Success Changed Forever

It was 8:00 in the morning on a Friday, which meant only one thing: computer time. Marcus Weatherbly was ready. He had gone out to the local diner to have a quick meal and was now getting ready to sit down and get to work. The video game he’d been working on was now an intense beast, a thing of beauty. If only he could get it done. There were so many little things to add. So many methods of improvement.

As the super-fast computer powered up, almost instantly, Marcus thought about his goal. This would be the game to end all games. The best game he had ever produced was on the horizon.

“Just finish. Finish.”

Marcus had spent his entire life since college on Disability, a government program designed to take care of those who were unable to care for themselves. They had one simple rule. If you ever get two-thousand dollars or more, you’re cut off for life. Marcus followed this rule religiously, making certain never to make too much money. He avoided any sort of paid work and didn’t even have a functioning resume.

The first thing Marcus did when he logged onto the computer was to check the photo he had of his family. Placed in a folder on the desktop, it was his most prized digital possession. He looked at his family and himself in that photo. How much love had passed through those eyes? How many times had they touched each other gently?

After looking at the photo for a few seconds, Marcus said, “Killer,” and opened his web browser. He was certain that today would be different. Today would be the day when he would change his entire life for the better. He directed the browser to the most popular crowd-sourced video sharing platform in the world. The site was functional, yet powerful and unique. It had videos on almost any subject one could imagine. In his feed, at the top, was where he saw the video.

“Social Security Finally Bankrupt!” said the title. Marcus thought it was a hoax, but then decided to watch it anyway. Could it be? The video showed the nation’s president, known only as The Be-An-Gelo, talking to a crowd at the White House press room.

“Hello to the members of the press – friends, acquaintances, family – and welcome to America. I’m doing fine. I’ve brought you this press briefing because America is in crisis. When I say that America is in crisis, I’m not saying that America is ending, though there will be many who will try to characterize it in that way. America is not ending, but it has been forever changed.

“One of America’s defining and most enduring institutions, Social Security, has been discontinued today. It lasted through a world war and a lot of smaller wars. It lasted through a pandemic, a global financial panic, and even the presidency of Mr. Arthur Mattingly. I made the decision myself to end the program, with the help of congress, and will sign off on the directive in less than an hour.”

Marcus sat there, thinking about his situation. How would he survive? He’d never been able to do anything. He’d never held down a job. Now, there was nothing left to give. The government was broke. Not only that, but the nation had entered a recession that was likely to turn into a depression.

Marcus couldn’t do his work that day. He sat there, just thinking about it.

“Where will I ever find the courage to go out into this world and live it like it was my own?”

Immediately, he had the urge to go out to the store, as his food levels were getting low. On the way out, he noticed a piece of paper taped to the door. It said: Emergency Eviction Notice. It told him that, due to Social Security’s Demise, his housing subsidy would now be eliminated. Starting that month, he was no longer a tenant of his building on east Seeth Street.

“Does this mean food stamps are done as well?”

He went to the store and tried his food stamp card. It was empty. No food stamps; no housing subsidy; no monthly cheques. That was just half of it. He wondered aloud: How did one support oneself at all? Much less during a recession?

He’d seen people driving cars everywhere, all day. Where were they going? What would a person do if he could not rely on the government for sustenance? How did a human…live in modern society? His predicament forced him to ask hard questions. He went back home and ate breakfast from his emergency food stash and then started to think. Where would he go? How would he survive? He couldn’t live here. Not without an income, a subsidy, food stamps.

He went to his bank’s website immediately to check his balance. He had about $300 left. He had already earmarked two hundred of that for paying bills. But would he still have to pay those bills? He had no income anymore! He quickly canceled his subscriptions before they auto renewed and got some clothes together, along with some emergency food. He thought of where he could go. Where did one go if one wanted a job? He knew he had family in Doshank, Texas, but he didn’t know where. That seemed like the best option.

He went online and used the first hundred to buy an Amtrak ticket to a town near Doshank, in central Texas. He then proceeded to the local train station and waited. It took about an hour for the train to finally rustle by and stop, blaring its giant horn. As Marcus boarded the train, he thought about all the things he’d wanted to do with his life. All the great adventures he’d wanted to have. Life would never be easy, but at least he would have the freedom to try now.

As he sat in his seat, he saw many people on the train with him. He wondered which of “them” were former welfare recipients on the run from their past. He pulled out a rather unhealthy snack and began to munch away. It was a survival situation, after all. When he finally got to his stop in central Texas, he was thinking about what would happen next. What would be his next adventure? He thought about his family. They had always got on so well without him. What would he do now that the world around him was changing? Where would he go to fulfill his ultimate destiny on Earth?