Opinionated Discussion

Chapter 8

“How was he elected?” asked a young man in a group.

“How should we know?” someone replied.

The group of kids walked with their hands in their pockets over the sidewalk, with was made a cold steel. Something up ahead was glowing green. The group picked up the pace to investigate it closer. When they got there a transparent pipe that protruded from one building to another was obviously shattered in the middle, and from they pipe dripped the glowing green liquid.

“Isn’t that what fuels the center of the city?” a kid asked.

“Yeah.” Someone answered.

Immediately the lights of the surrounding buildings began to dim and a low flying craft hovered over the pipe.

“Let’s take some home with us!” the boy reached down to collect the slime.

“No!” a voice shouted. From the passage between two buildings she walked out towards the group. “Don’t touch that stuff.”

“Who are you, my mom?” the boy laughed as he ladled the slime with his palm.

The girl frowned as her black hair gently waved in the wind. She adjusted her glasses and examined the pipe.

Somebody in the group took a few steps towards the girl and then pointed upwards at the transparent pipe.

“What’s that mean?” he asked.

She turned away from him and nonchalantly said, “I smashed that pipe with a metal rod.”

Now shocked, he exclaimed, “A metal rod? Don’t those things conduct electricity?!”

148 years ago…

“I am proud to announce, that metal rods are hereby internationally banned.” the head of the state declared.

Present day…

“How did you get one?” the boy asked.

“That’s none of your business, is it? Now be a good boy and return to what you were doing.” she said as she walked down the sidewalk about ten feet in front of them. The group of kids stood quietly for a few moments as she continued to walk away.

“Hey wait up!” they began to shout as they followed behind her.

As they picked up the pace, the young man who had picked up the slime noticed something peculiar about it. He walked over to his friend towards the front of the group and consulted him in private. He was now beginning to regret picking up the slime but he certainly didn’t want the outlandish girl, who had warned him not to touch it, to hear his change in attitude.

“Hey.” he whispered.

“What?” his friend asked with annoyance.

“Look at this slime! Its green!” he leaned in and said.

“Yeah, so?” his friend muttered.

“Well it’s not just that, it’s glowing too!” the young man persisted.

“What’s your point? It was green and glowing when it was on the ground! It was green and glowing when you picked it up! Are you just now realizing its properties?” his friend said above a whisper.

The girl stopped, gracefully turned and smiled. “Oh, so now you wish you would have listened to me?” she sighed.

The young man paused, rubbing his hand against the side of his pant leg, biting his lower lip. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have picked it up if I knew it wasn’t water.” he pouted.

“Man! You thought it was water?” a burly kid commented.

“Just go home and wash it off. This is asinine!” the young man’s friend finally said turning his back to him. Not a second after doing so did he feel a hand slap him on the back with a disgusting splat.

“Ho-ho! I slapped you in the back with my slimy hand!” the boy boasted cheerfully. Now he wouldn’t be the only one who had green glowing slime on him. He was proud of what he did and assured himself he had done the right by bragging about it.

“He now has a slimy handprint on his back! I sure sorted him out! Ho-ho! Hey! Tell me, friend! How does it feel to have slimy green goo on your jacket?” the young man jeered.

He slowly turned around look at each person’s face individually. For some reason unfathomable to himself, nobody else was laughing at this event. The look on their faces was that of irritability and disappointment. The girl in particular was growing impatient with these antics and decided to suggest a solution, but not before taking advantage of the situation.

“Follow me back to my residence. There you can clean up, but I will only let you come in if you promise to stay for a while. I have something I’d like to discuss with you.” she offered.

The group went silent; this girl wasn’t ordinary by any means. What did she want to discuss with them? However, it didn’t seem like they had much of a choice, they had walked a long distance from any of their houses and they sure didn’t want to parade all the way back covered with glowing green ooze.

“Ok, we’ll go with you.” the one with the slime print on his jacket coolly stated as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets. The girl nodded, turned and walked. They all started strolling down the steel sidewalk again.

Eventually they arrived an odd building which complimented its owner’s own oddness. The outside was metal that reflected like chrome. The entire building itself was square and they estimated to be about 15 feet tall. It was seamless, as if all the walls were constructed of one smooth piece of metal. The girl waved her hand over a square panel next to the door. The panel turned a glowing purple for just an instant. The door then opened and the group walked in.

They looked around; the inside of the building was just as cold and uninviting as it was on the outside. In the center of the room was a large rectangular table. It was black and looked like it was made of smooth plastic. Placed evenly around it were plastic chairs.

“Since we’re here, we might as well make ourselves comfortable.” someone mumbled sarcastically as they took their seats. The strange black-haired girl walked at one end of the table and waited for their undividedly attention.

“Why’d you bring us here?” the young man whined.

She began, “I overheard you talking about the official. You seem to lack any knowledge about his history.”

“Yeah, we were talking about him, so what?” someone grumbled.

“I’ll explain all you need to know about him. I expect you to listen and not to interrupt me while I’m speaking.” she instructed.

“I have a goldfish pond!” the smart one laughed.

She glared at him for a moment and began;

“As you may know, this city is made up of over 100 sectors. Each is maintained by an official, whose job it is to keep the city laws and finances in check. They also handle the suggestions and complaints of the citizens. That’s why we have a suggestion box on almost every street.

Officials usually have to work through the ranks to even qualify for an election. However in recent years their have been extenuating circumstances, now some officials are built in a factory or just randomly selected. Our official is different though, it is because of him that this city has gone from being a democracy to a dynasty. Our official’s title was given to him by his father.”

She now had the group’s full attention. Finally their questions about the official were being answered.

“Hold it right there!” shouted a familiar voice. Everyone turned their heads towards the doorway. A few kids gasped, even the girl had a look of confusion. Standing there like a mighty dignitary was the official himself, and behind him was someone strange.

“It’s the official, let’s get out of here!” the young man shouted as he made for the exit, only to be blocked by the official and the man he brought with him. The rest of the group got up and stood around the table, slowly walked towards the girl, who they were now beginning to trust.

“Are you youngins’ talkin’ smack about me?” the official growled.

From behind came in his associate, who wore the same helmet as the cadets wore, but the similarities between this man and a cadet ended there. On top of his helmet he wore a long red velvet hat with a furry white trimming and a white fluffy ball on the end of the loose fabric. He wore no shirt and his gut jutted out over his skin hugging green sweatpants. He was singing to himself what sounded like an ancient Yuletide hymn, something about a rock that jingled like a bell.

“You youngsters better not be talkin’ smack!” the official announced, “Meet my new cadet, he works for free! He just likes helping the city out." After saying this, the cadet with the velvet hat stepped forward with a grin.

“My favorite colors are red and green.” he stated with a chuckle.

The official slammed his fist against the wall, “Why are you slandering me?”

“We have the right to question your ability to maintain this city.” the odd girl answered courageously.

“You do? I wasn’t aware of this!” the official said perplexed.

“We have the right to our own opinion.” she muttered.

“Well…I didn’t know! I don’t know all the rules!” he whimpered.

The cadet removed his velvet hat, held it in his hands and looked upon it thoughtfully. “I once thought this hat granted me unlimited power. Heh, I guessed even people who wear velvet hats aren’t above the law.” He looked over at the official, who was crying. “Tell ya what, mister official. How about I buy us some drinks?” The official looked at him.

“Drinks?” he sobbed.

“Yeah, how about a frosty one, on the house?” he replied.

“Yes. Thank you, cadet.” the official smiled.

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