Chapter 4: The Assignment

The tea kettle’s whistle returned her to the present, ending her trip down memory lane. Her hands trembled as she made a hot cuppa. She tossed in an extra sugar cube, because condemned women don't count calories.

She returned to her rocker and stared into her cup. As her spoon swirled the sweet hot liquid, her mind drifted back to the world two years ago. The events played out before her like a twisted Twilight Zone episode.

She returned to that moment in the spring of 2024 when she was in the office of her boss, starving for a juicy assignment and a chance to prove her ability. He wasted no time in giving it to her. He hyped her up by telling her that he wanted her working on the hottest news story in the country: the 2024 presidential primaries.

He went on to say that with no clear cut favorite or incumbent, the race was wide open, giving hope to the smaller special interest groups normally left in the dust of the primaries. Kate's job, if she decided to accept it, was a piece on one of those smaller groups that had been growing in popularity.

He pushed an envelope across the table at her and smiled as he puffed his vape. He told her he wished he had time to do this assignment himself as he’d been watching this group with interest for quite some time.

When she opened the envelope, the color drained from her face and she lost her appetite for writing. She looked up at him in disbelief. "You want me to do a piece on AFA?"

"No ... I want you to do the piece on AFA. I’ve got a hunch they could be in the thick of things before this election is over, and I want to scoop every other paper on this."

"I’m ... I’m honored sir, but knowing what I know about AFA, don’t you think one of the senior correspondents might be a better choice?"

He shook his head and blew smoke in her face. "No ... I don’t. I want a bright young woman’s perspective on this party and all it stands for ... and I want to see a rough draft by the end of the week, so get cracking girl."

As she turned to walk away with the assignment in hand, he stopped her, "Kate this is the opportunity you've been bitchin about, so don’t blow it or there won’t be another."

He smiled evilly, "Now go make Big Daddy proud."

She did her best to keep her breakfast down as she returned a thin smile and a nod before shutting the door behind her.

By the time she got back to her cubicle, she was fuming. She threw the envelope down in anger and disgust. "Big Daddy!"

Just the sound of his nickname turned her stomach. As the chief editor of the Seattle Star, he’d been bestowed that ridiculous moniker, and he loved throwing it around like his 300 pound belly.

Kate clenched her fist. "Big Daddy indeed. I bet he hasn’t seen his dick in twenty years."

Taking a cleansing breath she turned her attention to the envelope. "I know you did this on purpose you son of a bitch ...a bright young woman’s perspective ... my Aunt Fannie!"

She read the three letters aloud, "A ... F ... A." Immediately her face soured and she rolled her eyes. "Why in blazes would he pick the only liberal on the news staff to write about AFA?"

Her disgust and confusion made perfect sense. Americans For America, or AFA for short, was this right wing ultra conservative party that was nothing more than a bunch of hate peddling white supremists who had everything but swastika's, white sheets and a leader with a Charlie Chaplin moustache.

Their manifesto, which in essence wanted to take the country back a hundred years and repeal every civil rights law ever enacted, turned her stomach. Thousands of men and women died to protect the world from this disease, and here they were trying to start an outbreak.

She shook her head in disbelief. She didn't know how anyone could support a platform that preached hate, racism and prejudice. Perhaps there will always be ignorant people who are looking for a free pot of rainbow stew and a group to blame because they don't have one. She had a sneaking suspicion her boss was a true believer, which made her assignment even more difficult.

She was sure he wanted a piece on AFA from a positive perspective, but how do you make Medusa look like Audrey Hepburn? She couldn’t and wouldn’t do it, which left her with only one choice of action. She was going to write an expose on those hate mongers. That would show her boss and the rest of the world exactly what they were, and she had five days to do it. She looked at Fox Mulder’s picture with determination. If the truth was out there, she was going to find it

Within the first few days of research, it was clear that beneath the surface of this party platform of racism and hate was just more of the same, and it went all the way to their certifiable leader at the core. This came as no real surprise, but what did get her attention was the smell of corruption and unlawful acts that got stronger the more she dug. There were definitely bodies buried here, maybe even literally, if she could dig deep enough.

Unfortunately, by Thursday, all she had was a lot of suspicions and circumstantial evidence, but no smoking gun. Nonetheless, she stayed up all night writing a piece that told the cold hard ugly truth she could substantiate and walked the libel line on those charges she couldn’t.

At eight o;clock the next morning she was in the boss's office with hard copy in hand. At 8:10 the indoor hurricane hit. Big Daddy was not proud. He was pissed. Kate half listened to him blow about the paper getting hit with a hundred million dollar libel suit, and how her piece was totally biased and read like the rantings of a period crazed woman. He muttered something about how "her kind" was exactly what "they" were talking about before telling her to go back to her cubicle and be thankful she still has a job.

Two days later "her" story appeared in the paper, but the only thing resembling the original draft was her name. He had totally gutted the piece and in its place was a fluff piece of pie that sugar coated and promoted the AFA platform. If that wasn't enough to turn her stomach, what followed definitely was.

Three days later, and shortly before the first primaries, the Seattle Star became the first major newspaper to publicly endorse the AFA and their millionaire pitchman. Kate didn’t even have time to write a resignation letter before the NRA jumped on the bandwagon along with a few other papers and major organizations.

While AFA finished second in the first primary, Kate and others watched in disbelief and horror as their popularity grew and challengers fell to the wayside like dominoes.

They easily secured the nomination that summer, and with Rod Serling’s warning that there was a signpost up ahead, the country was swept into the Twilight Zone that fall when AFA won the election and swept into the White House.

The new regime wasted no time in fulfilling their campaign promise of "making this country great again." The plan they developed to accomplish this goal was called "The Purge".

Chapter 5: The Purge

Phase One commenced immediately and targeted the first group of undesirables personally responsible for everything not white or right in the world: illegal immigrants. Kate and the rest of the world watched in horror as thousands were rounded up into camps, documented and contained awaiting deportation. Sweeping legislative changes silenced protesters and muzzled any newspaper in opposition.

By late April, Phase Two commenced when the second group of undesirables were targeted. Transgenders were added to the disposal list. The president created the Department of Gender Affairs to handle this issue. As their first order of business, a resolution was passed denying transgender care to all those under 18.

Three months later, they broadened their scope. Transgender care of any kind was no longer available for any citizen of any age. Any physician failing to comply risked losing his license and prosecution. For Kate, this meant her precious supply of estrogen was in jeopardy, but the worst was yet to come.

In October, they instituted the final step of Phase Two. All post operative transsexuals would be required to register with the DGA like sex offenders. Name changes and gender status were ordered to be reverted to those at birth, forcing those to return to a nightmare they thought they'd woken up from.

The administration even went as far as to revoke passports of confirmed transgenders and to institute genetic screenings at border crossings. At a press conference, the new president said, "We have a global obligation to not let this disease spread beyond our borders, and I encourage each nation to do the same."

Finally, to enforce these new rules, the president dispatched storm troopers called the Gender Police (GP), who started raiding businesses and homes, searching for unregistered or suspected transsexuals. This latest move brought down sanctions from the rest of the civilized world, but The Purge continued.

Kate decided not to register, with the hope that the remaining sane Americans might rise up and oust this dictator, or that the rest of the world would intervene to stop this madness, or just maybe her records at Boston General might go up in a fire. Ultimately, it didn't matter if they shot her down in the streets, because going back to living as a male was a death sentence.

For the six months she prayed daily that she would wake up each morning to find out it had all just been a nightmare. The letter on the table said her prayers went unanswered and she was wide awake living the nightmare. She either registered in 24 hours or was deemed a fugitive of the state.

Chapter 6: Tea and Tears

A stray tear fell from her eyes and splashed her tea, once again returning her to the present and the choice that had not changed while she was gone.

She weighed her options. Option A: She could obey the law and become Colton Thomas, a man with a vagina. Even if she could live that farce, she would still be a monitored undesirable, and the first time she got caught jaywalking she would end up in a men's prison. Option B: She could refuse to report and fight this injustice. Unfortunately, with every news service muzzled and most citizens living in fear, she would be standing alone until the storm troopers collected her and delivered her to the princess suite at the men's prison. Option C: She could run. Vancouver and freedom in Canada was but 150 miles away, and if she’d bolted as soon as the madness started she’d be safely watching hockey and having maple syrup covered pancakes, but now with the country locked down like East Berlin, she’d never make it. Every border crossing, airport, train station or ferry port had her info targeted. A routine run of her plates would have her in custody and off to join the prison glee club. Options A through C were different routes which ultimately led to the same location: Guest of honor at a “poka” party in the men’s prison which would lead to a painful end.

Her final option was D for death, ultimately the same final destination, but with a much more pleasant trip and one of her own choosing.
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She didn't need to phone a friend to make her decision, suicide wasn’t just the best choice it was the only choice

With her mind made up and no more memories to visit or tears to shed, she poured the pills into her hand and swallowed them with a gulp of cold tea.

Knowing time was of essence she penned a short letter to her parents telling them she loved them, asking for their forgiveness and to adopt their only granddaughter, Muffin.
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Her last journal entry was short but said it all. "I am Kate. I am a woman. I am loved. No one has dominion over me."

With nothing else left to do, she caressed her baby and waited for eternal sleep. From force of habit, or perhaps because she didn't want to die in silence, she turned on the television, and surfed until she found one of the classic channels.

As she watched the adverts go by she felt the pills work their magic. Her eyes grew heavy and her breathing was slow and deep. Just before she drifted off, she smiled as the television played one of her favorite opening theme songs. "The bluest skies you've ever seen in Seattle."