Food for thought

Food For Thought

It was an unusually beautiful day when Max opened his unusually sprightly eyes. Sunlight, which slithered through the window at his bedside, sparked a scrubby piece of kindling within him long thought burned up. He hadn’t felt like exploring at all since he and his father had moved to the new province. In fact, Max hadn’t felt the urge to play outside in years – something his father said happens to everyone. That morning, however, Max dressed with a vigor that would carry him out the door, through the lush wooded area at the end of the estate and lead him to a small clearing surrounded by small bushes.

​As he lay down in the grass, Max let the sun warm him while struggling to make sense of a feeling that was at once both so familiar and so foreign to him. Suddenly he could hear something coming from the other side of the clearing. Curious, he sat upright and fixed his gaze straight ahead. To his surprise he saw a girl with long, dark hair grabbing at the bushes and putting something he couldn’t quite make out into a worn-out brown bag.

​Max began making his way over to the girl, who, upon noticing him, let out a soft exclamation of surprise and vanished just as quickly as she had appeared. He neared the last bush she was rustling to find small blue, fleshy orbs hanging off of them. Bewildered, Max looked around for the stranger and instead found something she had dropped. Instantly recognizing it, he dug his heel into the soft brown square and turned home.

​Thoughts of the stranger filled Max’s mind on his way back to the estate. Finding the front door open, he was met with a cold, droning, “You didn’t eat your lunch or dinner pill yesterday, Max. And what about your breakfast pill this morning? This is unacceptable”.

​“I know, but I wasn’t even hungry. I don’t see what the big deal is”, replied Max.

​“The World Government gives us this food so that we don’t have to feel hungry ever again, Max. How many times do I have to keep explaining this to you? We follow certain rules in order to maintain a safe and secure society. Part of that includes eating your daily meal pills. What kind of Patrol Captain would I be if I couldn’t even provide order in my own home, let alone this entire province?” Max begrudgingly swallowed the three neglected pills in succession, and for the last time that day thought about the sun on his face.

​The following morning Max woke up to an unimpressive grey sky, followed by an equally bland pill-breakfast. He tried to hide his headache, but to no avail. “If you just remember to eat your pills this won’t happen to you, Max”, said his father mechanically without looking up from his paper. The pain went away after an hour or so, as it always did after getting back on his regimen. Max no longer felt like surveying the grounds. Instead, he found himself dreaming of the girl from yesterday and decided to look for her again.

​It would be several weeks before the two young strangers would meet again, with Max missing a few meals along the way; Max would spend these days reminiscing about his childhood, particularly about his friend Joe. After all, they’d met during one of Max’s exploratory excursions in his old province. “I wonder what happened to him?” he thought, pulling off those round blue things from the bushes as the girl had done. Through a hole in one of the trees the two locked eyes, though neither dared move. After what felt like a lifetime had passed the girl shouted, “Who… who are you? What do you want?”

​Completely dumbstruck, Max began his eloquent introduction. “I’m uhh… I’m Max. I saw you a few weeks ago and umm have been looking for you ever since. Who are you? Why are you picking at these bushes? ” He wasn’t sure why he had been looking for her, only glad he found her.

And so it went for several weeks; Max would meet the girl, Sam, in that little clearing in the woods every morning to keep her company while she picked at the bushes. Sam was different, exciting and full of life, and Max couldn’t get enough of her. As they got to know one another, Max began to see similarities between Sam and his old friend Joe. Or rather, as Sam would point out, Max would only remember such a likeness on days when he would skip a meal or two.

One such day, as the sun was shining high over their little clearing, Max was deciphering unversed rumbles in his stomach when he asked Sam, “What was that thing you dropped? The first time I saw you. It was kind of square shaped.”

“Square shaped? ... You mean this?” asked Sam, reaching into her bag. “It’s called bread. My mother taught me to make it when I was younger. I can’t believe you’ve never tried it before!” she cried with a playful laugh. “It’s so much better than those weird pills you eat. Honestly, it’s like you aren’t even human on those things some days.”

“I have! My friend Joe gave me some once, when I used to live in another province. And the pills stop people from being hungry, they’re a good thing!”

“Well then you know it’s delicious! As for the pill thing, I’m glad I don’t have to eat them. If I have to feel hunger in order to enjoy this delicious treat then I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

“I can’t really remember what it tastes like, though.”

Sam ripped off a piece for each of them, explaining to Max how it’s made. “This province is great for growing wheat; that’s the plant we use to make the bread”. As he popped the corner piece into his mouth Max found himself face to face with a sordid memory. Joe did give Max some bread, and it was delicious. So much so that he wanted to share some with his father, whom he expected to share in his delight. Instead the Patrol Captain turned serious, more serious than Max had seen him before, and demanded to know where the contraband had come from.

“We all carry a seed with us-some in their bag, some their shoes, others in jewelry-in case we suddenly have to leave our… Max you’ve gone pale! Are you alright?” Unable to mask his expression, Sam quickly sensed a growing uneasiness in the boy.

Rather than answer, Max bolted upright and began to run home with a doggedness never felt before by the young man. When he made it back to the estate, he found his father in his regular position with paper in hand.

“What happened to Joe?” demanded Max.

“Joe? Joe who?” retorted his father, eyes fixed on the news of the day.

“Joe from our old province” said Max, ripping the paper from his hands. “My friend. The one who lived past the woods behind our house.”

“Ah, yes, I remember. He belonged to a group of insurgents, son. Those people are a threat to everything the World Government has worked so hard to provide for us. You know it is part of my job to locate and.. remove.. insurgents from our provinces.”

“You keep calling them insurgents, but Joe said they weren’t fighters. He said they were just farmers. If that’s the case, why do you have to make them leave the province? So where is he? Where did you move him to?”

“The insurgents are a vile creatures that seek to undermine all that we hold dear to us. They all deserve to be systematically… Max, surely you must realize that he’s… Wait, have you eaten your pill this morning? You always get so…emotional when you forget to. It’s rather unbecoming, especially for someone in my position.”

​“That’s it”, thought Max as he pretended to eat the breakfast capsule. “Not again. Tomorrow morning I have to tell Sam to get out of here. This province isn’t safe for her. Not with the Patrol here, not with my father here…”

​The next day Max found that his father had been called in early for a routine sweep of the province. Seizing the opportunity to skip on breakfast, he ventured to his and Sam’s normal meeting spot only to find he was alone. “It couldn’t be”, he thought, standing in the clearing looking around for any signs of life. From a distance he thought he heard a faint scream and then a bang! With his heart sinking lower with each step, Max ran towards the far end of the clearing to find a small encampment that had been reduced to ashes.

​“SAM! SAM!” howled Max, searching the rubble for any sign of movement, any indication of her. “Max” he heard faintly as he sifted through a half singed tent to find his friend with bloodied face, barely able to speak.

​“Sam, my God, what happened here? Who did this to you? We’ve got to get you help” he cried.

​“Max, take this. Take this and bury it. A new harvest will come of it. It will…save you…” said Sam with outstretched hand.

​“NO! NO, SAM, NO!” cried Max as he felt her hand fall open in his. A small, golden heart-shaped locket slipped into his palms. Unable to open it without a key or breaking it, Max decided to honor her wish.

​“Fine, I’ll bury it” he said. As he stood up he wiped the blood from his hands into the ash-covered grass and began his tired walk back to the estate. Figuring that the clearing where they spend their mornings together was as good a spot as any, Max stopped in the center and began to dig. As he was about to lower the locket into the ground, he heard a familiar voice from behind him. It was his father’s.

​“Max, what are you doing? What have you got there?”

Max turned listlessly, a mixture of blood and tears falling to the ground mirroring the tattered thoughts in his head. At least the sun was shining.

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