He had tried to tell her life was not that simple. People did not only belong into two major groups. Within those groups, men and women could be separated into another two groups and by the exhaustive end of all the dissection, the number uttered by all the so-called scientists in the room with half a functional brain was higher than 100 and lower than a million.
When he looked at her, the expression on her face was nothing he had not seen before. Her normally large and alert eyes were narrowed as if she had popped a sour candy into her mouth. She was right at the point of letting her opinions spill out of her mouth, and for some reason it made Olson think of the garbage he needed to bring out to the community dumpster. The dumpster that was damn near spilling over the edges when the second of every Friday rolled around each month.
"Let me have it."
"Hold on, I'm trying to formulate my thoughts."
"Since when have you taken this long?"
"The last time you called me stupid and said I belonged on a short bus."
"I was joking."
"No, let me rephrase that. The time you said I only deserved to ride on the short bus because I was a retard."
"I said you were sounding retarded, not that you were one."
"Like that makes it any better."
"I think it does."
"Whatever. And what about those that actually have to ride short buses."
"Don't act like you're saying this out of the goodness of your heart. I've never been afraid of any punishment I'm about to receive."
Jackie laughed at Olson with a cackle that reminded him of George W. Bush. She fondly referred to him as the worst person to ever exist in American history, past president or not. Olson had voted for him both times and felt no shame whatsoever for his beliefs.
This predicament they were in regarding their relationship was silly because countless other couples were struggling to not kill each other. There was nothing holding them back from stepping over this line, but they never went that far. They had only come together because their government had run out of ideas on how to influence their constituents to be better, which basically meant getting along.
No one really knew how the second phase of the American experiment started. When it became clear to everyone the Master plan was being instituted nationwide, families were torn apart and parents had no choice but to embrace the radical change. Divorces of the likeminded people occurred and within second couples were single.
Olson and Jackie had it easier than most. They never had children. Somehow their status as non-producing baby makers were overlooked by the government. Hell, it was overlooked by all branches of their government, small and large, because the politicians simply had stopped caring shortly after a year into the program.
It was after the fifth uprising attempt that the government forced all citizens to face their ugliness. Their intentions were coming from a good place although highly flawed. White supremacists could only marry minorities Prolife women could only have females friends that were prochoice. The current militia men and gun enthusiasts were housed with antigun activists. Atheists had to marry Christians. The list went one and one. If you were caught lying to the government to not marry what you considered as inferior, the physical punishment was not swift and brought terror to any person with a brain. Even the most resistant man liked to keep his hands and not feel the pain of having them sewed back on upside down without any kind of numbing medication.
Olson stopped daydreaming of God knows what when something hit his head. The boredom of having to spent time with Jackie was torture in and of itself, but this was much worse due to his headache. He was not fully listening before and how he was not listening at all when he realized Jackie had hit him over his head with a broom.
"What the fuck! You know how dirty that is?"
"That's the point, you freak."
"I clean the floors with that. You could've turned it around and used the other part of it."
"And put splinters into your head. I did you a favor. Besides, I don't need to answer questions later when they see you bleeding."
"It's not like I'm going out in public with blood on my head. I'd wash it off." Olson patted the back of his head. "God, that really hurt. I already have a headache."
"Whose fault is that? You know I didn't give you that headache. You already had one long before I hit you. Besides, you don't control when I tell you how I'm feeling."
"As if being with you for five years hasn't made me realize how you operate."
"Quit being a typical narcissistic male pig."
"Quite being a typical female, you know what."
"If you're going to be that crude, don't hide behind the illusion you're saving me from hearing something I haven't already heard."
"Fine, cunt!"
"There it is."
"There what is?"
"The outcome of this stupid experimental punishment. I mean the bozos up there in Washington never thought far enough to what might happen to those couples that are like us, who have enough smarts to tolerate each other without it leading to death."
"Don't go tooting your horn because the night's still young."
"Well, we aren't getting any younger, that's for sure."
"Speak for yourself."
"Believe you me as much name calling as we do, it is done out of pure necessity. If we weren't so caustic verbally, we would be dead right now," Jackie said.
Olson looked at her. He hated to admit she was right, only partially, but belonging to the live another day category kind of right. He kept his mouth shut while she spoke and listened to her words as he tried to not think of ways to escape his situations. It wasn't all that bad but this kind of daily existence was weighting him down. If he was in a body of water, he would drown. No amount of any pleasurable activity could combat the misery he felt. Touching her would lead to more regret. Touching himself would lead to more shame. Starving his body and mind was no longer an option. Watching himself bleed out had lost meaning.
The last words he heard before being hit on the head again with the same dirty broom and before passing out stayed with him when he woke up.
"If you step on a sidewalk crack, you will not break your mother's back. The government already killed her, and you or any other living person was not the last remaining hope when she took her last breath."
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