Great-Great Grandfather’s Locket

GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER’S LOCKET

By Kathryn Page Shimkets

What happens when life as we know it, the human connection is virtually non-existent - when our love of family is forced underground. It is the year 2200, few still had distant memories of actual human interactions. Most didn’t even know their surname, or the power that could come with the love of family. Several generations back, after the government forbid parents to allow their children to be homeschooled; and encouraged youngsters to report their parents for any activities that weren’t on the acceptable seven list; my great-great-grandfather designed a simple way to keep our family heritage alive and treasured. A plain heart shaped locket, no real value, except to the one who would hold it and treasure it and know the secrets it held.

My great-great grandfather was ahead of his time and I believe he saw what the future of our planet earth would look like. He could foresee the ravages of war, the famines across the world, the mind-numbing of the people and the loss of family values and community. He also was a technical genius. His work during his lifetime was groundbreaking in the area of cyber health technology. The locket was the culmination of decades of research and work. This unassuming piece of jewelry could only be unlocked by one who shared the DNA of the inventor. If I would have been able to talk about it, I could proudly remember his contributions to our world. But that was one of the seven rules – Rule # 4 No one person is allowed to have credit or be recognized or called out as someone special.

This is the life I was born into. Rule #1 – only one child is allowed per couple. My parents were older, they had faint memories that had been passed down from generation to generation. Their outward lives never indicated what burned so brightly in their hearts. And that was our family connection, from one generation to another – a legacy of sorts – one I would pass on to my child should there still be life on this desolate planet. Being an only child wasn’t unusual, it was the only way. I never knew what it would be like to have siblings, the closest thing to this was a distant cousin who I went to university with; and yet I wasn’t supposed to know about them, except for the data embedded in the locket. Again, another rule we lived by, Rule #2 Family trees are not allowed.

For the purpose of documentation, my name is 162432-B12 Elisabeth Grace Forester, but just by giving you my name I am violating Rule #6 – All human beings shall be referred to by the number given them at the hospital they were born. No other identification is allowed, for this causes some to rise and fall unfairly in status due to their name and family connections. If not for the locket, I wouldn’t know about the other ways people used to live. To dream of choosing one’s own meal, Rule #3 – Nutritional blocks are available two times per day based on caloric need. No other food may be consumed. Sometimes when delving into the lockets data base I can see what choices my ancestors had for consumption – this too was taken away – one person can’t have a different diet from another, all needs to be fair. One of my favorite activities is to open the locket and watch video feed from generations past sharing a meal together. They called it Thanksgiving, but now that would be breaking Rule #5 – No gatherings of more than three related people are allowed. This guaranteed that those family bonds never had a chance or opportunity to develop. The final rule which is officially posted along with the other six at each road intersection throughout the world is Rule #7 - Communication is limited to the area you work – no conversations are allowed outside your workplace. This is limited to your 10 person designated pod.

If not for the locket, I wouldn’t know what life was like in the past and what it could be like someday in the future. I can only hope that what my great-great grandfather did for his future family - the recording of the true history and life of our family, that future generations will be able to learn and grow and allow their hearts to burn with the human connection of friends and family.