The Capitalist Plan

The Announcement

"It's beautiful, Daddy!" I gasped at the quartz butterfly. He held it out to me, placing it delicately in my little hands.
"For you, my little butterfly!"

I loved this gathering already. Daddy had told me there was a speaker coming, some sort of announcement being made from the WorldAmericana leader herself, but the festivities alone were enough to make me happy.

The stalls and venders were calling out to us, to everyone really, for amazing little trinkets. The venders themselves weren't dressed like us, and had a more broken look, like my favorite dolls, but it didn't bother me much. I mostly could ignore them. 

It didn't take long for the masses to flock around a podium near the end. We weren't aloud higher here than anyone else, and all of the decorative parasols and hats towered above me. 

"Daddy, I can't see." I whispered to him, just loud enough so he could hear. 

He scooped me up and put me on his shoulders. Everything looked completely different. There was a huge ring with ten white columns around the back. They reminded me of the old pictures on postcards. The whole white floor was empty of people.

The crowd shifted, and Daddy with it. I was turned to the long, magnetic pathway to the podium, where a black  carriage  rolled up. Everyone quieted, to the point where I could here the hurr of the computer inside. When the carriage stopped, it was like everyone held their breath. Ten well-dressed men stepped out, forming a line in-between them. Each person had a Tranq under their belt and a gun in their hand, and their hard eyes scared me.   A woman stepped out, tall with brown hair and light skin.  She walked one step at a time, as if there were little bugs she couldn't step on. The men behind her fanned out. 

I knew her. 

I had seen her picture every single day on the computerized fridge, right next to my latest reports.  Daddy had absolutely adored her. Every night, as we ate supper, he would praise her. How she ended the War. How she changed  the government for the better.  How she fixed the world. 

Mama would always smile, and tell him that he was giving her too much credit. 

And every night, as Daddy brushed my long brown hair before Mama braided it for bed, he would tell me, "One day, you will be just like her. A leader."

She was everything I wanted to be. 

"That's her." Daddy whispered to me. She stepped up unto the stand and cleared her throat.

"Good evening, WorldAmericana. As you all know, after the war ended and the former United States of America took over, they elected me as the leader of this new World-Nation. It has been an honor, and wonder, what we have been able to do over the last decade. But with change, we must changes.

"In fact," she said, seeming to look right at me. I beamed at her. "A new law has been put in place today. One that I think best for our World. As is widely known, our citizens in the parts of former Russia and Spain are in high poverty, more than ever before. We are in need of your contributions." 

I watched the smiles of the people around us waver, their hats teetering slightly. 

The bodyguards held their fingers a little bit closer to the trigger. 

 "Every year, the richest man or woman on Earth will be considered the Winner of Capitalism and be given an award. They will have the honor to resign all of their current monetary value to  one of the ten designated charities of their choosing!

"Your government has served you, dear citizens, in the most grand way possible. To ensure safety and prosperity, and care for all citizens. Poverty will have no place in WorldAmericana. This is the future. This is the Capitalist Plan."

A roar broke out among the crowd, while faint cheers rose from the venders. In a quick motion, the ten men had immediately formed a line around the edge of the white floor, raising their weapons as if to shoot. 

I started shaking. What if they shot me?

"Daddy, take me down. Please," I pleaded. 

He lifted me off of his shoulders, keeping me close to him. He tried to turn me away from the men threatening and rushing around, but I could see everything. 

It was a nightmare.