A Different World ~ The Same Demons

Honored by this Beautiful First Place Awardicon
for Excellence in Gay/Lesbian Writing ~ August 2007 in the ~
"Show Off Your Best at the Sandbox" 

A Different World ~ The Same Demons

Regardless who wields it, "...absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton

“Why does love have to be so hurtful?” Anna mused, cradled in Carlton’s arms, warm from their recent lovemaking. “I wish I could get over the feeling that one of these days we’ll get caught, and it’ll be over.”

“What do you mean, over? Our love is honest and real. What we do isn’t illegal,” Carlton replied gently, caressing Anna’s cheek ever so tenderly.

“No, but hetero’s can’t raise children, you know they need to be raised in the straight and narrow path, and I wouldn’t do anything that would cause the Community to take Claire from me; perhaps even banish me up north, to the cold lands.”

“We’ve managed to stay under the radar for a year now. Do you realize it’s our anniversary? One year to the day since we met at the Community elections rally?” Carlton poured each of them some more wine as he watched the play of emotions crossing Anna’s normally placid features.

“How can something that feels so right be so morally wrong? So evil?” Anna sighed, shuddering as she traced Carlton’s square jaw with her fingertips, her touch at once hesitant and bold.

“It’s not evil or immoral. In fact, heteros were once the majority. It wasn’t until the great avian pandemic killed off their hierarchy that the Community was formed in the City of Angels to reap harmony from chaos and corruption.”

“You know that’s an urban myth, or blasphemy to some. Heteros are an aberration to nature. We are an aberration.” Anna sighed, her shame at her weakness, or was it an illness, as some have recently claimed, casting a pall on her previously romantic mood.

“Love like ours is no aberration. There’s nothing more normal and natural. You’re an official in the Community, why do you let the majority propagate intolerance?” Carlton replied, getting up and gathering his scattered clothing from the floor.

Anna watched him dress, admiring his form, reflecting on the lovemaking they had so recently enjoyed. How could it be evil, they weren’t hurting anyone. What two people did in the privacy of their own home was their own business. But the Community tenets declared it illicit if not illegal; the Commandments declared it a sin. It had been so over time immemorial.

***

After over a month’s separation, Carlton could hardly wait to see Anna. He had to show her the book he had found buried in the archives of the City of Angels museum. Seeing in print this proof that heteros were once considered normal would allay her fears and allow her to more fully enjoy their time together without the guilt that cast a pall of sadness over her words, and her actions. It was an ancient book, made of processed wood pulp, with drawings of heteros engaged in consensual sex, each described with vivid detail and mystical revelation. He knew, however, that the intolerant members of the Community would not look with favor on this revelation and kept the rare and precious Kama Sutra hidden under lock and key in his desk, next to the photograph of his sweet Anna, smiling at him with love, their first time together.

He went about his daily chores, keeping his secret to himself while cataloguing the many tomes written by members of the Community. The curator was planning a display of historical works for the election festival, and Carlton, being the lowest ranking historian, was given the lonely task of digging through dusty tins of microfiche and art to find seminal items to highlight founding members of the Community and their contributions to The Society.

Carlton asked Anna to meet with him several times, thinking she might be interested in the research, the intriguing findings he was uncovering. He wasn’t really surprised that she declined, begging off with the increased pressure on her time taken by Claire and her election campaign. He wasn’t sure if he was pleased or not when she told him she had decided to run for a vacant seat on the Community’s Ruling Council. Since their one-year anniversary, both of them had been too busy to meet, simply exchanging a few calls and some delicious emails, which Carlton savored nightly. Anna promised that things would return to the way they had been once she was, hopefully, elected during the festival. Perhaps she could work from within the system to try and foster more tolerance toward those who were different.

***

The election festival weekend, timed annually to coincide with the great honey harvest, was a resounding success for the museum. Paid memberships reached their highest levels in recorded history, as the Community, with Anna at the forefront, praised the curator and his staff for their consistent efforts to foster knowledge and community spirit. Anna was easily elected to the Ruling Council and presented with her own hive for the making of honey. Carlton’s efforts were also acknowledged with his promotion to chief historian of the museum in recognition for his tireless efforts at cataloging and memorializing the achievements of the Community.

Carlton was pleased with Anna’s victory, remembering her promise to work from within to foster tolerance. He was even more pleased when she called and asked to meet at his place, and prepared a feast of fresh fruits, sea kelp, and a bottle of that special wine blended with honey that she so enjoyed. He wrapped the book in scented tissue, hoping her delight would lead to their attempt at duplicating some of the intriguing poses within its pages.

He was not disappointed by her reaction. They enjoyed an entire weekend of romantic bliss, eating from each other’s loving hands, talking of their dreams for a future life together, with Claire as their child. They dreamed aloud of a Community that tolerated and welcomed diversity. Anna was obviously making headway with her promise, as heteros were no longer publicly vilified. The Great Coming Out, as it was being called, began in earnest, with heteros openly holding hands, dining together, dancing in clubs, celebrating their affection publicly. The laws against childrearing were even being debated, with a growing outcry to allow heteros to raise children, with full rights to both male and female guardians.

***

The Great Coming Out ended as swiftly as it began, as in one day thirty-two hetero couples were found beaten to death. The number equaled the death count that week from an unidentified illness that had insinuated itself in the Community, taking young and old alike. The symptoms manifested themselves swiftly and were almost always fatal, beginning with a swelling of external body parts, migrating to swollen glands and an inability to swallow, then the chest constricting and refusing air, resulting in a painful death by suffocation. The ancient urban myths were resurrected by a frightened populace, as the cause of the sudden death had to be attributed to something. It had to be the fault of some group, and the heteros were visibly the largest minority available, having introduced change and, therefore, corruption.

The Great Pandemic of history was taken from the realm of urban myth and given life. This time, instead of birds carrying disease, the heteros were the named harbingers of death, and were to be destroyed. Carlton, along with many others who had declared their difference, went into hiding to avoid death by mob rule. The newly elected moderates in the Council were held to a recall election and all of them lost their seats in government, Anna included, as the old establishment was restored to power. This, however, did not stop the dying as more deaths and near deaths of the same kind were being reported daily throughout the summer months.

***

The death count started to abate with the first frosts of summer. Carlton, now unemployed, freely conducted research online, and arrived at a conclusion he had to share with someone. He emailed Anna and told her he thought he had uncovered the cause of the pandemic strangling the new life from the City of Angels. That night, she arrived at his home, her face veiled, with Claire, silent and watchful, holding her hand. She removed the veil gingerly from her face, and Carlton wept to see the marks of the pandemic on the sweet neck he had caressed but a few months ago, the welts on her arms seeping as every movement seemed to bring on additional pain.

Carlton gently took her in his arms, Claire watching, as he tenderly kissed her cracked lips and smoothed back the hair clinging to seeping sores.

“You said you’ve uncovered the cause of the pandemic,” Anna opened.

“Yes, as the ancient pandemic swept through the country on the wings of birds, this one flies on the wings of bees that have been infected with some virulent tic or fungus. That is the common thread with the knowledge long buried in the annals of ancient history.”

“That is dangerous knowledge, and will result in your death,” Anna replied with resignation. Carlton found he was not surprised that Anna seemed to already know what he had painstakingly researched.

“The Council doesn’t want the knowledge to become public as it would destroy their power base. It would also destroy our economy were the general populace to learn that the pandemic is borne not by birds this time, but by the bees that make the honey which is its foundation.”

“But that’s so ignorant. Knowing the cause, people could take precautions.”

“But learning the cause would raise questions about the integrity of the Council keeping the information to its cadre of upper echelon members. This knowledge would empower the general population and perhaps make them doubt the absolute authority of the Council which had, in fact, kept their knowledge from the public.”

“It’s too late for me,” Anna continued. “I’ve been marked by the pandemic and may yet become one of its casualties. Claire, however, has not been marked and I want her to have a chance for a better life. Take her up north, away from this place of stagnant death, and give her the life we planned together.”

Carlton held Anna at arms length, drinking from the depths of his love’s eyes one last time, memorizing every detail of her face, her scent. She reached up and kissed him once, softly, on the lips, then gave Claire a tight hug before turning and quickly walking back toward the center of town.

Sadly, Carlton reflected on the truth she had revealed, that as long as knowledge remains hidden, buried, humankind loses the ability to anticipate or prepare for catastrophic events. Intolerance and prejudice are self perpetuating, and the ignorance which allows any one group to persist in thinking they are better than another eventually runs full circle to destroy those who perpetuate it.

© 2006-07 manga kate

Prompt for GSA Contest 2006 ~ What if straights were the minority? ~ a short story of 1808 words

Submitted August 2007 to "Show Off Your Best at the Sandbox"