[Day 332] Eugenia part 18

Read part 17 here!

I didn’t return to town the next day, feeling guilty for leaving Julie alone so much. We spent the day gardening, planning meals, and making lists for things I needed to pick up the next time I was in town. We also took this time to finally dye her hair.

Using an old watering bucket, we went a few hundred yards from the house. We wet her hair and I helped her scrub the dull brown dye through her limp locks. Julie giggled. “It tickles.”

By the time we’d finished, Julie was a medium auburn version of herself, but I felt that it was good enough for the moment. We had to wear sleeves whenever we were near society anyways, so I could just have her wear a hoodie. Not that she was going into town anytime soon. Gruber made me wait a year and a half before I was allowed to try.

Rested after my relaxing day, I went to see Decklan the next one. He’d given me his work and school schedule so I always knew how to find him. It was about eight in the morning on a day he didn’t have class, so the fresh morning air was refreshing to walk to town in. I was feeling particularly brave, wearing a shirt that would have just barely covered a tattoo if I’d had one.

There were only a few other people in the store as I entered, but I made my way directly to Decklan. Pretending to look through the selection of gum, I glanced up at him. He looked concerned.

“What’s up?” I muttered. He grumbled something under his breath. Maybe he’d gotten a bad grade? School seemed to be a big deal to him. “Have you talked to the others, yet?”

“You need to leave.” He said lowly, looking around nervously.

I stopped browsing to look at him. “What?” He shook his head. “Decklan, what’s going on? I thought…”

“Meg.” he stressed in an even quieter voice. “Please.” He pressed something into my hand. “Don’t open this until you’re home. Leave now. But be careful.”

“Be careful…? But-”

“Go.”

Confused, I left the store. Why did he want me to be careful? He hadn’t seemed too concerned two days ago, when he’d been introduced to my lifestyle. I could feel whatever he’d given me digging into my palm, but I didn’t dare stretch my fingers, afraid of what it could be. Maybe there really was something to be afraid of.

Everything in town that day made me paranoid. A man leered at me and I almost broke into a run. A young girl pointed at me, tugging on her mother’s blouse, and I had a minor heart attack.

By the time I managed to stumble back home, I found Julie on the hammock behind the house, sketching a picture. She must not have heard me, because when I glanced over her shoulder, she jumped. It looked as though she was drawing a face.

“Meg! Don’t do that!”

“Sorry. It’s just…” I related my meeting with Decklan.

She frowned at me. “Well, what did he give you?” I stared at her for a moment before remembering the thing I was clutching so tightly in my hand. Opening my fingers, it was only a small scrap of paper.

Zachary Bluff. Next to this vaguely familiar name was a radio station and another two words.

He knows.

“But what does that mean?” Julie glared at the piece of paper. “I’ll bet it’s just mumbo jumbo that he wants us too figure out to put some time in between his meeting us and us figuring out he got cold feet.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think the way he was acting today was a ruse. He looked legitimately concerned.”

“Well, let’s see what he’s given us.” Julie grabbed the radio and started to find the mysterious channel. “But I didn’t trust him from the beginning.”

I didn’t say anything and watched her delicate hands turn the out-of-date dials. Once she reached the correct channel, she came to sit next to me on the bed, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her in a way that I hoped was comforting and leaned in a little in anticipation.

“…was an awful large pole. We’re going to head to commercial break now, listeners, but remember to tune in tomorrow at ten for our exclusive interview with Senator Zachary Bluff about his radical views on Fastidious Fornication!”

Julie sneered as I turned off the radio again. That’s where I’d heard the name before; the tattoo system had been a Senator Bluff’s idea. He, I was sure, was one of the radical politicians who wished it were more extreme. But what did this particular one know?

We turned on the radio the next morning at nine thirty, afraid to miss anything. It was a news station, so we learned about a new highway being built and other local happenings before the interview was introduced.

“Thank you for being here, Senator Bluff. We know how busy your schedule is.”

“Anything for my favorite news station, Jon.” Bluff’s voice was smooth and practiced; no wonder he was reelected.

“You flatter us, Senator.”

“Please, call me Zachary.”

“O-of course. Well, Zachary,” the DJ, Jon Banister, seemed uncomfortable using the name. “lately you’ve had some press conferences regarding legislation that you hope to pass in the next few months. Can you tell us a little bit more?”

“Of course, Jon. My bill, the Finders Bill, would allocate five million dollars to the locating and public executions of any and all Reg escapees.” Julie and I exchanged looks.

“Reg escapees? But surely…”

“There are more than you think, Jon. In fact, there are exactly 32. The latest, as you and most of your listeners are aware of, is young Julie Sherman.”

“But why put so many resources into finding these 32 people, when there are 18 million other Regs are suffering from malnourishment because of lack of adequate salaries? Some people have been speculating whether or not there will be a revolt.”

“You mean like you, Jon? I heard last Thursday’s newscast.” Bluff paused, letting that sink in. From where I was sitting, it sounded almost like a threat. “Don’t you see, though? By publicly exterminating these grid outliers, the Regs will calm down. They’ll understand that we, the superior beings, will not stand for that kind of disrespect.”

“But the malnourishment problem…”

“Will be dealt with in my second piece of legislation.”

“I’m sorry, Senator, but-”

“Zachary, please.”

“Zachary, did you just say that you have a second piece of legislation?”

“Why, I’m glad you caught that, Jon. Yes, today, in fact, I will be introducing a second piece of legislation to Congress. Called the Superior Species Act, I will be asking for the removal of Reg citizenship status.”

“What?”

“Don’t look so shocked, Jon. You had to know this was coming. Regs are lesser humans, you must have learned what they did with our society so many years ago back in school. Pretending that they’re anything else is just wishful thinking. They don’t deserve amnesty. We’ve let them slide for too long.”

“With all due respect, sir, we haven’t exactly been ‘letting them slide’. They clean our toilets, pave our streets, and mine our resources, all for less than minimum wage. They can barely survive.”

“Which is exactly why we need to pass the Superior Species Act.”

“And why is that, sir?” Jon Banister sounded sardonic.

“Because once they no longer have citizenship, we won’t have to give them salaries at all.”

“How exactly will that help?”

“Let me finish, Jon, please. Each regional group of Regs will have a political sponsor, with other local sponsors to help out. They will be fed by the goodness of society, not by what they can afford. And of course, society can’t see their working class starve! Who else would clean their streets?”

“And you really think this will pass, sir?”

“You didn’t hear it from me, Jon, but I have it on good authority that my Finder Bill is just one vote away from becoming law. The Superior Species Act will take these ideas just one step further. Society is ready, finally.”

“Thank you sir, for coming on our program. We at R&R News appreciate you taking time out of your apparently very busy schedule.”

“Of course, Jon.”

“Alright, listeners, stay with us until after the commercial break. We have breaking news on the status of the new highway, straight from the workers putting it together-”

Julie slammed her fist onto the power button, shaking. I didn’t even caution her about breaking it, my head having not risen from my hands. I suddenly understood why Decklan was so afraid, though I wasn’t sure how he’d found out.

Zachary Bluff knew who I was, and he wanted me dead. Publicly.

Continued in part 19!