Imaginary Future - Overview

I've never written fiction before. I barely even read fiction. This is my attempt to describe a world that I feel is quickly approaching. Imaginary Future is going to be a series of posts. Short stories telling the tales of something close to us in the years 2035-2040. For now, though, I would like to do some place setting. This overview will provide an outline for these stories which describe the experience of an "apolitical" bystander and their transformation into that of a revolutionary.

Place Setting

The More Perfect Union (MPU) - Named after the phrase in the declaration of Independence. The MPU is a neo-fascist organization with growing popularity in America. It verbally rejects the white supremacy it exhibits. Instead focusing on organizing against outside agitators trying to destroy American liberalism and culture.

Baltimore Liberation Front (BLF) - Young Marxist revolutionary party. Primarily focused on vanguardism. The BLF regularly participates in protesting and rioting. It is known to have armed members and has clashed with the police as well as the MPU. The BLF is known in Baltimore communities for having food and community support programs where they can be found on the streets cleaning up, feeding families, and organizing community support programs.

Persona

Sam is a 29-year-old battery technician subcontractor for Ford Motor Company in Baltimore Maryland. Sam has a BS in electrical engineering and has been dating a girl, Alice, for 5 years now. They’re considering marriage but want to save up before doing so. The concept of children seems foreign but he does feel the beginnings of a desire to have them, even if he can’t seem to imagine ever being able to do so. He’s had a hard upbringing but graduated with good grades and managed to obtain this contractor job. Many of his classmates didn’t and others seemed to coast their way into success. His dreams have deflated into managing the next steps in his life. Making rent.

Pathway

The story of Sam's journey will follow a series of steps. These steps may seem familiar to those who maybe work in design. This is intentional.

Discovery

Sam’s first interaction with the BLF was after a riot spread down his street. He was inside during the riot trying to sleep and failing. The following morning he woke up to drive to work and found his car had been smashed and pushed into the wall. The left side of it had been caved in. It seemed obvious that a police armored personnel carrier must have shoved it in order to blockade off the road. Upon taking in the wreckage of his only means to get to work, he looked down the street, and there they were. Sweeping up the wreckage and cooking breakfast with butane burners on the sidewalk.

First Contact

Sam tried calling an Uber but between surge pricing and lack of drivers knew he wouldn’t get one within the hour. Google Maps says a bus is arriving in 15 minutes and can get him to work 45 minutes late. Okay. Gets home from work, his employee score lower for being late and his wreckage of a car still on the sidewalk. Still smashed to bits. The BLF man is still there, cleaning up dishes. He offers him a wrapped up sandwich for dinner, noticing the tired look on his face. They get into an altercation about who is to blame for his now smashed up wreckage of a car. They quickly settle to not talk about it and just eat after a long day.

Participation

A couple of weeks go by. The street is slowly cleaned up by the BLF. No one else seems to help. Not the cops. Not the city. Certainly not the MPU. Insurance totals his car but drags their feet on paying out on it. Sam is PIP’d (performance improvement plan) for being over 30 minutes late two days in a row. His manager is understanding of his position and files a notice with HR through their ticket management system, vowing he will ensure his situation is considered but is unsure if he can get it sorted before the performance management system will pink slip him.

Within two weeks, he was on his last warning and at the end of his rope. On this friday, he comes home and there is his BLF friend, looking nearly as tired. He grabs what’s left of his bottle of jack and they share dinner and drinks. In a drunken stupor, he commits to being there for the BLF the next day, ready to help cook breakfast.

Upon waking up and showing up to help cook breakfast he didn’t find the BLF but police. This is his first time seeing police since the riot. They were smashing boxes of juice, tearing open food, and smashing the stall that had been serving food for the last week. Confronting the police with a “What the fuck are you doing?” he was met with a shove and being told he “needs to leave immediately. The half second of angry defiance “No -” ended up with a fist into his jaw and his arm wrenched behind his back. As his head hit the ground and his wrists were cuffed behind his back, he knew he wouldn’t make it to work the following day. He had just lost his job.

“You did this to yourself, asshole” muttered the cop as he dragged him to the back of his Dodge Challenger.

Sustained Participation

To be continued...

Networked Participation

To be continued...

Leadership

To be continued...