THE OLD WORLD

"David!" I exclaimed. "Are you serious? I wish I had never found Grandma Ann's books, it will be the death of us all! You know, they will not allow our house to be different than the others." "I know," David responded. "It was just nice to think about. Maybe someday. Regardless, if there is a change, I will be ready!"

I said, "Well, how about getting ready to pick those beans? They're not gonna pick themselves, you know." There was that grin; the thing that drew me to him in the first place. We had married only three weeks after meeting and I had moved into his home where he lived with his ancient mother. Fifty-two years old and she was not only still alive but was quite active although she was careful not to let anyone but us know that. His father had, like my parents, passed at or near the age of forty which was the normal life expectancy.

The government allowed very limited reproduction; most families having only one child. They also did not allow ostentation or anything that would make a person different than any other. All clothing was brown or black with simple, classic designs. A plain watch, silver belt buckles and one silver chain received at age sixteen to signify the end of one's childhood were the only decorations. All houses were exactly the same including the color - gray. They were built around an open courtyard which was the family's garden and animal enclosure.

Every family was allowed one milk cow and gardening tools. Seeds were distributed twice a year and the bullmaster came around once a year with a breeder for the milk cow. The heifer calves were raised to an age of two years and then went to a new family needing their first milk cow or an ongoing family needing a replacement. Bull calves were raised to an age of six months when the bullmaster returned for him. Either way, the family milk cow produced for another year.

The milk, butter and cheese from that valuable milk cow and the beans and tomatoes grown in the center courtyard sustained the people although there was no variety in the food, the clothing or anything else. Children had to be applied for and approved and there were many hurdles. All schooling was done at home on tablets the government provided. Everyone learned to read, write and do basic math. Nothing else was considered needful.

David's mother remembered stories passed down about the Old World when things were different. She told the stories in the evening. It rained at random times rather than on a schedule. Sometimes it rained so much so fast in one area that the water had no release and backed up inside the houses. When that happened, it was called a flood and was not a good thing at all. Sometimes the earth shook underfoot and, like the flood, was not a good thing. The worst one to me was something called a tornado which caused death and destruction on a large scale.

People travelled in metal boxes that rolled along and often went so fast that the boxes ran into each other causing serious injuries and even death. People often got into fights, yelling at each other and even hitting each other. Sometimes, people intentionally killed each other - it was called murder - and resulted in the death of one and the confinement of the other. Tools called guns were often used for the killing.

There were many things that people had and they would take them from each other causing the person taking the things to be confined. It all sounded very chaotic and quite sad. These old stories were not approved of but most of us listened on the edge of our seats, excited by the thought of variety which is what started the discussion between me and David earlier in the day.

My old house had to be cleaned and repaired for the new family it would be assigned to after I moved in with David. During that process, a huge discovery had come to light. A false panel revealed a cache of many forbidden things. David and I had stealthily moved them to his house where we studied it all with great interest. The books were the most amazing of all the items.

They had belonged to my grandmother! No one I knew had ever known a grandparent. No one even knew what they looked like. The government disposed of all photos of a person when they died. My Grandma Ann had circumvented them and I not only had books of forbidden information, I had photos of her and my grandfather, Grandpa Wayne.

David had discovered a formula in one of the books to make paint in all the colors of the rainbow. It was enough to make a person breathless (and a little terrified), especially when he started talking about making blue paint that was the color of the sky and using it to decorate our house. His talk of painting inside the house was scary enough but he had started talking about painting the outside as well!

It could not be done of course, we would be sent away to a place from which there was never any return. We had little information about the place, but when people were sent there, they never came back. Men and women went to different places; children went with their mothers. We did not know anything else about it except that no one wanted to go there. Perhaps it is similar to the "confinement" from the old stories. The books called them "prisons".

David gave me a reassuring hug and said he would never break the rules because we would be sent away to separate places and his mother would be abandoned in her old age. But from his pocket, he pulled a gold, heart shaped locket on a fine gold chain and put it in my hand. "This was saved by your Grandma Ann especially for you", he said.

"You will have to keep it hidden, but you will always have something secret, beautiful and different, all because of her -- and me."

I laughed, asking, "Why do you get any credit, my love?" He replied, "Because, if not for me, you would have left everything there or turned it in to the government." I sighed; he was right. I was not brave at all without him, but I did want things to change.

I liked colors and the books had pictures of things that were not only all different colors but also all different shades of all different colors. It was breathtaking to see pictures of artwork drawn or painted with colors. Artwork was required to be done in lead pencil only and even that was not encouraged.

Reading the books gave us glimpses of what life was like before although much of it was very confusing. For instance, at one time, people's skin was different colors. Many were apparently white while some were black, yellow and even red! All skin was brown as far as I knew before we found the books. There were even problems because of the skin tone differences. White was considered more desirable than black, yellow or red and those people were treated poorly by many of the white people. How could having different colored skin be a problem? It would make life more interesting and the boredom of our world was often overwhelming.

We found out that in the past some people lived to be 100 years old while the normal age was about 75. To live that long doesn't really seem to be a good idea but of course all kinds of things were different.

Something called television brought entertainment although David and I cannot really understand even though we have studied the books. There were also things called music and games and dancing. Even though the books are hard to understand, it would be OK with us if the government would let us try some of the stuff we have read about.

The books showed many plants and animals in addition to the beans, tomatoes and milk cows that we had. There were supposed to be very large plants called trees somewhere in the world but we had not seen any nor knew anyone who had. There were pictures of the trees in the books though and if they truly existed on our world, it most certainly would have been an amazing sight.

It was also amazing that there were animals called dogs that had no purpose at all except for being a person's friend and companion. Animals called cats were the same but of course, looked different. The books called these animals "pets" with dogs and cats being the primary ones although birds, fish and other wildlife were preferred by some.

We discovered from the books that people killed and ate their cows along with many other animals which was just too disgusting to even think about. Maybe that was why the government took control of everything since we apparently made poor choices on our own. The rolling metal boxes, the yelling, the fighting, the hitting, the taking, the murdering . . .

Still, it would have been nice if they had kept the blue paint or the heart shaped lockets or the dogs and cats.