The Ballet, try Part 2

Miriam turned off the shower, treatment grabbed her fluffy towel and dried herself off. She got dressed in her regulation white skirt and blue top, had a quiet cup of coffee, left her apartment, and started walking to the train station a couple miles away. Her neighborhood was nice in the morning, a row of old brownstones in a gentrifying, tree-lined neighborhood. She liked her little community because it hadn’t been forced into ethno-social blocks by the government yet. There were blue- and white-collar workers, and lots of people from different cultures. This wasn’t entirely unusual for the city, but it was becoming more rare for cultures to mix now that the government had decided the separation of racial and economic classes would alleviate crime. Oh, the politikniks never came right out and said that, but redistricting and other laws made it obvious that the people in control had every intention of keeping control, by making sure nobody else could ever rise to a position of power. It was the beginning of the new, cruel global empire, and everyone knew it, but was too busy trying to put food on the table to care or do anything about it. What could be done, anyway? The politicians had the power, and owned the weapons, the technology, the land, and the media. Best not to grumble. Life is suffering, after all, Miriam thought.

But the idea of losing her little slice of paradise bothered Miriam deeply. She was good friends with the dozen or so people she shared the row of houses with. They would often get together on Friday nights to tell stories about their weeks, and share some incredibly delicious food and drink, each person bringing the best of their heritage with them. She looked forward to finishing work and returning home to her little island on Fridays, her own little world of peace and tranquility, her own little bastion of cultural diversity that proved the politicians didn’t have any idea what they were talking about. Or maybe they did, but that thought scared her witless. Which, she supposed, is exactly what they wanted.

To be continued…