The Doctor Will See You Now

Pennycon

Now onto the real story. Every year, there is a tine where the whole city attends a big meeting. Almost like an oversized doctors appointment.

But this 'doctors appointment' changed my life.

It's a lot more futuristic in this one spot. The mayor, Miss Pennyweather, is in charge of many cities like ours. Our people aren't really allowed to do much. We are very restricted. Our mayor wants us to be like robots with no emotion other than happy or interested when in school or that kind of stuff. All positive feelings. She wants us to be controlled by her. I would think she was an emotionally drained psychopath if I had just seen her face. She's one of those people where you can just...tell.

Me, Ben, Mum (in her humane form) and piles of make-up all came trudging into the stadium. A huge hologram played the same message over and over. It was Pennyweather.

Pennyweather inc., protecting you and your family. Pennyweather inc., protecting you and your family. Pennyweather inc., protecting you and your family.

It feels more like living in a prison if I'm honest.

Ben was in his 'big boy' buggy, bundled in blankets and soft toys. I think I overestimated the amount of milk we would need, as Pennycon is normally 3 hours long. Maybe $16.00 worth of hot milk wasn't such a good idea after all?

We saw everyone with their emotionless expressions and excited children. I wanted to leave so badly! The people here are like prissy pink princesses and quirky queens and kings and they all make me want to vomit.

The bad thing is...i think I'm the only one that feels like this.

Like I'm the odd one out.

I always have been..but that's another story for another time.

We made out way up into the huge hall full of 'eco seating' made of recycled plastic, obviously brought to you by Pennyworth inc. .

It was so loud in there. The children were running around showing off their rainbow lasers and wind chimes from the stalls downstairs. There was too much happening. The exclaiming of the extatic parents, the whirring of the vents, the screaming of the stressed babies, the pounding of-

The screaming of the babies!

"BEN!!" I yelled, panicking about the fact that I hadn't checked on him for a while. He was crying his eyes out and practically making puddles in his buggy.
"Ben, I'm so sorry! What's wrong? You want your bottle? Mr Ellie-phant?"
"Oh, leave it, Mi!" Mum moaned. It was as if she was in a quiet room and I was the only one she could hear. As long as i kept quiet, she was fine. I was surprised she didn't tell the prissy princesses to bug off as soon as she got close to any.

Soon enough, we found a seat, calmed Benny down and waited until everyone else finally shut up. Then huge Pennyworth hologram appeared in the centre of the round steel stage. We stared down at the mayor's wrinkly face advertising her eco seating and whatnot.

Hello. I am Heather Pennyweather, founder of Pennyweather inc., and I welcome you to the annual PennyCast.

"God, everything has to start with PENNY, doesn't it?!" I muttered.

No I didn't.

I would probably be arrested if I did.

The glitching face lectured us about how we would be split into categories, Anes, Sulphaes and Toxins. If you are an Ane, you are one of the prissies. You're perfect and obedient to the law, as well as being fair.
If you're a Sulphae, you are average. You could improve, but you're half Ane. That's the least complicated way I could put it.
And then there's Toxins. Oh boy, where do I start? A Toxin is a person that needs to be improved. For example, if you've done things like stealing, lied to the police or if you have been uncontrollably drunk, you are a definite Toxin.
They see what you are by calling one family at a time and 'scanning' them. You walk up to a separate hologram that looks like a tube and stand in it for a few seconds. The tube fades into different colours for each category. Anes get a yellow light, Sulphaes get an orange light and Toxins get a red light.
Mum's always made up excuses not to be scanned. Everyone thinks she's a prissie. If people find out that she was a Toxin, god knows what she would do. And this is a special day, a half day, where you go straight to school after the event. People know how big this 'check up' is, so it was declared a rule.
Which also means that it would be taken out on my Ben.
I can't let that happen.
I won't let that happen.

We watched as basically everyone celebrated and squealed at the fact that they were an Ane. Before we knew it, I heard the dreaded call...

Susie Manes and her family, please.

Mum grabbed hold of my hand and looked at me with an upsetting expression. Not a 'be brave, Michael, sweetheart" kind of expression, a "I've no more excuses! You have to help me! Tell them I'm not here!" Kind of expression.

We made our way down the perfect steps, watching everyone else's perfect faces and their perfect Ane attitudes.

Mum was still murdering my hand, but I'm glad she was making gentle..er... contact with me.

I took a deep breath. Mum took a deep breath. Ben vomited a bit, but he was fine.

Ben and Michael Manes, please.

I gulped as I stepped into the glistening tube. I was probably going to be a Sulphae. Nobody's perfect! Well, there are the Anes and...look, you know what I mean.

I closed my eyes, waiting for that tiny ding! that let the person know when it was done calculating what you were. I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Any second now...

Ding!

I gave a sigh of relief.

Screeeeech!!

I heard the calamity coming from everyone else. A screech? What did that mean? It was deafening! I covered Ben's ears and scrunched up my face, thinking it would magically made the noise stop. I heard yelling and people repeating a word over and over. What was it? It became clearer and clearer...

Insane. Insane. Insane. Insane.

Insane? Who? Did mum break out behind me? Was she so scared that she ran? I turned around to see, but she wasn't there. She was with the crowd! Pointing and repeating that word! What happened?

Everyone, stand back!

An electric strike seeped through my body, growing more and more painful by the second. I blacked out, Ben in my arms still.