Looking Backward from the Tricentennial

Chapter Four

"Stella should be here any minute," Dr. Leete said. They were in what Julian's host had referred to as the parlor; a room in his condominium dedicated to conversation with others, both physically and virtually present. Four chairs, a couch, and a loveseat sketched a loose oval around the parlor, intermingled with small tables, and the walls held a few pieces of art. Above them, the tray ceiling offered indirect lighting and, Julian supposed, hid the equipment that made virtual interactions possible.

Ray—the doctor insisted Julian call him by his first name, which Julian reciprocated—had explained their guest would be joining them via holographic representation. Stella Freedom, the author of several books about American history, was across the country in Seattle. With real time translations generated by artificial intelligence, the technology was used to facilitate discussions around the globe. The parlor setup had become standardized a quarter-century earlier; River Place Towers, the complex Dr. Leete lived in, integrated it into every unit's living space.

Julian settled back on the couch, still physically tired but mentally alert, while his host sat in a chair to his right. A brief tone softly announced Stella's arrival. Her female form began to flicker into existence next to Ray, stabilizing after a few seconds. Their guest was short and slender, with jet-black hair cascading to her waist over a crisp, white, button-up shirt.

Her sharp eyes took in the scene, quickly sizing up Julian before looking to his host. "Ray! Thanks for the invitation." Then, to Julian, "And you must be Julian West; it's a pleasure to meet you."

The illusion was marvelous. Although he noticed the faintest lag in the visualization of her speech, when she smiled at him, the genuine warmth came through in clear detail. "You too," he replied. "Thanks for taking the time to meet with me this afternoon."

"Still morning for me," Stella replied, clutching at an end table. Immediately, a mug appeared in her hand. "But don't worry, I'm on my second cup of coffee," she asserted, holding it out by way of demonstration. Julian stared in fascination as tiny wisps of steam curled up from the liquid. Stella took a sip, set the mug back on the table, and it vanished when she released it.

"Stella, Julian is the oldest sleeper I've ever dealt with," Ray said. "Politics from the twenties isn't something I know much about. I was hoping you could explain how things have changed, and about the American Union."

"The American Union?" Julian echoed the unfamiliar phrase.

Stella nodded and asked the two men, "Do you know the story of Rip Van Winkle?"

"A tale of a man sleeping for twenty years comes up fairly frequently in my line of work," Ray replied.

"I'll bet," Stella chuckled. "But an important plot point is that he slept through the American Revolution. He jumped right from living under King George the Third to President George Washington." She turned her attention to Julian. "You, my friend, slept through a revolution."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize there was an actual revolution. I'm not surprised. People were really pushed to the edge. Something had to change."

Stella settled back in her chair, grinning in anticipation. "Oh, this is great," she said, "getting your unfiltered perspective on the Second Gilded Age—the time of great inequality at the turn of the century. What are some reasons you aren't surprised?"

"Well," Julian began cautiously, "America had red states and blue states, you know? Republicans and Democrats? And they didn't get along. So the idea of a national divorce was to divide up the country."

Ray laughed. "That sounds incredibly impractical. Would states kick out everyone from the wrong political party?"

"I'm not sure how it was supposed to actually work," Julian replied peevishly. "The last couple of elections were pretty bad. January 6 and the other attacks on the political system showed people were willing to get violent. There were hundreds of millions of guns; mass shootings were all over the news. Life was broken for so many people, they were starting to snap.