Simple Future

2: Jasper's life

Jasper

I sigh as Rebecca storms up the stairs. I wasn't even able to get her to smile, but she acts like she is perfectly fine. She never seems happy, and she keeps making more and more suicidal comments the closer we get to finding out about the test results. I think the stress is getting to her. If I could somehow get her into a better mood I would, but I just can't seem to do that.

There's a lot of things I haven't done. I'd rather not die a virgin, so I've been willing to give it up to anyone recently. Becca had to beg me to even take the damn test, because it explicitly lists gay people as 'reproductively useless' and bans them from applying. Luckily, my virginal status meant I could check 'no' in the box asking if I have sex with men. I'd like too, I just haven't found the right man.

This always reminds me of Steven. They day I was finally going to take him to Hong Kong someone send a video of him having sex with "Daddy Ray," a porn audition site runner. I was disgusted. Steven still sometimes pops into my recommended box with his newer work. The "Ex who I dated for six months cheated on me to become a pornstar and is now one of the top names in gay porn" story always kills everyone at the party. Kills me. He had sex with a 45 year old obese man to get his break, instead of doing it with me for the sake of love.

Great, now I'm in a sucky mood. I should make some hash browns. 

I go to check the cupboard to find the potatoes, grate them, and now; I fry them. 

Cooking always relaxes me: that's one thing I have going for me, home ec. I am husband material. I guess it doesn't hurt that I'm in good physical shape as the kicker of the football team. I have good odds of being one of the lucky 50 that make it into the freeze tube. Well, the 50 in this district. I don't know why Becky is so worried. The bunkers are located all across the United States, and there's one per every million or so people, and because there's a relatively small age range, Becky and I both have good shots. Especially because we live in Utah, and our district doesn't have a lot of competition. But even if I do make it into one of the pods, what happens then?

I keep mulling this over and over, on one hand, I might just help take care of other peoples kids and die alone, on the other side, maybe someone else lied. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to find someone of my own. What would that look like? Two badass and sexy guys taking on the end of the world together? Or me just settling for the one other gay dude on the face of the earth? Am I shallow for asking that?

  Mom walks in the front door. She smiles and flips her hair out of her eyes.

"Don't just stand there! Help me with the groceries!" She grunts, carrying far too many bags of baked goods, fruits and vegetables in her hands. "You guys have your tests back soon! Wake up your sister!"

"She is awake, do you want me to help you or not?" I question "and it's 10 am. On a weekend. Why?"

"Because I didn't want to leave and then get here after the mail man arrives! So I left at 6 and drove to every single store to get all of your favorite foods!" She cheers, lI got chicken ramen, the stuff to make gumbo just like Becky likes, and your very favorite-"

"You better be saying Cookies and Cream cheesecake truffles with dark chocolate coating served on top of a raspberry cheesecake square with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side fresh from the freezer of grandmas house."

    Instead of saying anything, she simply pulls a cooler out, and opens it to reveal exactly my favorite desert, to a T, something grandma used to always make.

"You can snack on that, but don't soil your appetite!" She exaclaims

"What's for the main course?"

"Sirloiiiiiiin!" She sings, walking into the kitchen

Becky walks back downstairs. "Did I miss something?"

I try to push back my feeling about the situation with her that happened mere minutes ago in order to present a nice image for mom. I smile and say "Just that mom is making Gumbo."

She raises an eyebrow. "At 10 am?"

"Yes. She wants to make sure she gets a bunch of our favorite foods in us before our test results get in."

"So as soon as we know if we get to live to be 20 or not?"

"Don't think of it like that, Becky, we don't know what's doing to happen, maybe the government will fix things and the people in the tubes will see their whole lives pass by without seeing their families and friends. It could be all just fine." I explain cheerily, even though I know I'm trying to lie for her benefit

"Do you wanna pass the damn test or not?" She cracks, finally creeping in a small smile for the first time in the day. Despite what a lot of people think, Becky has a good, but odd, sense of humor, but she prefers to be dark and gloomy most of the time, the opposite of me.

   There is a ring on the doorbell, and mom sprints in from the kitchen and begins to harass the mail man to hurry up and give her the packages. Mom has been super on edge of recent. I think she just wants us to do well, and maybe she just wants us to remember her happy. I see her grab the two pale yellow envelopes and jogged inside, leaving the mail man, who was carrying several more indications envelopes, feeling annoyed and uncomfortable. I could only laugh at how foolish she looked.

   She hands each of us an envelope. I take a deep breath, knowing how important this is. This envelope determines if I will even have the chance to grow old, find love, and discover who I am and all that poetic bullshit, but in reality, I just don't wanna die in the next super hurricane, the likes of witch have already wipes massive cities like Miami off the face of the globe. The world population dropped in 3 years from 15 billion to 13 billion. We don't have much time left. The icecaps have a good year left before a collapse the will destroy every coastal city on the face of the earth, and as the world heats, who isn't lucky enough to die then will burn to death in at max, 10 years. Hell, I live in Utah and haven't seen snow in years. This is my ticket to life or death.

  "I passed." Nonchalantly exclaims Becky. "Woo"

  I choose to ignore her ever present attitude as I open my own envelope. I see a large amount of information, too much to take in at once, a time location and congratulations is all I can really see no matter how long I look at it. I passed.