HOME | DD

Description
Toronto was hungry.  She wandered down to Bab's Chippy in her clockoff and grabbed a foetus and chips.  Sioux, the female behind the counter, looked frayed and careworn; nails bitten, close to tears.  Because Toronto had been coming here for a while, because they were now on first name terms, she adopted a concerned mien.  "Sup Sioux?" she queried.

"It's Barry," Sioux blurted out as though she was waiting to be asked, "You know he had his heart set on making Des this cycle."  Toronto knew, had had many discussions with Sioux's lifepartner and coworker on this topic.  Overpopulation was rife, contraception forbidden, copulation encouraged.  The bi-cyclical lotto of every eligible couple Designated one in four as parent-units, able to keep their child.  The remainder underwent terminations regularly, at the start of the third trimester, and thereby provided a useful protein source for the Designated expectant mothers, of which Toronto, finally, this cycle, was one.

"Barry was devastated when our number didn't come up.  He had a friend at a lab swap the swabs.  Made me hide the pregnancy, you know.  I birthed it.  No anaesthetic, only a little homegrown.  It was awful.  But Barry said he knew what he was doing and I believed him.  I wanted to believe him."

Toronto nodded, appalled.  She was amazed that Sioux was still standing here, that she was not interned at that moment.

"Barry was convinced that he could buy a Des off his mate, Carlton, and Carlton's lifepartner.  This is the third year running they've made Des.  Four kids already, and the new one so weak it might as well have been coated in batter as not, for its chances.  Well, Carlton put the price up.  Said lifey'd got attached to it.  Bollocks, of course, he just wanted more cash.

"Barry got desperate, killed the Carlton kid.  Tried to steal the bloody ticket.  Got caught."

Sioux broke down.  Toronto nodded and patted Sioux's hand across the counter: there was nothing else she could do.  The child inside her shifted uncomfortably.

"Barry's in a cage down by the docks.  They sentence him on Chewday.  They made me.  They... I."  Sioux subsided, barely audible:  "I cut the baby up, butchered him, battered him.  They made me watch while the mothers ate him.  I called him Dessie, our little one.  He was our last chance.  Next cycle, I'd have been too old."

Toronto murmured sympathetic words and walked away mechanically chewing chips.  Foetus is getting bland.  Chewday, she thought, I will go down to the docks, give Barry a send-off.    He's a big lad; there'll be plenty for everyone.

Description
Toronto was hungry.  She wandered down to Bab's Chippy in her clockoff and grabbed a foetus and chips.  Sioux, the female behind the counter, looked frayed and careworn; nails bitten, close to tears.  Because Toronto had been coming here for a while, because they were now on first name terms, she adopted a concerned mien.  "Sup Sioux?" she queried.

"It's Barry," Sioux blurted out as though she was waiting to be asked, "You know he had his heart set on making Des this cycle."  Toronto knew, had had many discussions with Sioux's lifepartner and coworker on this topic.  Overpopulation was rife, contraception forbidden, copulation encouraged.  The bi-cyclical lotto of every eligible couple Designated one in four as parent-units, able to keep their child.  The remainder underwent terminations regularly, at the start of the third trimester, and thereby provided a useful protein source for the Designated expectant mothers, of which Toronto, finally, this cycle, was one.

"Barry was devastated when our number didn't come up.  He had a friend at a lab swap the swabs.  Made me hide the pregnancy, you know.  I birthed it.  No anaesthetic, only a little homegrown.  It was awful.  But Barry said he knew what he was doing and I believed him.  I wanted to believe him."

Toronto nodded, appalled.  She was amazed that Sioux was still standing here, that she was not interned at that moment.

"Barry was convinced that he could buy a Des off his mate, Carlton, and Carlton's lifepartner.  This is the third year running they've made Des.  Four kids already, and the new one so weak it might as well have been coated in batter as not, for its chances.  Well, Carlton put the price up.  Said lifey'd got attached to it.  Bollocks, of course, he just wanted more cash.

"Barry got desperate, killed the Carlton kid.  Tried to steal the bloody ticket.  Got caught."

Sioux broke down.  Toronto nodded and patted Sioux's hand across the counter: there was nothing else she could do.  The child inside her shifted uncomfortably.

"Barry's in a cage down by the docks.  They sentence him on Chewday.  They made me.  They... I."  Sioux subsided, barely audible:  "I cut the baby up, butchered him, battered him.  They made me watch while the mothers ate him.  I called him Dessie, our little one.  He was our last chance.  Next cycle, I'd have been too old."

Toronto murmured sympathetic words and walked away mechanically chewing chips.  Foetus is getting bland.  Chewday, she thought, I will go down to the docks, give Barry a send-off.    He's a big lad; there'll be plenty for everyone.