The Talk

Cirice raced home after that interaction. After feigning excitement as long as she could, she stopped in the street to break down crying. What the hell was that? They made her join like she walked into a cult meeting or something. And now she had to make her parents come with her to PunderCorp? They’d be resistant to that idea at best. Throughout her entire life, Cirice constantly heard them complaining about PlunderCorp. How could she let them know she had to work with them now? It was too much to handle. When she got a hold of herself, she finished the journey to her house.

Inside, Harry was cooking dinner, covered in the scars he had for longer than Cirice had been alive. His disfigurement was off-putting to many, but Susan loved him. It was hard to get a job with his appearance, so he became a stay-at-home dad.

“How was the reeducation day?”

Harry’s chuckles put Cirice a little more at ease.

“It wasn’t great. They started talking about animal hybrids like lion tortoises, and I kind of checked out.”

“Wow, so was it crazy BS all the time, or just for that part?”

“There was some truth when they described when they made their rifles.”

“It was a SCOP presentation too? Who shows guns to a classroom of kids?”

“People who want kids to be excited to join, I guess.”

She initially hid her intentions behind those words. Suddenly, Susan, her mom, appeared.

“Welcome home, dear! How uninformative was that presentation today?”

“Apparently they’re making up fake animals now.”

“Wow, even worse than I thought.”

After giving Cirice a hug, she retrieved a pamphlet she had been saving for this very day. It was a whirlwind; Cirice couldn’t even comprehend asking questions about Saturday yet.

“Cirice, I think you should read this; it’s the manifesto of a revolutionary who self-immolated on the stairs of PlunderCorp’s regional headquarters.”

Cirice’s parents stood over her as she read it, making sure they would be there if she had any questions. The pamphlet, titled The Iron Lung of Consumerism, first described what an Iron Lung was:

—

“The Iron Lung could be thought of as an early form of life-extending care. People who couldn’t breathe on their own due to illnesses like polio could inhale and exhale using the machines. Iron Lungs were rather controversial during their time in use in the 20th century. While they effectively kept patients alive, the patient couldn’t move. Apart from nurses or the occasional visitor, there was nobody to talk to and nothing to do for patients in an Iron Lung. Many who were locked in these metal tubes begged for death.”

—

Then it gave a brief history of consumerism. It started with early marketing campaigns that created the entire mythology surrounding holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. After that, it described the time when lightbulb makers conspired to reduce the time in which their products would last, continuing through the post-World-War-II mass adoption of plastic, the rise of planned obsolescence in the disposable technology industry, and finally to the greenwashing propaganda machine that helped to facilitate the 21st century environmental disaster. Then it finished:

—

“This disaster should have been the end of consumerism, a culture in which people buy things, use them, and throw them away. We were running out of materials to make things and places to put the waste. Then, almost like magic, PunderCorp was born. It’s the only thing keeping the system we know as consumerism alive. PlunderCorp makes sure that we don’t have to change our wasteful ways, so we never will. Now we are stuck here like polio patients, unable to move beyond this wasteful culture. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

—

The last sentence was scribbled out.

“Hey mom, I can’t read this last sentence. What does it say?”

“Oh, something about eradicating humanity being the solution. But we don’t agree with that part, do we, honey?”

She glared at Harry.

“Of course not!”

“Why are you guys making me read this?”

“Well, because he had a point. We both think the way he talked about PlunderCorp was pretty accurate.”

“How about in the whole ‘eradicating humanity’ part?”

“No, no! I just thought it was a good metaphor for our current system. He burned himself alive on their stairs, this isn’t someone in a proper state to find solutions to big problems.”

“Did he die?”

“Almost. A kind bystander saved his life with a fire extinguisher.”

Cirice shook her head and steeled herself again.

“I need you guys to go to the PlunderCorp regional headquarters with me on Saturday. I asked too many questions and they stopped me after class to strong-arm me into joining them.”

“Well that’s concerning. You’re 13, dear.”

“That’s what I told them, and they said they get people younger than me all the time!”

“We’re not taking you there. If you join, they’re going to abuse you.”

“Look, I know you guys hate PlunderCorp and have good reason to, but if you don’t come with me to their headquarters this Saturday, they’re going to come and kill us!”

“For asking too many questions, huh?”

“Yes! They’re suspecting us as revolutionaries! If I don’t enthusiastically join them this Saturday, they’re going to kill all of us!”

“Wow. That’s certainly a situation.”

For the rest of the night, they talked over what would happen and eventually they agreed to go with Cirice on Saturday. As the days passed, Cirice became increasingly uneasy. This was the exact opposite of what she wanted to do with her life.