Bruno’s story

The soldiers were back and angrier than  ever. It was a cold night in the decrepit city of Boston with green smog as thick as pea soup. Though it was the middle of January in the year 2045, no snow lay on the ground. Green moss covered everything from the sidewalk to the lampposts casting an eerie green light upon the street.

There was a loud knock on the door and the sound of a gruff voice saying “OPEN UP ! OPEN UP !”

Then there was the sound of kicking at the door “COME ON, QUICKER “

There was another voice from farther away “WE'VE FOUND THEM”

Then there was the sound of hushed conversation and in a moment they heard retreating footsteps. Then there was silence. They waited.

A minute, 30 minutes, passed. They did not know. Ms. Winston finally deemed it safe to speak.

“ How about the move to the west?” she whispered.

“They can’t let us cross the state border until, well we get the proper papers to leave.”

“When when will that, be?”

“Honestly, it's hard to say. They said by March, but you know what they say... IS TRUE,”

Mr Winston yelled the last two words because, his house,  like all others, was bugged with microphones. and talking against the T.H.E.Y would mean certain and immediate arrest.

Bruno was leaning against his bedroom wall, his ear pressed to a filthy glass so he could hear the conversation between his parents in the next room. He had known about the plan for over five years. He was excited that it was finally being put into action, but he also knew that it was almost impossible to travel to INR.

The UCNR stands for United Californian Neutrality Republics. Bruno thought neutral meant no soldiers, no coal and no moss. The  UCR include former states Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico ,Washington, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, and parts of the states Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and most of the Canadian province of British Columbia.The easiest point of entry Bruno Knew was through the Mexican border into Arizona. As Mexico is axis this is difficult to enter without a Mexico City license plate. How this could be obtained Bruno could not fathom. Though he had heard his parents arranging for cars to be left by axis States-Republics  for crossing with the axis plates and Diplomatic passports. The cars were left 10 miles short of each state border covered with tarpaulins and loaded with coal. All that was left was to obtain documents to be allowed out of Boston City and into Boston village and out to the border of M.A.S.S.

from which you could enter Greater New York and travel up north to the P.E.N.N border where the car would be waiting with a barrel of coal.

standing outside, coal would not stay dry for five years. As for the car,  Bruno decided he would not think of the car. He put down his grimy cup and filled the hole drilled in the wall with a equally grimey Q tip, hopped of his step stool and carefully laid down on his straw pallet with a faded green-gray military blanket with the words “Yukon Potatoes” printed on it. What the word “Yukon” meant Bruno did not know. He also did not know why potatoes required blankets.

The next day, as with all other youth in the city of Boston, Bruno was required to wear a gas mask, and as the odd tradition in Boston City dictated, he had five minutes to get to school. In fact no one was allowed  be out on the streets except when a five minute gramophone record was played.

There were speakers placed in  the city to play the polka-type song all over the city. At 7 a.m. the gramophone was cranked up. Once the music started everyone rushed out on the streets in a frenzy because anyone caught on the streets after 7:05 was arrested. As the first notes rang out across the city Bruno burst out of his house and gripped his gas mask to keep it from coming off he ran down the street and turned on to the main road where he was met  by his friend who was out of breath.

Frank Roosevelt gasped, “I,  c-c-can't get to th-th-the school.  Too many people. What time ?”

Bruno checked his pocket watch. “7:03 and 29 seconds. Thirty seconds until the repeat.”