, about the same time the freshman representatives
found
their resolve for their “revolution” had melted under
the
flood of bad publicity over cuts in social services and welfare
spending.
Infighting
among the party members was at an
all time high,
with
senators, congressmen, and representatives criticizing each
other
and their own party without regard
of what “airing their
dirty
laundry in public” was doing to their credibility, and that of
their
respective parties.
The
White House, long held in reverent awe by most citizens,
was
turned into a world class hotel, with rooms for rent to the
highest
bidder, teas and private audiences with the President for a
price,
and policy made by suggestions from foreign interests who’s
contributions
went into the party’s “war chest”.
A
substantial number of White House personnel were working
without
security clearance because of drug use or criminal
records,
and the F.B.I. was used as an internal spy ring to “sniff
out”
enemies of the “most ethical administration in history.” (Or
so it was called before the President’s first term in
office.)
The
majority of the appointees to major posts such as Surgeon
General
and Attorney General, and a large number of White House
aides
and councils resigned or were forced to resign, as scandal
after
scandal was made public.
The
lives and business dealings of the President and First Lady
before
their election were under constant scrutiny by special prosecutors,
and
rumors of their impending indictment were rampant
in
the press.
Once
more, an arrogant administration had managed to snatch
defeat
from the slobbering jaws of victory.
The
distrust and revulsion that this obvious misuse of power
and
betrayal of public trust instilled in the people of America led
to
the rise of a relatively unknown party
that was listed on the ballot
in
the last several national and state elections as the Ecology Party.
Led
by a former Underwriters Laboratory product tester named
Raphael
Major, they were never taken seriously by the two major
parties until their upset victory in the presidential
election of 2004.
It
was a victory that shocked none any more than the bewildered
leaders
of the Ecology Party.
Thrust
into a position of power and respect that he never seriously
expected
to win, and was horribly ill prepared for, President
Major
did what the last new President and most of those before
him
had done. He tried to amass and hold all the power he possibly
could
over the American people.
The
new president did not trust the military in any way, shape,
or
form. He also viewed the F.B.I., and the C.I.A. with no small
measure
of distrust. Therefore, at a suggestion from his advisors,
he
founded the National Police Force.
The
N.P.F. was an entity unto itself, answering only to the
White
House. The rank and file members of the N.P.F. were called
“soldiers,”
rather than officers, because President Major knew that
the
public held more fear of the military than it did for police
officers.
The
officers of the N.P.F., who’s highest rank was Captain,
liked
the fact that their acts of domestic terrorism were largely
blamed
on the military by the citizens. They even received military
surplus
weapons and vehicles, and resided at former military
bases
that had been closed by cutbacks during previous administrations.
President
Major never consulted the Chiefs of Staff, because
he
felt that the military was the enemy of the Earth,
and only
destroyed
the environment. He did not inform them of any changes
in
policy, or apprise them of the fact that a whole new pseudomilitary
force
was now operating on American soil. His only comment
was
“Let those stuffy-assed brass polishers take care of Bosnia
or
somewhere, and leave us alone!”
The
Ecology Party had originated out of
a coalition of ecological
groups
operating primarily in California and the Pacific Northwest.
They
were opposed to logging, hunting, fishing, off-road vehicles,
and
any other use of the outdoors that didn’t fit into the
tight
parameters of what they felt were politically correct pastimes,
such
as hiking, bird watching, and group sex.
A
magnet for not only left wing radicals in the elite environmental
movement,
but for the naive members of “generation X,”
who
felt guilty about any wrong purportedly done to any cultural
or
ethnic group at any time in history, and who saw it as their
duty
to right those wrongs at any cost.
Also
welcomed to the fold were the militant animal rights
activists,
who, after repeated exposure to “Bambi” are convinced
that
animals really talk when humans are not around, and also
experience
the full range of emotions that humans do.
Since
all these separate groups helped to cinch the victory of
the
rapidly growing party, President
Major felt it was only fair
that
each faction had an advisor on his personal staff to assure that
his
decisions were balanced in all ways. Unfortunately, he did not
take
into consideration the fact that 75% of the American people
were
not represented in his cabinet, and furthermore, could not
care
less about most of the causes those in his cabinet did represent.
One of the first things on the agenda of the new President
was
to
call a cabinet meeting to discuss gun control. While previous
administrations
pressed their own gun control bills, never in history
did
a President have such newly elected support as President
Major
now enjoyed.
Senator
Barbara Shepherd, also of “Humans for Animal Ethics”
opened
the discussion at President Majors’ call of “Ladies
First!”
“We,
as a society,” she shouted, “Cannot continue to let innocent
lives
be shattered by people with guns!” After a sizable round
of
applause, she continued. “Last year alone, thousands of deer,
bear,
and other species of our fur-bearing friends were willfully
and
callously slaughtered, leaving behind grieving loved ones to
cry
their little hearts out in the quiet
of the forest!”
Waiting
for the applause to once more die down, Barbara made
a
great show of wiping a tear that trickled down her heavily powdered
cheek
with a monogrammed silk hankie.
“The
exploitation of animals must not be allowed to continue!”
she
intoned, oblivious to the plight of the silkworm that had more
than
a passing interest in the manufacture of her hankie.
“We
really MUST ban the ownership and use of all guns. Rifles,
pistols,
and especially the ones that shoot those nasty millimeter
things!”
The
President, who was no stranger to firearms, having seen
one
as a child, rolled his eyes and said, “Barb, Dear, they are called
bullets.”
“Whatever,”
she replied with her usual arrogance. “We really
must be rid of them, whatever they are, once and for all!”
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