Overpopulation

Before

1

“Congressman Bennett”

“President McKinney, how are you sir?” He asks while shaking the president’s hand and smiling.

“Doing just fine, and yourself?”

“Dandy.” He says “Now, what is it you needed to speak with me about?” He asks while taking a seat.

“Well” He starts off “as you know overpopulation has become an increasingly worrisome dilemma, ever since the Selection pills have been put on the market. Because of that the food distribution and supply have become: limited.”

“Remind me once again what Selection pills are. I’m getting old”

“They’re just pills an expecting mother can be prescribed by her doctor, to modify genetics. Changing the features about the child that the parents would previously have no control over. For example, the mother can now choose the skin color, hair color and eye color of the child.”

“Just by taking a pill?”

“I know; I couldn’t believe it either. Sometimes I think science has gone too far.”

“Back to what you were saying”

“Yes” McKinney goes “I believe I have found a suitable solution”

“You have?! And what would that be?”

“Cannibalism.”

2

“Cannibalism? Don’t be absurd, Joshua”

“Just listen, Hank, hear me out. It will feed people and it will help bring down the population.”

“How will it bring down the population?”

“We build buildings called cookeries, where we have local chefs prepare the human meat for the hungry. We’ll need bodies to cook with, right? In big cities, there are bound to be homeless people, homeless people die every day. We use their bodies to cook and feed. Once there are no more homeless people, citizens will start killing each other to bring in bodies to the buildings. It won't be the average citizens bringing in bodies, they won't know about anything. We say they're cook shops for people who can't feed their families. Or simply just live in poverty. That their government is finally doing something about a starving nation."

“Okay, tricking the population is a bad idea. If they find out they'll riot, and besides who would bring in these bodies? Why would people kill others to bring them in? Risking jail time? It wouldn’t be worth it.”

“The people who would bring them in wouldn't care about jail time. Nor would they receive any. If you were offered a reward for each body you bring in, people might. Like a large sum of cash, reward. Or pardon's with the law."

“Are you proposing we reach out to criminals and gang members?”

“Eventually, I believe greed will get the best of them. It’s killing two birds with one stone, really. Reducing hunger, and reducing the population to a more... manageable size.”

“That’s wrong, Mr. President.”

“How else do you plan to remedy this? I don’t see another way out of this and if we don’t do anything about it soon…”

“I…I don’t know right now, but this is not the answer.” He says shakily “Plus, people would end up caught and tried. Put in prison for killing other people, for selfish reasons. The police wouldn’t just turn their backs while helpless citizens are being murdered.”

“We go on with our justice system as usual, we just don’t punish the people who have contributed as harshly”

“You have this all figured out, don’t you?”

“I do believe so, yes. I planned to put this into action before I was elected, but never said a word.”

“Very well. We shall continue this talk tonight over dinner. Regular dinner. In the meantime, keep this under wraps, no one needs to know about this for now”

“Agreed, see you soon, Hank”

“Goodbye, Mr. President”

McKinney shuts the door to his office, sits down and takes a breather. He has a feeling Hank was becoming intrigued by his idea. At least he hoped he was, why else would he invite him to dinner?

During

“You’re going to have to bring the kids to school. My boss needs a ride to work this morning, I have to leave in ten minutes.” Alec starts walking towards the bathroom to get ready.

Maryse mumbles to herself, she finishes making the kid’s breakfast and heads to Violet’s room to wake her up.

“Never mind I don’t have time for a shower! He lives ten minutes away!” Alec yells as he slams the bathroom door shut behind him. He’s dressed in no time and out the door in less.

Alec knew he’d be late for work, but hoped he’d be pardoned because he was doing a good deed. Mike was the boss after all, maybe he wouldn’t be upset because they’ll roll into work at the same time. Mike wasn’t too far out of his way, but this morning it was far enough.

As Alec pulled into the driveway, Mike came storming out of his house. It looked like he was yelling at someone, Alec assumed it was his wife. Mike had never mentioned having any children.

“It’s locked” Mike mouthed while pointing to the door handle.

“Thanks for giving me a ride today, the car’s in the shop for God knows how long. Martha was in a crash and nearly totaled the car.” He rants as he puts his seatbelt on. Mike slaps a hand on the dashboard, instructing Alec to get going.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Is Martha doing okay?”

“Ah, she’s okay, the car took all the damage when she hit a huge pear tree. Wanna know why she crashed?”

“Why, Mike?” He says, humoring the old man.

“It’s because of those cookeries sprouting up all over. I think the construction workers tried to run her off the road.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Them damn buildings that feed the hungry peoples! The ones who were building it, she found out and tried to kill her because of it”

“Find out what? And what is a cookery?”

“No, no. I can’t tell you. They’ve got cameras and tapers recording. ” Mike says wearily

Based on the faces Mike was making, he assumed that if they weren’t in his truck. He would have spit on the ground, trying to prove his point.

“What are cookeries?”

He starts whispering “They serve human meat”

“Mike don’t joke about that, it’s wrong”

“I’m serious, Alec. It’s the government. They got grants, passed laws and built the cookeries. They’ll pay ya to bring in your dead relatives. Then, they’ll cook ‘em and serve ‘em to ya”

“Where did you hear about this? When did this happen?”

“A buddy told me about it a while ago, years ago. No one believed him until these places started poppin’ up.”

“Okay, how do you know that it’s human meat? What if all of that is just some conspiracy, wouldn’t the public have known about it by now?”

“Nope, they’ve kept it under wraps for a long time.” He points to himself “You want to know what I think it is?”

“What is it?” Alec asks

“It’s just a way for the government to deal with overpopulation. They must have known or planned the repercussions of it all.”

“Are you sure this is legitimate, Mike?”

“Certain” He says while lighting a cigarette “Look it up when we get to work.”

“So I looked it up when I got to work and the crazy bastard was right! Out of all the stories he’s told, the one that seems the most far-fetched turns out to be right!” He tells his wife. He throws his arms up in disbelief.

“Well” Maryse clears her throat, clearly unfazed by the news “At least people are being fed”

“Maryse!”

“What? It’s not a bad idea” she started giggling

“Yeah? Then explain how it’s a good idea.”

“Well" she says clearing her throat "the theory of evolution suggests that humans derived from animals and we all know animals hunt and eat other animals. So, how do you know it’s not human nature that we've all just suppressed? We evolved to think for ourselves, we deemed it wrong to eat one another because we’re conscious of it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, but it’s still wrong!”

“Who told you it was wrong?”

“Common sense, Maryse”

“Animals have common sense as well, but they still eat each other.”

“First of all, animals do not have common sense. Second, they eat each other because they are in survival mode. Humans are not, we live luxury, for the most part.”

“Let me stop you right there. Animals do have common sense to some degree, because they know enough to move out of the way of an oncoming car, most of the time anyways. And there are a lot of humans out there that are in survival mode. I’m surprised people haven’t eaten each other sooner.”

“You know why they don’t? Because it’s wrong!”

“You keep saying it’s ‘wrong’. But where does your knowledge of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ come from? From yourself? Or from a higher power of authority? This is the way it has always been, so how are we to know truthfully what that concept entails? Those words are just labels we put meaning behind, as are all words. Life as we see it, as we know it, is just a huge gray area of existence. Classifying things, actions, and words into black and white, is only a method used to make us feel safer.”

Alec rolls his eyes “Whatever, I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Well, it’s a good thing none of this directly affects you!” Maryse mocks her husband

Two

“So Mike” Alec says “I did some research on what you said yesterday. About cannibalism and such”

“Yeah?” He replies “What’d you find out?”

“Well. First off, this is the last time you’re smoking in my car. Second off, cannibalism would be a solution, but human meat is empty calories. So, we wouldn’t really get anything from it, plus it’s a ton of empty calories. Around a thousand depending on what you eat. Another reason it won’t work, is because there are so many homeless people that die every day. They would most likely use their bodies before paying anyone to bring in dead relatives.”

Mike looks both ways before speaking, in a hushed tone he says “I see your point, but the parts of the body eaten would be organs. Which aren’t empty calories like flesh is. The thing about homeless people is, most of them have diseases. Which wouldn’t pass for consumption, and there aren’t many homeless people around our area.

Once the homeless are taken care of, people will be paid for bringing in bodies. Like I said, it’s more for de-population than feeding anyone. Since that book about cannibalism came out a few years ago, people have started taking interest in it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I did some research too. I stayed up late the other night doing research.” He says getting out of the car. “Since the book ‘Migraine’ came out there has been a 30% increase in cannibalistic crimes. Then five years later in 2069, that book was turned into a Television show. Which is still running today may I add. Since the TV show aired, cannibalistic crimes have risen from 30% to around 73%. That gave even more of a rise to cannibalism becoming a social norm.” He stopped talking, presumably because he was breathing so heavily.

‘That’s what you get for smoking like a chimney’ Alec thought.

Mike opened the door to his office and ushered Alec in quickly.

“Take a seat” Mike said, regaining his breath. He plopped down in his, what looked to be, comfy rolling chair. As soon as he hit the chair, air came rushing out. He sighed, opened a window in his office and lit another. Alec turned away, rubbing his hands up and down his face.

“Anyways-” Mike peeps up

“First of all” Alec says abruptly “I want to know where you stand in all this.”

Looking both ways before talking, Mike whispered “It depends on the outcome.”