Three Child Minimum

Briella sat in her swing and stared at her neighborhood. She never thought about how the houses of her gated community looked kind of like a bee hive. All the units were connected and looked exactly the same. In front of each unit was the same model of a self driving vehicle. These streets are where she used to play with the other children, games of hopscotch, jumprope, and invaders. Soon her thirteenth birthday would arrive when her parents would begin to arrange her marriage. Before she knew it, she would be birthing and caring for the three children required by the state.

“Honey! It’s almost time for your studies!” Mother called as she exited their unit. She had curlers in hair and her house dress on. She was holding a glass of breakfast shake. “Drink your breakfast and get on the monitor!”

“I can be late,” Briella mumbled as she weakly pushed her feet off the ground. “The last few weeks are just review and there isn’t even a test.”

“Well, then it is not such a big deal to sit through it then,” Mother said as she approached holding the glass.

“Can I just go to the park for like an hour?” Briella pleaded.

“Fine, just drink your breakfast,” said Mother as she handed over the glass.

Briella took a sip and gagged. “Pork?”

“I am sorry, honey. The fruit spout isn’t working for some reason. A worker will be here later to take a look at it.”

Briella sucked down the liquid as quickly as she could. When she was done, she coughed and looked at Mother. “I’m going to the park.”

“Don’t forget your locket!” Mother reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver heart shaped locket. “You should really be wearing it all the time! It’s really not difficult!” Mother then motioned to the gold tree shaped locket around her neck.

“Fine, gimme,” said Briella as she took the heart shaped locket and put it around her neck. She had been assigned the heart as she was born in February, the month of love. Her mother was born in May, the month of growth.

As Briella entered the park, she spotted Devin sitting on one of the swings. She went over and sat on the swing next to him. They stared into the distance for a minute without saying a word.

Devin broke the silence. “I got Sandy.”

“What?” asked Briella, not understanding the context. After a moment she made the connection. “Oh, you are getting married to Sandy?”

“That’s right!” said Devin with a smile. “The most beautiful girl in the whole community.”

Devin was a few months older than Briella. He wore a gold chain around his neck because he had been a large baby at birth. He did not grow as much as expected and was now short for his age. The gold chain still represented promise and virility. It matched well with Sandy’s January lotus locket, the month of fertility and new life.

“Who do you think will get you?” asked Devin trying to start a conversation. Briella had not responded to his news.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a sigh. She felt as if her life was over. The fun part at least. Now she was to become a mother and Mother never seemed happy. She seemed to pretend to be happy but Briella could tell the difference between a Mother smile and a child’s smile.

“I hope you seem more excited at your Introduction ceremony. You know his parents can always reject you. Then you will end up with some mope who is as mopey as you,” Devin said with annoyance. He got up and walked away.

Three children, thought Briella. And each one will have to have three children. Then they each will have three children. That’s twenty seven great grandchildren. Each child lives to have more children. She was wondering what the point of it all was. “To ensure humanity once again spreads across the globe,” she could hear the class moderator say. And then what? Wasn’t it humanity spread across the globe that caused this whole situation?

A black crow suddenly landed in front of Briella and stared at her. “I don’t have any seeds. I’m sorry!” The crow tilted its head and shot off into the air. Briella palmed her heart shaped locket and thought for a moment. She then carefully took it off and tossed it to the ground. Getting off the swing, she proceeded to walk out of the park.

Mother and Father sat in the parlor in silence. Mother sat in the love seat and Father sat in his chair. The phone rang, cracking the stillness of the room. Father answered as always.

“Yes… you said she was in the park… only her locket?” Father conversed and waited for an answer. When he was done, he placed the black handset back in its cradle. “It seems her locket was left on the ground in the park.”

Mother squealed. “I told her how important it was to wear that! I tried to explain what would happen, but I didn’t want to scare her either!”

Father walked over to Mother and put her hand on Mother’s shoulder. “Now, now… maybe she was abducted.”

After hours of walking, Briella reached a clearing past the units. There was a sparse collection of trees in a field. At the end of the field, she could see a wall. Being that she had never seen an object so far away, she assumed it was closer than it was. After an hour of walking, she approached the wall.

The wall stood at about 40 feet. On the wall itself were signs posted every 6 feet reading “No Exit” and “Return to Your Home”. Briella started walking along the wall hoping to find something. After walking next to the wall, she was feeling exhausted. Sitting down with her back to the wall, she stared back at where she had walked from. A self-driving vehicle was driving toward her. She wondered if she should run but was too tired to try.

The vehicle stopped about twenty feet from her and an old man got out. He was thin, balding and had glasses that were too large for his face. He began to walk slowly towards Briella using a cane for assistance.

“What are you doing out here, young lady?” he asked as he got closer.

“I just needed to get away for a while,” Briella answered.

“You should head back now before they find you. You can get in a lot of trouble for being here.”

“Why? I was able to walk here on my own and it’s not like I can go anywhere but back home.”

“True. Still not allowed though.”

“That’s dumb,” Briella responded more to herself then to the old man.

The old man pushed a button on his cane and a round piece of plastic jutted out. He then turned the plastic to fashion the cane into a small stool, with the bottom of the cane splitting into three legs. “You need to appreciate all you have and how good you have it.”

“Why? Is it better than when you were young?”

The old man chuckles. “I guess we say that a lot. It doesn’t make it any less true! When I was a boy, I didn’t have a real family or a real home. Went hungry most days. Got sick a lot.”

“Were you allowed to go wherever you want and do whatever you want?”

“In theory. I was too hungry and sick to do anything. Much better to be here. Be comfortable. Everything is very good now. Very good.”

Briella just stared at him. The old man lost his smile and started to stare back. “You have to come back with me. Right now,” he said.

“And if I don’t?” Briella asked.

“I already told you. You will be in trouble.”

“I will go back but I don’t want to get married yet.”

“Why wait? You only have so many years to have children.”

“I don’t want children. I want to be a child!”

“Typical childish reasoning,” said the old man as he stood back up. He pressed a button and the stool reverted back to being a cane. “Let’s go.”

“No,” said Briella in a louder tone.

“You cannot stay here. You either go home or you will go where troublemakers go.”

Briella thought for a moment. Her tense face slowly softened. “I will go home,” Briella said slowly. “Will you give me a ride?”

“Of course,” the old man said and started to smile again. “That’s why I came out here!” As the old man turned to the vehicle, Briella ran up and shoved him as hard as she could. He went flying and landed on the ground with a thud. “Oh,” he groaned. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Father and Mother sat in the salon, not speaking. Father was smoking a pipe and Mother smiled watching him in anticipation. The phone rang. Father picked it up.

“Hello? Yes... I see... Yes, that is what it is... Thank you... Yes, keep me posted. Goodbye.” Father hung up the phone.

“News about Briella?” asked Mother.

“Yes,” Father said. “They found her and will be taking her for now.”

“Will they be making her childless?”

“They haven’t decided. She had stated she did not want children.”

Mother gasps. “Why does she have to be like that?” Mother asked.

Father stares at her for a moment then says, “She was the fourth child. That is why they recommend three.”

Mother nods in understanding. “Yes, I suppose it was a risky thing for us to try.”

“It’s still very good,” Father said as he took a puff of his pipe. “The other three have had their three children and each will have three more!”

Mother smiled. Father nodded in silence.