Forbidden

Chapter 1 “Looka me, Unca Mai-ka,” shouted four-year old Kim, perched atop the slippery dip. “Looka me.” At first Michael didn’t acknowledge the little girl’s calls. His attention was focused on Kim’s older brother, Nathan, as he navigated a rope bridge strung between two wooden forts. The five year-old had insisted he was big enough to make the crossing unaided so Michael had reluctantly allowed him to go ahead. The bridge swayed with every movement, but the boy’s eyes stayed fixed on his feet. Michael smiled as he watched Nathan’s tongue move slowly over his bottom lip, signaling intense concentration. “Unca Mai-ka! Looka me!” the little girl called more insistently. Kim and Nathan were the offspring of his sister, Rebecca, and her husband, Craig, who had recently gone missing. The mystery of his whereabouts hung over them like an axe about to fall. According to Rebecca, Craig had heard talk of a cargo ship that made regular voyages to the southern Pacific, more precisely to New Zealand, where the normalcy laws had not been implemented and a family could live freely and happily, especially a family with a daughter who had a learning disability. So far only Rebecca, Craig, and Michael were aware of this blight, but at the commencement of the following year Kim would have to attend pre-school. None of them were fool enough to think the teachers wouldn’t pick up on Kim’s ‘difference’ and report her to the authorities, as was their duty. So Craig had gone to San Francisco to search for the skipper of the cargo ship. It was a mission he had estimated would take him no longer than a week. That had been two months ago. With each passing day Michael held out less and less hope of his brother-in-law’s return. Naturally, Rebecca was more optimistic. However, Craig’s disappearance had brought with it an unexpected blessing; an opportunity for Michael to disappear—in his own way. Living with a woman and her two children detracted attention from his own difference. “Unca Mai-ka! Loooka me!” Kim’s expression was now one of utmost annoyance. “Yes, sweetie. I’m looking. Show me.” At once the little girl’s face lit up like a light bulb. “Watching?” she called. Michael nodded. “I’m watching very carefully.” With an excited jiggle the little girl pushed off. Whoosh! Pink ribbons and golden ponytails fluttered behind her as she streaked down the polished metal. Michael held his breath as she shot off the end of the slide and landed, stumbling onto her knees in the sand. Realizing she had not been hurt, she stood up and brushed the sand off her palms and off her knees then turned, checking whether she still had Michael’s attention. “Well done!” said Michael, grinning and applauding his niece’s supreme performance. “Michael.” There was a note of panic in the voice. He turned as Rebecca, returning from a visit to the public conveniences, hurried towards him. “We should go,” she said, nodding discreetly in the direction of the white van driving slowly along the road to their left. Everything had to be done discreetly for even in the park there were cameras looking down on them, long boxes that swiveled about on top of tall posts. “Mamma, looka me on da slippy dip,” said Kim as she stood at the foot of the ladder. “Not now, sweetheart,” she said, taking Kim by the hand. The little girl struggled to pull her hand free, but Rebecca’s grip was tighter. “Another time, baby,” she said. “Tomorrow.” The little girl’s face wrinkled up and started turning red. A few tentative sobs were given, testing to see whether or not she would have to produce actual tears. Rebecca could see Kim was about to make a scene. A scene would draw attention. “Let her show you,” said Michael. He looked down at Kim. “If you’re very quick.” The smile returned to Kim’s face. Tears would not be needed after all. With her blonde ponytails bouncing up and down, Kim began to ascend the ladder. “Be careful,” said Rebecca. Meanwhile, Michael collected Nathan, his attention on the white van as it approached the corner at the far end of the park. “Come on Nathan,” he said. “We’re going home.” “Already?” he moaned. “Yes,” said Michael. “We can come again tomorrow. If you’re a good boy.” Nathan, unlike his sister, knew well that it was useless to argue with an adult. It never got him anywhere and sometimes he received a smack on the backside for his troubles. The unmarked white van was turning into the side street. It was impossible to see the occupants through the dark, tinted windows, but every citizen knew who was inside. The Black Guards had long ago replaced the police force as the enforcers of the normalcy laws. 1. Citizens must meet with the accepted physical, mental, s****l, and spiritual standards. Deviation from these norms is an offence. 2. Citizens must carry their identification cards at all times. Failure to do so is an offence. 3. Aiding or abetting a non-citizen is an offence. These were the three principal laws. From these, all other laws stemmed. Each one strictly enforced ‘for the benefit of society’ as the advertisements never grew tired of announcing. They’d been introduced at the tail end of the Great Cleansing. The Great Cleansing, as every citizen understood, had been a reaction to the increasing discord and outright violence generated by both overpopulation and by a global society who were unable to cope with the ever increasing freedoms available to them. With crime rates soaring, increased terrorist attacks, and standards of acceptable behavior, in general, plunging, the hidden elite had decided it was time for another war. The war had been a cover. It provided a means to address the problem of overpopulation and to introduce a new world order. Entire nations were wiped out with terrifying weapons so advanced, so discreet, that not a single shot had been fired. Targeted first were the non-western centers of overpopulation—China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The elite, through their government puppets, had long ago made known the irritation they felt stemming from the centuries-old conflicts in the Middle-East, in places such as Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, as well as those in Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan, and had likewise laid waste to the populations of those regions. Drugs had been added to the water supplies of poorer countries in Africa, south-east Asia, and South America to render the populations in those areas infertile. Depopulation by this method was less instantaneous, but Rome, as the old saying went, had not been constructed in a single day. In the western world, where the elite had its various headquarters, the population was merely thinned out. Citizens who were mentally or physically disabled, elderly, or in any other way impaired or incapacitated, were now considered non-citizens according to the normalcy laws and therefore eliminated, usually by means of lethal injection or, equally as lethal, by bullet. Citizens found practicing any of the established religions, one of the major sources of discord before the Great Cleansing, were similarly eliminated. Spirituality was encouraged. Religion was prohibited. Homosexuality, bisexuality, and any other form of sexuality that deviated from the stated norm of a single man and woman union were outlawed. Those found to be engaging in anything other than heterosexual s*x were eliminated. It was therefore no surprise that the sight of a white van had Michael’s heart pounding. Having been attracted to men his entire life meant Michael lived every day since the normalcy laws were introduced in fear of being arrested and eliminated. A patrolling white van was the last thing he needed for while there was no proof of his homosexuality, a single thirty-nine year old man, especially one blessed with model-good looks as Michael was, would draw suspicion. And once suspicion had been drawn, it was like gum on the bottom of your shoe—next to impossible to remove completely. From a distance, Michael and Rebecca could be mistaken for a typical family unit. Since moving in with his sister Michael had been able to sleep a little easier at night. Only on one occasion had the Black Guards followed him home. As he climbed the front steps and approached the front door he had called out to Rebecca as loudly as he dared so that she would come to the front door. “Hug me,” he had said as she opened the door. And as they hugged he had asked, “Have they gone?” After a short pause she replied, “Yes.” They returned to Rebecca’s car. While she was buckling the children into their seats, the white van pulled up alongside them, effectively blocking their exit. “Mamma, look!” said Kim, pointing. “Yes, I know, sweetie,” said Rebecca, pulling her daughter’s hand down and placing it in her lap. “But we don’t point at people.” Michael stood waiting behind Rebecca, who was checking Nathan’s safety belt. He felt uncomfortable, strangely vulnerable. Rebecca at least had the children to distract her. All he could do was look at the tinted windows of the white van. He dare not smile or wave in case they considered it a sign he had something to hide. He dare not ignore them, either. That could be also construed as the actions of someone who had a skeleton in their closet. Rebecca, having assured herself that the children were safe and comfortable, shut the car door. They glanced briefly at each other. Michael had thought about putting an arm around Rebecca, but decided that would look like too obvious a display of marital affection. Every muscle in his body was tense. Why aren’t they leaving? They couldn’t stand there indefinitely, staring at the darkened windows behind which the Black Guards were doing God-knows-what. Finally the white van began moving, very slowly, down the road. “What was that about?” asked Rebecca. Michael shook his head. “Let’s just get out of here.” They didn’t live far from the park. In fact, they could have walked. But little legs grew tired and so did the arms that had to carry the little bodies those little legs belonged to. It was easier to drive, to bundle every necessary thing into the car and drive. They had gone no further than two blocks when Rebecca noticed they were being followed. “What do they want?” Michael asked, anxiously glancing surreptitiously into the side mirror. “Let’s just try and stay calm,” said Rebecca. “Easier said than done,” Michael mumbled. Why are they so interested in us? he wondered. A man, a woman and two children coming home from the park? He knew of other gay men who had married lesbians to escape suspicion. Some had even managed children. But the idea didn’t appeal to him, not even as a last resort. So much had been taken away from him, and could be taken away from him, he had made a decision long ago to hang onto that one part of himself that no one could touch—his sense of self. So instead of marrying for convenience he had always lived in shared accommodation where at least one of the housemates was female. He had also been very careful to put forward an image of heterosexual masculinity. He denied his desires and kept away from known underground bars and clubs where homosexual men gathered. Just one slip up could be dangerous. If he was caught in such an establishment, it would mean elimination. If he was even seen near such a place, he would be put under closer surveillance, shadowed until either he slipped up again or the Black Guards gave up. Rebecca pulled into the driveway of the home she owned with Craig. “Where are they now?” asked Michael. “Parked at the curb,” Rebecca replied. “Don’t worry. We’ve done nothing wrong. Just get out of the car and help me with the kids.” Michael climbed out of the passenger seat and glanced at the white van as he opened the back door. “Who’s hungry?” he asked. “Meeee!” cried Nathan, joined almost immediately by Kim, who often took her lead from her big brother. Michael hefted Nathan out of the car, leaving Rebecca to take care of Kim. “Then let’s go inside and have something delicious for lunch.” “Pizza!” Nathan suggested. “No, not pizza.” “Ice cream,” said Kim. “For lunch?” said Rebecca, pushing the car door shut. “What else can we have? What do we have in the fridge?” asked Michael. “Why is that car at our house?” asked Nathan. Michael glanced up at Nathan and noticed the boy was staring at the van. He let Nathan down. “Would you like to open the front door?” asked Michael. Nathan beamed. “Get the keys from Mum.” Rebecca handed the keys to Nathan, holding the front door key out separately. When they arrived at the door, Michael lifted Nathan up and after a couple of attempts, he managed to fit the key into the lock and turn it. Michael let Nathan down again and held the door for Rebecca and Kim. As he closed it, he allowed himself one final look at the white van, which remained stationery at the curb. Lunch was hot dogs followed by fruit salad and yoghurt. “Why can’t we have ice cream instead?” asked Nathan. “Because you just had hot dogs,” said Rebecca. “You have to have something healthy.” “And delicious,” said Michael, spooning some fruit and yoghurt into his mouth. “Mmmmm,” he said, smiling as he chewed. “This is the most delicious thing ever!” But Nathan wasn’t convinced. “Then you can have mine.” Rebecca smirked then regained her composure. “Just eat it and don’t be cheeky!” After lunch, Rebecca put the kids down for a nap and returned to the kitchen. “You haven’t been up to anything, have you?” she asked. Michael looked up from the dishes he was washing. “Oh come on. You know me better than that.” “I know,” said Rebecca grabbing a tea towel. “I was only asking. There has to be some reason for them following us home.” “Are they still there?” Rebecca shook her head. “No, they’ve gone. You don’t think it’s got something to do with Craig?” Michael considered the possibility. “It might be nothing,” he said. “They’re just intimidating us. It must be a slow day.” Rebecca sucked her breath in through her teeth. “I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about this.” Michael couldn’t bring himself to tell Rebecca he thought she was being paranoid because he had a bad feeling about it, too. And it didn’t make much difference whether the Black Guards were interested in him, in Craig, or in Rebecca. All three of them had broken one law or another and were therefore all candidates for elimination.